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Volume 13, Issue #2. Published on December 8, 2004
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ABERCROMBIE & FITCH TOO HIP FOR MINORITIES
Retailer settles class-action discrimination lawsuit lawsuit
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Donna Taketa
Asian Pacific Review
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Clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch will be revamping its classic American look--blond-haired, blue-eyed--and begin hiring a more diverse workforce.
In November, Abercrombie & Fitch settled a class-action federal discrimination lawsuit for a total of $40 million, plus $10 million to cover legal fees. The lawsuit charged the retailer with excluding minorities, while adopting a virtually all-white marketing campaign, reported the Associated Press.
A & F insists the settlement is not an admission of guilt, and denies the validity of the charges.
“We have, and always have had, no tolerance for discrimination. We decided to settle this suit because we felt that a long, drawn out dispute would have been harmful to the company and distracting to management,” chairman and CEO Mike Jeffries said in a statement.
Nine minority plantiffs, some students and graduates of Stanford University and the University of California, filed the lawsuit alleging they were denied jobs or fired based on race, reported the AP.
The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) in conjunction with the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund filled the lawsuit; they were later joined by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
In interviews, several Hispanic and Asian plaintiffs said they were encouraged to apply for stockroom and low profile jobs because store managers said they did not fit the Abercrombie & Fitch look.
The look, they contend, is essentially white-fair hair, skin, and eyes.
Accordingly, plaintiffs say, few minorities work on the sales floor or are represented in Abercrombie advertisements.
One plaintiff, Jennifer Lu, told the AP that she and four other Asian sales clerks were fired from an Abercrombie store in Costa Mesa, Ca. This occurred after a routine management inspection, which determined whether employees fit the Abercrombie and Fitch look. A corporate official decided there were too many Asians on the sales floor, and they were fired. Six white employees were hired to replace them.
The Times reported that an Abercrombie store in Boston had 110 employees, 106 being white.
“It’s quite clear that they go to great pains to make sure all of their managers and assistant managers know what they're looking for and what those managers will be judged on: does your work force fit our all-white image?” Thomas A. Saenz, vice president for litigation at the MALDEF told the Times.
In instances where minorities were hired, they received low profile jobs cleaning or working in the stockroom, away from the sales floor. They had a back-of-the-bus mentality.
As a result of the $40 million settlement, 23 Abercrombie former employees and applicants will receive $5,000 to $23,000 apiece. An additional 50,000 people are expected to apply for a portion of the settlement.
The company has also agreeded to hire diversity recruiters, in attempts to redefine their white image.
“Now instead of hiring them for the back, of the store, they will have diversity recruiters,” said Kimberly West-Faulcon, Western Regional Counselor for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.
This isn’t the retailer’s first brush with controversy. In April 2002, the retailer attracted controversy by selling derogatory Asian t-shirts. The shirts depicted cartoon Asian faces with slanted eyes and rice-paddy hats.
In one instance, a Wong Brothers Laundry shirt depicted a Chinese laundry, with the words, “Two Wongs can make a white.”
Others caricatures included rickshaws and pot-bellied Buddha figures with the words, “A & F Buddha Bash-get your Buddha on the floor.”
At the time, Abercrombie officials said they were perplexed by concerns of the offensive nature of the shirts, and said they were meant as entertainment.
Abercrombie was founded in 1892 as a supplier of rugged gear. It eventually was sold to The Limited, which markets exclusively to the youthful lifestyle. Abercrombie has over 700 stores with 22,000 employees.
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