Since I got back into the world of photography two years ago, I’ve been buying all my gear and supplies from B&H Photo Video and recommending to others that they do as well. B&H has one of the most well-laid-out and informative online retail storefronts I’ve used. Its shipping is lightning-fast. Its prices are highly competitive. The chat-based advice I received when looking for studio lighting equipment was exactly what I needed. As a customer, I’ve been no less than completely satisfied. In fact, I’d have told you that B&H was my single favorite company to deal with.
Until the other day, that is, when I read that the federal government had sued B&H, alleging discrimination in its hiring and treatment of employees at its Brooklyn, N.Y., warehouse.
Just months after being slammed with accusations of mistreatment and discrimination and seeing its workers protest and unionize[], B&H is now being sued by the US government for discrimination.
The US Labor Department announced its lawsuit on Thursday, accusing B&H of violating federal requirements at its Brooklyn camera gear warehouse.
B&H “has systematically discriminated against Hispanic employees and female, black and Asian jobseekers at its Brooklyn Navy Yard warehouse,” the government says. B&H is a federal contractor, so it’s forbidden from discriminating in employment and is required to take affirmative action for employment equality.
The charges range from yeah-I-can-believe-that—hiring only Latino men into its entry-level laborer positions, excluding both women and black and Asian workers, and paying Latino workers less than white ones—to holy-heck-could-that-really-be-happening—forcing Latino warehouse workers to use a poorly maintained restroom, separate from the ones other workers were allowed to use.
Here’s the text of the lawsuit:
The lawsuit follows a drive to unionize workers at the Brooklyn warehouse, which successfully resulted in the workers’ winning representation by the United Steelworkers, and the settling of three previous discrimination-related lawsuits: one over alleged sex discrimination and two over alleged discrimination against Latino employees.
The union organizers alleged not only that B&H did not provide just and favorable working conditions—
B&H Photo Video warehouse workers describe alarming problems:
- Exposure to dusts including fiberglass, benzene and asbestos, that led to chronic nosebleeds and skin rashes
- Lack of access to water that led to some workers developing kidney stones
- Being instructed to carry heavy loads alone, leading to musculoskeletal injuries
- Workers required to work 13-16 hour shifts with only one 45 minute lunch break, and no other breaks
- Verbal abuse including being called derogatory names
- Little or no safety training
- On one occasion workers were not allowed to leave the warehouse for more than 30 minutes during a fire that was filling the building with smoke
—but also that management had tried to thwart the organizers by “threatening mass terminations and offering workers as much as $15,000 to ‘switch sides.’ ” These accusations, if true, would constitute violations not only of labor law but of fundamental human rights and dignity (cf. Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
What do you do when one of your favorite companies is accused of violating the human rights of its employees and job applicants?
Me, I try to get to the bottom of it.
I expressed my concern through B&H’s website, noting my appreciation of the excellent service I had received in the past, then adding:
[Yesterday] I read the federal allegations of your disgraceful treatment of your warehouse workers and systematic hiring discrimination.
I am writing to let you know that this is not acceptable to me. ALL human beings are equally deserving of dignity. ALL human beings are equally deserving of the right to work and the right to just and favorable working conditions. ALL human beings deserve equal wages for equal work. ALL human beings deserve these things regardless of race, sex or national origin.
Period.
I received an e-mail reply directly from Henry Posner, B&H’s director of corporate communications, who appears to be working overtime trying to maintain B&H’s good name. In the interest of balance, I’ll include his reply in its entirety:
We appreciate your concern and your loyalty, and want to take this time to help you understand what has been happening recently. At B&H we value each and every customer; your concern is our concern. We know you have choices when shopping and your choice of our establishment is something we do not and must not take lightly. We want to continue earning your business and instilling pride in your choice for photo and electronics.
B&H is a family owned business, a success that has been built for over 40 years from a small storefront in New York City to the worldwide enterprise we are today. This is credit to our dedicated and devoted employees, many of whom have been with our company for decades.
Every one of our employees is treated with respect and dignity, no matter of race, religion or gender. The average employee tenure at B&H far exceeds most of our competitors and as well as most employers of any kind. Our employees are well compensated, offered generous benefits, and they are given 17 paid days off in addition to 3 weeks paid vacation. Few companies offer this.
The allegations you have been hearing about are largely made by people who have never set foot in a B&H facility. For the time being, we will address several of the accusations, as they are far from factual. We can declare outright that B&H does NOT have any segregated bathrooms by race or religion, and anyone working at B&H knows that to be true. Additionally, any similar contentions are not only inaccurate, but bizarre.
