(NEW YORK) — Women of color are disproportionately represented in the low-wage workforce, a new study released Tuesday found.
Half of working women of color earn less than $15 an hour, according to Oxfam, the anti-poverty charity organization responsible for the research.
“Women and people of color do much more than their fair share of low-wage jobs, and as wages lose value, it’s becoming a civil rights crisis in this country,” Oxfam stated in the study release.
In 25 states, at least 60% of working women of color earn under $15.
Women typically receive 83 cents on the dollar that every white, non-Hispanic man in the same position makes, Oxfam reported.
For women of color, that disparity rises drastically — Black women are paid 64 cents; American Indian women are paid 60 cents; and Latina or Hispanic women make 57 cents, compared to a dollar that a white man makes.
Oxfam found that nearly a third of all U.S. workers earn under $15 an hour — 25% of all men and 40% of all women. That’s roughly 52 million people.
When broken down by race, 26% of white workers earn less than $15, while 46% of Hispanic and Latino workers and 47% of Black workers do.
With inflation levels at the highest they’ve been in decades, families are left struggling, researchers say.
“It’s been 13 years since Congress raised the wage floor in this country, and in that time all costs of living have steadily climbed,” Kaitlyn Henderson, senior research advisor at Oxfam America, said in a press release.
She added, “It’s shameful that at a time when many U.S. companies are boasting record profits, some of the hardest working people in this country — especially people who keep our economy and society functioning — are struggling to get by and falling behind.”
The report also highlights that some workers are paid even lower than $7.25 thanks to federal laws that allow tipped workers, student workers, farmworkers, domestic workers and workers with disabilities to be paid less.
“It’s long past time to adjust our priorities to reflect the value and decency inherent in all work by paying workers a higher wage, adjusting the compensation of CEOs and shareholders, and moving to an economic model that prioritizes people over profits,” said Gina Cummings, vice president of advocacy, alliances and policy for Oxfam America.
(COLLIER COUNTY, Fla.) — A man was attacked by a tiger at a Florida Everglades attraction after walking into the animal’s enclosure, authorities said.
The incident occurred Tuesday afternoon in Collier County, the same county where a man was attacked by a tiger at a zoo three months ago.
“We are having a hard time comprehending this happening again but want to share this breaking news with you,” the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement posted to Facebook Tuesday.
Deputies responded to a tiger attack at Wooten’s Everglades Airboat Tours in Ochopee around 4:30 p.m., authorities said.
“Preliminary (very) info indicates a tiger in an enclosure at that location was being fed by it’s [sic] caretaker when a 50 year old male, an employee of Wooten’s who was not authorized to be with the tiger, entered the tiger’s enclosure,” the sheriff’s office said. “The tiger attacked the man and caused injuries to both arms.”
The man was transported to a local hospital. The sheriff’s office did not have any updates on his condition following the attack.
The tiger’s caretaker was able to “safely contain” the animal and it was not injured, the sheriff’s office said.
ABC News has reached out to Wooten’s Everglades Airboat Tours for comment.
According to its website, Wooten’s is home to an animal sanctuary, as well as offers tours of the Everglades and hosts a live alligator show.
This is not the first time in recent months that Collier County sheriff’s deputies have had to respond to a tiger attack.
On Dec. 29, deputies were called to the Naples Zoo after a maintenance worker entered an unauthorized area and stuck his arm in a tiger enclosure, authorities said.
A responding Collier County deputy found the man with his arm in the tiger’s mouth and fatally shot the 8-year-old male Malayan tiger, Eko, when he was unable to get it to release the arm, authorities said.
Last month, the sheriff’s office announced it would not be filing charges against the man, River Rosenquist.
“After a thorough investigation of the incident and after consulting experts in state and federal criminal law and the prosecution of same, it has been concluded that there are no applicable existing laws with which to charge Mr. River Rosenquist for his irresponsible acts that ultimately caused the death of Eko the tiger,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “Simply put, there are no laws on the books that apply to this reckless act. We know this will be very difficult for everyone to understand. It is difficult for us to comprehend.”
