Amid allegations of racial discrimination, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman began an investigation into Barney’s and the store’s alleged practice of racial profiling. In 2013, two individuals filed suit against Barney’s. As described in this article, Trayon Christian sued Barney’s after he was falsely accused of stealing a belt from the store and Kayla Phillips sued after she was racially profiled by store personnel.

As a result of the Attorney General’s investigation, it was found that a “disproportionate number of black and Latino customers had been detained at Barney’s on suspicion of shoplifting or credit card fraud.” Additionally, the report stated that Barney’s did not have written policies in place to prevent racial profiling.

A former sales associate of Barney’s claims to have witnessed on a regular basis racial profiling by white employees of the store.

In addition to the $525,000 settlement, Barney’s has agreed to retain an anti-profiling consultant, implement new anti-profiling policies and provide profiling training for sales and security personnel.

If you or someone you know thinks they have experienced discrimination due to race, the team at Radford & Keebaugh can help.   Contact us by phone at (678) 369-3609 or use our contact form.

According to this Huffington Post article, current speculation suggests that former Associate Professor at Virginia Tech Steven Salaita lost a job offer due to his controversial tweets.   It is believed that the University of Illinois rescinded their job offer to Salaita after he made Anti-Israel comments on his Twitter account.

Although the American Association of University Professors’ Illinois committee has stated that Salaita’s comments were “strident and vulgar,” they describe the tweets as “an impassioned plea to end the violence currently taking place in the Middle East.”   The committee further elaborated, “Speech that is deemed controversial should be challenged with further speech that may abhor and challenge a statement.    Yet the University of Illinois cannot cancel an appointment based upon Twitter statements that are protected speech of the United States of America.”

In a Huffington Post report last month, a University of Illinois  spokeswoman stated that, “Faculty have a wide range of scholarly and political views, and we recognize the freedom-of-speech rights of all of our employees.”   The university since rescinding their offer to Salaita.

Former president of the AAUP and current English professor at the University recently stated that Salaita stepped over the line with the tone of his tweets and his comments regarding the Gaza conflict.

If you or someone you know believes that their civil rights have been violated, the team at Radford & Keebaugh can help.   Contact us by phone at (678) 369-3609 or use our contact form.

Title IX bans educational institutions that receive federal funds from discriminating against transgender and gender nonconforming students.    In spite of this, the U.S. Department of Education has given exemption status to three Christian universities that can now deny accommodations for students who are transgendered.

As detailed in this Huffington Post article, a spokeswoman for the Education Department stated that although the department enforces Title IX, “Title IX explicitly provides an exemption for schools controlled  by religious organizations to the extent that the institution  asserts that Title IX’s application would not be consistent with the organization’s religious beliefs.”

Kristan W. Newall, Title IX scholar and professor at the University of Massachusetts, “This is where we’re worried about a slippery slope.”      Ms. Newall stated that although the three institutions have received exempt status  due to religious affiliation, the criteria to establish religious exemption is not clear on its face.    Ms. Newall stated that she is “a little concerned in this Hobby Lobby era moment we seem be in, the criteria seems a little bit lax.”

If you or someone you know thinks they have experienced discrimination, the team at Radford & Keebaugh can help.   Contact us by phone at (678) 369-3609or use our contact form.

Thirty strippers employed at Cheetahs Gentlemen’s Club and Club Expose filed suit this past week against the city of San Diego and Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman. As detailed in this article, the suit alleges violations of the strippers’ rights and seeks an unspecified amount in damages for emotional distress and pain.

As part of the requirement that nude establishments maintain a permit, police make routine inspections to deter illegal activity. Workers are required to show their ID cards and according to police spokesman Lt. Kevin Mayer, photographs taken, such of those to illustrate workers’ tattoos, are routine. “The San Diego code mandates we make these inspections. This is not a criminal matter, this is a regulatory matter,” Lt. Mayer.

The suit alleges that during inspections that took place in 2013 and 2014,  vice squad officers took photographs of nearly nude strippers and made demeaning remarks to them, intimidating and detaining the workers for an unnecessary amount of time. Attorney for the strippers, Dan Gilleon stated, “Either the officers acted maliciously, knowing they were violating claimants’ civil rights or SDPD’s failure to train the officers amounted to deliberate indifference to the the claimants’ rights.”

If you or someone you know thinks their civil rights have been violated, the team at Radford & Keebaugh can help.   Contact us by phone at (678) 369-3609 or use our contact form.