Benefits July 18, 2003

Judge Names Boeing Racial Bias Case Lead Plaintiff Counsel

July 18, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A federal judge has tapped a Seattle law firm as plaintiff lead counsel in a racial bias class-action lawsuit against the Boeing Company.
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According to a news release from law firm Hagens Berman, it received the lead counsel designation representing about 15,000 black workers in an order by US District Judge John Coughenour who is set to hear the discrimination case against the giant aircraft manufacturer.

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The Hagens Berman announcement said the latest court action against Boeing is actually the second time around after a federal appeals court threw out the original $15-million settlement reached in 1999 as being inadequate (See “Inflated” Atty Fees Too Much for Boeing Settlement ).

A three-judge panel of the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals took issue with the settlement’s nearly $4 million in lawyers’ fees, as well as the agreement’s “two tiered” structure of awarding damages.

The original lawsuit accused Boeing of failing to give minority employees equal opportunity for advancement and for harassing them when they complained of the practice. Boeing admitted no wrongdoing in the 1999 settlement and agreed to use a portion of the funds to create programs to address employee concerns.

Investing July 17, 2003

Jobless Claims Turn Down

July 17, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The good news in Thursday's regular jobless claims report was that the number of Americans queuing up for initial benefits plunged by 29,000 last week. The bad news: the total is still well above a recessionary benchmark.
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According to US Department of Labor (DoL) data for the week ending July 12, claims dropped to 412, 000 from a revised 441,000 the week before.  The four-week moving average – a closely watched figure because it irons out short-term volatility – was 424,000, down 3,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 427,500.

The DoL reported that the number of Americans clinging to the jobless rolls during the week ending July 5 was 3.65 million, a decrease of 117,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3.77 million. Analysts were expecting 425,000 new claims for the latest report.

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The DoL’s data for the July 12 week follows two consecutive weekly gains in jobless claims to a 439,000 total for the July 5 week (See  Initial Jobless Claims Jump For Second Week).  T he government also reported last week that the nation’s June unemployment rate shot up to 6.4% from May’s 6.1%, representing its highest level since April 1994 (See Jobless Claims Spike Higher For Week, Month ).

Economists continue to fret about the fact that the jobless claims totals have been stuck above the 400,000 mark – a widely accepted indicator of a sluggish employment market.

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