B&H Photo will pay $3.2 million to settle federal discrimination case

Welll all I can say is this: 3.2 million that is a lot of bucks. I do not care what exactly B&H did but that amount is excessive and I look to higher prices to compensate for this award. B&H did not kill anybody unjustifyable. This so call crime is not worth 3.2 million no matter how you slice it! It is time this country got real! It's as bad as Trump's so-called error in speak, does not justify impeachment. Let's get real! It is time a judge was appointed to hear such a case as this and make a reasonable judgement. Say a years salary if they(the contested) were employed.

B&H's policies were shameful. Over the past 10 years, I've bought more than $20,000 worth of gear from them. I am now less likely to place my business with B&H.

If they are hiring for a certain demographic of people, the people that are taking the interview also have the right to not accept the position ! So what are they doing wrong understanding the allegations ?

I don't see B&H management as having a particularly prejudiced or racist attitude. It's very easy to get slapped with one of these suits and if you don't have every little thing in order, the accusations can stick even if they're mostly bogus.

It's not enough that a company's management isn't racist, they have to police their foremen and managers to make sure they're behaving properly. If you're not exercising diligent oversight in this matter, your warehouse can go south real fast and become very divided along racial lines, almost like gangs. I ran into this unfortunately at one point.

I don't care who and how runs B&H, because as a customer I don't know any better business for my needs.
But from articles like this we can clearly see who and how runs DPR...
It's sad that DPR is slowly but surely turning into another politicized blowhorn.

I've been to their store dozens of times and I find it a well oiled machine staffed with knowledgeable, friendly, employees. I do not question their hiring practice because it just works.

If there is any bias here then it is economic, and not racial. B&H has a "bias towards making profits and staying in business."

ALL well run companies hire the best candidates who are willing to work for the least pay. This isn't racism.... it is capitalism. If those workers happen to be Hispanic, then that wasn't because B&H wants to exploit them. It is because they are the best workers who are willing to work for the least pay.

Amazon, Walmart, Target, UPS, Toyota and everyone else does the exact same thing. But since they aren't owned by "religious Jews" no one seems to notice it or have a problem with it.

The only employer who doesn't hire the best people willing to work for the least salary is the U.S. Post Office. And this might explain why they are constantly losing money, and why FedEx and UPS are thriving.

Shocking how many commenters are correlating the story of bad business practise with the ethnicity of the business owners; as if these practises of poor pay, discrimination harassment are only present in businesses owned by certain people who ‘observe the Sabbath’.

It’s truly sad that ignorance and prejudice has gained licence even in photography forums. Shame.

Interesting that the labor department tried first to get an informal agreement with B&H to fix the problems, and failed at this. So they had to bring the lawsuit to get the problem fixed.
Many thanks to DPR for linking to an in-depth story in the article above. My wife worked in this area as a lawyer, and found all this very interesting.
I can see that having a homogenous ethnic workforce in the warehouses could lead to a more efficient and conflict-free operation, but we don't do this anymore!

ATT: Mr Posner,

Please note the comments DPR/AMAZON has allowed here along with the M E G A sized B&H logo to open the story on the homepage, seems their true colors may very well be showing.

What a shame. I really liked them, great international service, products and prices. I must admit my spider senses pricked up when they made a point of saying they don't take orders on the Sabbath. Who does that? I'll still use them but I think I'll be looking for better bargains.

The warehouses are closed environments out of sight of the customer. B&H found that Hispanics males would work cheap and created a warehouse class employee. All Hispanic so they would understand each other, all low paid, no perspective. You never move from warehouse to store front. Next step will be to outsource warehousing so B&H doesn't have to bother with employee rights any more and can just sign a performance agreement with a warehousing company. There is always a race to to bottom where working conditions are concerned. It's the lowest paid workers that pay for a companies cost effectiveness in order to be able to compete in the market place. With their lives.

Maybe B&H so good and successful just because they work as always? Maybe it's because they hire only trusty people? Don't blame me, it's just my thoughts =)

I think the reality is a lot of people simply shop at B&H so they don't have to pay taxes and B&H has a reputation of reliable fast deliveries. Camera equipment is a commodity and few people really need expert advice from B&H service.

I also think a lot of people will justify continued use of B&H by thinking there is no such thing as a perfect big business and therefore they will keep using B&H so they don't need to pay taxes.

My feelings are mixed. The settlement article highlights a very disturbing situation however if you look deep enough at many companies you can begin to question any purchase. Do we limit ourselves to just US businesses or even suppliers and manufacturing facilities overseas?

How about Dpreview? Everyday thousands of comments and messages are sent in. How about those guys who are in charge of sorting them out and posting them in the relevant forum pages?
How are they treated I wonder. I once received a message from an Indian operator who said Richard Butler was screaming his lungs out because his reply to a dude who disagreed with his review was mistakenly posted in off topic forum.

As a NYC resident I've been a B&H regular for over two decades. Anyone who has been more than once at their flagship store at 33rd Street/9th Avenue might have made an educated guess what's going on behind the curtains. While during the pre-internet and pre-digital era B&H simply had no peers in access and variety of product offerings, nowadays their significance and impact is much more limited.

