San Francisco, CA --- December 8, 2005--In the midst of its heaviest
sales season of the year, Best
Buy, a multi-billion dollar national electronics chain, is being
charged with violating federal and state laws against race and sex
discrimination in employment.
Claiming that women and minorities, specifically African Americans and
Latinos, are paid less than white males, denied promotions, and assigned
to less desirable positions, current and former employees of Best Buy
today (December 8, 2005) filed a federal class action civil rights
lawsuit, Holloway et al. v. Best Buy Co, Inc., this morning in U. S.
District Court in San Francisco. Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys
from Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP and Schneider Wallace Cottrell Brayton Konecky LLP.
"Best Buy is touting its modern, high-tech products for customers this
holiday season. The company's views of women and minority employees,
however, remain outdated and obsolete," said attorney Bill Lann Lee of
Lieff Cabraser. Lee is the former Assistant Attorney General for Civil
Rights in the U.S. Department of Justice.
"This company operates through a corporate culture of racial and gender
stereotypes," stated Todd Schneider
of Schneider Wallace Cottrell Brayton Konecky LLP. "Best Buy
enforces a nationwide policy that results in the preference of white
male employees in hiring and for desirable job assignments. The low
number of women and minorities employed by Best Buy sets it apart from
other large retailers."
As an example of the corporate culture of stereotyping, the lawsuit
describes how Best Buy's policy of "segmentation" requires managers and
salespeople to target one of four composite customer types, all white,
and only one female. These are: "Barry," a male with a six-figure income
who purchases what he wants regardless of cost; "Ray," a male who likes
electronic gadgets but may not always be able to afford what he wants;
or "Buzz," a young male interested in gaming and playstations who makes
small purchases. The only female customer to whom Best Buy markets
confirms gender stereotypes: "Jill" is "Barry's" wife -- a stay-at-home
soccer mom.
Vallejo resident Jasmen Holloway, 22, worked at the Marin City Best Buy
from January 2001 until August 2005. "After I had worked there for more
than four years, I was interviewed for a promotion and requested a pay
increase. The promotion was given to a white man with less experience
than me. I was refused the raise because they said that I had reached
the maximum salary cap for my position -- but I later learned that less
experienced, white male employees with fewer qualifications were paid
more than I was."
"I was angry at the way that I and other minorities in the store were
treated," added Holloway, who is African American. "When I complained to
the human resources department, they did nothing -- so I filed a
complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission."
Cheryl Chappel, 40, currently an Administrative Senior at the Mira Mesa
Best Buy, was passed over for promotion in favor of a part-time male
employee, despite Chappel's excellent performance reviews and more
extensive experience. Best Buy managers told her she was not promoted to
operations supervisor because it was "a man thing," and that there were
few women on the sales floor because "girls can't sell."
Chappel, who has also worked at the Best Buy in Chico, was consistently
paid less than male employees in comparable positions at both sites.
When she realized this was a pattern for women employees, she filed a
charge against Best Buy with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC).
Additional plaintiffs include another woman from the Chico store and
three African American male employees from the Marin City store who were
paid less, denied promotions, assigned fewer scheduled hours and
received unequal job assignments and unequal training opportunities than
white males. The men were refused sales jobs, even though they had prior
experience in cell phone and electronics sales. One African American
employee was awarded store MVP, yet nevertheless received lower pay than
white employees in comparable jobs.
The lawsuit charges that Best Buy recruits, hires and maintains a
disproportionately white and male sales force from which it then
promotes a disproportionately white male management force. Nationwide,
more than 80% of store managers, the top job in a store, are white men,
less than 10% are women, and less than 10% are African-American or
Latino. "Qualified women and minority applicants are turned away,"
charged Lee, "and even when the company does hire them, it generally
does not permit them to work on the sales floor -- the pathway to
promotion. Rather they are segregated to the stock room, cashier
stations, and minor sales positions."
"Our plaintiffs' experiences are not isolated examples of employment
practices or individual decisions," added attorney Schneider. "On the
contrary, they are representative of Best Buy's systematic
discrimination against women, African Americans and Latinos."
The lawsuit charges that Best Buy is violating federal and state civil
rights laws prohibiting employment discrimination based on race or
gender. The suit is seeking an injunction against Best Buy's
discriminatory practices and the institution of company programs to
ensure equal employment opportunities for women and people of color. In
addition, the suit is seeking back pay for all plaintiffs.
Best Buy Company, Inc., a Minnesota-based corporation specializing in
consumer electronics, operates 679 retail stores throughout the United
States and has approximately 107,000 employees. Over 10% of its stores
are in California. Its revenue in 2005 totaled $27.4 billion.