Rosenquist’s arm was severely damaged in the attack, but doctors were able to avoid amputation, his family said.
“While River’s recovery is unknown, the family remains steadfast in their faith for his future improvement on the long road ahead,” his family said in a statement to ABC News via their attorney last month. “River’s mental health and recovery continue to be our primary focus and we remain thankful for the respect and privacy everyone has allowed the family to have during this difficult process.”
ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Lisa Sivertsen contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Civil rights attorney Ben Crump filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against Google this week claiming there has been a pattern of racial discrimination toward minority employees.
“Former Google employees came for their dream job that turned into a nightmare because of bigoted, discriminatory, racist culture that exists within Google,” Crump said at a press conference Monday.
The lawsuit, which alleges a pattern and practice of racial discrimination, was filed on behalf of April Curley and other former and current Black employees at Google. Curley said she was unlawfully terminated from her position after she told managers she was creating a report on Google’s “discriminatory” practices, a press release stated.
“These women tried to sound the alarm,” Crump said, later adding that the company “retaliated against these victims of the racist culture that exists in Google.”
ABC News has reached out to Google for comment on the lawsuit.
Curley worked at Google as a diversity recruiter for six years to recruit prospects from historically Black colleges and universities. She said she was hired at an entry level position even though she held a master’s degree and had five years of experience.
“April Curley was an exceptional employee at Google. She was hired to a position well below her qualifications and was consistently wrongfully passed over for promotions,” Crump alleged. “While Google claims that they were looking to increase diversity, they were actually undervaluing, underpaying and mistreating their Black employees, leading to high turnover.”
Curley said she was able to recruit more than 500 Black students to become a part of the company. But ultimately, she alleges, she began noticing “white dominant policies in practice within Google.”
Crump and law firm Stowell & Friedman, Ltd. alleged in a press release that Black employees at Google are “steered toward lower-level roles with less pay and fewer opportunities for advancement” and face a hostile working environment and retaliation if they “oppose the company’s discriminatory practices.”
“After dedicating so much of my life to ensure Black and brown students had access to opportunities in tech, and at Google, after being restrained to an entry level classification for six years, after being blocked for promotion because, I quote, ‘Google had no budget to pay me,’ Google decided that right next step in my career was to unjustly terminate me,” Curley said at the press conference.
Google has not commented publicly on Curley’s termination.
According to Google’s annual diversity report published in 2021, the company said they “recognize” a need to do better.
“We recognize our responsibility to meet this moment and believe the greatest contribution we can make to changing these structural inequities is sustained action within our company, our communities and the world,” the report stated.
Crump and his team are pursuing a class action suit. The lawsuit filed by the firm requests that employees get their positions back and be awarded the full compensation and benefits that they not only lost but may also lose in the future.
“Google, we are here to encourage you to do the right thing,” Crump said.
Crump said investigations have been opened by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the California Assembly. ABC News has reached out to both for comment.
(ORLANDO, Fla.) — LGBTQ workers and employee allies at The Walt Disney Company staged a walkout in protest of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by opponents.
Some employees have been walking out each day since March 15 from 3 to 3:15 p.m.
On Tuesday, more than 100 employees in different parts of the company joined a full-length walkout and protest.
“The Walt Disney Company’s (TWDC) LGBTQIA+ community and their allies are determined to take a stand against TWDC’s apathy in the face of the bigoted ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill put forth by the FL state legislature,” the protest’s website states.
“The recent statements and lack of action by TWDC leadership regarding the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill have utterly failed to match the magnitude of the threat to LGBTQIA+ safety represented by this legislation,” the website says.
Opponents of the bill say it would shame and silence LGBTQ youth and could have major negative consequences on their mental health.
The bill prohibits instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten to third grade and would limit or prohibit what classrooms can teach about sexual orientation and gender identity in other grades unless they are “age appropriate or developmentally appropriate,” a threshold criticized as vague by the bill’s opponents. It would also allow parents to sue schools that engage in these topics.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek has been criticized for his response to the bill, first for his silence on the legislation and later for not outright condemning the bill in his public statements.
