The U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (”EEOC”) San Antonio Field Office announced in a Press Release at http://www.eeoc.gov/press/9-29-09m.html that agency attorneys filed a federal national origin discrimination and retaliation lawsuit in San Antonio against a Delaware corporation, alleging that the company violated federal law by firing an Hispanic employee from his position as an executive director of the company’s Kerville, Texas facility because of his national origin and because he reported discriminatory conduct.  According to the September 29, 2009 Press Release, EEOC attorneys charge in the case that the Latino employee was fired shortly after he complained about discriminatory treatment.  Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits workplace discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and prohibits employers from retaliating against those who complain about such misconduct.  EEOC attorneys filed the discrimination lawsuit in San Antonio after first attempting to reach a voluntary out of court settlement.  A San Antonio EEOC trial attorney was quoted in the Press Release, saying that “This lawsuit serves to remind employers that the EEOC is vigilant in enforcing the law and ensuring that individuals who engage in legally protected opposition are not fired in retaliation.” 

Whether employment discrimination occurs in Kerrville, San Antonio or elsewhere in Texas, victims of employment discrimination may contact the EEOC and an attorney to determine if an employment discrimination lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular facts and circumstances of the potential claim.

The U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) announced in a September 14, 2009 Press Release at http://www.eeoc.gov/press/9-14-09b.html that the agency filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against a Japanese specialty supermarket alleging that the company discriminated against Hispanic employees by paying them less than non-Hispanic workers, almost all of whom were Asian.  According to the EEOC Press Release, attorneys for the EEOC charge in the lawsuit that the Japanese specialty supermarket has engaged in a pattern or practice of underpaying Hispanics because of their national origin since at least 2005.  National origin discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and, in this regard, the EEOC is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including national origin discrimination.  Agency attorneys seek injunctive relief in the lawsuit as well as back pay and compensatory and punitive damages for the Hispanic discrimination victims.

In a September 9, 2009 Press Release at http://www.eeoc.gov/press/9-9-09a.html , the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) announced that an oilfield service company based in Alice, Texas will pay $60,000.00 and furnish other relief to settle a race, national origin and retaliation discrimination lawsuit filed by EEOC attorneys in the Southern District of Texas.  According to the EEOC Press Release, agency attorneys charged in the federal lawsuit that the company’s Hispanic supervisors discriminated against a parts department employee because of his race (Caucasian) and national origin (non-Hispanic) and then fired him for complaining.  As stated in the Press Release, the company subjected the employee to harassment, a hostile work environment, and disparate terms and conditions of employment because he is not Latino.  EEOC attorneys claimed as well that the company further violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by unlawfully retaliating against the employee when it allegedly fired him after he complained to Human Resources.  In this regard, the EEOC is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including race and national origin discrimination.  An EEOC trial attorney was quoted in the lawsuit settlement Press Release as saying “A continuously hostile environment that is permeated with degrading name calling makes it very difficult for anyone to want to come to work.”  Another attorney in the EEOC’s Dallas office added that “Even in rough-and-tumble workplaces like the oilfields, there are effective ways of educating supervisory personnel on how to promote mutual respect between crew members.”  Further information about the EEOC is available in the agency’s website at www.eeoc.gov .

Whether employment related race and national origin discrimination occurs in Alice, Corpus Christi, Dallas or elsewhere in Texas, victims of workplace discrimination may contact the EEOC and an attorney to determine if a hostile work environment discrimination lawsuit may ultimately be appropriate under the particular facts and circumstances of the potential discrimination claim.

The U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including race and national origin discrimination.  In an August 26, 2009 EEOC Press Release, the federal agency announced that a beverage can manufacturer will pay $30,000.00 and provide remedial relief to settle a race and national origin discrimination lawsuit filed by EEOC attorneys in Alabama.  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/8-26-09e.html .  According to the Press Release, EEOC attorneys charged that an Hispanic electrician at a Birmingham, Alabama plant was treated differently because of his Hispanic race and Mexican national origin.  As stated in the Press Release, the alleged discriminatory conduct took the form of inappropriate statements to the electrician, subjecting him to increased supervisory review, demotion and discipline because of his Hispanic race and Mexican national origin.  Race and national origin discrimination violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  EEOC attorneys filed the discrimination lawsuit after first attempting to reach a voluntary out of court settlement.  Further information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov .

