Sexual harassment in the workplace is illegal and can result in a hostile work environment for employees in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and elsewhere, so sexual harassment victims may contact an attorney or the EEOC to see if a charge of discrimination is warranted.  Sexual misconduct in the workplace can also lead to criminal investigations, as well as lawsuits.

For example, courier-journal.com reported recently on an Indiana State Police investigation into alleged sexual misconduct by a sheriff that was launched after two employees filed criminal complaints accusing the sheriff of touching their breasts and making sexual remarks to them, allegations which first surfaced in the female employees’ filing with the EEOC.  See, “Special Prosecutor Sought In Harrison Sheriff Probe,” The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com , 7/30/08.  The female workers have filed a federal lawsuit alleging violations of their constitutional rights. Id.  According to the article, Harrison County government has paid $55,000.00 since last fall to settle four federal lawsuits brought by former sheriff department employees, three of whome were female and alleged hostile work environment and discrimination.  Id.  In additon, the Southeast Missourian posted an article concerning a county administration employee whose return to work may prompt a lawsuit after the employee was confronted by three county commissioners and an attorney about inappropriate computer use at work involving scantily clad women and sex videos, as well as photos or collages of half-naked women.  See, McNichol, Peg, “Ludwig To Return Next Week,” Southeast Missourian, http://www.semissourian.com/article/20080729/NEWS01/942704581/1001 , 7/29/08.  According to the posting, the employee acknowledged in a statement after being confronted that his behavior at work could be considered sexual harassment.  Id.  The sexually provocative material was allegedly displayed in a manner which placed it in the view of female co-workers.  Id.

Excessive force, unreasonable searches, unreasonable detentions and racial profiling of Hispanics or Latinos by the police or law enforcement can violate our laws, including the United States Consitution, and Hispanic or Latino victims of police misconduct - whether it occurs in San Antonio, Houston, Dallas or elsewhere - can contact an attorney to discuss whether a lawsuit in San Antonio, Houston, Dallas or elsewhere is appropriate under the facts and circumstances of the potential case.

In this regard, the washingtonpost.com recently posted an editorial discussing Maricopa County, Arizona’s Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, who, according to the editorial, is “determined to make life miserable for illegal immigrants” but “isn’t too particular about how he and his men identify illegal immigrants, or whether they also harass legal immigrants …. or, for that matter, American citizens who happen to be hispanic.”  See, Editorials, “The Reign of ‘Sheriff Joe’: In Arizona, the Perils Of Driving While Brown,” The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com , 7/28/08.  The editorial references a federal lawsuit filed against Maricopa County and Sheriff Arpaio, stating that the lawsuit lays out a pattern of alleged racial profiling by the sheriff’s office, “which by all appearances systematically seizes the flimsiest of pretexts … to check the papers of people of Hispanic descent.”  Id. ”By equating race with immigration status, the sheriff’s office has made moving around Maricopa County risky and at times terrifying for many Latinos, immigrant and native alike,” according to the editorial.  Id. 

The editorial describes what the Sheriff calls “crime suppression sweeps” as blatantly unconstitutional and says that the sweeps have been denounced by Hispanic groups, which consider them racist, as well as the Mayor of Phoenix, who asked the Justice Department to investigate, and by the Governor, who withdrew state funding from the Sheriff’s office.  Id.  

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/27/AR2008072701367.ht

Discrimination in the workplace is prohibited whether the discrimination occurs in San Antonio, Dallas, Houston or elsewhere, and victims of employment discrimination may contact an attorney to discuss whether a discrimination lawsuit based on being passed over for promotions may ultimately be appropriate under the facts and circumstances of the potential case.  In this regard, failure to promote based on racial discrimination may be a basis for a race discrimination lawsuit.  For example, the SalisburyPost.com recently reported that an East Spencer, North Carolina interim police chief settled a racial discrimination lawsuit which alleged failures to promote.  See, Potts, Shavonne, “East Spencer Settles Ex-Officer’s Discrimination Lawsuit,” http://www.salisburypost.com , 7/30/08.  According to the article, the lawsuit claimed that several elected officials kept the officer, who is white, from advancing in the department because of his race.  Id.  In addition to contacting an attorney, victims of discrimination resulting in failures to promote may contact the EEOC in San Antonio, Dallas, Houston or elsewhere to determine whether a charge of discrimination with the EEOC is appropriate.

