The NY Post published an article on Wednesday, that B&H Photo is calling outright lies, and defamation.
The article claims that B&H is being sued for giving Jewish workers a $2,000 bonus when having a baby, but gives nothing to non-Jewish/Mexican workers.
The article made sure to stress that the owner of B&H, Mr. Herman Schreiber, is a Satmar Chosid, and employees many Satmar Chassidim. They add that “having babies is a major tenant of their faith”.
The article also stated that the three plaintiffs claim they were encouraged to recruit illegal immigrants.
Following the publishing of the NY Post article, B&H fired off an email to their more than 2,000 employees on Wednesday night:
Dear B&H Employees,
I want to update you on a false and misleading story about B&H that was published tonight in the NY Post.
A few years ago, B&H settled claims with warehouse employees that we are all familiar with. Three employees did not accept the settlement. On Monday, the lawyer representing these employees filed a lawsuit containing various sensational claims. The lawsuit was settled two days later. The lawsuit’s claims were misleading and inaccurate, and were resolved years ago. The suit is riddled with preposterous claims and outright lies that were disproven in prior actions.
A NY Post reporter obtained a copy of the lawsuit and decided to defame B&H. The article says that we give only “Jewish workers $2,000 baby bonuses” when they have a baby (obviously not true), that we “recruit illegal immigrants” and are in the business of “selling tamales and social security numbers” (obviously not true; we E-verify every new hire at B&H), etc.
It is disappointing that a newspaper publishes such lies.
It is also disappointing that B&H’s practice of recognizing when our employees celebrate the birth or adoption of child or of an employee’s wedding or the wedding of a child with gift of $180-$250 has been misrepresented and used to defame the company. [FYI — Please make sure to inform your manager if you are celebrating such an event so B&H can acknowledge your family.]
We wanted to notify you about this development immediately.
Thank You,
Jeff Gerstel
Chief Marketing Officer
(Charles Gross – YWN)
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19 Responses
I hope they bring a lawsuit against the New York compost for defamation
B and H will prevail!
In the zchus of their being מקדש שם שמים בפרהסיא when they close on Friday afternoon and Saturday Purim Tisha bav chol Hamoed etc despite the line of business they’re in may have nothing but hatzlacha
when I come to the US, I always visit B&H to buy electronics etc. I like their store and noticed Chabad, Satmar, blacks and Mexicans working side by side. I have always liked seeing a store that has a good and INTELLIGENT staff that knows the products very well (unlike other places whose employees rarely are familiar with the products).
Good luck with defamation suit and continued hatzlacha!
“having babies is a major tenant of their faith”.
That may be a major tenet of their faith. It’s definitely not a tenant!
Tenet =a principle or belief, especially one of the main principles of a religion or philosophy.
A majot “tenant”???
I have a neighbor who works for BH. He says this story is not true. Its proper to mention that the owner of B and H has said he attributes his success to be being closed on chol hamoaid.
How come Moishe Shmeel is not mentioned …
His chesed is legendary….
They should sue the New York Post
If non of this is true and can be proven to be untrue, then b& h should counter sue them to the hilt for defamation.
Wow , shame shame on the papers.
B&H has evolved considerably over the years and has learned from its mistakes. There are very few frum businesses in NYC that are so inclusive and offer good benefits to ALL employees, regardless of their background and “ethnic” affiliation (aka chassid, misnaged or afro-american or hispanic). As a frum organizaiton, there will always be some business practices that create the optics of favoritism for frum employees but overall it appears to be great place to work and certainly a great place to shop (in person or online).
As I am here in Canada, I know nothing about this, but it all feels so wrong that the U.S. has such “affirmative action” programs that are government mandated for certain groups, when, what appears to be a private company cannot have an affirmative action program – seeing how Jews have been persecuted by the ancestors of these very same non-Jews and Mexicans (even those who have no direct Spanish ancestry – remember the Spanish Inquisition – at the very least adopted the Spanish “culture”, religion etc. of those that had persecuted the Jews).
I remember such things here in Canada, a government that uses taxpayer money to fund Catholic religious schools, yet took away any government funding of any other religion (including Jewish schools). Yet, at the same time the same government instituted brand new never-before-existing schools exclusively for Black children, government funded. So what gives – is segregation of Blacks good or bad here? I though the whole civil rights was about de
GeorgeG…….you are mixing up up so many different concepts and issues in regard to historical persecution of different ethnic groups, the concept of affirmative action and the legal standards governing when/how it may be applied, the labor laws of NYC and NYS governing equal treatment of hourly and management employees etc. Bottom line is that B&H doesn’t engage in the practices cited in the article and would be crazy to even consider such disparate compensation practices. Employers must make reasonable accommodation the religious needs/practices of different groups of employees and there could be occasional issues arising from disparate treatment of different groups but throwing thousand of dollars at a guy at the loading dock wearing a black hat whose wife has a baby but denying that bonus to the guy next to him wearing a baseball hat won’t fly.
Georgeg:
If not for affirmative action, Obama never would of been coronated by the liberals & Rinos as Lord King of America. We are still suffering today because of the damage he caused.
There is no question in my mind that B&H has had Hatzlacha because they are closed Chol Hamoed and allow their employees to relax & enjoy their Yom Tov with their mishpachos. Halivuy, the other heimishe companies should follow suit. Kol hamivaseh es hamoed……………..!
The only thing that I know is that…
“You go to B&H!”
On the whole closed for Chol Hamoed thing. It was not originally the decision of the owner. The employees asked for it so they could spend time with their families. Unless its changed, which i doubt, it is unpaid. Employees either need to use vacation or go unpaid.
This is shocking. People still read the New York Post?
Whether they originally closed solely for employees (which I doubt), or not, does nothing to negate the fact that the business loses it’s profits on those days that it’s closed, irrespective of its arrangements with the employees.
It’s a massive kiddush hashem, and unfortunately all to rare, that chol hamoed, whose laws have their own mesechta in shas, is respected in this way.
The fact that that their online store refuses orders in Shabbos is proof that their chol hamoed policy must be just as ultruistic.
Then they need to bring an action for libel against the New York Post. A press release isn’t adequate.
One should also note that if the owners of the store paid for such gifts with personal funds, and did not claim a deduction as a business expense, it would be quite legal.