Best Buy Settles Class-Action Racial Job Discrimination Lawsuit

Best Buy Co agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the largest U.S. electronics retailer of job discrimination, paying a total of $200,000 to the nine named plaintiffs plus as much as $10 million for legal fees and costs.

The lawsuit was filed in 2005 in the U.S. District Court in Oakland, California, by eight current and former employees and one job applicant. They accused Best Buy of infractions such as denying desirable job assignments and promotions and transfers to African-American, Latino and female employees.

Best Buy agreed to a four-year consent decree, during which it would implement "comprehensive affirmative relief addressing the hiring, assignment, promotion and exempt compensation claims."

It agreed to name someone to oversee the implementation of processes designed to improve diversity in management and to post its non-discrimination, anti-harassment and anti-retaliation policies on an internal company website.

The terms provide "extensive injunctive relief that will materially advance the goal of equal employment opportunity for African Americans, Latinos, and women at Best Buy," James Finberg, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, wrote.

Finberg was not immediately available to comment further.

U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton is expected to consider preliminary approval of the accord on August 3, court papers show. A hearing to consider final approval could take place on October 12, the papers show.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected this month to rule whether a gender bias lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc may continue to proceed as a class action, on behalf of a group believed to exceed 1.5 million current and former female workers.

The Best Buy case is Holloway et al v. Best Buy Co et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 05-05056.

(Reporting by Martinne Geller, Jonathan Stempel and Dhanya Skariachan; Editing by Gary Hill)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[Under Fed yet Fed Up]

10:27 PM on 06/19/2011

I abhor Best Buy because of the poor service. But I use them to touch and try something that I most often end up buying for less on-line.

For a chain the size of Best Buy to be guilty of labor laws is no surprise. The corporation can have excellent policies, great training and good emphasis by upper management. But the actions of local management cannot be absolutely controlled.

[the964kid]

05:00 PM on 06/19/2011

$10M to the lawyers and $200k split between the 9 plaintiffs??

Someone should sue this law firm next for such a ridiculous and unfair split.

[Under Fed yet Fed Up]

10:22 PM on 06/19/2011

Welcome to the American tort process.

[maidenofdforest]

09:21 AM on 06/20/2011

You're right. Lawyer gets the cream and the paltry sum by employees/applicant. The latter were in the wrong business and their representing lawyer too dandy.

[yogajan]

01:19 AM on 06/19/2011

I have had my own bad experience at Best Buy with incredibly poor service and that one time was all I needed to never shop there again. Now, I have found another reason to stay away. There are many other stores with good service, good policies and no discrimination that will be happy to take my money. Bye Bye Best Buy.

[notalwaysfittoprint]

09:53 PM on 06/18/2011

Who shops there anyway? It's a zoo!

[Radical Logic]

08:20 PM on 06/18/2011

Note to minorities: Never shop at BEST BUY. Post to all relevant blogs.

[AcademicFreedom]

07:51 PM on 06/18/2011

The Trial Lawyers Association is heavy duty Dem; like John Edwards, they just want to get their money and don't care about nothing else.

[Epilef2000]

09:08 PM on 06/18/2011

are you complaining about the profit motif? are you in favor of communism or what?

[bestmeyet]

07:02 PM on 06/18/2011

The southern mentality in action. The south will rise again.

[suec8]

05:18 PM on 06/18/2011

Gender discrimination extends to customers as well as employees. I researched a laptop computer and knew exactly what I wanted. I was in line with 5 men and 2 women. The other woman was an engineer also knew what she wanted. The Best Buy salesperson waited on all of the men and ignored the two women. I ended up leaving the store with no new computer, called the manufacturer and ordered the computer directly from them. I rarely buy anything from Best Buy due to this blatant discrimination.

[OliveColored]

06:18 PM on 06/18/2011

I experienced the same thing when I made the mistake of going to best buy.

[BlindChance]

06:39 PM on 06/18/2011

I frequently, as a woman, get the blank stare with the "stop wasting my time" attitude, unless they're checking out my a&&.

[yogajan]

01:22 AM on 06/19/2011

Go to The Apple Store. Great products, great service, polite and helpful sales people, Genius Bar is free. You get what you pay for.

[Peguy]

04:37 PM on 06/18/2011

Just one more reason to add to the list of reasons that I don't like Best Buy. Lost computers sent for repairs... refusing to give full cash refund for something that was shipped to a serviceman in Iraq because it wasn't returned within the correct number of days... etc. Great company.

[Califishing]

04:34 PM on 06/18/2011

The last thing I bought at best buy was a e-machine computer.. The salesperson tried to get me to buy all kinds of software which some was already installed on the computer. When I refused he got mad..

[Basselope]

03:25 PM on 06/18/2011

The majority of the money should go to the injured parties... NOT the lawyers.

[JShep]

03:06 PM on 06/18/2011

So, it takes $10 million in lawyer fees to get $200,000 for the plaintifs. Does anyone see where the real injustice is.

[TOats99377]

01:59 PM on 06/18/2011

I was at a Best Buy I used to frequent on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. A guy kept following my boyfriend and me, from floor to floor and section to section. When my boyfriend called him on it, they got into an argument. Of course, I was in another aisle and by the time I got there, the security guard was gone.

I am a gifted complainer, so I went to the store manager, who was African-American and did what I do best. She told me he was actually employed by another company that Best Buy contracts to do their security. I called his company and filed a complaint. No one called me back, so I sent an e-mail. The next thing I knew, I got a call from the owner of the company, told him the story again. Two days later, after he met with the guy to get his side, he called me back. He sent the guy back to training and suspend him for a day without pay.

[proggirl]

01:45 PM on 06/18/2011

I have a clear and pragmatic solution to the issue of "excessive" legal fees. Don't discriminate.

[windofchange]

02:00 PM on 06/18/2011

Well said, though it is discouraging to see such a disproportionate dispensation.

[VegasBabe]

12:43 PM on 06/18/2011

I didn't even know this was a problem at Best Buy. I've purchased my last three TV's there, saving up now for a larger flat screen. Guess I can find another store to buy it from. No need in continuing to give them my business when as a black american, I'm not thought that well of. Meanwhile, there are many minorities who face similar circumstances and could and should bring them to the attention of the courts however, for me, the number one deterrent is the obscene disparity in what the plaintiffs received in this case for example, and one the lawyers received. Why should I line their pockents with my pain?

[enigma2]

02:42 PM on 06/18/2011

Well said. We have purchased our last two HD tvs from RCWilley, we quit shopping at Best Buy years ago when it became apparent to us they were not in fact the best place to buy. On a side note too often they hire people who do not understand how a product works, oftentimes we'd end up telling the salesperson assisting us how the product functioned.