A comment on comments (re Abercrombie)

In spite of what I feel is a very healthy and growing readership, the use of the “comment” feature on this blawg is minimal. It’s used most often by Michael and I to comment on each others’ posts — an incestuous (or do I mean insular?) practice.

When we do receive comments from others, however, the quality and informativeness is almost always top notch, no doubt indicative of the quality of our readership.

What I’m getting to is that the second and third comments to this post in our series on Abercrombie are very insightful, presenting interesting anectdotal evidence from the employee and customer perspectives, respectively.

The explanation of how minorities could be hired, perhaps even in significant numbers, yet discriminatorily fired, presented by the first commenter rings true in view of the tremendous seasonality of retail.

And the Asian customer’s story syncs with my comments at the end of this post expressing my opinion about the foolishness of blowing off a big chunk of shoppers whose money is as green as anyone else’s by cultivating a snooty “white bread” image (if that’s what they’ve been doing, as alleged).

Another interesting point is that no matter how the executives with the company rationalize this settlement as a business decision, and despite the unusually verbose nonadmission clause in the agreement (see p. 13 of this document), the obvious impression the publicity has created in the minds of many is that Abercrombie is guilty as sin. (Of course, as a lawyer representing employers I know that may very well not be true, and that even such tremendously costly settlements too often result in cases that could be won by corporate defendants, if they were willing to both roll the dice and spend millions in legal fees.)

Finally, this publicity came about because the EEOC insists that settlements be made fully public, and as here, often insists they take the form of a consent decree, which is public record. Something to be aware of in litigating against EEOC, as opposed to a private party, from the PR angle.

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