Former American Apparel Employee Wins Race Discrimination Suit

An arbitrator in Oakland, Calif. ruled in favor of a former American Apparel employee who alleged that his supervisor, Sean Alonzo, repeatedly called him racial slurs during a July 2007 business trip to renovate American Apparel stores in Tennessee. According to testimony, the company avoided disciplining Alonso until it was threatened with litigation in October. At that point, it gave him a written warning, followed by a pay raise two days later.