JCPenney Will Pay to Settle Race Discrimination Suit in New York
On February 12, 2009, it was announced that JCPenney will pay $50,000 to settle a race discrimination lawsuit. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the EEOC) brought the suit on behalf of Reinell Singh, an African American employee who worked as a greeter at the company's store in the Staten Island Mall in New York.
"All employees have a right to be judged by their work performance and not their race," the trial lawyer who represented the EEOC in the case said, according to The New York Times. "This consent decree will help make sure that what happened to Ms. Singh does not happen to any other JCPenney employee."
The EEOC had charged that a supervisor referred to Ms. Singh with racial epithets and subsequently fired her for race-related reasons. In addition to the $50,000 in compensatory damages to be paid to Ms. Singh, JCPenney also agreed to a three year consent decree that requires adoption of a non-discrimination policy and procedures for handling complaints of employment discrimination. They will provide anti-discrimination training, post a notice about the EEOC and its lawsuit, provide a memorandum setting forth the requirements of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to all store employees and improve monitoring and reporting of employment discrimination.
Spencer H. Lewis, Director of the EEOC’s New York District Office, made a statement saying, "In spite of advances since Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was enacted 44 years ago, race discrimination still remains one of the most pervasive problems in today’s workplace. Racial slurs must simply not be tolerated, and the EEOC will fight to eradicate any such discrimination from the workplace."
