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Best Buy, the electronics mega-chain store, racked up over $27 billion dollars in sales their last fiscal year. Too bad women and people of color weren’t given a fair shot at earning a slice of that sales pie. In a lawsuit filed earlier this month, six past and present Best Buy employees sued the company, alleging the company’s hiring, pay and promotion practices are set up to benefit White men. The suit also alleges that Best Buy’s corporate culture, including its marketing strategy, is rooted in racial and gender-based bias.
More than 80-percent of Best Buy’s store managers, the highest position in any store, are White men; less than 10-percent are Black or Latino and less than 10-percent are women. The three Black men and three women of color that filed the suit allege the company not only hires a largely White male sales forces--from which it promotes managers--but that it also consistently and intentionally denied minority and female employees the opportunity to advance beyond the lower paying cashier and stock positions that they were hired into. The plaintiffs gave specific examples of White men with less experience being promoted over them. Despite their positive performance reviews and dedication, the plaintiffs say they were not allowed to grow within the company.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs say Best Buy’s discriminatory practices aren’t limited to staff; customers are unknowingly subjected to them on a routine basis. The company’s "customer centricity" is a strategy designed to grow sales by allowing staff to "identify" the customer; once that’s established, the sales person can use the technique proven to close the deal.
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Best Buy’s customer "models" focus mainly on upper- and middle-class men. There’s "Barry" the rich professional, "Buzz" the young techie, "Ray" the gadget loving family man. Finally, there’s "Jill" - Barry’s wife and a stay-at-home soccer mom. While Best Buy claims the practice is not discriminatory, plaintiffs say it puts the entire suit into perspective and clearly illustrates the key roles race and gender stereotypes play in the company.
With the holiday rapidly approaching, where we spend--or don’t spend--our money will send a clear message about the level of respect we expect from company’s like Best Buy. By choosing to take our money elsewhere, we’re putting the retailer on notice: we will not tolerate discrimination of any kind. This season, try to spend your hard-earned dollars at Black-owned businesses. There, you can be confident that you won’t be on the receiving end of offensive sales techniques. If you must go to one of these so called mega-stores, be on the watch: if you feel that you aren’t getting the attention you require from sales staff and notice other, i.e. white, customers are, notify management. After you file your complaint, follow-up with the corporate office; diligence is the key to making sure the matter is handled properly. If you’re a former or current Best Buy employee that has been victimized by these discriminatory practices, visit www.bbdiscrimination.com or call 1-800-362-0481 to submit your information.
Editor’s note: Judge Greg Mathis is National Vice President of Rainbow Push and a National Board Member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. |
