Suit against Edible Arrangements alleges discrimination

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A Wallingford woman worked as a top-level financial executive for Edible Arrangements for 16 months now is suing the company and its chief executive officer, Tariq Farid, alleging that he discriminated against her and created a hostile workplace environment.

The lawsuit filed by Tara Perino, who worked as controller at the Wallingford-based company from May 2011 to September 2012, alleges Farid routinely belittled her work, even though she had received strong performance reviews and a raise. Perino also alleges that in September 2012, just weeks before she was replaced as controller, Farid approached her, lifted up his shirt and asked her to look at his abdominal muscles, according to legal papers filed in the case.

The lawsuit was filed late last September, but has not yet gone to trial, said Scott Lucas, the Fairfield County attorney who is handling Perino’s case.

“We’re still in the exploratory stages,” Lucas said, declining further comment on the case.

Perino is seeking compensatory damages, including any back pay and bonuses that she might have received if she had remained in the controller’s position.

Calls seeking comment from Farid, who is a Cheshire resident, and other Edible Arrangements officials were not returned on Friday. Edible Arrangements is a franchising business that specializes in making fresh fruit arrangements, similar to what florists do with flowers.

Much of the 17-page lawsuit is spent detailing examples of how employees at Edible Arrangements who are of South Asian descent or are practicing Muslims received preferential treatment. Tariq Farid and his brother Kamran, who co-founded the company and is its chief operating officer, are active in the Muslim community in Connecticut, according to legal papers.

Perino is white, but the lawsuit does not make any reference to her religion.

Perino has worked as chief financial officer at two national corporations and upon joining Edible Arrangements, reported directly to George Wilson, the company’s chief financial officer who is still in that position.

Perino’s troubles with Tariq Farid began in May 2012, when he accused her of failing to perform certain duties involving the company’s Dubai office, according to legal papers. Perino alleges that Tariq Farid called her “an arrogant woman” and a “monkey b----” in criticizing her handling of the matter, which she claims was brought to his attention by Shama Mohamed, a Muslim woman who managed the Dubai office.

After the incident, Perino complained to Wilson and to the head of Edible Arrangements legal department. When her complaints were not acted upon, Perino also complained to Mavis Pemberton, who was acting head of the company’s human resources department at the time.

According to legal paper, Pemberton agreed to help Perino resolve the problem, but terminated from her position by Tariq Farid.

Despite her problems with Tariq Farid in 2012, Perino got two raises that year, totalling $16,000. But on Sept. 24 of that year, Perino was replaced as controller by Sania Mahmood, a 25-year-old who is described in the lawsuit as a Muslim woman of South Asian descent “who was far less qualified than the plaintiff and many of the other non-Muslim Causcasian employees in the accounting department.”

Edible Arrangements has more than 1,100 franchised locations worldwide.

Call Luther Turmelle at 203-789-5706. Have questions, feedback or ideas about our news coverage? Connect directly with the editors of the New Haven Register at AskTheRegister.com.