NEW YORK—The City Commission on Human Rights has given 17 major retailers until Friday to disclose their loss prevention policies. The commission’s investigation was triggered by recent allegations of racial profiling at Barneys New York and Macy’s.
Both retailers have denied employee involvement in racial profiling, instead pointing the blame at the NYPD, which they claim acted independently in stopping and questioning black customers about credit card fraud.
Barneys said it investigated its employees’ actions in the two cases of alleged racial profiling, and then commissioned Michael Yaki, who serves on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, to complete an independent investigation.
Yaki reviewed Barneys’ policies and interviewed employees. He concluded that Barneys’ staff did not initiate police action against the two black customers who accused the retailer and the NYPD of racial profiling.
The retailers contacted by the Human Rights Commission include Sears, CVS, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s, Barneys, and Macy’s.
Human Rights commissioner Patricia Gatling said they will start to issue subpoenas on Monday to any retailers who have not responded.
Some retailers are already gathering the information, Gatling said at a City Council oversight hearing on Wednesday.
Allegations of Racial Profiling
NYPD detectives stopped 21-year-old Brooklyn woman Kayla Phillips three blocks from Barneys New York’s Madison Avenue store on Feb. 21. Phillips had just spent her tax return money on a Celine handbag worth $2,500.
Trayon Christian, a 19-year-old college student from Queens, alleged that police asked him “how a young black man such as himself could afford such an expensive purchase,” after he bought a $349 Ferragamo belt at Barneys in April.
Although Barneys denied any staff involvement in stopping the young man, Christian alleged that a Barneys New York clerk had asked to see his ID when he paid by debit card. Shortly afterward undercover detectives stopped him outside the store, accused him of credit card fraud, and took him to the 19th precinct stationhouse.
Actor Robin Brown, 29, filed a lawsuit against Macy’s Oct. 24 regarding a June incident in which he was detained in a holding cell and questioned about credit card fraud after buying a $1,300 Movado watch for his mother.
Council Member Jumaane Williams pushed the Human Rights Commission to send a letter to the NYPD asking about its loss prevention policies. Gatling said the Human Rights Commission has no jurisdiction over the NYPD, but does have jurisdiction over businesses in the city. She said she was reluctant to contact the NYPD before she had heard back from all the retailers.
The attorney general’s office is also investigating allegations of racial profiling at Barneys and Macy’s. On Oct. 28, the attorney general’s Civil Rights Bureau sent letters to executives from both retailers seeking information about their anti-discrimination polices, and those related to stopping customers suspected of shoplifting or credit card fraud.
In 2003, a class action lawsuit was filed against Macy’s for racial profiling of customers at their department stores, including Bloomingdale’s.
Later that year, the attorney general’s office started an investigation of Macy’s and filed a lawsuit against the retailer claiming that the store was discriminating against black and Hispanic customers. Macy’s settled the suit in 2005, and paid $600,000 in damages to customers who had reported being harassed by the stores’ security guards. Macy’s also agreed to change its security practices.
The NYPD, Macy’s, and Barneys representatives were absent from the City Council oversight hearing Wednesday, to the displeasure of some council members.
Barneys sent written testimony that was read during the hearing. Macy’s sent a letter that declined providing testimony because of lawsuits.
