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Macy’s to Pay $650,000 to Resolve Bias Inquiry

Posted by Unknown on Tuesday, August 19, 2014

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N.Y. / Region |Macy’s to Pay $650,000 to Resolve Bias Inquiry



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After an 18-month investigation, Macy’s has agreed to pay a $650,000 fine and hire an independent monitor to address complaints that minority shoppers faced heightened surveillance and, in some cases, wrongful detention at its flagship store in Midtown Manhattan.


The investigation, conducted by the state attorney general’s office, reviewed the internal “loss prevention” procedures employed by Macy’s at its Herald Square store as well as allegations that black and Hispanic shoppers were unfairly targeted by security officials. The inquiry found that Macy’s “detained African-Americans, Hispanics and other minorities for allegedly shoplifting at significantly higher rates relative to whites,” a settlement agreement to be released on Wednesday said.



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  • Security personnel at Barneys New York said they had been encouraged to “take chances” in stopping suspicious customers because of thefts.

    Profiling Complaints by Black Shoppers Followed Changes to Stores’ Security PoliciesOCT. 29, 2013




“This agreement will help ensure that no one is unfairly singled out as a suspected criminal when they shop in New York,” the attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, said in a statement set to accompany the release of the settlement document, which covers all 42 Macy’s stores in New York State.


The deal with Macy’s comes a week after Mr. Schneiderman’s office reached a similar one with Barneys New York, which agreed to pay $525,000 and institute a host of reforms aimed at addressing allegations of racial profiling at its Madison Avenue store.


The Macy’s investigation included a review of complaints since 2007 from 18 minority shoppers who claimed they had been improperly detained at the Herald Square store. Among those who complained were a black woman confronted by security workers while riding an escalator with merchandise openly draped over her arm, and a black man in the store to exchange goods.


At the time of the earliest complaints, Macy’s was operating under a consent decree it had entered into with the attorney general’s office in 2005. That agreement, which ended in 2008, was also designed to resolve concerns that some of the store’s theft-prevention practices, including racial profiling and the handcuffing of suspects, violated antidiscrimination laws.


As part of the latest inquiry, investigators reviewed claims that some customers who spoke limited English had been denied an interpreter while being questioned about shoplifting accusations. The investigators also spoke with at least two Macy’s sales representatives who, the settlement agreement stated, said that store guards followed black and Hispanic shoppers “at rates far greater than that of white customers.”


Under the deal, Macy’s said that within three months it would hire an independent expert responsible for improving and monitoring its antishoplifting efforts over the next three years. Macy’s also agreed to enhance its record keeping related to training and security; distribute an anti-racial-profiling memorandum to workers; and drop a policy that allows guards to stop shoppers who take an item more than two floors from where they picked it up without buying it.


“Serving customers is what we are all about, and we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that all customers feel welcome at Macy’s and are treated with respect,” the company said in a statement.



A version of this article appears in print on August 20, 2014, on page A19 of the New York edition with the headline: Macy’s to Pay $650,000 To Resolve Bias Inquiry.




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