A major northern Minnesota furniture retailer is paying $60,000 to a transgender job applicant after a federal investigation concluded that the company refused to hire him as a sales associate out of concern that he would hurt business.
Frizzell Furniture Gallery, with stores in Bemidji and Walker, also has agreed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to provide training for its staff and revise company policies regarding discrimination based on sex and gender identity, the agency announced Tuesday.
“We appreciate that Frizzell Furniture worked cooperatively with the EEOC to resolve this charge without having to go through protracted litigation,” Julianne Bowman, director of the EEOC’s Chicago District, said in a statement. “By revising its hiring procedures and adopting new policies, Frizzell Furniture is taking important steps to promote equal employment opportunity for all job applicants.”
An investigation by the EEOC’s Minneapolis concluded that Frizzell Furniture rejected the applicant for a sales position because he is transgender. A hiring official informed him he would not “mix well with the customers,” the agency announcement read.
Such conduct violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sex discrimination, including bias based on transgender status. The act also does not allow discriminatory employment decisions based on customer preference.
The agreement with the EEOC also requires Frizell to report any future complaints of discrimination to the EEOC for the next three years and adopt more objective criteria for hiring decisions.
Frizzell’s website classifies the 29-year-old company as northern Minnesota’s largest furniture retailer, with its original location in Walker measuring 25,000 square feet, and its store in Bemidji, which opened in 2019, totaling 42,000 square feet.
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If you are a LGBTQ, a person of color or a illegal immigrant you have the right to get a job anywhere you want.
Qualifications for the job do not matter as long as you are a LGBTQ, a person of color or a illegal immigrant.
AND no one can ever deny you that job, EVEN IF THEY HAVE legitimate cause!!!
You know—all of our bodies work the same—we all have the same parts that perform the same function—it doesn’t change from person to person.
Except for the most important part—the brain. Where in the hell is the disconnect there??
Minnesotians, have LOST THEIR BRAINS. For good me thinks.
God will ever so forcefully instruct them as to what they are and where they will spend the rest of forever for questioning his decision for their gender. God does not make mistakes but this cult surely has done their utmost to assure that mistakes were made.
The gubment hurts business every day. They to then should pay.
As the Gubmint never makes any money, IF WE DID sue them, it would be WE WHO WOULD PAY anyway..
Depends on what she looks like. If you look like a guy in drag ,then yes it will hurt business. But if you look like Bruce Jenner then ,it should not hurt your business.