There are always areas where we can better ourselves, and these are issues that B&H is committed to strengthening as we move forward. Our goal is to create an even friendlier environment for our employees, where there can be no doubt that their needs, concerns, and well being are noticeably our primary focus. Our roots are from a place where discrimination affected so many of the very people who are now part of the B&H family, and we built this company and brand to defy what were the norms around us, and to give everyone the chance to succeed, to care for their families and homes, and to be happy. That will not change, but will only be improved upon.
What you may not be told in these scurrilous narratives is that B&H chose to keep its jobs in New York, rather than opting, as many others do, to outsource jobs to areas overseas where labor rates are lower. Our call centers and online management teams are right here. We chose a very different route, and we continues [sic] to make daily decisions taking into account first and foremost our dedicated employees and customers and we will continue to do so.
Over the next few weeks and months, you will hear more and see the growth, and we will make sure our customer and our employee are kept keenly aware of the situation. Please feel free to reach to us with any of your concerns and we hope we can continue to earn your business in the future.
Now, I don’t know about you, but it seemed to me that the gentleman did protest too much. Most of this letter is exactly the sort of measured, professional boilerplate I’d expect to receive. But then there are phrases like “not only inaccurate, but bizarre” and “these scurrilous narratives.” And those lead me to look a little more closely at verbiage such as, “B&H chose to keep its jobs in New York, rather than opting, as many others do, to outsource jobs to areas overseas where labor rates are lower.” So, wait . . . deciding not to outsource jobs is a defense against allegations of mistreating warehouse workers and refusing to hire African-Americans and women? My hackles, already raised, only went further up.
I replied:
Thank you for your reply. I’ll be honest: I was anticipating something more along the lines of, “Yes, there are some issues we need to work on, and we're doing everything we can to take care of them, and we hope you'll come back to us when you see that we've made the necessary improvements,” rather than, “These narratives are inaccurate, scurrilous and bizarre.” The latter, while conceivably true, nevertheless gives the impression of an attempt to dismiss and discredit serious allegations made by a government agency with no interest in the matter except to ensure that workers are treated fairly according to the law.
I’m asking the union that represents your warehouse workers for its perspective on the issue as well. I trust that after hearing the federal government’s assertions, your assertions and the union’s assertions, the truth of the matter will make itself clear—and if it still doesn’t, I’ll await the disposition of the court case.
I'd like to remain a B&H customer, but I won't do so at the expense of my values.
Posner replied:
There are allegations which deserve to be dismissed and discredited. There are not and have never been separate restrooms, except male & female. Contrary to the union and Laundry Worker’s accusations none of our employees is “undocumented.” Every employee, including me, my boss and the warehouse workers are entitled to the same menu of benefits. IMO your confidence “…the truth of the matter will make itself clear…” is admirable but I doubt those will be the results.
Yikes. Defensive much? Does he already believe B&H is destined to lose its case in court? Also, among all the allegations I’d read, hiring of undocumented workers was a new one that I hadn’t even considered yet, much less mentioned.
Unfortunately, the Steelworkers never did reply to my inquiry asking for their take on the situation. But I did discover that, coincidentally, someone I knew from high school was now married to a former B&H employee—I’ll call him “Chris” (not his real name)—who’d worked there for more than a decade. “I was thrilled the day he left,” my friend said, noting that, in her opinion, B&H’s respect for labor law was less than wholehearted. (She phrased it more strongly than that.)
When I shared my correspondence with Chris, he sent me the following comment:
When this story broke, I have to say that I was not surprised this happened—rather, many of us there had seen it happen before to a lesser degree, and were waiting for them to get nailed and exposed in a big way sooner or later. When I worked in sales early on I endured many slights from management which were rarely felt by the Orthodox religious men who were connected through family and/or their congregation. Friends of mine who were from non-Orthodox Jewish families also felt like second-class citizens, with the added subtle pressure to be more observant on a regular basis. Although positive changes had been made over the [x] years I was there, they are still far behind with regard to modern management practices, and Henry clearly has his work cut out dealing with the spin control.
No kidding: B&H has responded to the backlash by providing PetaPixel with photos of its warehouse, as evidence that it does provide decent working conditions to its employees. Never mind that the photos are of B&H’s Manhattan warehouse, whereas the allegations of mistreatment all stem from its Brooklyn warehouse. And never mind that the photos do nothing to refute the allegations of discrimination in hiring.
So, alas, rather than take this opportunity to mend its image by conspicuously doing the right thing and raising its standards, it looks like B&H has decided instead to pursue a strategy of fighting the feds in court, fighting a PR battle on PetaPixel and by e-mail, and fighting the union on the warehouse floor. What a damn shame.
If B&H prevails in the government’s lawsuit against it, and if it discovers a newfound respect for the rights and dignity of its employees, I may go back to it someday. Till then, shalom, B&H. I won’t remain your customer at the expense of my values.
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