Lenore Bijan lives in a small house in Northeast Portland surrounded by one-third of an acre of fruit trees, vegetable beds and roaming chickens. With her only income an $812 monthly Social Security check, Bijan says she couldn’t afford to stay in the home she’s had for 30 years without a reverse mortgage that allows … Read more
Frederick Field, a former anesthesiologist at Mid-Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles is accused of sexually abusing patients. A patient at Mid-Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles told hospital officials she’d been sexually abused by a doctor in an operating room three years before similar reports from other women prompted the hospital to call police. http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2012/01/mid-columbia_medical_center_in.html
The Costa Concordia was Europe’s largest-ever cruise ship when it launched in 2006, with a giant spa and two swimming pools covered by a crystal roof – a ship, Costa promised, to “symbolise peace and harmony between European nations”. Today, it raises the spectre of the kind of disaster the cruise industry and its passengers hoped was … Read more
Nicole Belle wrote about “Hot Coffee” back in October, and I wrote about it on my own blog a year ago. In case you didn’t already know, the movie uses the famous McDonald’s hot coffee jury award as a starting point — you know, the one that was pushed by the media as an example of reckless … Read more
Paying employers to help injured workers stay on the job Stay at Work is one of our financial incentive programs. We reimburse employers for some of their costs when they provide temporary, light-duty jobs for injured workers while they heal. Eligible employers can be reimbursed for: 50% of the base wages they pay to the injured worker. … Read more
What is harassment? Harassment in the workplace is a form of employment discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the laws in many states. Employers can be held liable for harassment by supervisors, coworkers, and nonemployees such as customers or vendors. Employers should have strong policies against sexual harassment and clear … Read more
SALEM, Ore.—For the purpose of determining workers compensation benefits, a claimant’s “regular work” includes overtime, Oregon’s Court of Appeals ruled has ruled. The case of Compensation of Judy A. Cole vs. Thrifty Payless Inc. dba Rite Aid Corp. addresses the claim of a warehouse worker who suffered a back injury. http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20111216/NEWS08/111219917?tags=%7C63%7C309%7C70%7C75%7C258%7C304%7C92
By Danielle Paquette Washington Post Colton Channon needed just 90 minutes each day. Every morning for about a month, in training designed for him, the high school senior with an intellectual disability practiced making steel brackets for trucks at a Des Moines, Iowa, factory. The skill took more than a few tries to master. But … Read more
Sue Sherman, the subject of a story in The Oregonian about her quiet effort to raise awareness about the Medicare waiting period for Social Security disability recipients, died of pancreatic cancer. Her daughter, Bethany Sherman, was with Sherman when she died. Bethany said that Wednesday would have been Sherman’s 59th birthday, “which kind of makes it … Read more
Lawmakers around the country are pushing to extend or waive their states’ statute of limitations, giving victims more time to sue their alleged abusers. But opponents, including the Catholic Church, argue that could unleash a torrent of lawsuits. http://www.npr.org/2012/01/03/144614948/states-reconsider-sex-abuse-statutes-of-limitation