Rittenhouse Apple Store Racially Profiles Black Customers, Says Former Employee

Source: www.phillymag.com --- Thursday, March 30, 2017
The Rittenhouse Square Apple Store on Walnut Street. (Photo by Sophia Pizzi) Every day, hundreds of people visit the Rittenhouse Square Apple Store on Walnut Street to check out new products, pick up an emergency charger, or just check their email. And according to one former employee, black customers are handled differently than white customers. Philly resident Cori Fisher worked at the Philadelphia Apple Store from 2010 to 2016, first as an Apple Store “expert” and later as a “specialist,” as Apple classifies their employees. In a lawsuit just filed in federal court in Philadelphia, Fisher claims that he noticed some disturbing activity there. According to allegations contained in his lawsuit, the Apple Store racially profiled black customers. Fisher claims that he witnessed a store manager asking a cop to get some black teenagers out of the store, and he says that the Apple Store told its employees to “closely monitor” black customers in general. The lawsuit describes the store’s actions as “racist.” Fisher says that he complained of one incident in particular that occurred in December 2015 and was told that Apple Store management told him that they would investigate. He claims that in February 2016, he expressed his concern that the Apple Store was treating black customers differently than white customers. In the end, Fisher says he was fired in April 2016 in retaliation for speaking up about the alleged discrimination. This ...

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