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B&H Photo-Video, the huge photo and video store on 9th Avenue and 34th Street, will pay $4.3 million to settle an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint. The EEOC contended that B&H paid Hispanic employees in its warehouses less than other workers, many of whom are religious Jews; this is in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Other allegations included that B&H "failed to promote" and "provide health benefits" to Hispanic staff. The AP reports that now B&H will disburse the settlement amongst the employees who were paid less and will also equalize wages. EEOC New York commended B&H for its cooperation and district director Spencer H. Lewis said, “Employees are entitled to work in an environment free of pay disparity and discrimination due to a person’s national origin. Every individual deserves the freedom to compete in the workplace on a fair and level playing field.”
According to Wikipedia, B&H is the largest photo and video store in the country. The company started on the Lower East Side and now does 70% of its business online. The Better Business Bureau gives it a satisfactory record.
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b&h = beards and hats.
this is shocking news. do you mean to tell me the hasid's treated their own kind different than the mexicans, columbians, dominicans, and puerto ricans that they had working for them???
next i'll find out that they close for business on saturdays!!
what is truly shocking is that – as crowded as the retail outlest is – it only represents 30% of their actual sales!! holy sh t, are they making a boatload of shekels!
I love B&H. Going to the West Side store is great. No matter how crowded it is, I always seem to get in and out in one quarter of the time I estimate it should take. I've always wondered, however, how the store could not be in violation of some anti-discrimination employment laws. Does B&H employee any women?
When they first started they didn't even hire anyone but Hassidim. Was that against the law?
I'm also shocked that 70% of their business s on-line, have you seen the crowds on a Sunday?
I don't think they employ women, no. But sometimes the women volunteer to pour the generic brand soda and fill the candy dish at the card table in the middle of the store.
Hassidic Jews are the most racist people in America.
The only laws they HAVE to follow are the ones of their God.
If any other group of people acted the way they do and the way they treat women they would be such an uproar in the media.
Well Navin, now that there's pay equality B&H no longer stands for Beards and Hats... now it's for Beaners & Heebs.
(Cue the Paul McCartney music...)
How can you take sample photographs when the spooks don't show up without a pwoerful flash?
Are these the Syrian Jews that were the subject of the article in the Times recently?
It would defintiely be interesting to hear about whether or not they hire women...about 10 years ago my former workplace had an account with them, so I attempted to purchase about $3000 worth of a/v supplies, as well as bring purchased ones in for repair. I was treated HORRIBLY. I had my work cancel their account, and haven't been back since. Other women have told similar tales.
Sadly I can't say I'm surprised either, but I'm glad that it's being settled. And yes, they do employ women. There are definitely a few women on the sales floor, as well as cashiers.
are you people kidding? you ask if they hire women after you claim to shop there. that just makes you look like the sexist if you don't notice the women who work there.
Too bad, but not surprising.
Reason #2,283 why the ultra-religious (whether they be muslim, jew, christian, whatever) are not my favorite people in the world.
sorry if I appeared ignorant, but I really haven't been there in over 10 years. :) I don't recall seeing any back then.
Not Syrian. They're Satmar Hasidim (at least most of them are--I think quite a lot of the employees are from other Jewish groups).
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satmar
Here's a fun trick at B&H. Yell, "Hey, Moshe!" and see how many people turn around.
b&h does hire women on a very limited basis. they employ foreigners, spanish speaking mostly, for maintanance (emptying trash pails, filling candy dishes, restocking catalogs on the sales floor) and some black women, mostly jamaicans (west indies, not jamaica queens). they have very recently started to hire young-ish english speaking women, to work at trade shows. but so few women have ever worked in sales- on the floor or on the phones, that the sales guys often "remenisces fondly" about one female employee or another. they are far and few between. There are some religious jewish women who work as receptionists and in accounting. There is exactly ONE woman who is some sort of manager and she is part of the religious sect. b&h used to have a separate cafeteria just for the women.
shopping there reinforces their notion that they can play by their own rules. as a hassid employee, it is almost a job for life situation, no matter how well or poorly they perform. if you are not a religious jew, you are a minority with no hope for advancement, with no voice to communicate descrimination...
I thought forcing people to register would stop the racist, anti-semite comments from coming.
Glad to see you all have yahoo and gmail accounts to hide your true identities too.
Anyway, I think I can speak for all jews (im not orthodox though) when I say, fuck you all.
I don't know if you were referring to my comments, but I don't tolerate misogynistic behavior from any religious group whether they're Hassids, fundamentalist Baptists, Catholics, Muslim, etc.
Reality Czech,
Apparently they also now HAVE to follow the secular law by paying out $4.3 million.
ARealGothamite,
There are some commenters I think you could single out for excoriation. Most of the comments here are within the bounds, though.
It would be more productive for you to identify specific comments and commenters. Calling these people out so that their online identities and reputations are clearly defined as anti-semitic, racist, etc., is the only effective way to police this kind of behavior. Saying "fuck you all", however, doesn't really seem to advance the ball.
"Anyway, I think I can speak for all jews (im not orthodox though) when I say, fuck you all."
Typical. You can't say one thing critical about any jew without insulting them all.
Take a chill pill and give Palestine back.
ARealGothamite says: "....Anyway, I think I can speak for all jews (im not orthodox though)...."
well then, you can't speak for all "jews", moron
what you should do is spit-out the kool-aid and recognize that criticism does not always equal so-called "anti-semitism"
I'll call it like its already been said: The Orthodox really are a bunch of racist assholes.
