CVS was hit with a federal lawsuit on Wednesday after four former store detectives at the drug chain charged their supervisors told them to profile minorities for anti-shoplifting enforcement.
The store detectives, who are also minorities, argued in their lawsuit that they endured racially insulting language and had clear instructions from their bosses to keep an eye on blacks and Hispanics because they were the ones most likely to steal,
according to Newsday.
The detectives charged that when they pushed back against the profiling orders they were all fired, they claimed in their suit.
"CVS intentionally targets and racially profiles its Black and Hispanic shoppers based on the highly offensive, discriminatory and ill-founded institutional belief that these minority customers are criminals and thieves," lawyers for former store detectives stated in their suit.
David Gottlieb, an attorney for the employees, told
New York 1 that the complaint by the CVS detectives is unique because it comes from people who were reportedly told to carry out the profiling practices.
"In those cases, they were inferring largely from the way they were treated that there was racial profiling going on," said Gottlieb. "Here, we have people on the inside, people that work behind the curtain who can testify to exactly what they were told, what the policies were here at CVS."
Carolyn Castel, a spokeswoman for the Rhode Island-based CVS headquarters, told
The New York Times that the company has "nondiscrimination policies that it rigorously enforces."
"We serve all communities and we do not tolerate any policy or practice that discriminates against any group," said Castel. "We are shocked by the allegations in this complaint, and we intend to defend against them vigorously."
The CVS lawsuit comes after Macy's reached a deal with New York State attorney general Eric T. Schneiderman a year ago concerning complaints from minority shoppers about surveillance and wrongful detention at its Midtown flagship.
In that case, noted the Times, Macy's agreed to pay a $650,000 fine and hire an independent monitor to address future complaints that minority shoppers.
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