Racial Harassment at Work Hits New Record, Says EEOC

Racial harassment is on the rise in the workplace and it's more than just the use of the N-word, reports the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The discrimination watchdog reports a spike in racist graffiti, Ku Klux Klan propaganda and even physical threats, including the display of nooses, among other intimidation tools, reports MSNBC. According to EEOC data, racial-harassment cases have more than doubled to 6,977 since the early 1990s--Blacks filed nine out of 10 race-harassment charges. Earlier this month, Lockheed Martin agreed to settle and pay $2.5 million to a Black electrician who claimed he was harassed daily. That was the largest settlement filed by the EEOC awarded to an individual. Check out DiversityInc's exclusive national Noose Watch to chart noose-hanging incidents across the country.

Cleveland Sues 21 Big Banks for Subprime Woes

The city of Cleveland sued 21 big banks for subprime-lending practices that threaten the city's economic revitalization, reports Plain-Dealer. The lawsuit, which seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, alleges financial institutions created a "public nuisance" that lowered property value in the city and diminished tax collections by pushing loans on borrowers despite flat housing prices amid industrial layoffs. "To me, this is no different than organized crime or drugs," Mayor Frank Jackson, who held a press conference on the lawsuit, told Plain-Dealer. "It has the same effect as drug activity in neighborhoods. It's a form of organized crime that happens to be legal in many respects." Blacks and Latinos remain top targets for subprime lenders. Earlier last week, the city of Baltimore filed a lawsuit against Wells Fargo for allegedly targeting Blacks with high-interest mortgages [scroll down]. The bank denies it considers race when granting loans.  

Think Twice Before Shoving Baby Boomers Out the Door

An expected wave of baby-boomer retirements once had managers fretting a potential upsurge in unfilled jobs. Experts say that could be a grave mistake. Only 18 percent of U.S. employers report having a strategy to recruit older workers and only 28 percent cite a plan to retain the workers, according to a Manpower survey of 1,000 U.S. companies, reports The Wall Street Journal. By 2012, one in three U.S. workers will be older than 50, reports AARP, an advocacy group for people ages 50 and older. For more information about age discrimination, read Age Discrimination: What You Need to Know.

HIV Cases Spike Among Gay Men

HIV cases among gay men are on the rise, according to new statistics gathered by New York City health officials. The numbers show that new diagnoses of HIV infection in gay men younger than age 30 rose 32 percent between 2001 and 2006; among Black and Latino men, the figure was 34 percent, reports The New York Times. In the study, the number of new cases for gay men ages 13 to 19 doubled. Find out why HIV cases are down worldwide but not for Blacks.

Double Amputee Barred from Olympics  

The International Association for Athletics Federation ruled double amputee Oscar Pistorius is ineligible to compete in the Beijing Olympic games, saying the South African's curved, prosthetic "Cheetah" blades were considered a technical aid in violation of the rules, reports ESPN. The 27-member committee released a statement saying: "An athlete using this prosthetic blade has a demonstrable mechanical advantage [more than 30 percent] when compared to someone not using the blade." Pistorius, known as the "blade runner," announced last week that he would petition any adverse decision. Last week, the U.S. Olympics Committee settled a discrimination case with Paralympic basketball player Mark Shepherd.

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