Former Liberty beauty consultants sue concession employer for racial discrimination

Three ‘beauty consultants’ are suing the company that runs the cosmetic counters at department store Liberty.

Darshana Patel, Semone Ballin, and Leena Chaudhary all worked for Hourglass at the Regent Street store. They are taking the case to an employment tribunal. The women are claiming £38,000 for sex discrimination, breach of contract, race and religious discrimination and unfair dismissal.

Patel wanted to write a beauty blog, but believes she was not allowed due to her skin colour: “I was told I could only do this as a 'ghost writer'. I then found out that Josh Collier (Caucasian) was able to do this freely. I felt that the respondent did not want to be associated with people of colour.”

In another alleged incident, an employee was asked to look more “Western” when she was appearing in a promotional online video.