News

B&H Photo To Pay Over $3.2 Million in Discrimination Lawsuit

Chris Gampat
No Comments
08/16/2017
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat BHInsight B&H Event Space (4 of 10)

Last Updated on 08/16/2017 by Chris Gampat

Unless you've been living under a rock or purposely turning a blind eye to the issue, you're most likely aware that B&H Photo (B&H Foto legally) has been in the middle of a class action lawsuit involving discrimination for a while. It started when workers in their warehouses (located in Brooklyn) started protesting unsafe conditions and discrimination. The workers, who wanted to unionize, were not being allowed to do so. Now, to settle the problems B&H Photo has "agreed to pay $3,220,000 in back wages and other monetary relief to more than 1,300 affected class members," according to a recent press release issued by the Department of Labor.

But the problems didn't stop there.

B&H Photo was making the claim that they're going to move their warehouses to New Jersey and out of Brooklyn. While some on the internet saw this as B&H Photo trying to get out of the lawsuit, this part is actually a legitimate claim. Many local businesses here in Brooklyn are moving their warehouses; and so it isn't just B&H Photo that is relocating their facilities. The blame is instead being pinned on rising costs in Brooklyn. To that end, B&H also agreed to hire a workplace consultant to help correct its employment practices and workplace conduct at its Brooklyn Navy Yard warehouse, as well as its future warehouse in Florence, New Jersey according to the press release. Considering that B&H Photo has employees coming in by bus from parts of Brooklyn, New Jersey, Monsey, etc., it only seems logical that they'd be able to bus their employees residing in Brooklyn to the New Jersey warehouses.

There is no official or clear word on whether or not a union will be formed and worked with either.

Here's the press release issued by the Department of Labor:
















Personally speaking, this doesn't truly make it all alright with me. Within the past 10 years, there are four publicly reported on lawsuits for discrimination involving B&H Photo. These include the recent one in 2016, one in 2011, in 2010, 2009, etc. Again, on a personal level, I equate it to the person who constantly breaks traffic laws and parking laws to get a ticket for it over and over again simply because they'll just pay the ticket and move on. Until the upper management finds a way to change the company's policies or even lets it go public, I'm not sure if this is going to be the last that we're going to hear of the lawsuits.

As a matter of objectivity, I used to work at B&H Photo as the Social Media Content Developer until I left to run the Phoblographer full time. The Phoblographer has, in the past, endorsed B&H Photo as an affiliate partner on this website. Since this lawsuit, we have not worked to push their deals. And if you're looking for an option that lines up a bit more with your ethics then there's Adorama, Foto Care, Lomography, K&M Camera, Unique Photo and others. My site will occasionally review products from their in-house brands which you should know are under the Gradus Group.

– Big thanks to Ellis who found this news out

b&h photo department of labor discrimination history of lawsuits lawsuit Photography retailer
Shares
Written by

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.