Nov 19, 2009 6:07 am US/Eastern
Famed B&H Photo Hit With Discrimination Suit
$8 Million Lawsuit Alleges Store Doesn't Allow Saleswomen
Reporting
Lou Young
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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A New York institution, B&H Photo, is being sued for $8 million in a discrimination lawsuit.
CBS
A gender bias suit has been leveled against a New York institution.
A popular store on 34th Street has been charged with discrimination by several women who say the make-up of the store's male dominated sales staff is no accident.
For camera and audio buffs, B&H Photo can be a Disneyland of delights but now the iconic New York electronics store is being sued for allegedly barring women from the far side of the sales counter.
Nakisha Cushnie is a B&H cashier who's said her ambitions were blocked by the store's unwritten promotion policy.
"It didn't seem complicated. If guys can do it why can't I do it?" Cushnie said.
But when she asked ownership if she could go into sales she was told, "That I couldn't because I'm a woman. That simple. That's it," Cushnie said.
And that's the crux of the $8 million lawsuit -- that although women are employed as greeters or cashiers, the sales and management of the sprawling retail business is almost exclusively male. Two other women who've joined the suit said they applied for sales jobs and were passed over. Their lawyer said it's a pattern.
"This is not a situation were women are being relegated to back-of-the-bus status. This is a situation where women aren't even being allowed to ride the bus," Richard Ancowitz said.
The company's statement was a simple denial:
"B&H has a policy of not discriminating against employees and applicants which we strictly follow. We have just found out about these allegations and we take them very seriously and will investigate."
B&H vice president Herschel Jacobowitz told CBS 2 HD he does employ women as sales people but he wouldn't go on camera and we didn't see any at the store Wednesday. Neither did any of the customers we spoke with.
"I've gone to the store many times and I've never seen any women," said Saul Farash, adding when asked if he thinks there might be something to this discrimination suit, "There might be, there might be."
CBS 2 HD was shown one likely lawsuit exhibit Wednesday -- a B&H employee magazine -- in which every picture inside is of a man.
This isn't the first time B&H has been sued for its employment practices. Back in April, the store paid $4 million to Hispanic warehouse workers who claimed they were denied promotions.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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