Shoppers File Discrimination Lawsuit Against Wal-Mart

Boston, Ten shoppers in Boston filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. alleging that employees targeted them as potential shoplifters based on their race. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Boston and claims that Wal-Mart employees followed shoppers and searched their shopping bags, purses and clothing. None of the searched individuals was ever charged with shoplifting.

The suit describes five incidents that occurred in 2002 and 2003 where employees are accused of treating customers as shoplifters because of their race. Of the 10 shoppers, nine are minorities and one is white. The white shopper was with two black individuals at the time of the alleged incident.

Wal-Mart spokesman Marty Heires said the company investigated the cases cited in the lawsuit and found no evidence of discrimination. He said, “Any time that we receive any allegation of this type, we reinforce our anti-discrimination policy with all our associates, and we did that in these cases.”