A nationwide freight management company has been sued for allegedly violating federal law by refusing to hire non-Hispanics.  According to an August 12, 2009 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) Press Release, the company engaged in unlawful employment practices from around October 1, 2002 through June 30, 2004 by refusing to hire an entire class of people for non-management positions at a North Carolina facility because of their non-Hispanic national origin.  As stated in the Press Release, the EEOC charged as well that the company hired predominately Latinos to the exclusion of equally or more qualified non-Latinos.  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/8-12-09.html .  EEOC attorneys filed the lawsuit after first attempting to reach a voluntary out of court settlement.  The agency seeks back pay for the discrimination victims, along with compensatory and punitive damages and injunctive relief.

The U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) announced in an August 7, 2009 Press Release that a New York partnership has agreed to settle a religious and national origin discrimination lawsuit filed by EEOC attorneys on behalf of four public safety officers who alleged employment discrimination based upon their Rastafarian religion and Caribbean national origins, including Jamaican, Haitian and Trinidadian.  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/8-7-09.html .  According to the EEOC Press Release, the company failed to grant the employees’ requests for religious accommodation to the company’s grooming policy, which provided that employees must not wear their hair outside their uniform hats.  As stated in the Press Release, the officers maintain long dreadlocks and short beards in line with their Rastafarian religious faith and three of the officers allegedly faced suspensions for violating the grooming policy.  An EEOC attorney quoted in the Press Release said that “Employers are obligated to explore how they may accommodate employees’ or applicants’ religious beliefs.”  Further information about the EEOC is available in the agency’s website at www.eeoc.gov .

In a July 30, 2009 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) Press Release, EEOC attorneys announced filing of a national origin discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against a Las Vegas hotel.  According to the EEOC Press Release, the EEOC claims that the hotel violated federal law by creating a hostile work environment for an Egyptian kitchen employee through a daily barrage of derogatory comments, including, for example, comments and slurs from supervisors and coworkers such as being called “f_____ Egyptian” and being told to “go back to Egypt,” as well as being targeted with graffiti, which he was then required to wash off.  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/7-30-09d.html .  As further described in the Press Release, the Egyptian food deliverer made repeated complaints about the harassment, but the defendants allegedly failed to take effective measures to stop it, and, instead, supervisors retaliated against him, which included disciplinary write-ups and suspension.  National origin discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the EEOC is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination.  In this regard, EEOC attorneys filed the harassment lawsuit after first attempting to reach a voluntary out of court settlement.  An EEOC attorney quoted in the Press Release stated that “The EEOC takes retaliation very seriously because workers who speak up and speak out against unlawful discrimination should not be forced to endure more problems because they have done the right thing.”

Officials in the east Texas town of Paris said Thursday they are preparing for an influx of black separatists and white supremacists at a planned protest next week over the death of a black man who was run over by a truck and dragged. The Lamar County Commissioner’s Court has created designated zones for protesters to help police maintain order Tuesday, the day a rally organized by the Nation of Islam and the New Black Panther Party is scheduled outside the county courthouse.

The protest is the third related to the death of 24-year-old Brandon McClelland, whose mangled body was found Sept. 16 on a country road outside Paris, about 90 miles northeast of Dallas. Authorities estimated McClelland’s body had been dragged more than 70 feet beneath a vehicle.

Two white men, Shannon Finley and Charles Crostley, were charged with murdering McClelland by running him down in Finley’s pickup after the three friends made a late-night beer run from their dry town across state lines to Oklahoma. But a special prosecutor dismissed the charges last month, citing a lack of evidence, and the men were released after more than eight months in jail.

