3 Ex-Managers Sue Wet Seal Apparel Chain, Asserting Bias Against Blacks

[alp227]

Source: NYT

Three former managers at Wet Seal, a nationwide apparel retailer for young women, filed a federal race discrimination lawsuit on Thursday, asserting that the company had a high-level policy of firing and denying pay increases and promotions to African-American employees because they did not fit the retailer’s “brand image.”

The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Santa Ana, Calif., includes a copy of a March 2009 e-mail sent by the company’s then senior vice president for store operations to lower-level managers after she had inspected several stores, saying “African American dominate — huge issue.”

One plaintiff, Nicole Cogdell, the African-American former manager of a Wet Seal store in King of Prussia, Pa., said the company had terminated her the day after that e-mail was sent. She said that she had heard the senior vice president, Barbara Bachman, tell a district manager that she wanted someone with “blond hair and blue eyes.”

The lawsuit is seeking class-action status on behalf of more than 250 current and former black managers at Wet Seal, which has more than 550 stores across the nation and is based in Foothill Ranch, Calif.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/business/wet-seal-accused-of-racial-bias-by-3-ex-managers.html

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If that email is genuine, then this business does not belong in modern American society.

[progressivebydesign]

1. Sounds like they have it in writing.. I wish them the best with their lawsuit.

I will never spend another dime there.. and I did used to shop there.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. yup. seems like a pretty cut and dry case.

[MADem]

3. That senior vice president is a racist piece of shit.

I can't say I've ever heard of the place, and they don't sell anything I'd want to buy, but I hope they enjoy some misery as a consequence of this kind of prejudicial conduct.

[lunasun]

4. Good luck in retail 2012 if the only customers you have are blond and blue-eyed

[shanti]

5. this store is still around??

i remember it from the 60's. maybe it's time for them to go, since they can't keep up with the times.

[LynneSin]

6. Cheap made hoochie clothes that fall apart after a bit of use

I think there is one in every mall. Even when I was young enough to wear what they sold (and yes, small enough) I still wouldn't be caught dead in their clothes.

[msanthrope]

7. It looks like Ms. Bachman is not currently employed, according to LinkedIn.....

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/barbara-bachman/33/32b/270

Good.