Macy’s settles racial profiling allegations from shoppers
Macy’s is to pay $650,000 (£390,000) to settle claims it racially profiled and detained ethnic minority shoppers at its flagship Manhattan shop.
Under a deal with New York’s attorney-general Macy’s agreed to a series of changes at its 42 stores across the state.
Staff at Macy’s, one of US retailing’s big names, were said to have targeted shoppers because of their colour.
Last month, Mr Brown, who appeared in the HBO drama Treme, settled with Macy’s and the New York Police Department over claims he was accused of credit card fraud because he was black.
Employees at Macy’s detained 1,947 people at the Manhattan store, while a further 6,000 people were held at other stores in New York state, the investigation found.
As part of the settlement, the retailer will adopt new policies against profiling including training employees, give police access to its security cameras, investigate customer complaints, and keep better records of detentions.
Macy’s said that any occurrence of such behaviour would not be tolerated.
The attorney-general’s civil rights bureau reached a similar agreement with rival retailer Barneys earlier this month.
Source: BBC
