Macy’s Reaches Resolution With New York State Office of the Attorney General Over Allegations of Racial Profiling in New York Stores

Macy’s has reached resolution with the New York State Office of the Attorney General related to allegations of racial profiling in our stores in New York. We also have settled in principle various lawsuits related to these allegations.

The Office of the Attorney General announced the agreement this morning. Since then, we have launched an aggressive communications program to all Macy’s associates nationwide. Among our communications will be a clear and unequivocal message from Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren. Please take a few minutes to listen to Terry’s message (link below).

To be clear, our company’s policies strictly prohibit any form of discrimination or racial profiling and any occurrence of such behavior will not be tolerated in our organization.

Moving forward, our company will be initiating a series of measures including enhanced training and education for our loss prevention and sales associates. We also will be adopting an expanded role for our security monitor to help ensure that we have the right policies and procedures in place, and that we are constantly reviewing our compliance with them.

We at Macy’s are committed to fulfilling to the ideals of diversity, inclusion and respect that our company aspires to achieve – every day, in every store and office, with every customer and associate.

Serving customers is what we are all about, and we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that all customers feel welcome at Macy’s and are treated with respect. Our company has a long tradition of setting the gold standard in how we operate. We were among the first retail companies to establish a strong position on diversity and inclusion. We have a proven track record of reflecting the diverse communities we serve in every aspect of our business – including hiring, associate development, purchasing, community support, visual presentation and advertising. Our plans for moving forward further reinforce that commitment.

Also, for your reference, here is what Macy’s has agreed to do in its agreement announced today with the Office of the Attorney General (OAG):

· Employ a full-time Security Monitor who will report to an executive outside the Loss Prevention Department and be responsible for Macy’s compliance with the agreement with the Attorney general. Among other things, the Security Monitor will oversee the policy and training enhancements called for by the agreement, investigate complaints relating to differential treatment in the loss prevention context, and prepare certain reports and statistical analyses.

· Continue to maintain the data it currently captures on apprehensions and Non-Productive Detainments (“NPDs”) and in addition, capture: (1) data on customer interactions by LP personnel that do not result in an Apprehension and are not contacts simply in response to a sensor alarm; (2) data, at the Herald Square store, on sales associate tips that lead to the apprehension of a customer for suspected shoplifting; and (3) a log of calls made to 7-911 at the Herald Square store by sales associates to report suspicious activity by customers.

· Develop a new anti-racial profiling policy signed by our CEO and disseminate said policy to employees in the State of New York.

· Draft a policy regarding external law enforcement access to the CCTV system in NY stores.

· Eliminate the “two floor” exception to the “exit” step in the five steps required before a LP Detective may stop a customer for suspected shoplifting.

· Revise its profiling training and provide said training to all LP employees and sales associates in its NY stores.

· Translate certain loss prevention forms and notices into the six most common languages, other than English, spoken in NY, as determined by the Census Bureau and, when possible, at the Herald Square store, when a customer who is detained indicates limited English language proficiency provide oral interpretation by other employees or telephonic translation services.

· Continue to make its LP Complaint form available in specified locations and also make it available in Spanish. Post the Customers’ Bill of Rights, in English and Spanish, in all NY stores.

· Pay the OAG the sum of $650,000.

· Identify and designate, at Macy’s cost and subject to the approval of the OAG, an Independent Expert with expertise in anti-discrimination laws and prevention of unlawful racial profiling in retail loss prevention, who will assist the OAG in assessing Macy’s compliance with the AOD.

Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership as we at Macy’s pursue the gold standard in our policies, procedures and actions in inclusion and diversity. We will be in touch soon to set up an editorial board meeting on this subject so we can further and address any questions you might have.

Link to Terry Lundgren video message:

http://www.macysinc.com/archive/tl-message/default.htm

Bill Hawthorne

SVP, Diversity Strategies and Legal Affairs