Chapek has since said he would pledge $5 million to groups advocating for LGTBQ+ rights and protections and added that he has contacted Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office in opposition of the bill. He also said political donations in Florida will be paused pending review for any connection to the bill.
“We are hard at work creating a new framework for our political giving that will ensure our advocacy better reflects our values,” Chapek said in an email to Disney employees. “I am committed to this work and to you all, and will continue to engage with the LGBTQ+ community so that I can become a better ally.”
Several Disney companies have released statements of support on social media amid the March 22 walkout, including ABC News, Disney Plus, Walt Disney World, Pixar and more.
Some Disney figures, including ESPN sports anchor Elle Duncan, have shown support for the walkouts during televised broadcasts.
According to Duncan, ESPN employees have also been participating in the daily walkouts. Duncan herself took a moment of silence during her broadcast in protest.
“We understand the gravity of this legislation and also how it is affecting so many families across this country, and because of that our allyship is going to take a front seat, and with that, we’re going to pause in solidarity,” Duncan said.
ESPN’s Carolyn Peck and Courtney Lyle also remained silent for two minutes in solidarity with their coworkers during the Women’s NCAA Tournament.
“A threat to any human rights is a threat to all human rights,” Peck said during the March 18 broadcast.
In a list of demands on the protest website, organizers demand that Disney “immediately and indefinitely cease all campaign donations” to politicians linked to the bill and “commit to an actionable plan” that could protect employees from discriminatory legislation.
Organizers also ask that the company reaffirms its commitment to LGBTQ employees and communities, make contributions to human rights advocacy groups and allocate spending and resources to invest in LGBTQ representation.
The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of ABC News.
(WASHINGTON) — The brand behind a buttermilk pancake and waffle mix sold at Walmart has recalled a single lot of the product, some of which it says may have possible foreign material contamination.
Continental Mills issued a recall Saturday on its Great Value Buttermilk Pancake & Waffle Mix, according to a company recall announcement posted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The announcement said that “fragments from a cable used to clear the processing line were discovered in a limited amount of product.”
There have been no reports from consumers of contaminated products or injuries related to contamination, the company said in the notice.
“Food Safety is the highest priority for Continental Mills and the company is acting swiftly for the safety of consumers. Continental Mills is working with the FDA and retailers to ensure any affected product is removed from the marketplace immediately,” the company said.
The product which was distributed nationwide through retail Walmart stores has the UPC code 078742370828, the lot code KX2063 and an expiration date of Sept. 1, 2023.
“If you have recently purchased any of the products noted above, please dispose of the product or please return the product to your store for a replacement or refund,” the notice said. “For more information or to receive a refund, please call the Recall Phone Hotline at 1-800-578-7832 Monday – Friday 7 am to 4 pm PT.”
(CINCINNATI) — The company that makes Jergens lotion is recalling select bottles of moisturizers due to possible bacterial contamination.
Kao USA Inc., based in Cincinnati, issued a voluntary recall on March 11 and is urging consumers to stop using Jergens® Ultra Healing Moisturizers that were packaged in three-ounce and 10-ounce bottles.
The company’s announcement, which was shared with the Food and Drug Administration, said affected moisturizers could be contaminated with the bacterium Pluralibacter gergoviae, “a bacterium which typically poses little medical risk to healthy people.”
Kao USA said it was recalling the lotions “as a precautionary measure” and that “people who have certain health problems such as weakened immune systems may be more susceptible to infections” when exposed to the bacterium.
Jergens’ manufacturer said the investigation into the matter is still ongoing and that it is notifying warehouses and retailers and working to pull affected products.
“Kao USA cares about our consumers’ safety, and we’re committed to manufacturing products that not only meet, but exceed, the highest industry standards,” Kao USA President Karen Frank said in a statement to Good Morning America. “As such, we promptly issued a voluntary recall of the affected product, and are proactively notifying consumers, removing it from warehouses, and working with retailers to ensure it is removed from store shelves. We have informed regulatory authorities, and further investigation to determine the scope of the issue is still ongoing. This remains our top priority, and we will continue to work with our partners on improved cleaning and sanitization practices so that similar issues can be prevented in the future.”
