Dive Brief:
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In an effort to further put some of its past hiring debacles behind it, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has tapped an experienced human resources diversity executive to lead its diversity efforts, the retailer said Wednesday.
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Jeanetta Darno, who has 22 years of experience guiding companies in such efforts, will be VP of diversity and inclusion. She was most recently at Huntington National Bank, where she also led diversity and inclusion human resources efforts.
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Darno, a founding member of the Central Ohio Diversity Consortium and the Women’s Leadership Council, will report to Abercrombie SVP of human resources John Gabrielli.
Dive Insight:
Abercrombie & Fitch is coming off a bruising loss this summer at the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in an 8-1 decision that a job applicant who wore a hijab for religious reasons and was denied a job could indeed sue for discrimination. Justice Antonin Scalia in July said of the decision, “This is really easy.”
The retailer had argued that the scarf violated the retailer's dress code and that it didn’t realize the applicant wore it for religious reasons.
But the retailer has also faced criticism regarding its hiring practices before that high-profile case. Participants in a class action lawsuit in the early aughts prevailed in their argument that the company discriminated against minority job applicants because they didn't mesh with the retailer’s desired look. The retailer settled for $40 million and promised to revise its hiring practices. Yet three years later then-CEO Michael Jeffries told a reporter that his company looked to hire beautiful people for its stores because its business depended on it.
Jeffries clearly thought the approach was a winning one, and that there was no problem in articulating it out loud. But now he's gone, and Darno will have to ensure that any vestiges of that attitude are no longer part of the retailer’s hiring approach. In addition to being legally and morally wrong, many of today's young people have little truck with it.
Like many apparel retailers trying to appeal to teens, Abercrombie has struggled to find the new magic formula that will boost sales, and so far it’s had mixed results.