The One Instagram Photo That Almost Cost a Lesbian Her Job
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A 26-year-old woman in New York almost lost a job before she even started because of an Instagram photo. Samantha Chirichella was offered a job in Consolidated Edison’s legal department, but then the company reportedly did the stuff of nightmares.
They did a deep dive of her social media accounts, according to the New York Daily News, and came up with something they didn't like on her Instagram: a "sexually explicit image." To make it even more awkward, her father is a "lifer" at Con Edison, according to a press release sent to ATTN: by Chirichella’s attorney Arthur Schwartz.
Her Instagram is now private.
Instagram/schirichella - instagram.com
Chirichella filed a lawsuit against Con Edison in a Manhattan court. In court papers, she claimed that the picture in question is three years old, and it was a part of an art exhibit. She also claimed that the company didn't rescind its job offer because the photo was "sexually explicit," but rather she stated that they took the job back because the comments revealed that she's a lesbian. The photo shows women nibbling on each other's nipples.
You can see a screenshot of the picture below from the New York Daily News.
New York Daily News - nydailynews.com
Schwartz said that the picture was tasteful, according to the New York Daily News.
"The work was no more sexually explicit that the works of DaVinci, Titian or Michaelangelo, and less explicit that photos published in Sports Illustrated,” he wrote.
By Tuesday however, Con Edison apparently changed its mind and decided to hire Chirichella after all. Here is the statement from Schwartz about the renewed job offer:
“After we filed suit and there was a rush of media interest, counsel for Con Edison called and said that the company had rethought the decision and was now offering Ms. Chirichella an investigator position with their law department. We appreciate Con Edison’s rapid resolution of this dispute, and the sensitivity of the posting and its frank discussion of homosexuality. Ms. Chirichella is a smart, capable woman, whose father is a ‘lifer’ at Con Edison, and they will not regret this decision.”