I'm a Sephardi in a family that has a couple Ashkenazim orthodox in it and I can't tell you the shit that my father got from them over having a Sephardi son (its a long story).
I'm glad they had to pay out the nose for this. Really glad.
Fuckers.
Ah you are all so easy to bait! Welcome to performance art 2.0.
All it took was a little over the topness and you all come a running to defend nuance.
Anyway, making comments about all orthodox or all jews is bad stereotyping and like it or not racist/anti-semitic.
Try talking about the owners of the store without making it about the entire group of people.
I can honestly say that while I have shopped there before (I'm not there every week by any means) I haven't ever seen a female employee. As a female, I have looked. I guess that makes me sexist? That I'm curious enough to look for a gal?
ARealGothamite: You just said you spoke "for all Jews."
Pot, meet kettle.
When I bought my Pentax camera from there, the cashier was a woman.
Always found the store a turn-off - one of those shops where you feel too intimidated/pressured to ask any kind of technical question for fear of being treated like an idiot. I'll happily never visit there again.
Ok, ok. I'm sorry for swearing at you all, and lumping you all in together as a racist mob. It was inappropriate for me to sterotype the gothamist crowd. I also apologize for trying to speak for the group of which I am a member- it was not my place to talk for "all jews".
Whew that was easy!
Ok, your turn. If you wrote these lines, then hey, you should probably apologize for offending orthodox jews as a whole:
"now it's for Beaners & Heebs." Do I need to explain the anti-semitism in this?
"The Orthodox really are a bunch of racist assholes." Oh ho! WE're not racist, THEY are. therefore, lets lump them all together and condemn them
"Typical. You can't say one thing critical about any jew without insulting them all." This one is my favorite. Saying "Typical" is their way of saying- "see all jews do this". Guess what! RACIST!
"Here's a fun trick at B&H. Yell, "Hey, Moshe!" and see how many people turn around." This one is actually funny, but still, unless the writer is a jew, its anti-semitic.
This talkback is tame compared to when guest comments were allowed, thank Yahweh.
It's MUCH more productive, the conversations, no?
Is it racist for me to say that B&H always reminded me of Santa's workshop?
This one is actually funny, but still, unless the writer is a jew, its anti-semitic.
Pish! If it really was an anti-semitic comment, it wouldn't be funny.
For the record, "beaners" may not be anti-semitic, but it is racist. That's my two cents.
Nice job, ARealGothamite. I thought that's who you were talking about.
And, yes, more productive.
What does "beaners" mean anyway?
What does beaners mean?
That's my husband's nickname. Well, Bean. You mean to tell me I've been calling him a racial slur all this time? Is anything safe anymore?
beaner = hispanic
"ARealGothamite", I hereby declare your attempt to change this story from B&H's actual racist practices into everyone else's supposed "anti-semitism" a failure
the point of this story, again: B&H not only paid hispanic employees in its warehouses less than other workers (many of whom are "religious jews"), they failed to promote and provide health benefits to hispanic staff - in violation of title VII of the civil rights act of 1964
"Beaner" is a racist term for hispanics (including those who may or may not beans in their diet).
I reject your declaration, Surfin Jesus.
Primarily, because I agree that Jen wrote the article above as a journalist and focused on the facts of the case. I wasn't discussing the case. The story itself is not anti-semetic/racist.
It's the handling of the comments after. Just because one group of Jews violated the law, it isn't a justification to espouse hate of the whole group.
Like for example, I have no problem with you or your pen name revolving around Jesus (if we assume in this case, you're using it as a declaration of faith, instead of as faux ironic hipster douchebaggery). But I do have a problem with your stupid comment. Therefore, you are a schmuck. But people who believe in Jesus are not schmucks solely because of your actions.
I am a beaner, so what.
Dude all people that belong to the "racial club x" will be targeted. Again you can throw a horse at me and call me noble...I would not mind.
I'm a beaner from the tropics...tropic beaner...more like coconuter...
"ARealGothamite": I reject your declaration, Surfin Jesus....I wasn't discussing the case....
that was my point exactly! instead of dealing with B&H's actual racism, you attempted to project its (and possibly your own) onto others with BS accusations of supposed "anti-semitism"
so claim to "reject" it all you want, but your own words just reinforced and confirmed what I was saying all along
check...and mate ;)
PS AReal(racist loser)Gothamite: people can actually be named "jesus" (often pronounced heh-SOOS) :)
Listen, Surfin' Douche,
Whats hijacking this thread is you being an asshat.
One last time. Story above, not a problem.
Nasty jew-hating comments, a problem.
nice going, "ARealGothamite" - aside from your deplorable and immature namecalling, you have again proved my point and exposed your own racist agenda
the problem, as illustrated by the story, is racism
your pathetic attempts to equate B&H's illegal and actual racist practices with some comments that you wish were (but are in reality not really) "jew-hating" or "anti-semitic" still ultimately fail in all but one respect: they show you for the racist you are
the fact of the matter is: the more you whine about the comments in your attempts to dismiss or ignore, rather than accept B&H's actual racism, the deeper you dig yourself into your sad pit of bigotry
I see your point, Surfin' Jesus. You win.
DOUCHE!!!!
you poor thing :)