Johnson County Sephora workers unfairly accused Black woman of crime, lawsuit says

A Kansas City woman is suing Sephora, after she said employees at a Johnson County location discriminated against her because she is Black.

Terrica Taylor said she entered the Town Center Plaza Sephora in Leawood, and noticed the store employees were focused on a Black man and woman near the front of the store, according to the lawsuit.

Taylor said, per the lawsuit, that she didn’t know the shoppers and continued to the back of the store to look for perfume for her grandmother.

After the two Black shoppers left the store, Taylor heard a store employee talking on the phone. Several minutes later, Leawood police officers arrived and stopped Taylor, to her surprise, according to the lawsuit.

Officers told Taylor that a Sephora employee who called them accused her of a crime. They allegedly detained her in the store’s foyer and didn’t allow her to leave or make purchases.

At least one other customer, who was white, was allowed to leave the store at the time, according to the lawsuit.

The Sephora employee was allegedly unable to provide any evidence proving Taylor was associated with the other two shoppers, other than the fact that they were all Black. Despite this, the lawsuit alleges Taylor was detained in the store’s foyer for about 30 minutes, in view of Sephora employees, other shoppers and passers-by.

Taylor has since sought mental health treatment and incurred medical expenses as a result of the incident.

The lawsuit alleges Sephora racially discriminated against Taylor and falsely imprisoned her. She has demanded a trial by jury.

Sephora did not immediately respond to a request for comment.