€4.7m for worker fired from modelling agency

A New York jury has ordered Elite Model Management agency to pay €4.7m to a former employee who said she was fired after complaining that cigarette smoke in the office aggravated her asthma.

The Supreme Court jury awarded the money to Victoria Gallegos, 32, after finding that Elite subjected her to a hostile work environment and fired her because of her asthma and her complaints.

Ms Gallegos was sacked in 1999, seven weeks after she was hired at 100,000 a year to eventually run the to agency’s New York office.

She sued under the city’s Human Rights Law, which requires employers to accommodate employees’ disabilities.

Elite’s lawyer, Robert Goodman, told the judge that the agency would appeal the award.

The agency represents some of the industry’s top models, including Claudia Schiffer and Laura Cisneros.