Do-not-call violation costs company $65K

COLUMBUS - A security alarm business agreed to pay $200 to $400 to each of 74 consumers who were called after placing themselves on a do-not-call list, under a settlement reached Thursday in Ohio's first lawsuit over the registry.

About $25,000 of the $65,000 settlement will go to consumers. Columbus-based Shelterguard Inc. also will pay a $25,000 civil penalty and $15,000 in court and investigative costs, and must pay another $25,000 if it violates the settlement agreement.

The consumers had complained of repeated calls from Shelterguard in October through early December either after they were on the list or had asked Shelterguard directly to no longer call, Attorney General Jim Petro's office said.

Federated sales up for five-week period

Federated Department Stores Inc. Thursday reported sales of $1.382 billion for the five weeks ended July 3, up 3.4 percent over the same period last year but below expectations.

On a same-store basis, Federated's June sales also were up 3.4 percent. For the year to date, Federated's sales totaled $6.069 billion, up 5.3 percent from the first 22 weeks of 2003. On a same-store basis, Federated's year-to-date sales also were up 5.3 percent.

Terry J. Lundgren, Federated's chairman, president and chief executive officer, said he projects same-store sales for the fall season to be up 1.5 percent to 3 percent.

LCA-Vision added to Russell 3000 index

KENWOOD - LCA-Vision Inc. has been added to the Russell 3000 Index. Membership in Russell 3000 is determined primarily by market capitalization rankings and style attributes.

Annual reconstitution of the Russell indexes captures the 3,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization to create the Russell 3000.

Kenwood-based LCA-Vision operates 41 laser vision correction centers, three joint ventures in Canada and one joint venture in Europe.

Ex-Provident exec is CFO for City National

Christopher Carey, who left his job as chief financial officer at Provident Financial Group Inc. last week, has begun work as chief financial officer and executive vice president at City National Corp. in the Los Angeles area.

City National Corp. is the $13.2 billion parent of City National Bank.

Carey left Cincinnati-based Provident after Cleveland-based National City Corp. completed its purchase of its parent company.

Bias suit accuses Convergys unit

ST. LOUIS - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed suit here against Convergys Corp.'s customer management group for failing to accommodate an employee who uses a wheelchair.

The suit claims the Cincinnati-based company discriminated against Ahmet Demerelli, who has brittle bone disease, and fired him in 2002 from his customer service representative job at its Hazelwood, Mo., contact center because of his disability.

The suit filed under Title I of the American with Disabilities Act seeks lost wages, compensatory and punitive damages and Demerelli's reinstatement.

Ohio asks federal aid for lost farm output

The state is asking for federal aid for Ohio farmers whose crops and machinery were damaged by floods and heavy rains this year.

Gov. Bob Taft wants the U.S Agriculture Department to approve disaster declarations for 52 of the state's 88 counties, which would allow farmers to apply for emergency loans. Farmers in 33 adjacent counties also would be eligible for loans.

The only three counties not included are Hamilton, Clermont and Brown.

Staff and wire reports