Smart & Final faces $10,000 citation from city of L.A. over alleged discrimination of shopper

For the first time, the city of Los Angeles has levied penalties on a private business for violating local anti-discrimination laws, officials announced Monday.

The $10,000 fine against Smart & Final, the warehouse-style supply chain, and $5,000 fine against a contractor Smart & Final relied on for security services were issued after investigators concluded a Black shopper had been mistreated.

“This enforcement should send a clear message to the unscrupulous actors in Los Angeles that we’re ready to come after you and make sure this city’s commerce, education, employment and housing are free of discrimination,” L.A. City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, who chairs the council’s Committee on Civil Rights, Equity, Immigration, Aging & Disability, said at a City Hall news conference.

The shopper who lodged a complaint with the city, Corey Brown, was told by security personnel at a Smart & Final Extra location in downtown Los Angeles in September 2022 that he would have to leave his backpack on the floor at the front of the store if he wanted to enter and shop, according to a citation the city issued against the company and security outfit.

Brown decided instead to drop off his bag at home and returned to the store less than an hour later to do his shopping, when he observed customers of other races shopping with their backpacks on, the citation said.

If a retail business is going to have a bag check policy, it needs to be enforced “unilaterally and fairly,” Capri Maddox, executive director and general manager of the Los Angeles Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department, said at the news conference.

In a statement, Smart & Final deflected responsibility for the incident, saying the allegations of mistreatment did not involve any Smart & Final employees, only the security guard.

“We have only just received information from the City regarding these claims,” the statement said. “We take these allegations very seriously and are actively investigating the matter. Discrimination goes against our core values and has no place in our stores.”

After interviewing staff members at the location, investigators found that the store did have a policy requiring some customers to leave belongings at the front, but it “had no formal application and was applied selectively based on the appearance of a customer,” according to the citation.

“The owner of the security company admitted that this situation involved race-based discrimination,” the citation said.

Hector Sotelo, co-owner of Non-Stop Security Services, the contractor, declined to comment.

L.A. adopted an anti-discrimination ordinance in 2019 and established its Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department in 2020. In 2022, the department launched a unit to investigate complaints about discrimination by employers, landlords and businesses, partly in an effort to help Angelenos avoid backlogs they might encounter filing complaints with state and federal civil rights authorities.