tICfje Cliarlotte ^osit
THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 1997
6A
STRICTLY BUSINESS
Howto
buy your
insurance
CHARLES ROSS
Your
Personal
Finance
When it comes to auto insm'-
ance, laws vary from state to
state and can change finm year
to year. While minimums may
vary, most states require that
you carry hahility insurance. It's
your protection in case you
injure someone or something
with your vehicle.
Experts now recommend sin
gle-limit liability coverage with
a minimum of $300,000 per
accident with no reference to
per person injury or property
damage limits. If you have
health insurance coverage
through your job, $5,000-
$10,000 in medical pa3nnents in
auto policy coverage might be
enou^.
If your state requires unin
sured motorist coverage, consid
er a minimum of $15,000 per
injured person and $30,000,
total, per accident. Always shop
around to get the lowest premi
um.
Health insurance
If you’re covered under a job
related health plan, there are
some thillgs you should know
about basic coverage. A better-
thall-average plan wQl provide
80% coverage for doctor visits,
lab fees and x-rays. Some plans
provide 100 percent of the cost
of a semi-private hospital room
for stays of 120 days or more.
Others will pay costs for mental
health and substance abuse
treatment.
Pre-paid plans, such as
HMOs, will provide all medical
care, with an average ofSce visit
costing $5. Government figures
show families pay an average of
$71 a month for fee-for-service
plans with employers picking up
the bulk of the tab. Under an
HMO, families will pay around
$22 a month.
If you are not under a group
health plan, you might pay as
much as $600 a month to cover
a family of four. Homeowners
Insurance
Homeowners insurance comes
in three t5q)es, HO 1, 2 and 3,
with 3 providing the best cover
age. Pohcies at the HO 1 level
may not cover certain loses like
burst water pipes.
If your house were to be
destroyed by fire, you would
need a replacement value pohcy
in order to rebuild and furnish
your home the way it was before
the disaster. Most policies
insure contents at 50 to 75 per
cent of the amount the house is
insured for, so you should think
about increasing content cover
age by paying an additional pre
mium.
Many experts recommend you
be insured for a minimum of
$300,000 in home habhity cover
age. Some companies wih offer
coverage at a discount if you
install protective devices such
as dead-bolts, fire extinguishers,
smoke alarms and security sys-
See INSURANCE on page 7A
Black farmers criticize loan process
By Elliott Minor
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALBANY, Ga. - Black farmers
told Secretary of Agriculture
Dan Ghckman on Monday that
white-dominated county com
mittees grant the bulk of agri
cultural loans to influential
white “good of bo3fs,’’ leaving ht-
tle to help them succeed.
About 35 black farmers, some
from South Carolina, Florida
and Alabama, aired their com
plaints at the first of 13 regional
hearing before a U.S.
Department of Agriculture
“action team” that Glickman
created in response to a pending
lawsuit and publicity over
aheged discrimination.
One of the lawsuits came from
three black, female employees of
the USDA’s Forest Service.
These South Carolina women,
in their class-action lawsuit,
accuse the agency’s Southeast
offices of discrimination and
Forest Service management offi
cials of punishing them for com
plaining.
The farmers on Monday also
complained about insensitive
bureaucrats, excessive red tape
and delays in processing loan
apphcations.
“USDA has an obligation to
treat its customers with fairness
and equality,” Glickman said.
“In some cases USDA has done
a good job at that, in some cases
it has done a bad job. How we
treat our customers is more
important than anything we
do.”
Agriculture officials
2umounced last week that they
. yy -r „
PHOTO/NNPA
Attorney Donald Temple (at microphone) explains the discrimination iawsuit fiied by Payiess managers Eddie Bonner, Adeseye Afe
and Mark Myrick.
Employees sue Payless
By Alvin Peabody
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
WASHINGTON - Three
black store managers in the
Washington metropolitan area
have filed a civil rights action
against the Topeka, Kansas-
based Payless Shoe
Corporation, charging it discn-
minates in its hiring and pro
motion practices.
“For too long, we endured
discrimination within the
workplace,” said Eddie Bonner
who joined Payless in 1985 at
its Cleveland, Ohio store. ‘We,
as black managers, have been
overlooked for promotions
while our white counterparts
have been elevated to higher
positions.”
Seven years ago, Bonner
decided to seek a transfer to
the Washington, D.C. area
with the hopes of improving
his employment status. But
even though Bonner and other
Black managers have won
Payless’ top manager awards
in the past, he was still passed
over for promotion when he
moved to the city, he said.
“Whenever we tried to chal
lenge the system, we were dis
criminated and retaliated
against further by the compa
ny,” said Bonner, who man
ages the Payless Shoe Store at
Prince George’s Place in
Maryland. ‘Yet we can teU you
that most of those whites who
were hired or promoted over
us have either been fired or
reassigned over the years.”
Late last month, Bonner and
two other black Payless Store
managers, Mark Myrick and
Adeseye Afe II, announced a
multi-million dollar lawsuit
against Payless at the
Washington, D.C. offices of
their attorney, Donald M.
