LOS ANGELES (KNX) — Two former employees of Target have sued the company for discrimination, alleging they were falsely accused of theft and fired on the basis of their racial identities.
Aaliyah Shepherd, who is Black, and Sierra Vidal, who is of Dominican and Pacific Islander descent, brought their separate lawsuits in L.A. County Superior Court last week, seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Shepherd was 18 when she was hired for a part-time, seasonal job at the Target location in Inglewood in Oct. 2020, according to the suit. She was trained as a cashier, but was not instructed on Target’s loss prevention policies, she alleged.
Two months after being hired, a Target loss prevention employee told Shepherd that store surveillance cameras captured her giving away or voiding merchandise for a customer, and that she had processed a merchandise return and given the customer a cash refund.
"Defendants falsely accused plaintiff of conspiring with the customer to return his/her payment and allow the customer to keep the merchandise," the suit states. "Plaintiff was shocked and immediately denied the conduct, denied conspiring with anyone and demanded to see the video that (purported) to depict plaintiff's dishonesty."
Shepherd said she was “pressured” by the loss prevention employee and an Inglewood police officer to sign a document admitting to theft. She did so in fear that she might otherwise be arrested and charged, and that her place in the 2020 class of San Jose State University might be forfeited.
Vidal was 21 years old and a student at Woodland Hills’ Pierce College when she was employed with Target’s Inglewood location. In her suit, she alleged a store security manager told her the company had record of her improperly voiding a transaction, failing to return merchandise to a returns bin, incorrectly using a price matching feature, and permitting a friend to use her employee discount.
The manager said he had video footage of the alleged incidents, but never showed it to Vidal. He then allegedly forced her to write a statement admitting to all of the conduct and apologize. She did so, hoping Target would not report her to the police or take her to court.
However, according to her suit, Vidal was instead fired and forced to sign a second document agreeing to repay money allegedly lost by Target in connection with the incidents. Shepherd was also immediately fired after signing her own admission document, and later received letters from lawyers representing Target seeking remuneration for money lost due to her alleged conduct.
Both plaintiffs alleged they were targeted by loss prevention employees due to their ethnic background.
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