The recalled moisturizers were produced between Oct. 1 and Oct. 18 of last year, according to Kao USA. The lot codes for the units that were recalled all begin with the letters “ZU” and were printed in black type on the back of the bottles.
Look for lot codes:
3-ounce bottles:
ZU712851
ZU712861
ZU712871
ZU712881
ZU712911
ZU722881
ZU722851
10-ounce bottles:
ZU722741
ZU722771
ZU722781
ZU732781
ZU732791
ZU732801
ZU732811
ZU732821
Customers who have recalled lotion bottles can call or email Kao USA’s Customer Care Center for a postage-paid label and plastic bag to return the product and/or request a free product coupon at 1-800-742-8798 or consumer@kao.com. The company’s care center is open between Monday-Friday between 9 a.m.-5 p.m. ET.
Anyone who has used any recalled Jergens moisturizers and experienced an adverse reaction can also file a report with Kao USA’s Customer Care Center and the FDA’s MedWatch program at 888-463-6332 or online on the MedWatch website.
(SAN JOSE, Calif.) — The criminal fraud trial of Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, the ex-boyfriend of convicted Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and a top executive at the blood-testing company, is expected to begin Tuesday in California after a series of COVID-19 related delays.
Balwani’s trial was first pushed back in January by the surge of omicron cases and then again last week when it was discovered someone who attended jury selection was exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
On Monday, juror No. 1 was excused after reporting a fever and a sore throat to the court and replaced by an alternate.
Federal prosecutors will take the floor first to give their opening statement, and then lawyers for Balwani will have a chance to unveil their defense.
Balwani’s trial is being held in the same San Jose courthouse where Holmes was convicted earlier this year. He’s also facing the same charges: two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 10 counts of wire fraud.
He has pleaded not guilty to all counts and could face decades in prison if convicted.
The government alleges Holmes and Balwani perpetrated a yearslong scheme to defraud investors and patients by intentionally misleading people about the capabilities of their blood-testing technology.
A federal jury found Holmes guilty on four counts of fraud in January. The 38-year-old is scheduled to be sentenced in September after the expected conclusion of Balwani’s trial.
The pair was originally charged in the same case, but their trials were severed after Holmes revealed she planned to testify that Balwani subjected her to mental and physical abuse. She held back tears on the stand in December as she told the jury that Balwani forced her to have sex and “impacted everything about who I was.”
Balwani firmly denied the allegations in a filing.
A Holmes juror exclusively told ABC that the jury largely disregarded the emotional testimony in deliberations.
Holmes also testified to the Silicon Valley jury that Balwani ran the day-to-day lab operations and took care of company’s financials.
But juror No. 6 told ABC News that the jury convicted Holmes regardless because “everything went through her.”
Theranos was the brainchild of 19-year-old Holmes, who dropped out of Stanford to pour herself into building the blood-testing business. Her company later created a miniature device dubbed the “Edison,” which investor witnesses at her trial said they believed could run any blood test.
Holmes paraded the novel technology to the likes of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the DeVos family, raising hundreds of millions of dollars.
By 2013, the Silicon Valley startup began to roll out its testing to Walgreens stores, with plans to expand nationwide. Holmes also recruited several prominent people to sit on her board of directors including Gen. James Mattis and former U.S. Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz.
But Theranos came under fire in October 2015 when a Wall Street Journal investigation revealed less than 10% of the company’s blood tests were ran on the Edison, according to the report.
Three years later, in March 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against Holmes, Balwani and Theranos, claiming they had fraudulently raised more than $700 million from investors.
Federal prosecutors later filed criminal charges against the former couple.
(ORLANDO, Fla.) — LGBTQ workers and employee allies at The Walt Disney Company are planning to stage a walkout in protest of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by opponents.
Some employees have been walking out each day since Tuesday, March 15, from 3 to 3:15 p.m. On Tuesday, March 22, protesters are planning a full-length walkout from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“The Walt Disney Company’s (TWDC) LGBTQIA+ community and their allies are determined to take a stand against TWDC’s apathy in the face of the bigoted ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill put forth by the FL state legislature,” the protest’s website states.
