After a nine-month investigation by the office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Barneys New York has agreed to pay $525,000 to settle allegations of racial profiling from two customers who were detained after making purchases at the Madison Avenue store last year. “This agreement will continue our work to ensure there’s one set of rules for everyone in public accommodations, including customers in New York’s retail establishments. This agreement will correct a number of wrongs, both by fixing past policies and by monitoring the actions of Barneys and its employees to make sure that past mistakes are not repeated,” announced Schneiderman. The Attorney General's Office found that Barneys' Loss Prevention department detained a disproportionate number of minority shoppers for shoplifting and credit card fraud, and deemed its record keeping and basic methods to be generally sloppy and sub-standard. The chain will now take up several measures to correct its lapses including retaining an independent anti-profiling consultant who will help the store institute racially neutral loss prevention practices along with instituting new policies to help prevent future incidents such as the ones that caused the investigations last year. New training for both security and sales associates will be implemented, and the store's contact with local law enforcement will be adjusted and properly documented.
There's no word yet on how the State's Attorney General's office will handle similar charges against Macy's that surfaced shortly after the allegations against Barneys broke, but there's no doubt that retailers all over the city will be closely following the results of both settlements so they can avoid similar reputations tarnishing scandals.
Barneys Settles Racial Profiling Cases (WWD)
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