Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus hired an outside law firm to investigate claims that the company’s boss hired only “gay, European men and white or Asian women” for his top jobs.
Geoffroy van Raemdonck, who took over as CEO of Neiman Marcus in 2018, was accused of rejecting other qualified individuals for top positions.
The law firm – which has not been named – found no evidence to support the claims and called them ‘completely unfounded’.
The lawyers were called in by the department store after a month in December blog post He called the CEO “biased in his hiring for senior vice president positions at Neiman Marcus.”
The post said: ‘Geoffroy hires externally and does not like to promote from within. He prefers to hire white and Asian women. And then he prefers men who are homosexual and/or European. Just like him. The typical straight American man has been ignored and once hired.”
In the photo: Geoffroy van Raemdonck, CEO of Neiman Marcus, has worked at the luxury retailer since 2018. He is accused of hiring only gay, European men and white or Asian women for top positions
Neiman Marcus, is a high-end retail chain headquartered in Dallas, Texas, opened in 1907 as a purveyor of luxury women’s clothing and fashion by department store buyer Herbert Marcus and his sister and brother-in-law, Carrie and A.L. Neiman
Neiman Marcus CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck, pictured last week with his partner Alivise Orisino and others to celebrate the Bergdorf Goodman High Jewelry Collection
The allegations were based on nearly 30 hires or promotions during his tenure at the upscale department store, according to the blog, which was posted anonymously.
The claims further stated that Van Raemdonck ‘has never appreciated anyone who has a longer tenure than him’, and claimed that only one promotion to SVP from someone who was here before Geoffroy started at Neiman Marcus could be identified.
Neiman Marcus sent DailyMail.com an email statement confirming that based on the independent investigation they conducted, it had been determined that the allegations were “completely baseless.”
“Neiman Marcus Group has policies that ensure we take these matters seriously and conduct business with the highest standards of ethics, honesty and integrity,” Neiman Marcus Group said.
‘From a policy perspective, we investigate every report that comes in. We followed our protocols and conducted an independent investigation, which found the allegations to be completely unfounded.
“We remain committed to cultivating a culture of belonging and our approach includes our efforts to: increase workforce diversity by implementing evidence-based practices to eliminate bias in employee experiences; promote equality in the workplace in accordance with prominent external standards; and advocates integration in the market.’
The claims started after there were promotions for seniors in tech and then they started looking further and finding other senior hires made by Van Raemdonck.
According to the blog post, employees reported that they did not feel comfortable contacting the HR department about the discrimination for fear of “retaliation.”
In the post, they wrote that they “relied on announcements and memory. Asking HR for the data could lead to retaliation. If this list is not complete, it is very close and is a robust data set.”
People mentioned in the post include Chief Supply Chain Officer Amanda Martin – “the only person promoted to Senior Vice President with more tenure at Neiman Marcus than Geoffroy,” the post claims.
‘Almost thirty positions and all others were won by Geoffroy. That’s amazing. Today, Geoffroy’s direct reports consist exclusively of white and Asian women and gay men.
“Exclusion is happening at the highest level, by the highest person,” the post said.
Neiman Marcus CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck and his partner, Alvise Orsini, pictured at the Dallas Contemporary Spring Gala at Dallas Contemporary in April 2019 in Dallas, Texas
The complaint was filed anonymously in August on Ethicspoint, the company’s anonymous platform where employees can report their complaints. The Post said they investigated the complaint at the time.
They claimed they “communicated back and forth for two weeks with no response” and were then instructed to post files on another platform called AllVoices, but they were required to share their phone number where their IP address was recorded.
“Anonymity is promised, but then we discovered that our Chief People and Belonging Officer had a prior relationship with AllVoice,” they wrote.
‘Perhaps that is the reason for the request for re-registration and the promise of anonymity seems to be in jeopardy. We do not want to be followed because of the sensitive subject and fear of reprisals.
‘Geoffroy and his team just want this to go away. But this is different from the carefully crafted items made in collaboration with WWD or BOF. This is data. This is the truth,” they claimed.
That’s what the law firm said The New York Post in an email that they found “no evidence” that Van Raemdonck or other hiring managers “engaged in the conduct described in the allegations.”
When Van Raemdonck became CEO of Neiman Marcus Group five years ago, he guided the Dallas-based retailer through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection process and stayed on after the reorganization.
He told Fortune in a February 2023 interview, its top customers shop at Neiman Marcus an average of 25 times a year and spend a total of $27,000.
He said: ‘To weather any crisis you need to win over a greater number of wealthy buyers, while the rich get richer. But it also takes a much more personalized service to retain them and cultivate loyalty.
But as luxury sales began to falter, the upscale retailer cut 5 percent of its staff, even though Van Raemdonck reportedly earned $10 million in perks for himself during the height of the pandemic and a generous health package, according to the Post. earlier reported.
It has been reported that the company is in talks with Saks Fifth Avenue to sell itself to its luxury rival, as first reported by the Post.