OCTOBER 2009By Janna Charles
Diversity - Wells Fargo reaps benefits of diversity Though the current economic climate has proven challenging for the banking industry, companies like Wells Fargo have been resilient, specifically in the areas of diversity and inclusion. Not only has Wells Fargo joined ranks with Wachovia Bank, making it the fourth-largest bank in the nation, but it has also taken huge strides in terms of its diversity initiative. Filling the number two spot in HispanicBusiness Magazine's Diversity Elite list in 2009, Wells Fargo reaps the benefits of incredibly diverse team. About 41 percent of the bank's new hires last year were minorities, among 20 percent of which were Hispanic. Wells Fargo also has a number of programs put in place to expand and promote an inclusive customer base. The Wells Fargo Mortgages Emerging Markets division works to bring homeownership to ethnic minority families. The division also focuses on lending to small, minority-owned businesses. Another Wells Fargo division, the Supplier Diversity Group, hosts community outreach activities aimed at developing a more representative supplier base. Wells Fargo and Wachovia Bank spent almost $5 billion with minority and women owned suppliers, almost a fifth of which was in 2008. SOURCES: Nisen, Jeremy. "Wells Fargo Strikes Gold by Hitching Fortune to Diversity." September 2009. http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/2009/9/16/wells_fargo_strikes_gold_by_hitching.htm Recession - Youth employment rates hit record low According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment rate for youth ages 16 to 24 has fallen drastically over the past couple of years, hitting a record low of 51.4 percent in July 2009. The number dropped 4.6 percentage points since July of last year, marking the affect of the recession on labor market conditions. In addition to low employment rates, youth labor force participation -- 16 to 24 year olds working or actively looking for work -- has also seen a decline. Labor force participation rates are traditionally highest between April and July each year on account of summer breaks. However, the July 2009 rate was down by 2.1 percentage points from July 2008 and 14.5 percentage points below its peak for that month in 1989 (77.5). These statistics are a clear sign that the recession is affecting all generational rungs of the workforce. SOURCE:
Press Release. "Employment Rate for Youth Falls to
Record Low." Disabilties - EEOC publishes proposal to expand definition of disability under ADA regulations On September 16, 2009, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) voted to approve a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to expand the definition of disability under its Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations. These revisions were made in compliance with the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAA) which makes it easier for individuals to claim disability under the ADA. The proposed rules: Published to the Federal Register on September 23, 2009, the NPRM will be open to public comment for 60 days. SOURCE: Press Release. "Notice Concerning The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Amendments Act of 2008."September 24, 2009. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission via www.eeoc.gov.ada.amendments_notice.html Press Release. "Proposed ADA Rule Published." September 23, 2009. http://hr.blr.com Sexual Harassment - "Good-faith" doctrine used in sexual harassment case A male employee at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences was accused of sexual harassment by two female co-workers. Following the accusation, the vice chancellor of the University appointed members of a Resource Panel to investigate the complaints. The male employee responded by making counter-accusations of sexual harassment against the two female co-workers. After reviewing the Resource Panel members' findings, the employee's boss fired him under the belief that he not only engaged in sexual harassment, but lied about the behavior of other employees. The employee filed a complaint in a Federal District Court, claiming retaliation and sex discrimination. He said that he was terminated for filing sexual harassment complaints and was treated differently than the women who had taken the same action. The appeals court explained that the "critical inquiry in discrimination cases..is not whether the employee actually engaged in the conduct for which he was terminated, but whether the employer in good faith believed that the employee was guilty." The employee could not show that his employer had fired him for making his complaints. Therefore his boss's actions were legally justified, setting precedence for the use of the "good faith" exception. SOURCE: Press Release. "Harassment Case Illustrates Value of 'Good-Faith' Belief." September 14, 2009. http://hr.blr.com Equality - Research suggests talking to children about race is beneficial Many adults are hesitant when it comes to having conversations about race with children, believing that it will only draw attention to racial differences and create divisions. However, emerging research on the topic suggests that the opposite might be true. A study conducted by the Children's Research Lab at the University of Texas reveals that children tend to recognize and draw conclusions about race and difference on their own. Four to five year olds from three pre-school classrooms were randomly assigned red and blue t-shirts, which they wore for three weeks without any mention of the colors. Researchers found that at the end of the time period, children had naturally developed attitudes about their colors such as, "reds are smarter than blues," or"all reds are nice but only some blues are nice." A similar study launched by Phyllis Katz, a professor at the University of Colorado indicated that even babies react to difference, staring significantly longer at photographs of faces that are a different race that their parents. Many seem to think that children only notice race when society points it out to them; that they would otherwise grow up "colorblind." Yet studies like these indicate that children notice and formulate assumptions about difference on their own, often from a very young age. Says Katz, "This period of our children's lives, when we imagine it's most important to not talk about race, is the very developmental period when children's minds are forming their first conclusions about race." She suggests that having conversations about race may actually counter stereotypes and foster positive attitudes in regards to racial difference.SOURCE: Bronson, Po and Ashley Merryman. "See Baby Discriminate." September 5, 2009. Newsweek Magazine via http://www.newsweek.com Religious Discrimination - Did Subway engage in religious discrimination? The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) filed a lawsuit against Doctor's Associates, Inc. (DAI), the franchisor of Subway restaurants and two of its franchisees on behalf of a former employee who claimed that her nose ring, which violated the DAI's uniform policy, was an expression of her Nuwabian religion. When the employee was unable to provide written documentation to support this claim, she was terminated. In this instance, the jury found that the employee's nose ring was not an observance of a sincerely held religious belief. However, the EEOC filed another claim, stating that the DAI's practice of asking employees for documentation supporting requests for religion-based waivers violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The EEOC claimed that the DAI passed judgment on the validity of the employee's religious beliefs rather than on the sincerity of those beliefs. In spite of these claims, U.S. District Court Judge John Antoon II dismissed the case, saying that the EEOC's own guidelines allow employers to make inquiries to determine the sincerity of an employee's religious observances. The judge claimed that otherwise, "an employer would have to grant an accommodation anytime the employee requested one."SOURCE: Antoon II, John of the United States District Court Middle District of Florida. July 2009. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Papin Enterprises, Inc, Papin Inc, Doctor's Associates, Inc. http://www.worldofworklawblog.com/uploads/file/Papin.pdf Press Release. "Court: Subway Restaurant Did Not Discriminate." September 25, 2009. http://hr.blr.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Feedback: Give us your feedback! What other news would you like to hear about? Want to get News and Trends and our web site updates e-mailed to you monthly for free? Sign up on our new e-mail updates page!
Home | Diversity Store | Diversity Events | Jobs | Consultants | Submissions |
© 2009 The GilDeane Group, Inc. All rights reserved. |
