‘Profiling’ shredded
Barneys item-return insult: suit
A BLACK couple filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against Barneys Thursday — claiming the store hassled them when they tried to return a scarf and a pair of fancy jeans, the Daily News has learned.
Conrad Barton, 30, and Geneva Gordon, 25, of Elizabeth, N.J., went to the Barneys store on Seventh Ave. in Chelsea on Oct. 4 to return the items.
Barton paid $1,045 for the jeans and $321 for the scarf on Sept. 11, according to the suit filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court.
He left Gordon in the car and walked into the store to return the clothes, the suit said. Barton turned over the items. He also showed his debit card and two receipts for cash and debit purchases, the suit said.
A clerk told him to wait, Barton said. Fifteen minutes later, a man who claimed to be a store manager came out and demanded that he produce identification, the suit said. Barton argued that he didn’t need ID, court docs said.
The man talking to him said he was the manager — but he turned out to be a loss prevention officer, the suit said. The officer refused to give back the clothes or Barton’s debit card, court papers said.
“You’re being stereotyped when you are just following a regular store procedure,” said Barton, who works in transportation operations. “It shouldn’t have went down that route.”
A frustrated Barton went back to his car and Gordon then went inside. After arguing with the loss prevention officer, an actual store manager appeared and made the exchange, the papers said.
“I feel the whole situation was very disheartening and embarrassing and unnecessary,” Gordon said.
Barton and Gordon hired an attorney, who contacted Barneys lawyer Grace Fu. She initially assured him they were investigating, but then stopped communicating, the suit said. Barton and Gordon decided to sue the company. Fu did not return a call or an email seeking comment. A representative for Barneys declined comment.
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of cases involving allegations that black New Yorkers were unfairly targeted by Barneys employees. In 2014, Barneys was forced to pay $525,000 when the state attorney general’s office fined the store for racial profiling.
The AG found that store detectives were disproportionately asking sales associates to reprint receipts after minority customers made purchases and questioning clerks about purchases made by minorities.
In 2013, 19-year-old Queens student Trayon Christian sued the chain and the city after Barneys employees at the Madison Ave. store called cops and claimed he bought clothes using a fraudulent credit card. The case was settled in 2014, records show.