Rights Dept. Backs Bias Claim Against Wal-Mart
Aug 13, 2006 12:51 pm US/Central
Rights Dept. Backs Bias Claim Against Wal-Mart
(AP) St. Paul Minnesota's Department of Human Rights has sided with a black woman who says the Wal-Mart store in Eagan discriminated against her because of her race.
Store employees had suspected Gayle Bryant, of Eagan, of using a bad check to buy $92.69 worth of bottled water and household goods. They called police, who waited for her to leave the store and then stopped her for questioning. The check was good.
The human rights department said it found probable cause to support Bryant's claim that that she was singled out for being black.
"I feel a sense of victory. I have proven that the system actually works," Bryant said.
"Just because someone does not come out and say they won't serve you because you are black doesn't mean they aren't being racist. I think people would be surprised at how common and overt racism still is."
A spokeswoman for Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Sarah Clark, did not respond to a request by the St. Paul Pioneer Press seeking comment on the recent ruling.
The retailer initially offered Bryant a $50 gift card, and later increased the settlement offer to $1,000 after blaming the incident on overalertness for fraud.
Clark said back then that the incident was not race-related, but that the employees did not follow the company's check-acceptance policy.
Both sides have a settlement meeting scheduled for October, said Bryant's attorney, Samantha Gemberling. If a settlement is not reached then, the attorney general's office could represent Bryant before an administrative law judge.
"Getting this determination from the state really gives a lot of credibility and credence to what Gayle has always understood was an act of discrimination," Gemberling said.
The incident happened in April 2005, when Bryant says her check was approved at the register by the SCAN service -- which verifies checking accounts. She says the cashier called over other employees and asked to see her driver's license.
Two cashiers and an assistant manager then told her they couldn't authorize her check and left her for about 30 minutes while they took her check and went into a back office, she said.
Bryant says the check she used was a starter check that her bank, Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union, gave her after it misprinted her previous batch of checks. Those checks lacked the customary security lock symbol on the front and a watermark on the back. She says she hadn't had any trouble with them before, and even used one of them at a different Wal-Mart two weeks earlier.
Bryant says no one asked her to pay by cash or credit card instead, or told her they didn't believe her checks were real. The assistant manager ultimately told her that although he couldn't get authorization, he would take her check anyway.
As she left the store, three Eagan police officers were waiting in the parking lot to arrest her on suspicion of theft and using a counterfeit check.
"According to (Wal-Mart's) policy and procedures, her check should have been accepted as valid payment for her purchases, but she was instead given sham 'approval' in order to create justification for having her apprehended by the police on suspicion of theft," Human Rights Commissioner Velma Korbel wrote in her findings recently.
Bryant would not say how much money she is seeking but did say she wants Wal-Mart to reaffirm its commitment to diversity and make its policies on checks clear.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Rights Dept. Backs Bias Claim Against Wal-Mart
(AP) St. Paul Minnesota's Department of Human Rights has sided with a black woman who says the Wal-Mart store in Eagan discriminated against her because of her race.
Store employees had suspected Gayle Bryant, of Eagan, of using a bad check to buy $92.69 worth of bottled water and household goods. They called police, who waited for her to leave the store and then stopped her for questioning. The check was good.
The human rights department said it found probable cause to support Bryant's claim that that she was singled out for being black.
"I feel a sense of victory. I have proven that the system actually works," Bryant said.
"Just because someone does not come out and say they won't serve you because you are black doesn't mean they aren't being racist. I think people would be surprised at how common and overt racism still is."
A spokeswoman for Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Sarah Clark, did not respond to a request by the St. Paul Pioneer Press seeking comment on the recent ruling.
The retailer initially offered Bryant a $50 gift card, and later increased the settlement offer to $1,000 after blaming the incident on overalertness for fraud.
Clark said back then that the incident was not race-related, but that the employees did not follow the company's check-acceptance policy.
Both sides have a settlement meeting scheduled for October, said Bryant's attorney, Samantha Gemberling. If a settlement is not reached then, the attorney general's office could represent Bryant before an administrative law judge.
"Getting this determination from the state really gives a lot of credibility and credence to what Gayle has always understood was an act of discrimination," Gemberling said.
The incident happened in April 2005, when Bryant says her check was approved at the register by the SCAN service -- which verifies checking accounts. She says the cashier called over other employees and asked to see her driver's license.
Two cashiers and an assistant manager then told her they couldn't authorize her check and left her for about 30 minutes while they took her check and went into a back office, she said.
Bryant says the check she used was a starter check that her bank, Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union, gave her after it misprinted her previous batch of checks. Those checks lacked the customary security lock symbol on the front and a watermark on the back. She says she hadn't had any trouble with them before, and even used one of them at a different Wal-Mart two weeks earlier.
Bryant says no one asked her to pay by cash or credit card instead, or told her they didn't believe her checks were real. The assistant manager ultimately told her that although he couldn't get authorization, he would take her check anyway.
As she left the store, three Eagan police officers were waiting in the parking lot to arrest her on suspicion of theft and using a counterfeit check.
"According to (Wal-Mart's) policy and procedures, her check should have been accepted as valid payment for her purchases, but she was instead given sham 'approval' in order to create justification for having her apprehended by the police on suspicion of theft," Human Rights Commissioner Velma Korbel wrote in her findings recently.
Bryant would not say how much money she is seeking but did say she wants Wal-Mart to reaffirm its commitment to diversity and make its policies on checks clear.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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