Temple.
“This is another case that
epitomizes corporate discrimi
nation. Payless’ predominately
white corporate hierarchy con
doned, if not adopted, a pohcy
and practice of hiring white
and black store managers at
sharply different salary lev
els,” said Temple.
When Myrick joined the
company in 1992, for example,
he said he was told that all
Payless managers in treiining
made $21,000. However, he
was hired at $18,500. And
within 30 days of Myrick’s
employment, a white male
was hired in the same position
at a salary of $38,000, accord
ing to the suit. Since then,
M5rrick has managed several
Payless stores in the city.
Afe joined the company in
1991, also at $18,500 a year,
but after his 90-day training
period, he said he was over
looked while his assistant, a
white male was promoted to
full manager.
“This white assistant did not
even complete high school,”
said Afe, a native of Nigeria,
West Africa, who holds a bach
elor’s degree. In their lawsuits,
which were filed in December
in Federal Court in Maryland
and the District of Columbia,
white Payless managers were
also accused of “repeatedly
making racially derogatory
remarks” to the plaintiffs. In
one instance, the lawsuit
notes, the three black man
agers were told “their people
Oblacks) were shoplifters.”
In another, one of Payiess’
white managers said that he
“wanted white managers for
stores in white areas, black
managers for black areas, and
Hispanic managers for stores
in Hispanic areas.” When one
of the plaintiffs complained
about this discriminatory
treatment, he said he was
told, “Welcome to Corporate
America.”
“Despite commendations and
recognition for sales perfor
mances, these black man
agers, witnessed lesser quali
fied, white employees, several
of whom they trained, receive
promotions over them?” attor
ney Temple said.
Payiess owns approximately
75 to 80 stores in the
Washington metropolitan
area, 30 of which are located
in Washington, D.C.
Arthur Luster and Dennis
Morehanser, both Payiess
Stores District managers were
unavailable for comments at
presstime.
will suspend farm loan foreclo
sure sales imtil pending cases
are reviewed for possible dis
crimination.
Six black or Hispanic farmers
have sued in federal court,
charging that the department
has failed to correct discrimina-
toiy treatment in loans and sub
sidies, despite knowing about
See FARMERS on page 7A
Money
Management
Finding
a CPA
By Amanda S. Danchi
SPECIAL TO THE POST
For many people, getting
themselves in good financial
shape is an important New
Year's resolution. Lake exercise
regimens, it requires some disci
pline, clear goals, and, often,
personal training from an out
side expert - in this case, from
someone like a certified public
accountant (CPA). The North
Carolina Association of CPAs
offers the following guidance to
help you find and work with a
CPA
Looking for a CPA
One of the best ways to find a
CPA is to ask friends, relatives,
neighbors, or business associ
ates for recommendations. Try
to focus on those people who are
in a similar financial situation.
You might also want to check
with other professionals, such
as your banker or attorney, your
local chamber of commerce, or
small business owners whose
establishments you regularly
visit.
To earn the CPA designation,
accountants must pass a rigor
ous two-day professional exami
nation and meet stringent
licensing requirements. To
assure that they stay current on
developments in the field, CPAs
who are members of the
American Institute of CPAs and
the North Carolina Association
of CPAs must also meet strict
continuing education require
ments and are obliged to adhere
to stringent ethical guidelines.
Ask the CPA or caU these orga
nizations to find out if the CPA
is a member.
Preparing for the interview
Once you have the names of
several CPAs, caU to arrange an
interview. Before meeting with
the CPA spend some time sort-
See MEET on page 7A
Petroleum industry’s labor trouble could prove too slippery
By Paul Shepard
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Something
pretty crude is oozing from the
nation’s oil industry, critics say.
From Texaco’s agreement to
pay a record $176 miUion to set
tle racial discrimination com-
pleiints to a $100 mUUon racial
bias complaint pending against
Shell, the nation's largest oil
companies are on the defensive
these days, battling growing
allegations of intolerance and
insensitivity.
“Oil companies and their col
lective image is in crisis now,”
said Gail Baker Woods, chair
man of the University of
Florida's Department of Pubhc
Relations. “It used to be restau
rants a few years back, when
Dermys and Shoneys were hav
ing problems. Now it’s the oil
companies."
The problems at Texaco and
Shell, along with Chevron -
which has paid millions in
recent years to settle sexual dis
crimination complaints - are
not isolated cases in the oil
industry, according to the head
of a consulting firm that tracks
minority performance in busi
ness.
“It’s an industry-wide prob
lem,” said Lawrence Otis
Graham, president of
Progressive Management
Associates Inc. in White Plains,
N.Y. The petroleum group is
always among the bottom three
industries when it comes to
minorities and women in senior
management, recruitment and
entry-level positions, he said.
Industry officials deny any
intentional discrimination.
WhUe some corporate leaders
such as Paul Aladre, chairman
and chief executive officer of
Xerox Corp., have made names
as champions of diversity in the
See U.S. OIL on page 7A
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