A Connecticut family this week received an apology from TJ Maxx after one of their sons was falsely identified as a shoplifter who had been in the store earlier this month.
Local news station WFSB reports that the Askew-Ferris family went into a local TJ Maxx store earlier this month and quickly noticed that employees were following them and talking about them as they walked around.
The family's three sons felt uncomfortable and quickly left the store -- and later they learned that one of them had been misidentified as a shoplifter who had recently been in the store.
Upon looking at video footage of the actual shoplifter, however, they discovered that the alleged thief bore no resemblance to their falsely accused family member.
TJ Maxx apologized to the family and said it would put its employees through an unconscious bias training program.
"We take this customer’s concerns very seriously and expect that all of our customers will be treated with dignity and respect when shopping in our stores," the company said. "We have spoken with our customer to sincerely apologize that this was not the experience of her and her family."