civilized ku # 3060 ~ flower petals / sorry ass SOBs

dormer alcove ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

iMo, the picture making world has been ill-served - at least so in the U.S of A. (can't speak to the rest of the world) - by the demise of the independent camera store.

For the most part, gone are the days (outside of a big city) when one could visit a camera store to literally get the feel of a camera or some other gear and speak to a sales person who might actually impart some useful knowledge / information about gear matters. Someone with whom you have previously interacted and have come to trust. Sure, you can find information online for just about any product but, call me old fashioned, given the choice between a 'virtual' experience and that involving an actual human being, I'll take the human almost every time.

One big-city camera store I have, over past decade or so, come to depend on, both online and in the flesh, is B&H Photo in NYC. The in-store sales people are knowledgeable, helpful, friendly and extremely patient. The phone order staff is as well. Consequently, B&H has become my go-to source for most of my gear and printing supplies. However ...

... the wife is an attorney with an area of expertise in labor and employment law. On a regular basis, she receives notices from Federal and State agencies regarding cases involving labor and employment issues - information that may help her stay abreast of what's-happenin'-now in that area of law. And, therein is the reason for my "however".

Within the last week, she received a bulletin from the US Department of Labor regarding the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs lawsuit against B&H for:

...systematically discriminating against Hispanic employees and female, black and Asian jobseekers at its Brooklyn Navy Yard warehouse. In its suit, OFCCP seeks complete relief for the affected class including lost wages, interest, front wages, salary adjustments, promotions and all other lost benefits of employment and a reform of discriminatory policies.

During its compliance review OFCCP found (amongst other issues) that:

• B&H’s Brooklyn Navy Yard warehouse exclusively hired Hispanic men into its entry-level laborer job group, contributing to the complete exclusion of female employees at the warehouse and the near exclusion of black and Asian employees at the facility.
• B&H promoted and compensated its Hispanic workers at a significantly lower rate than comparable white workers, leading to lower pay, fewer opportunities to advance and a near-total exclusion of Hispanic workers from higher level clerical, managerial and supervisory positions. Hispanic employees were also subjected to racist remarks, degrading comments and harassment at the worksite.
• Failed to keep and preserve required personnel and employment records.
• Relegated Hispanic warehouse workers to separate, unsanitary and often inoperable restrooms.
• Failed to provide designated restroom or changing facilities for females

Suddenly, just like that, B&H has sunk to last place - or, more accurately, to no place - on my picture making needs source list. Shame on them.

Of course, B&H has the opportunity to provide relief as ordered by the OFCCP. Failure to do so will result in the cancellation of all government contracts which are estimated to be valued in excess of $46 million dollars. It will also result in my never again purchasing from them.

And, I will be curious to see if any of the "big name" photo websites - those who depend, at least in part, for some their income through commission links to B&H - will be making note to their followers of this situation. Or, whether they will play the say-what? I-know-nothing card instead.

Comments

[John]

I too love B&H, especially the store in NYC, but this is not the first bad news for them. I wonder if my other go-to sources, Adorama or Amazon are any better?

[Techfan]

As is the case there are often two sides to every story. The following post shows a somewhat different take on this case: http://photofocus.com/2016/03/01/a-visit-to-the-bh-warehouse/

[cfw]

I would caution against making judgment until you've heard both sides of the story (particularly when the U.S. govt. is giving one side!).