Tag: economic

Should we be boycotting more businesses than just The Air Academy Federal Credit Union and Century Link?

 

Brandon Marshall lost two endorsements (Air Academy Federal Credit Union and Century Link) after he kneeled during the pledge of allegiance. Kaepernick, Marshall and other athletes are boycotting in protest of the unjust shootings of black people, why would they be against that?

 

Here’s more establishments we should reconsider giving our business to:

Some may say, These companies paid fines and settled, shouldn’t we forgive them? To that I ask, do you think they would still be doing it if they didn’t get caught?

 

The point of this blog is to start a discussion stemming from the epidemic of (alleged) racial discrimination in the business establishments. Please note, some of these instances are for one store, one employee or etc, so make decisions on a case by case basis. (I do suggest you read the full articles attached as well).

 

Bank of America:

Bank of America, which had acquired Countrywide, paid a record $335 million to settle allegations that 200,000 minorities had been charged higher interest rates than white borrowers between 2004 and 2008.

Wells Fargo:

Wells Fargo — paid $175 million to settle charges that it steered about 4,000 minorities in the Mid-Atlantic region into more expensive sub-prime loans even though they qualified for better terms. Rates for sub-prime loans,  by definition, rose sharply after an initial period. The Wells Fargo settlement stated that the bank asserted it had “treated all of its customers fairly and without regard to impermissible factors such as race and national origin.”

Suntrust:

$418 million will be paid to the federal government to resolve liability for faulty loans that SunTrust wrote from January 2006 through March 2012. The loans resulted in losses to the Federal Housing Administration, the arm of the Department of Housing and Urban Development that insures residential mortgages.
Read more here:

Ally Financial:

Minority car buyers were victims of discriminatory lending practices on their car loans, according to federal authorities who have reached a $98 million settlement with Ally Financial.

Federal officials said that Detroit-based Ally Financial and Ally Bank charged higher interest rates from about 235,000 car loan borrowers who were Hispanic, African-American, and Asian/Pacific Islanders since April, 2011.

 

Read more here:

http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/20/news/companies/ally-car-loan-discrimination/index.html

 

Fith Third Bank:

An Ohio-based bank has come under fire for charging Black and Latino customers more interest on auto loans, a joint investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has found.

Fifth Third Bank, which has 1,300 banking locations in 12 states, has agreed to pay an $18 million settlement related to indirect auto loans made through dealerships.

 

Read more Here:

Fifth Third Bank to Pay $18 Million Settlement For Charging Black Customers More Interest for Auto Loans

 

 

PNC:

The latest settlement, requiring PNC to pay $35 million, was announced on Monday, Dec. 23rd and covers the behavior of the National City Bank.

HONDA:

The Justice Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau claimed that car loans issued by American Honda Finance Corporation required higher payments from minority buyers.
The government claimed in a lawsuit that Honda’s practices, allowing dealers broad discretion to mark up the interest rates on company-issued loans, resulted in higher prices for African-American, Hispanic, and Asian customers.
Read more here:

Toyota:

Toyota is set to fork over up to $21.9 million to settle allegations that it discriminated against black and Asian borrowers by charging them higher rates than white borrowers, the Los Angeles Times reported.

 Read more here:

BMW:

 

BMW Manufacturing Co. LLC Tuesday agreed to pay $1.6 million and rehire 70 black employees settling a 2-year-old racial discrimination lawsuit. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity sued BMW in 2013 alleging the company’s criminal background check procedures to employ candidates for its Greer manufacturing facility in South Carolina unequally affected blacks.

Read more here:

http://www.ibtimes.com/bmw-settles-racial-discrimination-lawsuit-company-pay-16m-rehire-black-employees-2088216

 

 

Check out this list of 5 big companies sued for discrimination! it includes

Walmart,

Ambercrombie & Fitch

 Denny’s,

GE

 Southern California Edison

 

Read the entire article here:

Lowes:

MEMPHIS, Tenn.– The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced the filing of a race discrimination lawsuit under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act against Lowe’s Companies, Inc., doing business as Lowe’s Home Center’s Inc. The suit charges the world’s second largest home improvement retailer with failing to hire a class of qualified African American applicants due to their race at its Reload Distribution Center in Vonore, Tenn.
A lawsuit filed Friday, however, claims that since the store has been open, management has discriminated against blacks and other minorities, passing them over for promotions and often firing them and replacing them with non-minorities. It also alleges that management hired minority employees “to comply with an agreement with the City and County of San Francisco as a prerequisite to the opening of the Bayshore Lowe’s,” and then fired them once the store opened.

