For California product liability class action lawyers, it's almost like a revisit to the Ford Pinto exploding gas tank crisis of the 70s.  This week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that it would soon begin investigating thousands of Grand Jeep Cherokees for a possible defective gas tank design that could increase the risks of a fire and explosion.

The NHTSA investigation has been triggered by efforts by consumer safety group, Center for Auto Safety.  The group has called on the NHTSA to investigate whether the gas tank design in the Grand Jeep Cherokee - below the rear bumper and behind the rear axle-could cause a fuel leak if it is involved in a rear end collision.  The group also wants the NHTSA to determine whether the plastic tank could puncture during a rollover because of a lack of protective shielding for it.  The group also has concerns about whether the neck of the tank could wear off.  According to the Center for Auto Safety, the design and placement of the gas tank in the Grand Jeep Cherokee is “terrible” and increases the risks of a gas tank explosion during impact.

The NHTSA is not making any commitments at this point in time.  The agency says it has not found any additional instances of gas tank fires in rear end collisions involving the Grand Jeep Cherokees, compared to other sports utility vehicles.  However, the agency has reports of 44 accidents involving the Grand Jeep Cherokee since 1992.  These accidents have ended in 55 deaths.  In all of these accidents, fire was listed as the most harmful factor.  Out of these accidents, at least 10 crashes and three deaths were associated with rear ender collisions.

The Jeep Cherokees in the investigation includes models manufactured between 1993 and 2004.  An estimated 3 million vehicles are involved in the investigation.

The Census Bureau's practice of rejecting applications from applicants who have even one arrest on their record, is coming under fire in the form of a racial discrimination class-action lawsuit.  The agency is being accused of using an applicant screening process that promotes racial discrimination.

Last year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission wrote a letter to the Census Bureau and the Commerce Department stating that rejecting applicants on the basis of a single arrest was not right.  The Commerce Department and the Census Bureau have not yet responded to the lawsuit.  The Justice Department wants the lawsuit dismissed. 

According to the lawsuit, the law is quite clear that no person shall be discriminated against during hiring only on the basis of an arrest, unless there are pending charges.  But when the agency uses these discriminatory practices, it promotes discrimination on the basis of race, because certain ethnicities like African-Americans, are much more likely to be arrested even for minor offenses, than other racial groups. 

That means that when a person has an arrest on his record, even for the most minor offense, and with no criminal charges or convictions resulting, he would still be rejected if he applied for employment at the Census Bureau.  According to lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the class-action, practices that prevent applicants with an arrest record from being employed, take the same discrimination on the basis of race that exists in the criminal justice system, and transfer it to the employment process. 

According to figures by the Justice Department, 13% of black youths are involved in selling drugs, compared to 17% of whites.  However in 2003, African Americans were arrested for drug violations at rates that were almost twice that for whites.

California employment lawyers believe that policies like the Census Bureau's ensure that the racial discrimination that plagues African-Americans, will follow them even as they seek to find jobs at the agency.