Following the immense backlash she received for furloughing her staff, more trouble is in store for Victoria Beckham.
As per reports, the designer’s clothing label is now getting sued by one of her former employees — a pattern cutter alleging that she developed serious hand injury after working 15 hours a day for Beckham.
Kristina Kubiliene, 54, claims that she had worked for the designer at her London studio for eight years, but had to quit in 2019 after she developed carpal tunnel syndrome from working 15 hours a day straight in the run-up to New York fashion week.
Kubiliene claims to have undergone surgery last year because of which she could no longer continue working.
As per her lawyer, she had developed the condition which causes numbness, tingling and pain in the hands and the fingers after she worked nonstop seven days a week, handling heavy fabrics and equipment.
Beckham was further accused of “failing to put measures in place to look after Kristina and prevent this from happening.”
Natasha Moyeed, an industrial disease lawyer, working for Kubiliene states that she “absolutely loved her job” and was “very good” at it.
“But because she was good she was tasked with working for long periods and with heavy fabrics. It was these repetitive, awkward and sustained movements which cause carpel tunnel syndrome to advance rapidly in hands and wrists.”
“When I last saw her she could barely open her handbag. She is unable to work and has had to undergo surgery to have any kind movement in her hands,” she added.
“Normally she worked 10am to 6pm, but twice a year for two weeks she attended New York fashion week. For a month beforehand her workload increased to up to 15 hours a day, seven days a week, without regular breaks or rest. During these times her hands and wrists were so sore she needed painkillers to work. Victoria Beckham Limited failed to put measures in place to look after Kristina and prevent this from happening,” Moyeed said further.
Earlier this month, the former Spice Girls member had faced immense outrage after it was discovered that she had utilized taxpayers’ money to furlough 30 of her staff members in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
