Barney’s has landed in yet another lawsuit based off of reported discriminatory practices. According to the New York Daily News, a black couple from New Jersey filed a lawsuit against the major retail store on Thursday (Dec. 8), stating that while returning two items to the Seventh Ave. location in New York City, they experienced ill treatment from the staff.
Conrad Barton, 30, planned to return jeans worth $1,045 and a scarf priced at $321, but when he approached the counter with the necessary proof in order to get his money back, a loss prevention officer intervened — originally posing as the store’s manager — and required Barton to produce his ID.
After Barton said the exchange didn’t require him to show his ID, the loss prevention officer refused to return his debit card and clothes. Barton headed back to the car where his partner, Geneva Gordon, was seated, and explained the situation. They both re-entered Barney’s, and the store’s real manager remedied the dispute and fulfilled the exchange.
“You’re being stereotyped when you are just following a regular store procedure,” Barton said. “It shouldn’t have went down that route.” He added that the experience left him embarrassed and was “unnecessary.”
After a 2014 investigation into Barney’s reported racial profiling methods, the state attorney general’s office ordered the corporation to pay a fine of $525,000. The investigation also discovered that New York store clerks were required to reprint receipts once a customer of color bought an item.