Comcast:

The suit alleges that Comcast’s memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with non-media civil rights groups, including the NAACP, National Urban League, Sharpton and Sharpton’s National Action Network, further “facilitate Comcast’s racist practices and policies in contracting – or, more accurately, refusing to contract – with 100 percent African American-owned media companies.”
Read more here:

Comcast Corp has reached a $50 million settlement in a decade-old lawsuit accusing it of overcharging cable television subscribers, 1-1/2 years after the U.S. Supreme Court threw out a larger version of the class-action case.

The preliminary settlement, which requires court approval, calls for Comcast to pay $16.67 million in cash to current and former subscribers in Philadelphia and four nearby countries.

 

Read this story here:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-comcast-lawsuit-idUSKBN0II1N320141029

 

Comcast Corp has reached a $33 million settlement with California over allegations that the cable company posted personal details of customers online, state Attorney General Kamala Harris said in a statement on Thursday.

As part of the agreement with the California Department of Justice and the California Public Utilities Commission, Comcast must pay $25 million in penalties and investigative costs to the to the two departments, the statement said.

Comcast will also pay about $8 million in additional restitution to customers whose numbers were improperly disclosed.

 

Read this story here:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-comcast-settlement-iduskcn0rh36a20150917

 

Tiffany & Co:

The New York Times reports that Michael McClure, a group director for two Tiffany stores in Texas, filed a suit in federal court on Thursday accusing the fine jewelry company of a “systemic, nationwide pattern and practice of racial discrimination.”

 

Read this story here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/30/tiffanys-racial-discrimination-lawsuit-_n_5419102.html

 

Macy’s:

 

The New York Post reports that actor Robert Brown, who’s most known for his starring role opposite Sean Connery in the film “Finding Forrester,” has filled a civil suit for an unspecified sum against the luxury retail store and the New York Police Department, citing that he was unlawfully searched by undercover police officers on June 8, 2013.

 

Read this story here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/25/macys-racial-discrimination-lawsuit-black-shopper_n_4164823.html

 

Barney’s :

 

Barneys insiders told HuffPost they’ve seen profiling by salespeople and security guards. One current veteran employee at the Madison Avenue store — who asked for anonymity because workers were given “strict warning” they could lose their jobs for speaking to the media — alleged that store security keeps a close eye on black shoppers who don’t look famous.

Read more here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/07/barneys-racist_n_4225710.html

 

Louis Vuitton:

 

Another major fashion company is being sued for racial discrimination. This time around its Louis Vuitton that has been slapped with a lawsuit alleging racism filed by a sales associate, Oliver Koffi, at the luxury brand’s store in London’s Selfridge’s.

The Mirror reports that Koffi is suing Louis Vuitton for racial discrimination and harassment after witnessing his boss make several racially insensitive comments. Koffi contends that the behavior created a “hostile and intimidating” working environment.

 

Read more here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/01/louis-vuitton-racial-discrimination-lawsuit-_n_5547882.html?utm_hp_ref=black-voices

 

United Postal Service:

The Associated Press reports that eight current and former employees at UPS in Kentucky filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the company on Friday.

The men claimed to be treated poorly and that they received harsher punishments because of their race. The plaintiffs allege that, at one point, a black effigy hung outside of their manager’s office.

UPS spokeswoman Susan Rosenberg disagrees with the complaints, claiming that all of the issues were investigated and were taken seriously.

 

Read more here:

http://www.bet.com/news/national/2014/06/11/black-ups-employees-file-racial-discrimination-law-suit.html

 

Mcdonald’s:

The workers said in a federal complaint filed Thursday that about 15 African-American employees of some southern Virginia restaurants run by Soweva Co. were fired last May after several white employees were hired. Many of those fired were told by Soweva owner Michael Simon that while they were good workers they “didn’t fit the profile” he was trying to build for the company, according to the complaint.

The employees said that McDonald’s Corp. controls nearly every aspect of how franchisees operate restaurants, but corporate officials did nothing when they were contacted about the dismissals and “blatant racial discrimination.”

 

Read more here:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/mcdonald-faces-employee-lawsuit-discrimination-article-1.2088645

 

 

 

Check out BET’s list of 11 companies sued for discrimination below!

http://www.bet.com/news/national/photos/2014/06/10-top-companies-hit-with-employee-racial-discrimination-suits.html#!041214-National-Top-companies-Hit-With-racial-Discrimination-Lawsuits-UPS

 

 

This is why group economics is so important! 

I am sure I missed some key ones, please feel free to add them in the comment section below. Are you boycotting any of these businesses?