AFjustice.com
is a website on the nationwide civil rights lawsuit against Abercrombie
and Fitch for alleged racial and ethnic discrimination against employees
and job applicants. It is sponsored by the national law firm of Lieff Cabraser
Heimann & Bernstein, LLP. Joining Lieff Cabraser as co-counsel are MALDEF,
APALC and the NAACP
Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.
TURNED
DOWN BY ABERCROMBIE BECAUSE OF YOUR RACE OR SEX?
ABERCROMBIE & FITCH MUST PAY $40 MILLION IN DISCRIMINATION SUIT
Los Angeles, CA, January 24, 2005 -- If you applied for
a job at Abercrombie & Fitch and were turned down because
of your race or sex, or if you worked at Abercrombie and
were let go or relegated to the back room, you may be eligible
for payment from the settlement of a class action lawsuit
against the retail giant.
The settlement applies to all women and all African Americans,
Asian Americans and Latinos who either applied for a job
at an Abercrombie store (or attempted to do so and were
discouraged) or were employed there between February 24,
1999 and November 16, 2004. The stores include Abercrombie
& Fitch, Abercrombie kids and Hollister stores.
Claim forms are available right now and must be postmarked
and mailed to the Claims Administrator by March 25, 2005.
To get a claims form, visit www.abercrombieclaims.com
or call toll-free 1-866-854-4175. The Gonzalez v. Abercrombie
Claims Administrator is at P.O. Box 10564, Tallahassee,
FL, 32302-2564.
"The
settlement provides $40 million in compensation to Latino,
African American, Asian American, and female applicants
and employees discriminated against by Abercrombie,"
explained attorney Tom Saenz of the Mexican American Legal
Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF).
The settlement comes in the case of Gonzalez v. Abercrombie,
a federal civil rights lawsuit filed in 2003 by MALDEF,
the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), the
Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), and private
plaintiffs' law firms on behalf of nine young adults of
color, including students and graduates of the University
of California and Stanford, who were refused sales jobs
or terminated because of their race or ethnicity.
The
original plaintiffs were joined by others across the country,
including women who were discriminated against based on
their gender. The plaintiffs' claims were validated by the
federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
In
addition to the money for class members, the settlement
requires Abercrombie to substantially reform its recruitment,
hiring, job assignment, promotion, and training practices.
"It is a comprehensive package of reforms that will
make minority and female employees feel more welcome,"
said plaintiff Jennifer Lu, a recent graduate of UC Irvine
who was terminated from a southern California Abercrombie
& Fitch store.
Source/contact:
Shaheena Ahmad Simons (MALDEF)
213-629-2512 x127
Minah Park (APALC)
213-241-0220
Marcy DeVaux / John Tucker (NAACP LDF)
310-342-5130
