Posted on 11/16/2004 5:23:51 PM PST by ConservativeStatement
Civil rights attorneys today announced the settlement of a class action lawsuit, Gonzalez v. Abercrombie & Fitch, requiring the retail clothing giant to pay $40 million dollars to Latino, African American, Asian American and women applicants and employees who charged the company with discrimination. The settlement, approved this morning by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston, also requires the company to institute a range of policies and programs to promote diversity among its workforce and to prevent discrimination based on race or gender.
(Excerpt) Read more at fox23news.com ...
Absolutely. A&F should just roll it up and let these crybabies suck wind. Highly unlikely, but still, these pansy-a$$es get away with this crap so much, it's sickening.
Let THEM explain why they all lost their jobs.
precisely...it's quotas by judicial fiat and can happen to anyone.
They used to be an outdoor, sporting, hunting, expedition outfitting company. They are a joke now and I hope the left strips them down to the carcass actually.
In her own mind she's a victim?!?!
When an organization makes specific moves to relegate people of color to certain positions and whites to others, that's racism, plain and simple. She may be making honest pay for doing honest work, but that doesn't change the fact that she's being put in the position of servant while whites are free from such duties. Somebody's gotta do it, yes, but why aren't those duties distributed fairly amongst all emplyees?
Having known people who've worked at A&F I've long been aware of the particular image they try to create. And while that's fine in the case of hair, makeup, piercings and other forms of personal expression, once you begin making decisions about your "image" on the basis of skin color there's no talking you way out of it. It's racism, end of story.
Maybe it doesn't bother you because you share A&F's POV, but if there's ever to be any real progress, this kind of nonsense has to stop.
I did maintenance at McDonald's when I was teenager, that meant cleaning sh*t up, literally. No racism involved, just that someone has to do it. I am in the trash business, do you know how many minorities are trash men? Is it racism, hell no. They are proud of what they do and they make good money. If someone is "too good" to do something and considers it "humilating" and "racist" then that is their problem. I am a sure Abercrombie and Fitch has hundreds of whites doing these same things in many of their locations. Give me a break.
More than likely... she is fat, ugly (and just happens to be black...) I have noticed that hot looking, CUTE black girls get to work the floor and deal with customers, while UGLY fat girls (who happen to be WHITE) also get the bucket and mop jobs.
Image is everything in retail.
People who stink can't work with customers. People with running sores and constanty erupting acne, don't do well in jobs where attracting the public is key. WHO wants to do diet and weight training with some 'fat albert' who can't even reach, let alone scratch, his own butt?
Call it whatever you want, ugly people work the office, or the field. Good lookers get the 'face jobs'.
Abercrombie has an image. Sexy, fit, young, energetic, preppie, young adult, perfect abs and a tiny waist. You fit that image, you can get the job. If not, I guess you can blame it on racism... if you also happen to be... black.
There's no reason why the minorities in the trash biz should not feel proud, they're doing tough work and putting food on the table. God bless em. But if for some reason a garbage company had whites pick up only recyclables and other "clean" garbage and had its minority crews deal with the nasty stuff you'd have to say something was up. They were hired to do the same job but decisions have been made along racial lines to have them do different work.
At A&F, if everybody who was hired to do the same job actually had the same responsibilties they'd have nothing to complain about. But the fact is the plantiffs in this case were actively singled out by their respective managers under a coordinated effort to place whites in the position to create an identity for the company. This isn't about minorities sick of doing the dirty work, it's about a corporate policy of discrimination in the work place which is illegal.
So if making decisions about your work force on the basis of race is not racism lmr, then please explain what is because I obviously don't know. The words seem to match up so well, maybe I'm confused.
Sorry for multiple posts... lagging for some reason.
I say we go after FUBU.
I can certainly agree with you that $40M is a ridiculous figure. Though I'm sure it's more about greedy lawyers trying to drive up their fees than an indicator of the injustice these people feel. Given JJ's record I can understand how people would have an immediate distaste for this sort of litigation. But the facts are readily available and it is clear there was a corporate policy of discrimination in place which was practiced in stores around the country. The lawsuit has a a basis in reality even if the payout does not.
In the end what matters is that the $40M gets their attention, and that of any other company that may want to engage in similar practices. Corporations are all about the bottom line and they need to understand that getting caught using illegal pratices (whether in hiring or bookkeeping) is going to cost a heck of a lot more that doing the right thing. So whether its discrimination or cooking the books, it's not just that it's illegal, it's immoral. I think we can all come together on the idea that corporations (and their customers) would be greatly serviced by four letters: WWJD.
40 million dollars wow thats nothing to them
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