Lord & Taylor Settles State Racial Discrimination Claims

Lord & Taylor has agreed to pay $100,000 to settle an investigation by the Massachusetts attorney general into racial discrimination, the state agency said on Tuesday. Lord & Taylor did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the settlement.  The department store, owned by Hudson’s Bay Co., will also hire a consultant to review and address its shoplifting prevention procedures and train staff, according to a press release from Attorney General Maura Healey’s office. Healey investigated all four Lord & Taylor stores in the state — in Boston, Braintree, Burlington and Natick — after concerns arose that its theft prevention policies “perpetuated a climate of racial and ethnic bias resulting in, among other things, the disproportionate targeting of black and Hispanic customers for surveillance and apprehension.” Lord & Taylor fully cooperated with the office’s Civil Rights Division, according to the release. Read more at Retail Dive.