A fashion designer who worked for high-end coat company S. Rothschild & Co., which supplies DKNY and Tommy Hilfiger, has filed a federal sexual harassment lawsuit against her former boss, claiming that she had to leave the company in 2008 because of his "egregious sexual harassment." The Daily News obtained the court papers, which paint a pervy portrait of Michael Kaufman, the boss of plaintiff Maria Adamkiewicz. According to the lawsuit, Kaufman's quite the character, and loves spicing up boring meetings with antics like licking Adamkiewicz's hand. Which he then followed up with the age-old question, "Is that sexual harassment?"
That's now for a Manhattan court to decide. But Kaufman's bizarrely ribald shenanigans didn't stop there—the lawsuit claims he "once took off his belt in front of another employee, snapped it and said he was going to whip her with it—and dropped his pants on another occasion." Oh, and on a business trip to LA, "Kaufman pulled up next to a Hustler lingerie shop and told Adamkiewicz and a colleague they buy sex toys to use with their boyfriends." At least, that's what she said (in the lawsuit).
