B&H in Hot Water Again; Do You Have What it Takes to Say No?
November 22, 2009 by becthomas
Filed under Photography
B&H, a well know supplier of all things photographic is once again in trouble for discrimination. Some of you might recall that Last March B&H paid out $4.3 million to 150 Latino workers because they were denied equal pay, benefits and promotions all because they were well Latino… The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought that suit forward and started a 5 year plan to monitor B&H’s activities; sadly it doesn’t sound like B&H has straightened up. This time around B&H is being sued by 4 women to the tune of $19 million. The women have made a claim that B&H has denied them a promotion to sales positions because they are female. A judge has not yet ruled on this but considering that B&H has no women in sales position and hasn’t in the past I can take a guess where this suit is going to go; with B&H slapped once again.
The part of this un-surprising tale that really gets to me is that there hasn’t been a huge outcry from photographers for B&H to straighten up their act. By purchasing goods from B&H you are passively accepting their well known discriminatory behavior. With every order you make you are telling B&H that you are ok with their Ole Boys Club and to continue on with business as usual.
I will not buy products from B&H, and I want to encourage others not to either. We photographers need to make a stand for what is right; we need to send the message that discrimination is always wrong. Remember that you have the power in your hand to change the world; you just have to have the courage to do it.
Joe Decker on Sun, 22nd Nov 2009 6:43 PM
Thanks for passing this along.
I wish you good luck in spreading the word, I was enormously disappointed by the response to bigotry by a well-known camera accessory manufacturer a couple years back, most of the big sites went out of their way to censor basic reporting of the information. It got really ugly, I hope your own experiences are more positive.
Tweets that mention B&H in Hot Water Again; Do You Have What it Takes to Say no? | Visual Perspective -- Topsy.com on Sun, 22nd Nov 2009 6:46 PM
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by BecThomas, joedecker. joedecker said: RT @CelticCamera: RT @BecThomasPhoto: B&H in Hot Water Again with EEOC: http://tinyurl.com/yaupn3g [...]
becthomas on Sun, 22nd Nov 2009 6:55 PM
It really is disappointing but they have operated this way for a long time, they are finally get their just deserts…
Rich C on Mon, 23rd Nov 2009 6:44 AM
Just found you through CanonBlogger. Adding you to my RSS reader now!
I had no idea about B&H’s issue. Very disappointing to be sure, and I’m surprised there’s not more out there in the photo threads! Thanks for sharing this with us!
Boing Boing on Mon, 23rd Nov 2009 7:58 AM
Much loved photo supply store B&H sued for job discrimination against women…
B&H, the photo and video gear company much-loved by photogs and filmmakers worldwide (”It’s like kryptonite for my wallet!” quipped on on Twitter this weekend) is in hot water again over employment discrimination claims. Four women claim they were d…
Much loved photo supply store B&H sued for job discrimination against women | dv8-designs on Mon, 23rd Nov 2009 9:42 AM
[...] Latino warehouse workers who claimed they were denied promotions. CBS, NYT, The Photo Forum. (via becthomasphotography , via Joseph [...]
Much loved photo supply store B&H sued for job discrimination against women | timnhanh.us on Mon, 23rd Nov 2009 10:04 AM
[...] Latino warehouse workers who claimed they were denied promotions. CBS, NYT, The Photo Forum. (via becthomasphotography , via Joseph [...]
Jeff on Mon, 23rd Nov 2009 11:00 AM
I’ve bought from Adorama for years because B+H simply didn’t have friendly sales staff. However, now that I think about it, I’ve never seen a female sales person there either. Only registers and photo pickup. Anyone know anything about Adorama’s policies on this? I don’t want to avoid the cliff now only to just fall into the same river later on.
TwittLink - Your headlines on Twitter on Mon, 23rd Nov 2009 6:26 PM
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Tim Brown on Tue, 24th Nov 2009 3:59 PM
Thanks to a FB update linking to your post, I have changed the link on my blog for B&H to a link to your blog entry. I once walked many blocks in the rain to check out the B&H store when I was in the city after a fund raiser shoot at Westchester CC. It wasn’t the mecca I thought it would be. My last body came from Norman Camera in Michigan and they have at least one female salesperson.
becthomas on Tue, 24th Nov 2009 4:22 PM
Thank you Tim, there is also Adorama to gear shop at and as far as I know they do not have a record of being discriminitory!
Much loved photo supply store B&H sued for job discrimination against women | MostReviews.com on Thu, 26th Nov 2009 8:14 PM
[...] Latino warehouse workers who claimed they were denied promotions. CBS, NYT, The Photo Forum. (via becthomasphotography , via Joseph [...]