Workplace

A Los Angeles jury awarded $1.7 million Friday to a former Los Angeles firefighter who alleged that he was retaliated against for helping a colleague who had alleged racial, sexual and sexual orientation discrimination. It was the latest development in a series of discrimination allegations against the Fire Department that led to the resignation of Chief William Bamattre in December. In the verdict Friday, Lewis "Steve" Bressler received $1.

The Supreme Court weighed Friday whether to limit racial slurs in the workplace just as two broadcast networks were firing radio host Don Imus for his demeaning, racist comments on air. The justices were considering an appeal from a black computer technician who was fired from his job at IBM after he complained that a white co-worker had loudly referred to a pair of crime suspects as "two black monkeys in a cage."

The Supreme Court refused Monday to put stricter limits on racial slurs in the workplace, turning away an appeal from a black computer technician who was fired shortly after complaining that a white co-worker loudly described a pair of crime suspects as "two black monkeys in a cage." Robert Jordan was dismissed from his contract job for IBM in suburban Maryland a month after his complaint and was told that he was "being disruptive."

Those zany "walk and work" researchers at Mayo Clinic may be on to something. Dr. James Levine, an endocrinologist and professor of medicine in Rochester, Minn., has fresh evidence that it's not only possible to perform routine office work while walking very slowly on a treadmill built into a workstation, but the worker may burn about 120 extra calories an hour while doing so.

The California Senate voted Thursday to bar employers from denying promotions or raises to workers who juggle job duties with the demands of caring for children, sick spouses or aging parents. One of the first such efforts in the country, the measure would add "familial status" to the categories of discrimination banned by the state's Fair Employment and Housing Act.

Last year Justin Miloro had to wear long sleeves to conceal the Buddha curling around his left forearm and the yellow-orange sun rays on his right. Pants covered the depiction of Earth on one leg and wings on the other. The sun spreading across his back was under wraps. The plugs in his earlobes were obscured by bandages. "I thought it was really silly," Miloro recalled, "worse than seeing the tattoos."

The French want to be paid more to work less. When they're not on holiday, they're on strike. Or, as President Bush probably never said, the trouble with the French is that they don't have a word for "entrepreneur." It's all true except when it isn't. The word "entrepreneur" may have gone missing from the French spirit, if not from its vocabulary, but the new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is determined to bring it back and has the legislature working overtime in a special session to do so.

In California, giant British retailer Tesco is carefully cultivating an image as a socially responsible grocer with good-paying jobs, fresh organic foods and the latest in environmentally friendly technology. But the firm's new Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market chain, due to open here this fall, is a far cry from the Tesco flagship stores in Britain, where the vast supermarkets are more like Wal-Mart in size, selection and controversy.

A fired housing development porter whose job discrimination lawsuit had been dismissed fatally shot a former supervisor and wounded two other workers at the Bronx community before turning himself in at a local courthouse, police said Thursday. Paulino Valenzuela, 44, was charged with murder, manslaughter and assault. He had been fired two years ago and last week had a job discrimination lawsuit tossed out of federal court, officials said. Valenzuela turned up shortly before 8 a.m.

Every time John Remore steps up to his workstation to form a piece of sheet metal, he brings an intangible asset to the job: 42 years of experience, dating to lessons from his father. Remore, 60, doesn't brag, but that won't stop his boss. "He's invaluable. He is priceless," said Kellie Johnson, president of Torrance-based Ace Clearwater Enterprises, which makes parts for big aerospace companies.