Barneys New York has agreed to pay $525,000 to settle a lawsuit over claims that it targeted black and Latino customers for credit-card fraud checks and surveillance while they shopped in its luxury clothing stores, city officials said on Monday, according to The Associated Press.
The lawsuit followed claims last fall that the store falsely accused two African-American customers of credit card fraud at the Barneys store in Manhattan, sparking protests and calls to boycott the chain, the AP reported.
"Profiling and racial discrimination remain a problem in our state, but not one we are willing to accept," New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement, according to the AP.
"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," Schneiderman said, the AP reported.
Under the settlement, Barneys will pay a $525,000 fine, hire an anti-profiling consultant and re-train its employees, Schneiderman said, according to the AP. Following the complaints, the attorney general's office investigated other possible racial profiling incidents at Barneys stores.
The complaints they reviewed from several customers and former Barneys employees included claims that door guards exclusively marked minority customers for surveillance and in-house detectives followed minority customers even when sales associates said the customers were frequent patrons of the store, Schneiderman said, the AP reported.
Some sales associates avoided serving minority clients so they would not be contacted by store security who would want to investigate the customers' credit card purchases, Schneiderman added, according to the AP.
In a statement, Barneys said it was pleased to have reached an agreement with the state, the AP reported.
"We are a truly progressive company that has absolutely no tolerance for discrimination of any kind," the company said in a statement, according to the AP.
Barney's has been around for more than 90 years, is privately-held and operates at least 17 department stores in the United States in addition to its outlet stores, the AP reported.
