Designer stores to implement series of changes after two black shoppers were detained after making purchases

New York’s state attorney general on Monday settled allegations of racial profiling at Barneys, one of the city’s most famous department stores, in a controversy that had dragged in rap mogul Jay Z.

Eric Schneiderman launched an investigation into the designer store nine months ago amid a wider probe into allegations of racism at other famous New York shopping sites including Macy’s.

Barneys has now agreed to pay $525,000 in fees and penalties and to implement a series of changes to ensure it does not discriminate against black and Hispanic customers.

“Profiling and racial discrimination remain a problem in our state, but not one we are willing to accept. This agreement will continue our work to ensure there’s one set of rules for everyone in public accommodations, including customers in New York’s retail establishments,” Schneiderman said. “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’s office investigated claims that:

Door guards identified minority customers exclusively as warranting surveillance;



In-store detectives followed minority customers, even when the customers had been identified by sales associates as clients and frequent patrons of the store;



In-store detectives disproportionately asked sales associates to reprint receipts after minority customers made purchases in order to confirm the purchases were legitimate;



In-store detectives disproportionately called sales associates who handled and completed minority customers’ transactions in order to investigate the customers’ credit card use; and



Some sales associates avoided serving minority customers so they would not be contacted by loss-prevention employees seeking to investigate the use of credit cards by minority customers.



The investigation came after two black shoppers filed lawsuits against Barneys alleging racial discrimination last year. Trayon Christian, a college student from Queens, sued the store and the New York police department after he was arrested at the luxury department store in April last year following the purchase of a $350 Salvatore Ferragamo belt.

Christian was stopped by undercover officers who allegedly asked “how a young black man such as himself could afford to purchase such an expensive belt”.

Police allegedly accused Christian of using a fake ID when he produced the credit card and receipt for belt. He was handcuffed and taken to a local precinct. Replying to the suit in July this year the NYPD “acted reasonably in the proper and lawful exercise of their discretion”. The case continues.

In another case, Kayla Phillips, a nursing student from Brooklyn, sued Barneys after she was detained following the purchase of a $2,500 Céline bag at the store in February 2013.

Phillips told the Daily News she bought the bag with the money from a tax return. After leaving the Madison Avenue store, she said she was surrounded by four undercover police officers at the subway station.

The controversy led to protestors targeting Jay Z, who partnered with Barneys last year for a holiday sale of luxury merchandise. More than 59,000 signed a petition at Change.org calling for the rapper to scrap the deal.

An internal Barneys report obtained by the Associated Press last year put the blame for the arrests on the police. According to the report, Barneys did not “request, require nor initiate the actions of the New York police department”.

As a result of the investigation Barneys will make several changes including retaining an independent anti-profiling consultant and establish new record keeping requirements on investigations, detentions and false stops conducted by loss-prevention employees. The store will also limit access to its closed-circuit TV areas by local law enforcement officers and maintain records of visits by local law enforcement officers as well as developing anti-profiling training for loss-prevention and sales employees.

A spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office said they could not comment on the Macy’s investigation but confirmed it was ongoing. Macy’s was sued last year by actor Rob Brown, who has appeared in The Dark Knight Rises and HBO series Treme, after he was detained for nearly an hour by police about possible credit card fraud. Brown settled the suit earlier this year.

Macy’s was sued in 2005 previous attorney general Eliot Spitzer for alleged profiling of black and Hispanic customers.