Versace Store Had 'Code' For Black Customers, Lawsuit Says

Employees at a California Versace outlet store used a "code" to alert other workers that a black customer had entered the shop, and one worker was fired after they found out he was part African-American, according to a lawsuit filed in Alameda County court.

Christopher Sampino, 23, says that during his second shift at the store — located at the San Francisco Premium Outlets in Livermore — his manager asked him if he knew the "D410 code," the lawsuit says.

The manager, who was not named in the suit, told Sampino to say "D410" in a "casual manner" when a black customer walked into the store so other workers would know that "a black person is in the store," according to the lawsuit.

D410 is the code used on "all black clothing in the store," and the manager told Sampino he could also hold up a black shirt when using the code "so they don't know what you're talking about," Sampino's lawsuit says.

The lawsuit was filed by Michael Hoffman with Hoffman Employment Lawyers in San Francisco last month. It asks for unpaid wages and other unspecified damages, along with class action status for the lawsuit.

Versace denied the allegations in a statement to Complex, which is printed below:

Versace believes strongly in equal opportunity, as an employer and a retailer. We do not tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, national origin or any other characteristic protected by our civil rights laws. We have denied the allegations in this suit, and we will not comment further concerning pending litigation.

Patch has reached out to public relations representatives for Versace, and we'll let you know when we hear back.

After Sampino, who started in September 2016 and says in the lawsuit he is "one quarter African American," was told about the D410 code, he told his manager, "You know that I'm African American?" the lawsuit says.

From then on, Sampino's suit says, he was treated "differently."

Sampino's training "no longer seemed legitimate," the suit says. He wasn't told about taking rest breaks and wasn't given access to an online database used to track pay stubs, according to the lawsuit.

He was eventually fired, he says he was told, because he doesn't "know the luxury life" and hasn't "lived the luxury life."

Sampino says he wasn't paid for his last day of work and wasn't given his last paycheck after he was fired.

You can read his lawsuit in full below:

Image: Versace store in Vienna, Austria; by Marek Ślusarczyk; used under Creative Commons