Manhattan, NY – Women File Suit Against B&H Electronics [video]

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    Four women claim B&H refused to give them sales positions because of their gender. Photo Credit: Jarle Aasland Manhattan, NY – A sex discrimination lawsuit has been filed against one of the best-known electronics stores in New York.

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    Four women accuse B&H Electronics of workplace promotions that were discriminatory.

    The four women claim B&H refused to give them sales positions because of their gender. Three applied for jobs, but were turned down. The other currently works as a cashier.

    “I felt hurt because I didn’t feel it was fair due to the fact that I’m a woman,” employee Nakisha Cushnie said.

    In the lawsuit, Cushnie alledges, “I asked to work in sales and make more money, but was told that no women were allowed in sales for religious reasons.”

    “It was very stressful,” she said. “I have a family to support. The salary needs to be a lot better. I was very upset to hear I couldn’t be a saleswoman.”
    the 3 woman with their lawyer
    Cushnie has worked for B&H since April. She says she quickly realized working in sales would give her the best salary. She says it’s not easy raising her kids on $9 an hour as a cashier.

    “Out of the 75 employees working in the store, not counting cashiers, there was a grand total of one woman,” attorney Richard Ancowitz said. “It’s kind of surprising that in this day and age, 2009, that we would see such blatant and obvious gender discrimination.”

    The plaintiffs are asking for more than $7 million in damages.

    Two years ago, B&H agreed to pay $4.3 million to settle a discrimination case about Hispanics getting paid less than others, and the company failing to promote them or provide health benefits.

    The New York institution employs 800 to 900 people, many of whom are observant Jews.

    “I knew there’s no reason why I couldn’t work anywhere,” plaintiff Juana Lora said. “I wasn’t considering if they were Hasidic or not. I know I’m qualified to do a job, and I went in there to apply for a job.”

    B&H attorney David Eisenberg told Eyewitness News he can’t comment on a case his office hasn’t seen.


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    149 Comments
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    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Oh! I want to make more money so you owe it to me. Get a life Mr. Schriber is the owner and he can do as he sees it, be happy he gave you a job in the first place. Besides 9,000,000 for what?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    “The New York institution employs 800 to 900 people, many of whom are observant Jews. “

    what does this have to do with anything.

    imagine a report about Chase bank “Chase bank employs 7000 people many of whom are religious christians”
    what does religion have to do with a gender discrimination lawsuit

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    jerks – B and H is one of the fairest and most employee friendly companies in the world. That’s a fact. Along come four women who don’t speak a word of English and sue. Chutzpah just found a new poster child.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    A few money hungry punks found a way to make an “easy dollar”.. living in a country of “suits”, they wanna fish something out of such a good well..

    Babishka
    Member
    Babishka
    14 years ago

    My daughter works for B&H on the sales floor. She was in corporate account sales and given a lateral transfer.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I don’t get it, if I have a store, don’t I get to decide who can work for me and who can’t???

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    The Yidden can’t catch a break.

    go home
    go home
    14 years ago

    as the economy gets worse we’ll see more of this

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Oh my – $9 an hour for a cashier is very generous for that position. I’m sure grocery store cashiers don’t make that much. She should have appreciated that. Working as a cashier, it is unlikely she had any sales experience, and most sales jobs require experience.

    the bottom line...
    the bottom line...
    14 years ago

    …is that out of 75 employees there is only one woman, something is fishy.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    If a requirement to work at B&H would be to speak English she wouldn’t have a job in the first place!

    me
    me
    14 years ago

    B&H DOES INDEED discriminate against females, both frum and not Jewish.
    The Jewish ones are the ones too scared to open their mouths so they don’t get proper raises or promotions, and the non-Jewish ones don’t work the sales floor. It’s blatantly illegal and you will see them settle this one.
    It is a “davar yaduah” that B&H discriminates.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    its wrong to discrimigate against woman. maybe they should place a mechitza.

    friend of mine
    friend of mine
    14 years ago

    friend of mine was sued cause his ad on craigslist which had his true web address discriminated against cause it said perfect english needed with no accent. the no accent part discriminated against people who are qualified but have an accent… go figure

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    “I asked to work in sales and make more money, but was told that no women were allowed in sales for religious reasons.”
    She claims that the b and h told her that the reason for not accepting her was because of her gender

    5T Atturney
    5T Atturney
    14 years ago

    these guys will be in gehacte tzuris.

    they lost the other descreamination lawsuit.

    now they have this one.

    they should have taken care of thees gals while they could.

    check the tapes and see; if it doesnt fit,,,,you must aquit.

