Philadelphia Retailer Announces Company-Wide Discrimination Training and Innovative "Secret Shopping" Program

If you pay any attention to EEOC charge statistics, you can sometimes predict the Commission’s next big move. And if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, your organization may become the EEOC’s next target. 

That’s just what happened to Mothers Work Inc., a leading designer, manufacturer, and retailer of maternity fashions in the United States. Some of their brands include Mimi Maternity, A Pea in the Pod and MaternityMall.com. The EEOC’s Miami District Office filed suit against Mothers Work alleging that the company illegally failed to hire pregnant women and retaliated against one who complained about alleged discrimination. 

It’s hard to imagine something more upsetting and damaging than a high profile employment lawsuit that tarnishes your corporate image, and has the potential to alienate your core client and employee base. The President of Mothers Work, Rebecca Matthias, said it best—she was “shocked and upset” by the allegations and “horrified” that someone who was employed by her organization felt the victim of discrimination. Not surprisingly the organization settled the claims for “business reasons” to the tune of $375,000.

To Matthias, the solution was clear—put the lawsuit behind her and focus on the future. How will she do it? While the EEOC demanded training for Florida-based employees, Matthias plans to go further.  She has promised to extend discrimination training to her entire workforce. It’s a bold and wise move that goes beyond compliance with the EEOC’s three-year consent decree, and shows commitment to organization-wide education and prevention. And Matthias isn’t just investing in good PR – her decision will ultimately prevent lawsuits and save the organization bottom line dollars.

The nationwide discrimination training will be combined with a first-of-its-kind secret shopping program.  Last week, Matthias announced “a new and innovative fair employment auditing system to help assure fair treatment of all applicants and staff[.] This program includes a Mothers Work-created program of 'secret applicant' employment interviews by an independent third party to help detect and prevent discrimination, as well as nationwide continued training. 'Secret shoppers' are used by many retailers to measure customer service but, to our knowledge, this is the first time 'secret applicants' have been used to detect potential discrimination."

Mothers Work is in a tough position. They are now under the scrutiny of the EEOC, the courts, the media, their customers and their employees. As they actually follow through on these sweeping promises, their next steps must be carefully planned. In today’s tough legal environment, it’s no longer good enough to provide “check-the-box” training.  The programs that Mothers Work chooses must be comprehensive and effective. 

So what should Mothers Work and other organizations look for in a discrimination and harassment training program? Here are some critical questions to help start the process:

• Does the program adequately cover all forms of protected category discrimination? Implementing a program that doesn’t will leave your organization exposed. (A worrisome trend among organizations focused on California’s AB 1825 is to train only on sexual harassment, mistakenly interpreting the state’s training law to exclude other important forms of harassment prevention such as race, disability and pregnancy.)

• Does your program reinforce important organization values? The training program should serve two purposes—educating employees about harassment and discrimination, and reinforcing the core values of your organization. 

• Can your program survive the rigorous scrutiny of an EEOC review? Selecting a vendor with a proven track record can help put your mind at ease. The content should come from a reputable legal provider, and as importantly, be consistently audited and updated.

• If you are choosing an online solution, does the program feature high quality instructional design? A “page-turner” program, that amounts to little more than a self-directed PowerPoint presentation is not enough, and can actually do damage in terms of the message you are sending to employees, and potentially, to a jury. A recent article on sexual harassment training in the SF Examiner stresses some key considerations.

The trend of employers embracing extensive discrimination training programs continues to gain momentum. My recommendation? Embrace the trend early – and develop critical protections for your organization before they are potentially court ordered.

Tags: 1825, AB, and, discrimination, EEOC, Ethics Training & Compliance Training, harassment, online, sexual, training,