EthnicMajority

(Business Insider) Teen clothing brand Wet Seal has reached a $7.5 million settlement over allegations that it horrendously discriminated against employees of color, because they didn't have the "white," "blue eye," "thin and blond" look the brand wanted, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Three former managers filed the lawsuit last year, accusing the nationwide retail chain of actively firing and denying raises and promotions to black workers. One plaintiff, former manager Kai Hawkins, said that her boss threatened to fire her unless she hired more white employees. Another, Nicole Codgell, claimed that she was fired the day after the company's senior vice president for store operations toured several outlets and sent an email to lower managers, "African American dominate — huge issue." 

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(Hispanic Business) The unemployment rate for Hispanic men kept pace with the national rate in April, but the rate for the Hispanic workforce overall continues to lag behind U.S. numbers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. 

The unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) for Hispanic men dipped to 7.6 percent in April from 8.2 percent the month before, compared to 7.5 percent for the general population. The seasonally adjusted rate for the general Hispanic workforce stood at 9 percent, however, only slightly improved from last month's 9.2 percent. 

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(Hispanic Business) African-American and Hispanic students are less likely than Whites to work part-time in high school, according to a University of Michigan study. But those who do hold jobs tend to work longer hours, and are less likely to suffer negative consequences. 

Those are among the findings of a new analysis of data on nearly 600,000 10th- and 12th-grade students, collected between 1991 and 2010 as part of the Monitoring the Future Study conducted by the U-M Institute for Social Research. The analysis was published online in Developmental Psychology, a journal of the American Psychological Association. Monitoring the Future is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health. 

"Working more than 15 hours a week is associated with problems for most students," said ISR researcher Jerald Bachman, the study's lead author. "These include lower grades and higher use of cigarettes, alcohol, and illicit drugs. But this pattern does not hold true among some minority students, especially those from less advantaged backgrounds." 

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(NBC Sports) Jeremy Lin didn’t play college basketball on a scholarship — Harvard doesn’t offer athletic scholarships.

Lin was a noted high school player — he led Palo Alto High School to the California state championship and won a number of state awards. But Stanford in his own back yard didn’t offer him a scholarship, nor did UCLA, Oregon or any other Pac-12 school. Lin had the grades, SATs and resume to get into Harvard, so he went East.

We now know Lin as the guy who was good enough at Harvard to get a shot at NBA Summer League, where he turned heads and got some shots in the NBA until the perfect storm came together and “Linsanity” hit New York.

But why was that talent not recognized out of high school. Lin was frank in discussing that with Charlie Rose on 60 minutes that aired Sunday night.

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(Huffington Post) A black LA police officer was awarded $1.2 million by a jury Tuesday for being the target of vulgar racial harassment by a white supervisor and other officers.

Officer Earl Wright, a 23-year LAPD veteran, alleged that the department did not take his complaints seriously, which caused him to be hospitalized and miss seven months of work because of stress and anxiety.

In one instance detailed in the lawsuit documents, Wright was given a 20-year anniversary cake with a fried chicken leg and slice of watermelon on top. The cake was presented to him by Sgt. Peter Foster, a white officer who supervised the Community Relations Office in Central Division, the Los Angeles Times reports.

In another instance, when Wright asked Foster for permission to leave work early, Foster responded, "Why? You gotta go pick watermelons?"

In 2010, Foster sent Wright a text message depicting one yellow duckling with its arms raised above its head while standing in front of five black ducklings, according to the lawsuit, NBC reports. Under the depiction was a message that used a slang version of the "N" word to ask Wright what he was up to.

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(Benzinga.com) It didn't take very long for Benzinga to identify dozens of the top African-American heads of big-name American firms, despite an overall lack of representation in the higher levels of business.

The black CEOs on our list come from all corners of the country and lead public and private companies across all sectors of the economy.

1. Jan Adams, JMA Solutions
Adams founded JMA in 2005 following 24 years of service in the United States Air Force. Her vision has fueled JMA's growth into the #125 ranking in the 2012 Inc. Magazine 5000, including the #1 ranking in Washington, D.C. The company provides financial management, IT services, systems and concept engineering and program management to the federal government.

2. Joseph B. Anderson, TAG Holdings, LLC
A former General Motors (NYSE: GM [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]) executive, Anderson is the CEO of the Troy, Michigan-based TAG Holdings, whose subsidiaries include Korean and Chinese plumbing ceramics makers, automobile wheel-assembly suppliers and warehouse services. 2010 revenues were over $700 million.

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(Hispanic Business) The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Hispanics dropped slightly in February to 9.6 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The Hispanic unemployment rate was 9.7 percent in January, which in turn was up just slightly from 9.6 percent in December. The rate for Hispanics in February 2012 was 11.4 percent.

Overall unemployment for the country dipped to 7.7 percent.

There are 2.3 million idled workers in the Hispanic civilian labor force, out of a total Hispanic civilian workforce of 24.6 million.

The unemployment rate for Hispanic males 20 years and older was 9.1 percent in February compared to 10.4 percent a year earlier, while the rate for females was 10 percent compared to 11 percent a year earlier. Those number weren't seasonally adjusted.

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(Washington Post) For an administration under fire for lacking gender and ethnic diversity in its top posts, thenominations President Obama unveiled Monday have quieted some amount of the criticism — but not much.

Obama’s choice of Sylvia Mathews Burwell to head the Office of Management and Budget and Gina McCarthy to direct the Environmental Protection Agency adds two women to the Cabinet, in addition to Interior Secretary nominee Sally Jewell.

Obama also tapped Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Ernest Moniz to oversee the Energy Department. Still, members of the Hispanic community are waiting for a high-profile appointment and becoming increasingly uneasy as the number of available slots are dwindling. The grandparents of Moniz hailed from the Azores in Portugal, but that does not fit the traditional definition of Hispanic or Latino.

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(Examiner.com) CBS Daytime continues to support diversity in daytime television. Along with the recent additions of cast members Redaric Williams, Lamon Archey and Ignacio Serricchio to "TheYoung and the Restless," the network is looking to enhance diversity behind the scenes as well with their Daytime Writers Initiative.

The Daytime Writers Initiative will provide qualified diverse writers with mentor ship career development and access to daytime decision makers including network, studio and production company executives as well as the executive producers, head writers and writing staffs of CBS’ Daytime dramas, "The Young and the Restless" and/or 'The Bold and the Beautiful." The program is designed to provide an intensive, educational experience of the writing process of daytime dramas and to foster relationships within the CBS daytime family.

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(Hispanic Business) Across the country the pattern recurs: Teachers working with high-minority populations take a hit in the paycheck. U.S. Department of Education data from 2010 shows elementary school teachers who worked in schools with the highest African-American and Hispanic enrollment earned an average $2,251 less per year than teachers in the same district with the fewest minority students. 

At the high school level, the largest pay gap in 2012 was found in the Philadelphia School District, where teachers with the highest African-American and Hispanic populations were paid $14,699 less than teachers in schools with the fewest minorities. 

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