New Jersey Alleges Rent-A-Center Tolerated Racial Slurs

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey has filed a civil rights lawsuit against Rent-A-Center, saying the national retailer tolerated racial slurs a manager reportedly used frequently at two of the company's stores.

The state complaint, filed in Camden Superior Court on Wednesday, requested that Rent-A-Center submit to monitoring by the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights for a period of two years.

Attorney General Christopher Porrino says the lawsuit focuses on an assistant manager who frequently used racial slurs when speaking to co-workers at two Rent-A-Center stores in Pennsauken.

The suit states that an African-American employee complained to corporate higher-ups about the Hispanic assistant manager's conduct, but Rent-A-Center only transferred the manager to a second location where the behavior continued.

Officials for the Plano, Texas-based company didn't return messages seeking comment.

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