Books for Less Case Closed

Pittsburgh, PABooks for Less has recently been embroiled in a legal battle with twenty-one prior employees. Thirteen of the twenty-one employees had been in the employ of the book giant's Blawnox warehouse. The twenty-one involved in the lawsuit will receive a portion of a joint settlement of $180,000. The lawsuit is due to discrimination both racial and sexual in nature against Books for Less.

New York is the base of operations for Books for Less. Within the contents of the lawsuit filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, workers accused supervisors of the company with tagging them with a label of "stupid and lazy." Also, the supervisor stand accused of inferring and conveying innuendos of an offensive sexual nature to the prior employees. When the employees came forward to issue complaints about the ill manner in which they were treated their employment was terminated with Books for Less.

According to a consent decree from the federal commission which was signed by the company Books for Less, African-American men and women along with a Caucasian woman that befriended them were the victims of the abuse. The Caucasian woman has sought litigation against the abusive co-workers that perpetrated the ill treatment. The consent decree springs from charges filed to the federal commission in August, 2006. Amendments to the original consent decree were received in January, 2007. The reason behind the amendments was the addition of more workers who were also declaring they were victims of discrimination by Books for Less.

It is alleged that discrimination was perpetrated even in the higher ranks of Books for Less. President Michael Schmuley for the discount book store has been accused of engaging in inappropriate racial and sexual comments toward employees. Some of the accusations include the president referring to the company as a plantation implying that workers were slaves working for the company. The damaging comments were said to have been made over a company loudspeaker. This was offensive to African-American workers since the implication of the comment was directed their way. Schmuley has been unreachable to give further information or to comment on the situation. He did pen a statement on March 6, 2008 about the situation. In the statement he comments that his belief is that Books for Less isn't in violation of the law and they wish to put the situation behind them. Schmuley has written a letter to current employees that a discrimination policy is being implemented. Employees will receive training in regards to appropriate conduct concerning discriminatory behavior.

The $180,000 settlement will be divided in different portions. Some employees may receive a larger portion than others. The reason for the uneven distribution of money is based on many pieces of criteria. Seniority and when employees stepped forward to issue complaints are being weighed into the matter.

By Delsia Hartford