    mojo
    mojo
    14 years ago

    dont like it leave it

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Go work as a cshier in 99 cent store and get paid 99 cent stop to complain.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Be proud they trust u as a cshier. O’h by the way what damaged costed u 7 mill?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    one of the women told a laywer she purposely went to apply for a job there knowing that she will not be accepted, just to be part of this cash lawsuit. I will reveal her name and more details as this thing rolls along.
    so much for being emotionaly hurt! good luck Mr. Ancowits

    mottel
    mottel
    14 years ago

    May these women be d-mned. This is what is bringing america to it’s knees financially, this crippling of enterprise, not allowing owners to run their own business, this grabbing of their hard-earned money for no valid reason. That’s why there’s hardly any manufacturing left in western countries

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Tell them to get a life instead of extorting B&H.

    Mel
    Mel
    14 years ago

    Sorry B&H you are to honest! I have been turned down many positions because I am a orthodox jew, they should have told her its because she is a woman, find a different excuse like you need to be fluent in yiddish, if I were their risk manager this would have never happened.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Here is my humble take on this matter. Women who are a majority in the US (based on the Census reports) and blacks who make up about 13.4% can always claim “discrimination”, and because of their histories of past discrimination aginst them are even allowed to practice “reverse discrimination” by having all kinds of programs geard only for “women’s groups” or “african american Pride” groups, parades etc. Now Jews on the other hand, only make up 2.5% of the US population, and of that, Chasidim are supposed to be 3%, and Chasidim are the most disadvantaged when it comes to getting a decent job for many obvious reason. So we finally have one of our own chushive pepole, Mr. Schreiber who built a business from scratch, and became successful and is trying to provide jop opportunities for his own people – who are so limited, and that isa problem? How ridiculous?

    Green Vest
    Green Vest
    14 years ago

    Have you been in B&H lately? It’s exactly like the guy says, 75 salesmen and 1- one!- female salesperson in the binoculars section. You think that B&H doesn’t get resumes from females qualified to do floor sales? Three discrimination lawsuits in four years, when will they learn?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    “I asked to work in sales and make more money, but was told that no women were allowed in sales for religious reasons.” I guarantee you that no Manager or anyone from the HR department told her that… it was probably some YOOIILLLLLLYYY

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    There is more than 1 woman working on the sals floor. Go check it out. And as far as I know there is no lawsuit yet. The lower of the 4 woman called up abc news to give them the story,that for b&h would satel it before it becomes a law suit

    anonymous
    anonymous
    14 years ago

    They have good prices, reliable merchandise. Maybe the need of technical knowledge prevents some women from advancing. I consider them a fine store and bought by mail 3 cameras. If you want to file suit it is like a Yiddish “wen men will shlugen a hint gefint min a steken”. If you want to beat a dog you find stick

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Any company that has at least 500 employees must have a human resources department and must be an equal opportunity employer

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Notice this is nothing more than bad publicity. A person working since April does not even deserve a promotion. Nobody got a raise in two years

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Why does someone that was discriminated against deserve millions if she would have gotten the promotion it would have been. Dollar or two more per hour ??? Anyone can explain???

    hastaleugo
    hastaleugo
    14 years ago

    This is the work of LA RAZA (which means, the race in spanish) an organization that supports the rights of the immigrant and other mexicans in the US. Sometimes they go after wealthy employers to get money for their people. It will get exceedingly more difficult for religious Jews as more and more leftist/marxist ‘policies’ go into effect.

    Maurice
    Maurice
    14 years ago

    So a yid who wants to have a business where he can be shomer torah umitzvos can’t do it. He must hire women, he must give benefits to gay partners, soon they will claim he discriminates because he doesn’t allow the employees to work on Shabes and Yomtov.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I work at B&H and I know that the Hr department would have never told them that it’s because of religious reasons.

    A pusheter yid
    A pusheter yid
    14 years ago

    I am praying for B&H. It should not happen to them the same thing that happened to 47th st photo. Its very interesting that the best women employees at the CASHIERS dept are doing this to B&H. There are more women working in the cashiers dept than men. They trust the women in the cashiers dept more than the men. Something is wrong with the managers in that dept. They should fire them before its too late.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    It’s sad that some frum business feel they are above the law. You can’t discriminate. They paid a huge fine a few years ago. You would think they would have learned. It’s ignorance, thinking they could just ignore the law. I understand their desire to help frum people, and to prefer men – but, you need to follow the law.

    facts
    facts
    14 years ago

    The facts:
    B&H has woman & man in all ranks,
    Yes there are jobs that are more suited for woman and so there are jobs that ae more suited for man,

    And B&H accomadates more then any other company in the world!! Races / gender / releigion etc

    They have woman & man in the cleaning departments,
    And they have woman in the upper manamgment departments,

