News Notes: Clothing Retailer Settles Employee Uniform Lawsuit

Recently, several big-name clothing retailers—including Polo Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Chicos—have been hit with charges that policies requiring employees to buy and wear the retailers’ own clothes violate California’s wage-and-hour rules stating that employers must pay for employee uniforms. Now Abercrombie & Fitch has agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle charges brought by the state Labor Commissioner. (A similar civil lawsuit is still pending against the company.) However, Abercrombie denied that it imposed a uniform requirement, explaining that while it encouraged workers to purchase the company’s clothes, wearing the garments wasn’t mandatory.