Amy-Erin Blakely Claims She Was Fired After Being Told Her Breasts Were Distracting (VIDEO)

Florida resident Amy-Erin Blakely is suing her former employer, the Devereux Foundation, for allegedly firing her in 2009 after she filed two complaints about gender discrimination. Blakely claims that the comments about the size of her breasts started in 2003, but worsened in 2008. She was told that her chest was distracting for others and that she was too sensual to be promoted.

With attorney Gloria Allred at her side, Blakely said, "No woman should ever be subjected to such sexist and derogatory remarks," and explained to L.A.'s Fox News, "It made me feel ashamed." She noted that she always dressed professionally for her job at the nonprofit provider of children's mental health services.

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Comments

[graywolf68]

06:53 PM on 11/30/2010

Just another prospector diggin for that big gold strike. She's basing her lawsuit on sexual and gender discrimination because it's the hardest allegation to disprove.

[Chuck Douglas]

07:54 AM on 11/16/2010

you can't really tell how large her breasts are, maybe they hang really low. They are covered by the TV stations banner, coincidence, censorship, or request? maybe she doesn't wear a bra?

[SmoothMineral]

06:16 PM on 11/15/2010

This is a joke. I don't doubt that she was told her breasts were distracting, and perhaps there is an issue with that, but there has not been a woman in the history of the world who was fired for that reason.
No one who finds large breasts "distracting" is going to get rid of that distraction, and even if that were somehow possible, he wouldn't open himself up to litigation by telling her that was the reason for her firing.

[kylennblack]

04:18 PM on 11/15/2010

Why is this in the Style section? Anytime Gloria Allred is involved it should automatically be punted into Comedy.

[Cranmer1549]

02:15 PM on 11/15/2010

Gloria - you've gone too far this time.This woman doesn't have distracting breasts!

[DrSnuggles]

01:10 PM on 11/15/2010

Sorry to say, but my BS detector is going over the moon on this one. There is no way she was fired for having 'breasts that were too large'. For one thing, they aren't particularly large at all (as many of my fellow commenters have pointed out, with varying degrees of civility).

Also, I absolutely refuse to believe that someone TOLD her that she wasn't getting promoted because she was too 'sensual'. Not only for the telling part, but I doubt anyone with that type of prejudice is using the word 'sensual'.

It's clear what happened here, she is a habitual complainer and possibly self-victimizer (I'm not denying the possibility was justified), and THAT is why she was fired. The real question is whether she was fired for making the complaints at all (which means she still has a strong civil suit) or whether she was fired because she made her job about those problems. But that is of course not for me to decide, but for a judge/jury.

[KPinSEA]

11:10 AM on 11/15/2010

"No woman should ever be subjected to such sexist and derogatory remarks."

And the odds don't look good that anyone was subject to them here, this could only have less credibility if her lawyer was Baghdad Bob.

[imonlyhereforthelaughs]

10:41 AM on 11/15/2010

I'm not seeing what she's talking about. Is she referring to the size? Seriously? Did the employer have a problem with "Average-Sized" breasts? Do all of the women at the place of employment have much smaller than average breasts, thus giving her the illusion that she has a massive mammary problem?

Maybe she was confused. Maybe the circus music coming from her chest was the real cause of distraction, and not the size.

[Quasi Libertarian]

09:13 AM on 11/15/2010

I Guess Gloria has jettisoned that illegal Mexican that she used to keep Meg Whitman from being elected and has moved on to new prey...
She reminds me of Don King........

[nckl999]

08:59 AM on 11/15/2010

she's got an ugly jessica simpson type mug, too mannish.

[freddypudwacker]

08:25 AM on 11/15/2010

As opposed to the non-distracting kind.

[imonlyhereforthelaughs]

10:41 AM on 11/15/2010

Or the large kind. I'm not seeing large breasts anywhere on that video.

[wickedbangs]

07:00 AM on 11/15/2010

And here I thought she was gonna say she was fired after her sexual re-assignment surgery. She looks like a dude.

[Jdaddy1951]

06:21 AM on 11/15/2010

I did not feel distracted by her breasts.

(But Jdaddy, you're GAY!)

[Genders]

07:29 PM on 11/14/2010

Isn't distraction the point of big breasts?

[suemj]

08:57 AM on 11/14/2010

I do feel for this woman, as no one should have to suffer for what's been naturally given to them; But I'm always suspicious and worried when Gloria Allred is hired. Lately, she's been the laughing-stock as a cheap money-grubbing ambulance-chasing type attorney taking any case of women who appear to have caused a lot of their own problems, and deserved no compensation; And I'm afraid that this woman's case will be taken lightly also, and she'll be laughed at when she has legitimate claims. Good luck to her. Years ago, I used to admire Gloria Allred, but lately, she seems desperate and will say anything for her client that isn't true and doesn't make sense which I know is what they do; but at one time she used to have morals, and valued the truth with honest clients.