Race Discrimination News

by: Fox News.com

Congress sent President Bush a bill Thursday forbidding employers and insurance companies from using genetic tests showing people are at risk of developing cancer, heart disease or other ailments to reject their job applications, promotions or health care coverage, or in setting premiums.

Bush was expected soon to sign the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which lawmakers and advocates called “the first major civil rights act of the 21st century.” Federal law already bans discrimination by race and gender. Read the rest of this entry »

by: The Associated Press

DENVER — The Colorado Senate has given initial backing to expanding anti-discrimination protections for gays and lesbians.

The debate in the Senate Friday was tense at times.

Republican Sen. Greg Brophy, who stands 5-foot-6, suggested changing the bill to protect short people from discrimination. Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t know where everyone of you pump gas, but I personally don’t pump at Arco. Some of you probably are really curious as to why I don’t? Let me tell you my story.

Read the rest of this entry »

by: Trina Kleist

A Sacramento jury agreed that a woman who worked for a now-defunct business office in Nevada City was the victim of reverse religious discrimination and awarded her $6.5 million.

But Michigan-based Kelly Services is expected to appeal the decision reached Friday, which would keep the case tied up in court several more years, the woman’s lawyer, M. Catherine Jones of Nevada City, said Sunday. Read the rest of this entry »

I read this interesting article today about a Muslim lady that was turned down a job at Hollywood Video because she was wearing a Hijab (head-scarf) on her head. This is a serious case of religious discrimination and I just couldn’t believe this article when I first read it. The manager of this particular Hollywood Video should either get penalized or fired for what she did. Well, here is an interview of the lady who was discriminated against. Read the rest of this entry »

by: Kirk Makin

An Iranian immigrant whose dream was to become a Mountie was awarded more than $500,000 in lost wages and damages yesterday by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal because he was racially taunted and harassed at an RCMP training depot in 1999.

The tribunal also ordered the RCMP to take measures to welcome members of visible minorities, to create a responsive complaints process, to initiate sensitivity training programs and to root out the reasons its attrition rate for non-white recruits soars above that for white recruits. Read the rest of this entry »

US manufacturing giant General Electric (GE) is accused of passing over black managers for promotion and paying them less than their white counterparts.

by: BBC News

Marc Thomas, head of GE’s Aviation Materials unit, claims the firm halted his career and has filed a lawsuit demanding $450m (£246m) in damages.

Court papers allege that black managers fill about 5% of positions at GE.

GE denied the claims and said it was an “equal opportunities employer and (did) not discriminate on the basis of race”. Read the rest of this entry »

by: The Associated Press

AUSTIN — A black state trooper who claimed his race partly led to his removal from Gov. Rick Perry’s protective detail has been awarded more than $600,000 by a jury in a lawsuit against the Texas Department of Public Safety.

State District Judge Stephen Yelenosky, who has yet to finalize the March judgment, asked lawyers on both sides Tuesday to submit input on final details by early next week.

Sgt. Thomas Williams accused the agency of discrimination and retaliation after being transferred in 2004 out of the elite detail guarding Perry and his family. Williams said he never thought Perry or his family were party to the allegations.

Williams, who was assigned to the detail in 2002, accused DPS of retaliating against him after he filed complaints alleging sexual harassment of a Capitol trooper and racial and sex discrimination within the agency. Read the rest of this entry »

by: The Associated Press

NORWALK, Conn. - Xerox Corp. and representatives of current and former black sales representatives have settled a class action lawsuit accusing the officer equipment manufacturer of race discrimination, the company said Thursday.The settlement, which includes payment of $12 million to 1,100 former and current employees, in addition to legal fees, received preliminary approval from a New York federal judge, said Diane Bradley, a lawyer who represented the employees.

The $12 million was put aside in the second quarter of 2006, Xerox said.

Xerox denied it engaged in policies or practices of unlawful discrimination or retaliation or other unlawful conduct. Read the rest of this entry »

Gay man wins $1.9 million in discrimination case.

After 18 years as a cook or chef in various restaurants, Bruce Hope “wanted something more permanent”–a lifetime job with retirement and a pension. So he applied for a position as a cook with the State of California and qualified.

A gay man diagnosed as HIV positive just before he started working for the state, Hope initially did on-call and temporary work. But he eventually accepted lower pay for a permanent position at the Fred C. Nelles Youth Correctional Facility in Whittier. He even moved so he could be within walking distance of Nelles. Read the rest of this entry »