B&H electronics retailer in New York City has settled a job discrimination lawsuit on behalf of 149 Latino warehouse workers for $4.3 million.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wednesday a federal judge in Manhattan approved the settlement. The federal agency had accused B&H of paying the Manhattan and Brooklyn workers less than other workers, and denying them promotions and health benefits because they were Latino.

The EEOC plans to monitor B&H for five years.

The EEOC also settled two other lawsuits. One was for $300,000 with Adelphi University, which the agency had accused of paying women professors less than their male counterparts.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/03/26/ap6217515.html

A Congressional audit of the federal agency in charge of enforcing wage and hour laws has found that the group routinely mishandled grievances by agents posing as complaining workers. According to the report by the Government Accountability Office, the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division failed to take proper action in 90 percent of test cases involving alleged wage and hour violations. The report especially faulted the agency’s dealings with low-wage workers, saying most were left with few options to recover back wages.  Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times  03/24/2009