The League of Iowa Human & Civil Rights Agencies

Sexual harassment has been back in the news with allegations of inappropriate advances by quarterback Brett Favre toward a female New York Jets employee, and with the reprise of accusations made long ago against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. While these cases have made headlines, sexual harassment remains a fact of everyday life and a problem in the government workplace. According to a recently retired federal government executive, sexual harassment cases are significantly under repo...

HUD CHARGES IOWA LANDLORDS WITH SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF WOMEN TENANTS

Property manager engaged in sex-for-rent harassment

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced that it is charging Waterloo, Iowa, apartment complex Elders, Inc., employee Michael Nieman, and J.S. Property Management L.C. with housing discrimination for allegedly harassing female tenants through repeated unwanted sexual ...

A state judge has granted class-action status to a lawsuit in which Iowa is accused of discriminating against black state workers and applicants. The plaintiffs and the state both sought class-action certification.

In an order issued September 29, Judge Robert J. Blink ruled that the lawsuit brought by 32 current or former black state employees qualifies as a class action. “The court finds that joint or common interest exists among members of this class, that common q...

Remember last year’s furor involving the Cambridge, Massachusetts, police arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates and the subsequent beer fest hosted by President Barack Obama at the White House for Gates and the police sergeant?In many ways, we’re seeing a replay of that situation in the current controversy over the remarks made by U.S. Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod.

For the full context surrounding Sherrod’s remark...

JUDGE ORDERS IOWA LANDLORD TO PAY $52,150 TO RESOLVE HOUSING DISCRIMINATION CASE

Landlord attempted to evict single mother for filing fair housing complaint

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced that a HUD Administrative Law Judge has ordered an Iowa landlord to pay $52,150 in damages and civil penalties for retaliating against a single mother of three by threatening to evict her b...

EEOC Sues City of Boone, Iowa For Age Discrimination

City Rejected Older Applicant for Less-Qualified Younger One, Federal Agency Says

DES MOINES – The City of Boone, Iowa violated federal law by hiring a 25-year-old rather than a more qualified 62-year-old because of the latter’s age, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

The agency’s administrative ...

HUD CHARGES NEW YORK LANDLORDS WITH DISCRIMINATING AGAINST VETERAN WITH DISABILITIES: Vietnam-era veteran allegedly denied use of service animal

Published March 4, 2010 by HUD

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced that it is charging two Poughkeepsie, New Yo...

Some Muslims, fearing backlash, worry about intent of census

By Tara Bahrampour

Wednesday, March 10, 2010, Washington Post

The millions of blue forms being mailed this month in the first census count since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, do not ask about religion. But the idea of answering any ...

With New Homes, Town Makes Amends for Its Bias

By Susan Saulny, New York Times

Published: March 10, 2010

HAMTRAMCK, Mich. — Even though more than 50 years have passed since Sallie Sanders was a confused little girl wondering why her family was kicked out of their house for being on the wrong side of the color line here, t...

Though critics of the Chicago Transit Authority’s recent cuts in service contend that the reductions disproportionately affect low-income and minority areas, a Chicago News Cooperative analysis of transit, racial and economic data paints a more even-handed, and milder, picture. A measurement of wait times and reductions of late-night service shows that the cuts do not have a bigger affect on those sections of the city. Critics argue that minorities, particularly on the South and West Si...