Sexual harassment in the workplace is illegal whether it occurs in San Antonio, Houston, Dallas or elsewhere, and victims of workplace sexual harassment may contact the EEOC about filing a charge of harassment or consult an attorney to see whether a sexual harassment lawsuit may ultimately be appropriate under the facts and circumstances of the potential case.  For example, the New York Post reported that Madison Square Garden agreed to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by a former cheerleader captain in which she alleged that she was subjected to constant come-ons, including an incident where an executive allegedly tried to force himself on her and pressured her to join a threesome.  See, Cornell, Kati, “MSG Deal Ices 2nd Sex Suit,” New York Post, http://www.nypost.com , 12/27/07.  Improper conduct in the workplace involving sexual advances, sexual assaults and abusive sexual language can create a sexually hostile work environment.  Employees who report sexual discrimination, includuing sexually hostile workplace conditions, and experience retaliation or termination as a result of their report may also consult an attorney whether the retaliation occurs in San Antonio, Houston, Dallas or elsewhere to determine whether a retaliation lawsuit may ultimately be appropriate under the facts and circumstances of the particular potential case.

Whether race discrimination and national origin harassment occurs in San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, or Houston, employment discrimination on the basis of race or national origin is illegal and an attorney may be consulted by workplace discrimination victims to determine whether a discrimination lawsuit may ultimately be appropriate under the facts and circumstances of the specific potential case.

On March 11, 2008, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a press release from Dallas announcing the settlement of a race and national origin harassment lawsuit against Allied Aviation Services, Inc. on behalf of African-American and Hispanic workers who were allegedly the targets of racial slurs, graffiti, cartoons and hangman’s nooses at a facility in the Dallas and Fort Worth airport.  See, EEOC Press Release, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/3-11-08.html , 3/11/08.   In that case, the EEOC charged that African American and Hispanic employees were subjected to a racially hostile work environment consisting of verbal and other abuse by their co-workers on a daily basis, including racial graffiti, swastikas and the N-word.  Id.  The EEOC also alleged that there was a so-called “hit list” targeting blacks as well as references to the “back of the bus” and “going back to Africa.”  Id.  According to the EEOC, the settlement of the lawsuit “sends and important message to the aviation industry that racial graffiti and slurs are not appropriate in the workplace, whether in an office building or out on the tarmac.”  Id.

While Allied Aviation Services reported having about 250 employees at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport, it has, according to the press release, 3,000 employees throughout its entire organization.  Id.

Again, victims of employment discrimination in the United States, including employees in San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston or elsewhere, may contact an employment discrimination attorney and may also contact the EEOC since racial harassment and national origin harassment are prohibited in the workplace.

According to a Department of Justice press release, a federal grand jury in San Antonio, Texas returned a seven count indictment charging a Bexar County Adult Detention Center Corrections Officer with federal civil rights violations for using excessive force against two inmates in an assault and witness tampering related incident.  See, http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2008/April/08_crt_315.html , 4/17/08.  An indictment is only an allegation, and, as stated by the DOJ, a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.  Id.  In an unrelated South Texas civil rights investigation, the Department of Justice issued another press release announcing that a corrections officer at the Val Verde County Detention Center in Del Rio, Texas pleaded guilty in federal court on April 30, 2008 to violating the civil rights of a pre-trial detainee by allegedly using unreasonable force in an assault.  See, http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2008/May/08_crt_363.html , 5/1/08.

The United States Constitution affords citizens the right to be free from unreasonable searches and unreasonable force by law enforcement.  Whether victims of excessive force are in San Antonio, Houston or elsewhere, they may contact an attorney to determine whether an excessive force lawsuit is appropriate under the facts and circumstances of their potential cases.

