Barneys To Pay $525,000 To Settle Allegations Of Racial Profiling
Barneys New York has agreed to pay $525,000 in fees and penalties following a nine-month investigation by the New York state attorney general into racial profiling at the luxury department store. Investigators reviewed a series of complaints from Barneys customers and former employees, who claimed that door guards would exclusively single out minority customers and that in-store detectives would follow these customers as they walked around. Some salespeople tried not to work with minority shoppers to avoid the hassle of being roped into investigations about them, the complaints alleged. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office found that a "disproportionate number" of black and Latino customers had been detained at Barneys on suspicion of shoplifting or credit card fraud. It concluded that Barneys lacked the proper "comprehensive written policies" to curb racial profiling.