Give them a break. They were just trying to make America great again ;-)

What's bad for B&H is good for Amazon, right?

Leftist extortionists got money from another victim. Remember, the despicable guy who said, "If You've Got A Business, You Didn't Build That."

There seems to be a long history of discrimination:
"Nakisha Cushnie, the lead plaintiff in the case, was “advised that these positions were not open to her due to ‘religious reasons,’ ” the lawsuit says."
"According to the lawsuit, this was a common practice at B & H."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/nyregion/19bagels.html

http://gothamist.com/2011/12/14/bh_photo_sued_again_for_discrimatin.php#.

https://web.archive.org/web/20091121235418/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/11/bh_photo_sued_f.php

Wow! Not only do they have to pay $$$, they have to keep and PAY to have a proggy RAT on the premises Question; when do all those ASIAN run businesses that only employ family members or other Asians get the same treatment? There are probably thousands of such businesses in New York, Toronto...

From the Dept of Labor's webpage on the case

https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/20160225-2

"If B&H fails to provide relief as ordered, OFCCP requests that all its government contracts be canceled and that it be debarred from entering into future federal contracts. Headquartered in Manhattan, B&H has supply contracts with the General Services Administration and the Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Investigation valued in excess of $46 million."

Do the math.

One of the most difficult things to do in a secular world of commerce, is to hold true to religious beliefs, and traditions. Similar things have happened to Jewish, Christian, Muslim, conservative and/or liberal organizations, when engaged in public commerce. (Hobby Lobby and birth control is a recent example)
I do think B&H will find an honorable way forward? Yes.
In addition to paying the fee, B&H Foto has agreed to annually train its managers on workplace harassment prevention and equal opportunity principles, and to hire a consultant to fix the negative conduct and practices at its warehouses.

Will I continue to buy from B&H? Absolutely

By the way, I am not Jewish, I have never been in the store in NYC, I send money, they send camera equipment that is our relationship.

Kinda ironic, you'd think given their background that they would be a little bit aware of why racism is a bad.

From the perspective of this customer B&H has provided an incredible selection of products which can be handled in a cheerful/active environment served by pleasant no pressure and knowledgeable sales persons at competitive prices.

The shopping experience at B&H's NYC store for the same products range through the years has not been matched by any other retailer worldwide. not to mention the multitude of languages spoken to assist customers from numerous countries.

It is to be expected: we all want to buy against lower coin, but fail to recognize how the selling company came o that low coin...

About time an institution is installed that publishes on ethic behavior of companies...

And as usual, the 3.2 million dollar fine will go to the government, not to the people who were harmed.

Let us not forget how they discriminate against so many when they close on a day when most go shopping!

I will keep doing business with B&H. I know the owners are Jewish. So what? Simply one of the best photography stores in the world. They are competent, deliveries are excellent and I enjoy getting their catalogues.

This site is owned by company which instead of proper cooling and ventilation when it's hot outside simply puts a bunch of ambulances next to the side door in case workers pass out. Glass houses and stones.

I won't be doing business there anymore. Shame I just ordered a telephoto lens from them two days ago. I use them primarily because I didn't have to pay tax.

Guess I will revisit Adorama or Amazon. I would rather pay tax than support a company with that sort of culture.

Everyone outraged at B&H for unfair hiring -- Ummmm, have you taken a look at the country of origin for your cheap import electronics or clothing lately? You think THEY have any better track record? Gonna stop buying imports / clothing now in protest?

Not saying B&H is innocent, and they deserve to be corrected, but erm....if you're all of a sudden 'outraged', you're either incredibly naive or plain hypocritical.

I'm a longtime client of B&H and a proud member of a Local 600. I wish they would honor and treat everyone with respect and human decency, whatever their background. We, as in civilized world, been through too much to be dealing with any disrcrimination of any kind ever again. I'm actually surprised it had to come to this. One world-one love...

Frankly, I'm very surprised. I've bought from B&H forever and always received excellent sales and service. There were no hints of shady hiring practices, everything was professional.

oy vey... ADL where art thou,

The news is fine, but DPR editors, I'd like to see a disclaimer at the bottom of the story that B&H is a competitor with Amazon for far more than just photo gear and that Amazon is the parent company of DPR. Just sayin'

I wonder how many of the B&H workers are "Undocumented" immigrants . That would explain the single mindedness of their hiring practices. The problem is if you hire from any of the other groups of people , including the much maligned white male , they would have to pay social security and treat them better.

I've spent more than $10k/year at B&H for a long time and I'll be taking my business elsewhere unless they specifically reach out to me, and all of their customers, and convince me they are making things MUCH better. In addition to making drastic internal changes in their hiring and promotion structure I think they should consider sponsoring a photo exhibit on discrimination.

Support your local camera stores.

If you scrutinize the practices of manufacturers in Asia you would have to give up all the toys that bring you to this website. Not to mention your iPhone.

They are the biggest competitor of Amazon. I used to buy from Amazon as well as B&H but i will rethink next time i buy from B&H. if it is published on more sites like DPREVIEW i am sure BH will have bigger impact.

I used to like this company. I thought that this news article does not change my view. But after reading the whole article and getting some hints from the comments, I think this company is going down.