American Apparel is getting sued for something other than sexual harassment, though it’s no less shady. An ex-accountant for the label has filed a wrongful termination suit alleging he was fired after he refused to cook the books. Roberto Hernandez says American Apparel CEO Dov Charney “demanded” that he “pad the inventory.” This was in 2006 when the company was privately owned and seeking investors — Charney wanted to pad the inventory to entice them. Hernandez refused, and he was fired. Complaints listed in the lawsuit include “infliction of emotional distress,” so it’s not entirely unlike a sexual-harassment suit. Interestingly, Charney initially asked Hernandez to cook the books when he became furious that the LaSalle firm declined to invest in the company. According to the lawsuit, LaSalle decided not to give money to American Apparel because of “a failed audit and the inappropriate sexual conduct of Mr. Charney.” (This suit comes on the heels of five sexual-harassment suits, by the way.) Of course, every legal problem comes back to sexual harassment at that company. Maybe this whole mess could have been avoided if Charney had cleaned up his act in the first place.
