Scottsdale man accusing Barnes & Noble of sex bias from AZ Central in Arizona

Scottsdale man accusing Barnes & Noble of sex bias

by Peter Corbett - Jun. 3, 2012 09:12 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

A Scottsdale man is claiming that a Barnes & Noble bookstore discriminated against him when an employee forced him out of the store because he was a male shopper alone in the children's area.

Omar Amin, 73, said store worker Todd Voris told him that a female shopper had complained about him being in the children's area May 4 in the store at Shea Boulevard and Loop 101 in Scottsdale.

Amin, who was alone at the time, said he was in Barnes & Noble to buy books for his two grandchildren who live in Wisconsin.

"Men alone cannot be by themselves in the children's area," Amin said he was told, adding that Voris said other bookstores had encountered problems with child molesters.

Voris, when contacted by The Arizona Republic on Thursday, referred the call to a district manager.

Mary Ellen Keating, a Barnes & Noble spokeswoman in New York, said in an e-mail response: "We have no comment on the store matter you called about. We believe we acted appropriately."

Keating did not respond further to e-mailed questions about Barnes & Noble's policy on male shoppers in the children's area and about removing customers from the store.

Amin is director of the Parasitology Center Inc. in Scottsdale and an expert in infectious disease.

He said Barnes & Noble has not properly addressed his discrimination complaint despite the company's promise that someone would contact him after the matter was investigated. He said he is considering legal action.

"They're trying to push it under the rug and they are not taking responsibility for what happened," he said.

Arizona State University law professor Charles Calleros said Arizona's public-accommodations law prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender.

If women without children are allowed to shop in the children's section "then we arguably have gender discrimination," he said.

"The case is muddied up by the statement that another patron had complained," Calleros said.

But it is unclear whether the other patron reported suspicious behavior by the doctor, he said, noting that the preliminary reports on the dispute are one-sided.

Amin said he only talked on his cellphone in the store and did not disrupt anyone.

Amin said his dignity was compromised when the store employee "escorted me out as a potential sex offender."

Amin is a native of Egypt who earned a doctorate in zoology and parasitology from Arizona State University in 1968.

Amin, who speaks with an accent, said he has been an American citizen for 45 years.

He said he frequently shops at Barnes & Noble and went there late on a Friday afternoon to buy books for his grandsons, Alexander, 7, and Nicholas, 5.

Amin said he received a phone call as he arrived in the store and went to a quiet spot along the windows in the children's area, where he sat on the floor to talk with a female friend who had called him. The area was nearly empty, Amin said, and he did not see any children or female shoppers while he was talking on the phone.

The store employee, Voris, interrupted his call and said he would have to leave the store, Amin said.

The doctor said he left and then came back into the store to confront Voris and asked that be allowed to speak with the woman who had complained about him. His request was denied, Amin said.

In his complaint letter to Barnes & Noble, Amin wrote that "I did not break any rules, there was no sign posted that said men are not allowed in the children's book area."

In response, Barnes & Noble sent Amin an e-mail promising to review what happened and contact him. Amin said he also received a call from a district manager who promised to investigate the matter.

On a recent afternoon, the children's area in the Barnes & Noble store had handful of children and female shoppers and one elderly male flipping through a book. The area, with tables and chairs for children, is set off with bookshelves restricting access to one entry point.

Amin said Barnes & Noble is not taking the matter seriously. "I'm not going to go away."

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