Old Navy Fired The Three Employees Who Accused A Black Customer Of Stealing His Own Jacket
Old Navy has fired three employees accused of racially profiling a Black customer at one of their Iowa locations.
Last week, James Conley III, 29, was checking out at the Jordan Creek store when an employee asked him to pay for the Old Navy jacket he came into the store wearing. Conley took out his phone and began filming the exchange between himself the Des Moines employees who insisted on scanning the tag of his jacket.
Conley’s Facebook post has been shared more than 148,000 times on Facebook as of Saturday evening.
On Saturday, the Old Navy official company's Facebook page issued a formal apology to Conley for his experience, reported the Des Moines Register.
"The situation was a violation of our policies and values, and we apologize to both Mr. Conley and to those we’ve disappointed," read the post. "All of our customers deserve to be treated with respect."
During the incident, Conley spoke with several employees and tried to explain that he owned the jacket. He was still made to take off his coat while several staff members attempted to scan the tag. Eventually, the store manager reviewed the store’s surveillance footage and realized he did enter the store with it on.
According to Conley’s video, the manager who reviewed the footage never came out to offer him an apology for the inconvenience.
After the video went viral, Gap Inc., which owns Old Navy, said in its customer bill of rights that "profiling is an unacceptable practice and will not be tolerated."
Old Navy shared a similar sentiment in their post.
"We take this matter — and every conversation around equality — very seriously. Old Navy is committed to ensuring that our stores are an environment where everyone feels welcome,” the post read.