In Columbia, Missouri, the use of tasers by police has allegedly come under investigation after a man who threatened to jump from a pedestrian bridge  above an interstate was instead severely injured in what has been described as a taser induced fall.  See, 7/29/08, http://www.examiner.com/a-1509641~Columbia_police_review_Taser_use_after_bridge_f…

A man allegedly suffered two broken arms, a skull fracture and a possible broken jaw on July 25 when he fell fifteen feet from a bridge to a concrete embankment after being tased.  The incident occurred among protests by community groups over a city plan to double the number of tasers used by the Columbia police.  For more information, see http://www.columbiatribune.com

Whether racial discrimination occurs in Galveston, Houston or elsewhere, racial discrimination in the workplace is illegal and an attorney may be contacted to discuss whether a charge of discrimination and lawsuit could be appropriate under the facts and circumstances of the particular case.

In this regard, a Galveston County newspaper, The Daily News, reported recently that the firing of the financial aid director for the College of the Mainland has been approved by the college’s trustees, but, according to the director’s attorney, the firing occurred in retaliation for the director’s lodging of a race discrimination complaint against the college.  See, Collette, Mark, “COM Fires Financial Aid Cheif,” The Daily News, http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=206e9d3dceb70467 , 7/29/08.  The director filed his complaint with the U.S. Department of Education in January, according to the article.  Id.  As reported by The Daily News, the director said in his discrimination complaint that college officials use conflicting policies to discriminate against Africa-Americans.  Id.  While the college agreed that it has failed to follow policies, the college contends that allegations of racial discrimination are false and that there were questions about how the director obtained loans for himself while he was taking accounting classes at the college.  Id.

Racial profiling is illegal.  Victims of racial profiling may submit written complaints to the law enforcement department or company they believe engaged in racial profiling.  In addition, victims of racial profiling may consult an attorney to determine whether a civil lawsuit or other legal action is appropriate under the facts and circumstances of their potential cases.

In this regard, The Dallas Morning News reported recently that four customers of a bank filed a lawsuit against the bank alleging racial profiling in order to “obtain justice for the humiliation and degradation they experienced due to the rascist stereotyping of Wells Fargo and its employees.”  See, Trejo, Frank, “Customers At Wells Fargo Bank In Frisco Allege Racial Profiling,” The Dallas Morning News, http://www.dallasnews.com , 7/11/08; see also, Trejo, Frank, “Customers Held At Gunpoint At Frisco Bank File Racial Profiling Suit,” The Dallas Morning News, http://www.dallassnews.com , 7/10/08.  According to The Dallas Morning News articles, four bank customers, two of whom were black and two of whom were Indian, went to the bank to close on a vehicle loan when employees called police to report suspicious behavior.  Id.  The customers were allegedly detained at gunpoint until officers determined there had been no robbery attempt.  Id. Among the grounds listed for the suit are false imprisonment, defamation, gross negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.  Id.

Whether a racial hate crime occurs in Houston or elswhere, hate crime victims may be able to assert civil damage claims to recover damages for their injuries or to deter future misconduct. Racial hate crime victims can consult an attorney to determine whether a civil lawsuit or other legal action is appropriate under the facts and circumstances of their potential cases.  Racial hate crimes can also be reported to law enforcement in Houston or elsewhere.

In this regard, the Los Angeles Times reported recently that hate crimes in Los Angeles County rose to their highest level in five years, led by attacks between Latinos and blacks, according to a report by the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission.  See, Watanabe, Teresa, “Latino-v.-Black Violence Drives Hate Crimes in L.A. County To 5-Year High,” Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com , 7/25/08.  According to the report, hate crimes in Los Angeles County rose by 28%, with vandalism and assault leading the way.  Id.  The largest number of racial hate crimes involved Latino suspects against black victims, and Latinos also made up the largest number of suspects in hate crimes based on sexual orientation.  Id.  The increase in hate crimes occurred even as crime in general declined, according to the Los Angeles Times article.  Id.

“One of the most worrisome findings, commissioners said was the rising number of hate crimes between Latinos and blacks — many of them driven by gang related hostility.” Id.  The article also pointed out that hate rhetoric is being perpetuated in part by as many as 110 white supremacist organizations nationwide.  Id.  In addition, sources cited in the news article reported that some Latino gang members who targeted blacks in the Harbor Gateway area of Los Angeles were found with neo-Nazi material and some Latino gangs were forming alliances with white supremacists in prisons to prey on blacks.  Id. 

See, http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hatecrime25-2008jul25,0,7191743.story