A Louis Vuitton exec who once appeared at a White House bill-signing for sexual harassment legislation claims she was fired after complaining about her “leering” colleague, according to a federal lawsuit.
Andowah Newton, 49, an attorney for the luxe brand, says she endured years of abuse on the job and that the company retaliated after she testified before Congress about the bill.
“Testifying before Congress — and in front of my parents — about such personally traumatic experiences was extremely daunting but I knew I had to speak up on behalf of the millions of survivors across our country who every day face the type of degradation, dehumanization, and retaliation that Louis Vuitton inflicted upon me for reporting sexual misconduct,” Newton told The Post of her November 2021 testimony.
Newton was invited to the White House and attended the bill-signing with President Biden in March 2022.
Nine months later, Louis Vuitton axed Newton, she said in a Dec. 11 Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit against the company.
It’s not the first time the Manhattan resident sued LVMH, the parent company, over sexual harassment on the job.
In 2019, she filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, alleging a co-worker frequently ogled her and once said, “You are so pretty. And that beautiful smile, I just can’t get enough of it,” according to court papers.
Another time, while talking with her in her office, the creepy colleague “lunged” across her desk to use her phone, “thrusting his pelvis and genitals into her face and pressing his body firmly against hers,” she contended.
Bosses claimed “that the harassment was just a byproduct of being an attractive woman who works at a company with a French culture.”
An appeals court judge punted the matter to arbitration. The matter is pending.
On March 3, 2022, President Biden officially signed the “Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act” — the federal bill Newton championed.
“Louis Vuitton should not have forced me to sacrifice my job and potentially my career, nor subjected me to dehumanizing and humiliating treatment, just for trying to keep myself and others safe and free from harassment in their offices,” Newton told The Post.
Newton, who is seeking unspecified damages in federal court, said it’s her hope that having her case “heard in open court rather than being forced into a secret arbitration where companies have excessive ‘home-court’ advantage” will level the playing field.
“The newest lawsuit is just another attempt by Ms. Newton to evade prior rulings of the court and arbitrator and to renew her meritless claims in court,” said LVHH spokesperson Molly Morse.
She added that Newton’s “departure from LVMH was part of a restructuring of the North America legal department, which affected a number of employees, late last year.”