PARIS (Times Online) - L'Oréal, the French cosmetics giant, was found guilty of racial
discrimination after the highest court in France heard that executives had
sought an all-white team of sales staff to promote its shampoos.
La Cour de Cassation was told that Garnier, L'Oréal's beauty products division, tried to keep black, Asian and Arab women from selling its Fructis shampoo in French supermarkets.
Adecco, the temporary recruitment agency whose Districom division hired the hostesses, was also found guilty of racial discrimination.
L'Oréal expressed "disappointment" over the judgment, which ends three years of legal wrangling over the discrimination claims.
Adecco declined to comment.
Samuel Thomas, the vice-chairman of SOS Racisme, the anti-racist campaign group, described the ruling as a "very great victory".
The court was told that a Disticom executive had sent a fax in 2000 saying that Garnier's hostesses should be aged 18 to 22, wear size 38 to 42 clothes and be "BBR".
This stands for "bleu, blanc, rouge" (blue, white, red) — the colours of the French flag — and is a well-known code for white people, La Cour de Cassation was told.
