Bass Pro Shops: Legal Aspects of Workplace Diversity

Bass Pro Shops were created out of frustration of a fisherman that could not find any tackle in his town. So in 1971, Johnny Morris rented a U-Haul and headed across America filling the truck with the newest tackle as he went. Once Johnny had finished, he returned home to Springfield, Missouri, and started his own fishing business with eight feet of space in his father’s liquor store (Bass pro shops, 2012). This became a starting point for many fishermen in the Ozark’s famous bass lakes. In 1974, after much demand, Johnny created a catalog that started his business booming. Today, there are 65 Bass Pro Shops in the world as well as catalog and Internet shopping available. This was a new and exciting business for the sportsmen from all over the world until September 2011. On September 2011, the EEOC filed a federal lawsuit against the Missouri-based shop in Houston federal court claiming that Bass Pro Shops knowingly and systematically discriminated against Hispanics and Black applicants in hiring and that some of the mangers used racial slurs (Forsyth, 2011). Bass Pro Shops told Reuters “that the complaints stem from the stereotype that people who like outdoor sports are racist redneck” (Forsyth, 2011 pg. 1). Not only is this lawsuit claiming that Bass Pro Shop has been discriminating in their hiring since 2005, it also states that Bass Pro unlawfully destroyed or failed to keep records and documents related to employment applications and internal discrimination complaints (Bass Pro Failed, 2011). For many years, outdoorsmen and women have used this type of establishment for buying supplies for their hobbies. Many of these stores are in rural areas known to have a lack of cultural diversity. These areas are known for breeding ignorance and in turn have been known for stereotyping people, therefore finding that workplace diversity issues are not uncommon. Workplace diversity is a people issue that focuses on the