‘Hideous’ bullying was common at Lorna Jane, former staff claim

FITNESS label Lorna Jane has been plunged into a new public relations disaster with claim standover tactics, bullying and intimidation were common in their Australian stores.

Lorna Jane

FITNESS label Lorna Jane has been plunged into a new public relations disaster with claim standover tactics, bullying and intimidation were common in at least one of their Australian stores.

Former employees have spoken out about their experiences, telling the Courier Mail the stores had a “hideous bullying” culture which was nothing like the empowerment message the chain of stores was built on.

Instead the former staff say standover tactics from senior staff was a regular thing.

“There was a lot of bullying, I left there a nervous wreck. I saw three managers come and go in two years for similar reasons.”

The stress was so bad many former retail assistants and managers complained of losing weight from it. In some cases harassing calls from head office were constant throughout the day.

After the controversial job ad that said staff had to be have specific body measurements, this week founder and designer Lorna Jane Clarkson defended her business by saying her staff came in “all shapes and sizes”. But ex-staff say that isn’t correct.

“They have hired a couple of bigger girls here and there but very, very rarely,” one ex-manager told the Courier Mail. “The only reason I believe they ever hired bigger girls was because they didn’t receive the interest from smaller ones and that’s because they didn’t treat them well enough.”

It is understood that one size 14 girl quit after just three months, while the business generally is understand to have had a high staff turnover.

“She didn’t like the way head office treated the staff … most of the other staff were attractive, fit and small,” another ex-employee said.

Others who spoke to the newspaper said they were given direct orders by managers not to speak to founder Lorna Jane Clarkson during a store visit “unless spoken to”.

“We were told to wait until she spoke to us first, I was so happy to have the job at first I just did as I was told,” one woman said.

“Getting the job was hard enough, we had to role play in groups and were numbered, like an audition.”

The Lorna Jane Company refused to comment.