Two Johnson & Johnson employees have sued the health care giant, accusing it of paying its black and Hispanic workers less than white colleagues and failing to promote them despite a 4-year-old internal study that said it discriminated against minority employees. Washington lawyer Cyrus Mehri, who oversaw similar racial discrimination cases against Texaco and Coca-Cola Co., and civil rights attorney Johnnie Cochran filed the federal lawsuit Thursday, seeking to represent the company's thousands of Hispanic and black workers. The company said in a statement Friday that it takes the charges in the lawsuit seriously and will ``investigate them fully.'' But it also said it has long promoted workplace diversity.