    And I can promise you no one told them its because of religious reasons,
    And so here they wanna get 9 mill.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    The other currently works as a cashier. – Did anyone catch that. If she worked for me and sued me while still working i would kick her goyishe tuches out. No querstions asked. God bless America – Home of the crooked lawyers

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I was in B&H on Sunday. There are at least two women at the photo counter and another one in binoculars. Check for yourselves. This case is dead.

    tw
    tw
    14 years ago

    I AM A JEWISH WOMAN who emailed B&H about a potential job a few years ago. i have immense technology background. i contacted them more than once and did not even get a call back. i actually think this suit has merit.

    good luck to these women. B&H should definitely consider itself an EOE = EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER. it certainly is NOT given the ratio of employees right now. SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE.

    chusidwb
    chusidwb
    14 years ago

    VIN you better hire a big staff for the comments on this matter . If every person working at BH comments here ,your server will bust! Kan ayin hora

    Babishka
    Member
    Babishka
    14 years ago

    If the cashier wants more than $9 an hour, she can move to Detroit where the minimum wage is $14 an hour. Did I mention there are no supermarkets or big chain stores in Detroit? Just little Lebanese bodegas.

    B&H long time fem-employee
    B&H long time fem-employee
    14 years ago

    B&H is a “professional” source – has from day one catered especially to the professional trade and as such has always genuinely believed that a salesman can communicate technical lingo more convincingly than a saleswoman. The “religion” factor was communicated to this cashier in an offhand manner by a fellow employee who had no inkling of the repercussions his casual comment would have. And the cashier ran with it — probably to a more savvy relative or a friend who had collected from the last lawsuit — and thus a let’s-get-rich-quick plot was born. Only in America!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    let them solve this whole problem by putting a mechitzah down the center of the store and have separate shopping. then the men can sell to the men and the women can sell to the women. and they can have mixed hours for those who insist

    With Admiration
    With Admiration
    14 years ago

    I give a lot of credit to B&H for hiring the way they do. For providing a workplace where frum yiddin can earn a living in a decent way, without the challenges many face in other places. Kol Hakovod! And Hashem will repay them tremendously I’m sure.

    מהפך פשטא
    מהפך פשטא
    14 years ago

    דברים פרק כח
    וּבַגּוֹיִם הָהֵם לא תַרְגִּיעַ וְלא יִהְיֶה מָנוֹחַ לְכַף רַגְלֶךָ

    This should serve as an “Eye Opener” to the Heimishe crowd. This is a beginning.

    We think that this country is different from all other exiles we were in, Span, Portugal, Germany, etc… were we did well, and then…….

    This law suit is clearly based on jealousy, greed, anti-semitism, and taking away from others money for which they worked hard with blood and sweat, and try to take it away the easy way. And notice the name of the lawyer trying to help to accomplish.

    In every Glous we were in, the end was that what we had was taken away from us, one way or another.

    This is vey serious!!!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    This was a good idea for someone who can’t land a job and wants money. Will they go into a department store and find a dress too small on them and sue the company for not making the dress fit them? The lawyers don’t mind because they make at least a third of the final if they win. B and H is open to everyone. These came in ,not to look for a job but to plant a case and make money.
    Let’s go to one of their places and do the same!!
    By the way… this is America today. If someone wants a job give it to them whether they are qualified or not. Once they see they can’t do the job, they’ll just have to leave on their own.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Its nice that they are creating a nice environment where frum people can work, by banning women from working with them, but that only works in a shtetl in poland. This is America and they cannot create this insulated environment in a store in the middle of NYC

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    The government is from the most discriminatory of all employers.All white males have almost no chance at getting a job if they are in competition with any other group so the idea of them judging B+H and telling them who to hire is outrageous.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I myself applied at B&H as a camera salesperson, because they had been frantically advertising for salespeople for months, and that was my area of expertise. I was called in for an interview, and offered a full-time job (though I had specified that I was a college student) in data entry, in the office, behind closed doors. At that time, there were NO women working anywhere in the store itself.

    My father-in-law and husband, at different times, both applied to B&H for sales, knowing quite a bit less than I about the respective fields they applied for, and were both offered jobs within mere weeks- the jobs they actually applied for. While I am certainly glad that they are now employed, it just illustrates the gender bias inherent in B&H’s current hiring policies.

    The problem with those who claim “oh, how wonderful to want to provide a tznius work environment…”, etc., etc., etc…this is not a business catering to the frum community- this is THE largest photo-audiovisual business in the country, catering to a majority of professional photographers and the like, in the middle of Manhattan. This is not a kitchen appliances store in Monsey or a grocery store in Williamsburg.