A fashion executive was so relentlessly harassed by her creepy, octogenarian boss who had a “type” for blondes that she dyed her hair brown to make herself less attractive, only to be assaulted and fired, court documents say.
Stephanie Coppin, a 38-year-old mother, claims in a new lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court that she was hired by Manhattan coat maker Fleet Street in August 2023, but was fired a few months later when CEO and president Manny Haber sexually assaulted her and she could no longer tolerate the situation.
“I was fired for not doing what he wanted,” Coppin recently told The Washington Post.
Ms. Coppin, 38, alleges that she was sexually harassed and assaulted by her 83-year-old Manhattan boss.
From the beginning, Harbour, 83, began sexually harassing the mother of one, according to the lawsuit and Coppin.
During an interview with Harbour on August 1, 2023, he said, “Wow, you [a] According to court documents, she was supposed to be hired as an account executive, not a model, but was asked by store associates to try on clothes as a “spectacle to behold.”
Within Coppin’s first week at her new job at a women’s coat wholesaler, other employees made comments like, “Another blonde, wow,” and “He definitely has a type,” the lawsuit says.
When Coppin was given the office she coveted, one employee commented that “the young blonde got the job she wanted because of her father,” court documents state.
According to the lawsuit, Haber also constantly commented on Ms. Copan’s appearance, regularly called her after work and frequently invited her out for drinks, which she declined. He also frequently asked her to try on and model outerwear, and would graze her breasts over her clothes under the pretext of modeling.
Copan said her boss regularly dressed her in model clothes, invited her out drinking, and touched her inappropriately.
Then one night, after an after-hours meeting at Manhattan’s Plaza Hotel, he lured her to his Brooklyn apartment, the lawsuit and plaintiffs say.
According to court documents, Harbour told Coppin that the driver would take her to his home in Clifton, New Jersey, and drop her off at his apartment.
But when they arrived at Haber’s house, he persuaded a reluctant Coppin to come see his home, assuring him that there was a housekeeper so they wouldn’t be alone, the lawsuit alleges.
According to court documents, Haber lured Coppin into a bedroom and showed her a view of the city from the window, then approached her, kissed her, exposed himself to her and then grabbed her hand and made her touch his penis.
The plaintiffs allege that the elderly defendants frequently called them outside of working hours and left voicemails.
According to the lawsuit, Coppin froze during the terrifying attack, but then realized he might rape her if she didn’t act.
“She pushed him away and ran from the room,” court documents allege.
“I was shaking. I was in a daze when I came out of that building,” Copan said. “I still didn’t understand what had happened to me. I just wanted to go home.”
When she got home, “I couldn’t even look at my son,” Coppin said through tears. “I went right in the shower. [Then] I hid in my room.”
Coppin said she didn’t tell her husband at the time because he already suspected she was cheating because she didn’t respect work boundaries, such as frequently calling him after hours.
Copan said the calls led her estranged husband to believe she was cheating on him.
She said the incident left her traumatised and she cried many times at work afterwards.
Coppin also said she then asked her husband to stop asking her out on dates. “I really love my job and I don’t want this to interfere with my job,” court documents state.
“It’s not going to work out for you,” he responded threateningly, according to the lawsuit.
“He started getting really mean to me,” Coppin said.[He] He never admitted to what he did and never apologized.
“It was painful every day to see him try to put me in positions where he could touch me and grope me,” she explained. “Every day I wanted to quit. He was always humiliating me.”
Just a month later, on Nov. 16, 2023, Haber called an all-company meeting and fired Coppin the same day, “ridiculing” her in front of all other employees and calling her “incompetent,” Coppin told The Washington Post.
Mother of one says she was sexually assaulted in her boss’ apartment. Bridget Stelzer
Coppin said she has been unable to find work since the incident and that her life has been disrupted financially and personally, adding that she is currently in the process of divorce proceedings.
“I don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” Coppin said of one of the reasons she filed the lawsuit. “I’ve suffered, not just financially, but it’s affected my marriage.”
Coppin said she was forced to seek therapy, burst into tears and suffered from low self-esteem. She added that she had previously bleached her hair blonde but chose to keep it dark because she “didn’t want to be looked at.”
She has been searching for work ever since she lost her job, was forced to move to her sister’s house in Edgewater, New Jersey after splitting with her husband, and is now considering moving to Dallas, Texas, where the cost of living is lower, because she can no longer afford to remain tri-state as a single mother.
Copan says she changed her blonde hair to dark hair because of unwanted attention: her creepy boss liked blondes.
“I’m applying every week,” Coppin said of her job search.
Ms Coppin’s lawyer, Mark Cillian, told The Washington Post that he and his client “want justice and accountability” for her mistreatment at the company.
“Stephanie bravely stood up to inappropriate advances and was subsequently subjected to retaliation by Mr. Haber,” Cillian said in a statement. “This behavior is unacceptable and a clear violation of her rights.”
Harbour and Fleet Street lawyers named in the lawsuit did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