“The recent statements and lack of action by TWDC leadership regarding the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill have utterly failed to match the magnitude of the threat to LGBTQIA+ safety represented by this legislation,” the website says.
Opponents of the bill say it would shame and silence LGBTQ youth and could have major negative consequences on their mental health.
The bill prohibits instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten to third grade and would limit or prohibit what classrooms can teach about sexual orientation and gender identity in other grades unless they are “age appropriate or developmentally appropriate,” a threshold criticized as vague by the bill’s opponents. It would also allow parents to sue schools that engage in these topics.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek has been criticized for his response to the bill, first for his silence on the legislation and later for not outright condemning the bill in his public statements.
Chapek has since said he would pledge $5 million to groups advocating for LGTBQ+ rights and protections and added that he has contacted Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office in opposition of the bill. He also said political donations in Florida will be paused pending review for any connection to the bill.
“We are hard at work creating a new framework for our political giving that will ensure our advocacy better reflects our values,” Chapek said in an email to Disney employees. “I am committed to this work and to you all, and will continue to engage with the LGBTQ+ community so that I can become a better ally.”
Several Disney figures, including ESPN sports anchor Elle Duncan, have shown support for the walkouts during televised broadcasts.
According to Duncan, ESPN employees have also been participating in the daily walkouts. Duncan herself took a moment of silence during her broadcast in protest.
“We understand the gravity of this legislation and also how it is affecting so many families across this country, and because of that our allyship is going to take a front seat, and with that, we’re going to pause in solidarity,” Duncan said.
ESPN’s Carolyn Peck and Courtney Lyle also remained silent for two minutes in solidarity with their coworkers during the Women’s NCAA Tournament.
“A threat to any human rights is a threat to all human rights,” Peck said during the March 18 broadcast.
In a list of demands on the protest website, organizers demand that Disney “immediately and indefinitely cease all campaign donations” to politicians linked to the bill and “commit to an actionable plan” that could protect employees from discriminatory legislation.
Organizers also ask that the company reaffirms its commitment to LGBTQ employees and communities, make contributions to human rights advocacy groups and allocate spending and resources to invest in LGBTQ representation.
The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — While Russia’s attack on Ukraine has many serious humanitarian consequences, there are also financial ones.
Russia has collectively borrowed approximately $480 billion. Some of that money is sovereign debt — what the Russian government has borrowed either from Russian investors in rubles or from other investors from around the world, in other currencies including the dollar, the euro, the yuan, etc. Some of that debt is corporate debt — what Russian companies have borrowed to raise money.
When Western investors think of a potential Russian debt default, they are focused on a very small percentage: about $20 billion.
Distressed debt investors such as Hans Humes, CEO of Greylock Capital, emphasize that the amount is small and that an initial default is already widely expected. If Russia were to default on some or all of its debt, there would probably be greater global market volatility on the news, but longer term, the greatest risks to the global economy and the U.S. economy are “the unintended consequences of sanctions placed against Russia and the resulting supply chain issues,” he said.
“U.S. inflation is not going to be affected by a default in Russia. What is going to affect inflation in the U.S. are the sanctions with the overlay of supply chain issues,” Humes explained.
To some investors’ surprise, Russia made its first interest payments on dollar-denominated debt earlier this week. As experts point out, this is the first page in the first chapter of a long book.
Even in non-war times, a country defaulting on its debt is a process-heavy event; there are intense conversions between the borrower and the lenders and potential suits and countersuits are usually filed in the country where most of the bonds have been issued. Usually, some sort of compromise in price can be found. Right now, most of Russia’s debt is trading between $.05 and $.25 on the dollar, according to Charlie Robertson, chief global economist at Renaissance Capital.
In war times, there are myriad extra wrinkles. Due to the sanctions the West has placed against Russia, the country is isolated from most of the global banking system. The U.S. Treasury has offered Russia a loophole to pay its dollar-denominated debt until the end of May; it is unclear what happens after that.
