Save Our State - Liberal Post Sued for Racial Discrimination

Liberal Post Sued for Racial Discrimination

By Cliff Kincaid | December 23, 2010
A major subsidiary of The Washington Post, one of America’s great liberal newspapers, has been sued for racial discrimination. (Read it in the story that follows this article.)
“The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Tuesday sued The Washington Post Co.’s Kaplan Higher Education unit, alleging that it discriminated against black job applicants by refusing to hire people based on their credit histories.”
But it wasn’t front-page news. Instead, it was on page 14 of the print edition.
The EEOC said the liberal company “violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964…” Title VII prohibits hiring practices that have a discriminatory impact because of race and are not job-related and justified by business necessity.
What is fascinating is that various “progressive” groups are now beating up on the Post, which is pro-Obama. “How The Washington Post Helps Kaplan Rip Off Students” is the headline on www.change.org, which comments on how “Former students and staff are coming forward with horror stories from the Washington Post Company-owned school.” The scandal is an old one that has been covered extensively by Accuracy in Media. In effect, the paper’s subsidiary has been getting students deep in federal debt for courses that produce very few good jobs. Taxpayers are on the hook for the uncollected debts.
Now we find out that Kaplan has allegedly been discriminating against minorities in the process, making the scandal even more odious.
Kaplan figures in a CNBC documentary, “The College Debt Crisis,” which notes that student loan debt will surpass $1 trillion in 2012.
When Kentucky Senator-elect Rand Paul, as a candidate, questioned the reach of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Post was alarmed, noting that he had created a “controversy.”
Now the paper’s sister company stands accused of violating the law.
Post columnist Eugene Robinson, a regular on MSNBC, accused Rand Paul of living in what the headline called “Libertarian La-La Land.” He suggested Paul was the Tea Party’s Madhatter. Robinson wondered if Paul believed that the federal government had the authority to outlaw racial discrimination in private businesses. He said the candidate had “loopy beliefs.”
Now that the EEOC has sued the Post, saying its subsidiary engaged in racial discrimination, will Robinson tackle the subject in print and on MSNBC? Will Robinson take on his employer?
Don’t hold your breath. Kaplan is a cash cow for the Post newspaper, meaning that it helps pay the salaries of columnists like Robinson.
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/libera...iscrimination/

EEOC suing Kaplan over alleged racial discrimination
By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 22, 2010; 12:46 AM
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Tuesday sued The Washington Post Co.'s Kaplan Higher Education unit, alleging that it discriminated against black job applicants by refusing to hire people based on their credit histories.
The federal lawsuit alleges that Kaplan needlessly evaluated the credit histories of potential hires in a way that had a disparate negative impact on black job applicants. The commission said the practice has been in place since at least January 2008.
Although considering credit histories is not illegal, the commission asserts that the practice violates civil rights laws when it has the effect of discriminating on the basis of race and is not justified by the needs of the business.
Kaplan is an equal opportunity employer that conducts background checks on all potential employees, spokeswoman Michele Pore said, including credit histories for job applicants whose responsibilities touch on financial matters such as advising students on financial aid.
"This is not unusual," she said, adding that surveys show that many employers consult credit reports in making personnel decisions.
Pore said Kaplan would not acknowledge a violation of civil rights law and would not comment further.
The EEOC said it is seeking to stop the practice and win wages, benefits and offers of employment for people who were not hired by Kaplan because of the alleged wrongdoing. The commission said it tried to reach a settlement with Kaplan before filing suit.

"Employers need to be mindful that any hiring practice be job-related and not screen out groups of people, even if it does so unintentionally," said Debra Lawrence, the regional EEOC lawyer who is overseeing the suit against Kaplan.
The suit is the latest setback for Kaplan. The firm has gone in the past decade from being a leading provider of test-preparation materials and classes to one of the key players in the fast-growing for-profit higher education business.
Kaplan was bought by The Post Co. in 1984 and has become an important source of revenue and profit as the company's flagship newspaper has suffered financially in a broad industry decline.
This year, Kaplan has faced allegations that its employees have given false information to prospective students to trick them into taking on federal loans to sign up for courses - ultimately leaving them mired in debt and without the skills needed to get good jobs.
Senior executives have acknowledged serious mistakes and promised to make protecting students a top priority.
Kaplan and other for-profit education providers are also facing tough new rules proposed by the Department of Education on student loans that could hurt their bottom lines.
The EEOC has expressed growing concern about firms using credit histories to judge job applicants. Chi Chi Wu, a lawyer with the National Consumer Law Center who spoke before the commission in October, said that the use of credit histories created a Catch-22 for many job applicants.
"You can't reestablish your credit if you can't get a job, and you can't get a job if you've got bad credit," she said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...122105136.html