Dillard's Accused of Racial Profiling

Little Rock, Ark., Dillard’s, Inc. is once again in the news for an alleged race-based offense—just one of many over the last 20 years.

The federal lawsuit alleges that the department store chain wrongly accused black customers of shoplifting. The eight plaintiffs—from Arkansas, Tennessee and Florida—said that they were interrogated and accused by Dillard’s employees or security personnel of stealing merchandise. Some of the interrogations took place in a Dillard’s back room, others on the sales floor, according to the suit.

Earlier this year, Dillard’s was the target of a federal class-action suit that accused its hair salons of a racially motivated dual-pricing system.

While Dillard’s has not yet commented on this latest suit, in prior suits attorneys for the company deny that it “maintains any culture of race discrimination” and say Dillard’s “specifically prohibits” such activity.