The previous protests by the Panthers and the Nation of Islam were mostly peaceful and resulted in no arrests. But authorities said there were hints of white supremacist groups showing up this time.

“We have some very specific intel that there would be some counter-protestors — white supremacists, KKK, skinheads — who wish to attend,” said Bill Harris, the first assistant county and district attorney for Lamar County.

At the November and June protests, there were a handful of white supremacists led by Rock Banks, a self-professed grand titan of the East Texas Ku Klux Klan. Words flew in June when Banks waded into the crowd holding aloft a patch depicting a Nazi-era Iron Cross. The KKK, the Nation of Islam and the New Black Panther Party are considered hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The racial implications of the McClelland case have reminded some of the murder of James Byrd, a black man who was chained by the ankles to a pickup by three white men and dragged to death in 1998 in the east Texas town of Jasper.

Lamar County Judge Chuck Superville said the protest zones are designed to separate members of the Nation of Islam and the Panthers from white supremacists. Law enforcement officials requested the zones as a proactive step to avoid conflict.

Main Street, which runs along the east side of the courthouse, will serve as a dividing line, Superville said. He said he is trying to balance free speech rights with public safety concerns and the desire to keep open the courthouse. “We are going to preserve the peace,” the judge said. “This place is more like Mayberry than Jasper.” Brenda Cherry, a community activist in Paris who leads the Concerned Citizens for Racial Equality group, called the commissioners’ decision “racist and ignorant.”

“They are trying to stifle us and violate our constitutional rights,” she said.

Associated Press

National origin employment discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) is a federal agency which enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including workplace discrimination based upon an employee’s national origin.  In this regard, EEOC attorneys announced in a July 13, 2009 EEOC Press Release that a property service company will pay $115,000.00 and furnish other relief to settle a national origin discrimination lawsuit in which EEOC attorneys charged that Latino employees were discriminated against when the company disciplined them for being absent from work on May 1, 2006, the day of a “May Day” immigration rally.  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/7-13-09.html .  According to the EEOC Press Release, the company had established a policy prohibiting its majority Latino workforce from attending the rally and three employees had either received pre-approval for their absence or had notified a supervisor in advance of their absences, none of which were related to the rally.  However, the EEOC charged that one employee had been suspended after his supervisor assumed he had missed work to attend the immigration rally while two additional former and current employees were also disciplined when the company subjected them to false assumptions based on stereotypes shaped by their national origin.  An EEOC attorney was quoted in the Press Release as saying that “The days when employers make decisions based on stereotypes and assumptions shaped by the race and national origin of their employees should be far behind us.” 

Whether employment discrimination against Latino or hispanic workers occurs in Amarillo, Lubbock, Wichita Falls or elsewhere, hispanic victims of employment discrimination may contact the EEOC and an attorney or lawyer to determine if a national origin discrimination lawsuit may ultimately be appropriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential Latino discrimination claim.

Attorneys with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) announced in a July 2, 2009 Press Release that the federal agency sued a nationwide commercial property management company, claiming the company violated federal law by subjecting Hispanic employees to national origin discrimination.  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/7-2-09.html .  According to the EEOC’s national origin discrimination lawsuit, a class of Hispanic housekeepers were subjected to a hostile work environment while performing custodial and janitorial duties at the Ceasar’s Palace Forum Shops in Las Vegas.  As stated in the EEOC Press Release, the harassment allegedly began in 2005 when the housekeeping lead shift was hired and ended when he was terminated for reasons related to the harassment.  The lawsuit charges that the housekeeping lead shift referred to housekeepers and other Latino employees as “wetbacks,” “tacos,” and “burritos” and repeatedly told them to “go back to Mexico.”  In addition, the EEOC asserts that he told Latinos that Mexicans have “inferior intelligence and capability in comparison to whites, and that is why whites are in power.”  The alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the EEOC filed the lawsuit after first attempting a voluntary settlement.  An EEOC attorney was quoted in the Press Release as saying that “All workers have the right to work in an environment free of discrimination and daily harassment.”  For further information about the EEOC, see www.eeoc.gov .