Sexual Misconduct Allegations Against Dov Charney Continued to Pile Up
Women continued to come forward with sexual harassment allegations against Dov.
“Initially it was one woman,” employee and civil rights attorney Toni Jaramilla said in The Cult of American Apparel, and “that led to a second. But in doing our due diligence, we found other women who were claiming they experienced the same thing.”
However, the lawyer explained, women who used to work for American Apparel had signed agreements waiving their right to a jury trial and barring them from speaking negatively in public about Dov or the company, meaning their lawsuits ended up being sent to arbitration.
After two sexual harassment suits were filed against Dov in March 2011, his attorney Peter Schey told the New York Times, “The allegations are false. I think this is an effort to shake down American Apparel. These claims should be resolved in confidential arbitration.”
Dov had previously been sued at least four times since the mid-‘00s for creating a hostile or sexually charged working environment, according to the Times. The company told the publication the lawsuits had all been settled or dismissed.
“There’s something [disingenuous] about the claims,” Dov said in archival footage shown in the Netflix doc. “First of all, they’re fake. Second of all, these claimants are being coached.” He said he was “prepared to take a polygraph.”
