Benefits November 18, 2002

Wiccan Accuses Employer of Witch Hunt

November 18, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A former Mary Kay Cosmetics customer services representative is suing for harassment and discrimination because of her religious beliefs, according to a Chicago Sun-Times report.
Reported by

Elizabeth Cornman alleges in her a federal lawsuit filed Friday that she was discriminated against because of her Wiccan beliefs.   She is seeking $300,000 in emotional distress damages in addition to unspecified back pay damages.

Witch Trials

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Mary Kay hired Cornman in July 2000 as a customer service representative.    Her job was going well, including good reviews from her supervisor, until her marriage to a Wiccan priest the following year and the subsequent displays of her pagan faith.  

Included in those displays were ankle tattoos and necklaces of Wiccan symbols.   Cornman alleges that after she began displaying her Wiccan symbols she began experiencing adverse reactions to her and her religion at work.  

Supervisors confiscated a sand garden form the desk that Cornman used to draw runes to give her guiding principles for the day.   Additionally, Cornman said she was unfairly disciplined for damaging a copy machine and accused of “victimizing” a college by a supervisor.  

Cornman filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint after receiving a poor performance review in July of 2002.   Prior to this review, Cornman says she always got “rave reviews” from her supervisors.

Investing November 15, 2002

MSCI Reports October Hedge Fund Figures

November 15, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Hedge Fund Composite Index is up year-to-date 1.4%, after October's increase of 0.2%.
Reported by

The MSCI Hedge Fund Composite Index is composed of five equally weighted process group indices:   the Directional Trading, Relative Value, Security Selection, Specialist Credit and Multi-Process indices.  

The best performing index so far in the year, the MSCI Direction Trading, was down -2.8% in October, but remains up 8.5% year-to-date.   Conversely, the worst year-to-date performer, the MSCI Security Selection Index, was up 1.0% in October, with year-to-date return now at -2.9%.

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October also saw gains made in the MSCI Relative Value Index, up 0.5% and the MSCI Specialist Credit, up 1.1%.  Year-to-date the funds are up 5.0% and 1.5%, respectively.

Additionally, the Multi-Process Group Index was also up in October with a 0.8% gain, but is down year-to-date -1.2%.  

Other MSCI indices had mixed results in October.   The MSCI World Equity Index was up 7.3% for the month, but down year-to-date -21.1%.   The MSCI World Sovereign Debt Index declined in October -0.4%, but is up year-to-date 13.8%.

October index return numbers are based on funds reporting through November 13, 2002.   Further information on MSCI indices or MSCI data can be found at the Web site at www.msci.com .

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