Sterling Jewelers Inc., the largest U.S. Specialty retail jeweler, has been sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for allegedly “discriminating against a large class of female employees at stores nationwide.” It contends “thousands of women nationwide” are affected. The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination.
Sterling, in a statement to JCK, said it had investigated the allegations when they first arose, but couldn’t substantiate them, and “we do not believe these charges are valid.” It noted the majority of its store managers and employees are women.
"We take the allegations raised in this lawsuit very seriously, ” said David A. Bouffard, Sterling Jewelers vice president, media relations. “We are confident these charges don’t reflect the culture of this company. Fairness, opportunity, integrity and respect are core values at Sterling.” He said the company will “defend ourselves vigorously against whatever legal action arises.”
The civil action was filed Sept. 24 in U.S. District Court in Buffalo, N.Y.
In it, the EEOC alleges Sterling “pays its female retail sales employees less than male employees performing equal work, and denies female employees promotional opportunities for which they are qualified.” It does this, the suit claims, “by maintaining a system for making promotion and compensation decisions that is excessively subjective, and through which Sterling Jewelers has permitted or encouraged managers to deny female employees” equal pay and promotion opportunities.
The EEOC said it filed its lawsuit after allegedly failing to reach a voluntary settlement with Sterling. It is seeking “monetary relief, an order requiring the company to implement new policies and practices to prevent discrimination, training about anti-discrimination laws, posting of notices at the worksite, and other injunctive relief.”
Sterling, headquartered in Akron, Ohio, (pictured) operates 1,414 stores in the U.S., trading as “ Kay Jewelers, ” “Jared the Galleria of Jewelry, ” and several regional names. It has more than 19,000 employees. Sterling is the U.S. Division of Signet Jewelers Ltd., the world’s largest specialty retail jeweler in the world, which is moving its headquarters from London to Bermuda, and its stock listing from London to the New York Stock Exchange. Eight women from the Tampa Bay area have joined an EEOC class-action lawsuit against Sterling Jewelers, owner of Jared, Kay Jewelers and Marks & Morgan stores.
The lawsuit alleges that Sterling, based in Fairlawn, Ohio, pays women in retail sales positions less than men and denies them promotions “with malice or reckless indifference.”
Plaintiff Dawn Soot-Coons was serving as a temporary store manager at the Jared Galleria of Jewelry store in Brandon near Tampa when she found a payroll report left on a desk. It showed that “every male except one earned more—$2, $3 and up to $4 an hour more—than any of the females, ” she told the St. Petersburg Times.
“Even the top female sales associate, who sold more than $1 million of jewelry a year, got $2.50 less an hour than a guy just hired with no jewelry experience, ” Soot-Coons said.
An EEOC attorney said discrimination complaints at Tampa-area Sterling stores “verified systemic pay and promotion discrimination across the entire company.” Sterling gives local managers broad discretion, resulting in “excessively subjective” pay, the EEOC said.
David Bouffard, vice president of media relations for Sterling, told the National Jeweler trade magazine, “We take the allegations raised in this lawsuit very seriously. We are confident that these charges do not reflect the culture of this company.” He pointed out that most of Sterling’s store managers and employees are female.
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