Abercrombie & Fitch to pay $40 million to settle discrimination case

[qanda]

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Abercrombie & Fitch has agreed to pay $40 million to black, Hispanic and Asian employees and job applicants to settle a class-action federal discrimination lawsuit that accused the clothing retailer of promoting whites at the expense of minorities, lawyers said Tuesday.

The settlement, approved Tuesday morning by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston, requires the company to adhere to a consent decree that calls for the implementation of new policies and programs to promote diversity and prevent discrimination in its workforce. It also must pay about $10 million to monitor compliance and cover attorneys' fees.

A spokesman for New Albany, Ohio-based Abercrombie & Fitch could not immediately be reached.

The lawsuit originally was filed last June in San Francisco by Hispanic and Asian groups charging that Abercrombie & Fitch, known for its "classic casual American" clothing styles, hires a disproportionately white sales force, puts minorities in less-visible jobs and cultivates a virtually all-white image in its catalogues and elsewhere. A second, similar lawsuit was filed against the company last November in New Jersey.

(more)

http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw107283_20041116.htm

[msgadget]

1. Would tort reform

make a suit like this impossible to file?

[Slowhand16]

2. Why am I not suprised...

:(

[Tomee450]

3. I hope this deters them from continuing

to discriminate. I think this was the case in which minorities were not considered attractive enough to be put in highly visible positions.

[goclark]

5. Happy happy happy !

I have never stepped foot into A and F.

I must have just felt funny for a reason.

[msgadget]

6. Not from what I saw on Black Friday.

A shirtless blond male model posing in the window and a non-diverse staff.

I'm not a fan of the clothes anyway but the young kids who shop there aren't exclusive, they just want the latest and I doubt business would slack off if, say, they put Tyson Beckford in the window. :crazy:

[Blue_Tires]

4. not that i ever bought any of their shit anyways

[Princess Turandot]

7. I'm might be wrong but I think awhile back they were also forced to..

pull a line of their t-shirts which had some incredibly insensitive tagline about Asians on it. I live in NYC and have never set foot in their store.

[jmm]

8. You're right

http://www.poppolitics.com/articles/2002-05-23-orientalistkitsch.shtml

I have to confess, I would rather wear plastic garbage bags and orange legwarmers (which I would do now if I could find some) than sport the sartorial remnants of Reagan-era preppie. And I was hardly shocked by the “Get Your Buddha on the Floor” or “Wok-n-Bowl, Let the Good Times Roll -- Chinese Food and Bowling” t-shirts, only the latest splashes in the tidal wave of kitsch merchandising and “orientalia” that’s been stocking store shelves for years now.

But what this particular instance does reveal is that the demand for mimetic realism and “positive” images of racial and ethnic populations in popular culture is often inadequate -- and fails to address the other, often more complicated messages embedded in these caricatures.