![Grandma and Grandpa, shoplifters? CVS thinks so]()
Grandma and Grandpa, shoplifters? CVS thinks so
Grandma and Grandpa, shoplifters? CVS thinks sohttp://nypost.com/2016/11/01/cvs-warns-employees-that-old-people-like-to-shoplift-suits/
Public enemy No. 1 at your local CVS: Grandma and Grandpa.
Seven discrimination lawsuits filed Monday against the pharmacy chain in courts across the city include the revelation that a CVS “Loss Prevention” handbook warns employees that senior citizens on a “fixed income” present a “special shoplifting concern.”
Attorneys from the Manhattan law firm Wigdor LLP brought the suits on behalf of former employees arguing that the policy is “tantamount to an admission of discrimination against older customers.”
The lawyers, Michael Willemin and David Gottlieb, have testimony from 16 whistleblower ex-staffers who claim that CVS stores across the city discriminate by profiling elderly shoppers, as well as blacks and Hispanics.
CVS’s 2014 “Loss Prevention” training guide says that “each store may have special shoplifting concerns based on it’s location, type of customer, etc.,” according to court papers. Sticky-fingered seniors are listed as one “special concern,” the suit says.
One of the cases was brought by a former “market investigator” for CVS named Anson Alfonso. The Bronx man was part of a team of undercover employees who helped track and bust shoplifters.
Alfonso, 27, worked as a store detective from January 2013 to October 2014. He told The Post that store managers, supervisors and even stock personnel would frequently swipe security tags past checkpoints to set off an alarm when an elderly person was ambling out of the CVS.
He said co-workers would set off the alarms “and make me humiliate people or embarrass people for no reason.”
“They would say, ‘I didn’t see it but I know that old person was stealing,’ ” Alfonso said.
The shoplifting-among-the-AARP-set theory mirrors a 1998 “Seinfeld” episode titled “The Bookstore,” in which Jerry catches his Uncle Leo stealing a book from Brentano’s. When Jerry confronts him, Leo protests that the petty theft is his right as a senior citizen.
“It’s not stealing if it’s something you need,” Jerry’s dad, Morty, says, with his mom, Helen, noting, “Nobody pays for everything.”
A shocked Jerry shouts, “You’re stealing, too?!” and Morty explains, “Nothing. Batteries. Well, they wear out so quick.”
But attorney Gottlieb says there’s nothing funny about the pharmacy chain harassing innocent seniors and other groups protected under the law.
“It is reprehensible that CVS targets customers based on race, ethnicity and even age, and we intend to hold the company accountable for these practices,” he said.
The new filings come a year after Gottlieb’s firm sued CVS in a federal class action, alleging store managers ordered security guards to focus on minorities.
A CVS spokeswoman said, “We are not aware of these new cases, so we are unable to comment specifically. However, in previous cases brought by the same law firm on similar complaints, plaintiffs’ attorneys have not been able to produce any documentary evidence to support their allegations.”
Filed under: General Problems
The valid reasons to stay far away from CVS are adding up!
I know someone’s ex wife who worked for them as a front end supervisor who was set up for firing by the pharmacy per instructions from the front management by putting one of her Rxs unpaid into her bag of numerous items she was purchasing at the end of her shift and allowed to leave the store. Later when she was confronted with the unpaid Rx she offered to pay for it. She was fired for theft, NOT arrested or banned from the store like they would any other employee who would be accused of the same. She was still allowed to pay for it after she was fired. She still uses that store today and still gets scripts filled there. Go figure.
They go so far as to set up employees they want to fire. My current husband’s ex wife was set up by putting one of her Rx’s in unpaid into her bag of numerous paid for items and allowed to leave the store to go home. She was later confronted about said unpaid Rx She brought it back and when proven it had not been scanned as paidl she offered to pay for it which she did. She was fired, BUT not arrested or banned from the store unlike other employees they had set up the same way. To this day, she is still allowed in the store and still gets her scripts filled there. Very interesting……….
Thanks for the article.As a “senior” I will never step foot in a cvs again,and advise others to do the same.Actually I very seldom ever do.There prices are far to high,and they seem to never have what I need when I have on occasion shopped there.Target and Walgreens are far more reasonably priced,and carry better variety of items.
As to the the stealing part,I have never taken so much as a dime from anyone,if it didn’t belong to me,and my guess is most seniors feel the same.I can understand desperation though.After working all my life,social security benefits are totally behind in keeping with the cost of living.