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A lawsuit alleging that health care company Johnson & Johnson has been knowingly discriminating against black and Hispanic employees for the past five years, was filed yesterday in a U.S. District Court. Although twenty-nine percent of Johnson & Johnson employees are minorities, the plaintiffs---who are represented by Cyrus Mehri, the lawyer who won $175 million plus settlements in similar cases against Texaco and Coca-Cola---argue that minorities are routinely hired at lower starting salaries, given smaller raises, and promoted less frequently, than equally or less qualified whites. The root of the problem, as outlined in the suit, is a closed system for filling top positions dominated by Johnson & Johnson's fifteen member board and twelve member executive committee---which combined have only one minority member.