There are also certain debt contracts that Russia must pay in either dollars or euros; some investors think that Russia may pay in rubles, while playing the victim and playing up the fact that it is locked out of the Western banking system. It is true that two thirds of Russia’s $630 billion in reserves has been frozen by the West, but if Russia were to pay in rubles for certain bond contracts, an automatic default would be triggered. As Jay Newman recently wrote recently in The Wall Street Journal, “If Putin owes you money, good luck collecting it.”
Will a potential Russian debt default affect the average American’s 401(k) retirement plan? The consensus answer is “no.”
The American banks that have Russian debt in their portfolios have very small amounts. The bonds are in specialty emerging markets funds and they are a small part of those funds. Additionally, American banks are reducing even these small amounts of exposure to comply with sanctions and avoid unnecessary risk.
System-wide, there are also serious stop gaps, some of which were put in place after Russia defaulted on internal, ruble-denominated debt in 1998 leaving hedge fund Long Term Capital Management exposed and sending shockwaves through the global market. The U.S. banking system has an additional number of guard rails in place as a result of the 2007-2009 credit crisis. In theory, the American banking system is at one of its most stable points in history.
In theory, a Russian debt default would have the most serious consequences on Russia itself; the ruble has lost more than half of its value since the war began. Russia’s GDP will drop -15% this year, according to Robin Brooks, chief economist at The Institute of International Finance, and a default on some or all debt would make that number worse.
The real worry for the global economy is not Russia’s debt levels or when or how it pays some or all of that debt back: it’s centered around sanctions. Pre-war, Russia and Ukraine exported about 25% of the world’s wheat. Russia and Ukraine were the top five exporters of many kinds of seeds and cereals, from barley to corn to sunflowers; humans and animals consume these products in different forms. Russia is also the biggest exporter of fertilizer, so farming all around the world becomes more expensive without fertilizer ingredients coming out of Russia, according to RBC Capital Markets.
Additionally, Russia is one of the world’s largest energy exporters, which implies even higher food prices, among other costs, since truck drivers use diesel to transport groceries.
(WASHINGTON) — The District of Columbia is suing Grubhub, accusing the food delivery service of deceptive trade practices that are misleading to customers and taking advantage of local restaurants.
The lawsuit filed by the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia in D.C. Superior Court on Monday alleges that Grubhub conducted “illegal tactics” such as failing to disclose when it charges higher prices than restaurants, impersonating D.C. restaurants to get more business for Grubhub and advertising “‘free’ services that aren’t actually free,” Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racine tweeted Monday.
In the court filing, the District lists tactics that it alleges were in direct violation of D.C.’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act. The lawsuit also accuses Grubhub of listing restaurants on its website and app that Grubhub did not have contractual relationships with at the time of the listing and “deceptively obscuring certain fees,” such as “service” fees and “small order” fees, according to the court documents.
Racine tweeted Monday that his office was “suing Grubhub for misleading District residents and taking advantage of local restaurants to boost its own profits.”
“Grubhub charges hidden fees and uses bait-and-switch tactics, all while pretending to help local businesses during the pandemic,” Racine said. “This needs to stop.”
The lawsuit is seeking a trial by jury as well as damages and restitution, payment of statutory civil penalties and attorney fees for the Attorney General’s office.
A Grubhub spokesperson said the company has “sought to engage in a constructive dialogue with the DC Attorney General’s office to help them understand our business and to see if there were any areas for improvement” in a written statement to ABC News.
“We are disappointed they have moved forward with this lawsuit, because our practices have always complied with DC law, and in any event, many of the practices at issue have been discontinued,” the spokesperson said. “We will aggressively defend our business in court and look forward to continuing to serve DC restaurants and diners.”
The state of Massachusetts also sued Grubhub in July, alleging the company charged restaurants illegally high fees that violated a law capping the amount that third-party delivery services could charge during the pandemic.
“While we do not believe the temporary price control was either legal or appropriate, we complied with it while it was in effect and for an additional month after it expired,” Grubhub said in a statement at the time, calling the allegations “baseless.”
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddard contributed to this report.
