Last Updated on 07/09/2024 by Chris Gampat
B&H Photo (and their parent company, B&H Foto) have agreed to yet another settlement regarding discrimination. This is the second large settlement highly publicized in under a decade, with the last being in 2017. The current settlement addresses discriminatory hiring practices that B&H made between 2011 and 2021. It also addresses a settlement that could be paid to women, Hispanics, African Americans, and Asians who worked for B&H but didn’t receive a promotion of any sort. The wording around the case clearly states B&H Foto as the parent company — which then includes both the B&H Photo Video Pro Audio superstore and the offices, which include the brands under the Gradus Group.
I Used to Work for B&H Photo
This report was first done by the Phoblographer. If you’re coming to us for the first time, know that the Phoblographer is an accredited publication, which means we’re actively used as a resource in schools. We also celebrate our history of real authenticity by being both a member of TIPA and Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative. More importantly, we are the only photography publication in America that is a Certified Minority Owned Business. And we do the most work around inclusivity with our incredibly diverse staff, and the many times that we’ve worked to feature the spectrum of photographers and even ensure brands recognize who these folks are.
Please note that I’m the editor-chief and Founder of the Phoblographer. I’m writing this article with my personal experience of working at B&H Photo for years before breaking free to run the Phoblographer full-time. So I can speak to what’s happening with reassured intuition and understanding from the inside.
A Short History of B&H Photo’s Discrimination Practices
According to the settlement website:
This settlement provides for payments to women, African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians who applied for jobs at B&H’s headquarters or superstore between January 1, 2011, and July 21, 2021. It also provides for monetary payments for women, African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians who were employed at B&H’s headquarters or superstore between January 1, 2011, and July 21, 2021, but did not receive a promotion.
If you received a mailed Notice, you were identified by the US EEOC as an individual who may be eligible to participate in the claims process and may be entitled to receive a monetary award under the settlement.
Major coverage around B&H Photo’s discrimination practices started in 2015 when warehouse workers were striving to unionize. Their qualms concerned unsafe working conditions for undocumented workers. The protests continued into 2017 — but B&H Photo’s response was to move the warehouses to New Jersey from the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Therefore, it made commuting to the warehouse more expensive and unsustainable for the workers. This follows up on stories from 2009 and 2010.
B&H Photo and B&H Foto both have had a very long history of discrimination. Here’s a snippet we wrote about them in 2020:
Back in 2017, the company paid a lot of the tax money it doesn’t hand over in a discrimination lawsuit. But there’s more than that. I’ll quote the Wikipedia entry as of October 21st, 2020:
- In October 2007, it was announced that B&H Photo agreed to pay US$4.3 million to settle allegations that it discriminated against Hispanic workers, while not admitting any wrongdoing.[17]
- In November 2009, a lawsuit against B&H Photo alleged that the store refused to hire women, in violation of New York City and New York State Human Rights Laws.[18] The lawsuit, brought by four women, sought class action status on behalf of all women discriminated against by B&H over the course of many years.[19] Given B&H’s prior alleged discriminatory practices,[17] the lawsuit sought US$19 million in compensatory and punitive damages to deter future discriminatory practices.[20] In 2011, a lawsuit alleged discrimination against Hispanic workers.[21][22]
- In February 2016, the United States Department of Labor Office of Contract Compliance filed a lawsuit against B&H alleging that the company had only hired Hispanic men into entry-level jobs in a Brooklyn warehouse, and then subjected them to harassment and unsanitary conditions.[23] On August 16, 2017, the company announced that it had settled this matter for a reported $3.22 million, while not admitting any wrongdoing.[24]
- In November 2019, According to The Verge, the Attorney General of New York state filed a lawsuit alleging that B&H knowingly failed to pay millions of dollars in sales taxes due in New York.[25] The company’s spokesperson has said that “B&H has done nothing wrong and it is outrageous”.[25] According to B&H, the Attorney General is alleging that customers should pay sales tax on pre-discounted prices, not on the actual selling price, which is the widespread industry practice.[26]
The news about B&H Photo’s discrimination practices have been widely covered by reputable and accredited publications like the NYTimes, CNN, Hyperallergic, and DPReview.
It’s Time The Photography Industry Speaks Out
Here’s my big question for photographers everywhere who continue to support and work with B&H Photo: Was the authenticity movement around inclusivity just a temporary trend? Did you stop caring about others when you forgot about it? Does the photography world not value women, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians? Why have we not held the camera manufacturers accountable for this? Why have we not held the various photographers who work with them and their Event Space accountable?
For extra transparency, the Phoblographer receives affiliate commissions from Amazon. And we’re aware of their lawsuit discrimination history as well. However, it’s also a place where you can choose where to get your gear from as they’re a centralized marketplace seller similar to Wal-Mart. You can purchase items from Best Buy, the Leica Camera Store, Adorama and many other places using our links as it gives you a choice. We’ve always believed in giving readers a choice, and rather than blindside you, we want to be transparent because we believe in long-term partnerships and not just getting your page views.
Why are we then going after B&H Photo so fervently? They’re internationally known as America’s largest camera store. People come from Europe for a trip here to purchase gear and then fly back home. Camera stores across America are struggling against the big giants like B&H Photo. It’s one of the reasons why the Promaster group was founded.
What will it take to actually get photographers to wake up?
A big thanks to reader, Rich, for the tip off about this. He found our previous coverage about this while searching and saw that we were the only publication really covering discrimination issues around B&H with fervency.