You have until November 23rd to comment on Regulations to Implement the Equal Employment Provisions of the Americans With Disabilities Act, as Amended (http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#documentDetail%3FR%3D0900006480a29bc9)

 "The Amendments Act retains the ADA's basic definition of
``disability'' as an impairment that substantially limits one or more
major life activities, a record of such an impairment, or being
regarded as having such an impairment. However, it changes the way that
these statutory terms should be interpreted in several ways, therefore
necessitating revision of the existing regulations and interpretive
guidance..." (quoted from the link above and the Federal Register)

The EEOC wants to hear from you: the person with a disability, the practitioner, the employer, the parent. Follow the link above, read the information, and provide your input!

Disaboom

When Danish IT specialist Thorkil Sonne found out his young son had autism, he decided to find out everything he could about the condition in a effort to make sure his child led as happy a life as possible.Turns out, the information led him on a crusade to change the way the world views people with autism.  Sonne, a 49-year-old father of three, started an IT company staffed almost exclusively by people with autism, and its success has power players such as Microsoft and Cisco Systems lined up to use its services. Specialisterne (Specialists in English) employs more than 40 people with an autism spectrum disorder at its headquarters in Denmark, and is set to branch out to Glascow next year in the first step of a worldwide expansion.

Astounded when his son once reproduced a map of Europe from memory, Sonne’s research had uncovered that certain people with autism have superior memory recall, focus and precision compared to people without the condition. By taking advantage of these skills in the IT sector, which requires spotting anomolies in large quantities of data, Sonne’s company boasts an error rate of only O.5 percent, versus the industry average of five percent. Specialisterne maintains a friendly environment for its employees. A support worker makes sure that sudden or loud noises are minimized and clear task instructions are provided, while the work week is kept to about 25 hours. Rather than face-to-face interviews, which are taxing or impossible for many with autism, Sonne assesses potential workers with a complex form of Lego.

Of his staff, Sonne says he has seen people transformed. He cites the consultant who handn’t worked in 24 years and is now testing for Cisco Systems. “He finally feels he is part of society and respected,” Sonne says. “He can talk up at family gatherings. He recently got a girlfriend. He wants to work for us as a trainer. I see no reason why eventually those who are at the lower points in the autistic spectrum should not work as well.”

Disaboom

In case you haven’t heard, once again AT&T is being sued for discriminating against its very own retirees … read about it HERE. 

Yes, I know. The blog used to post crazy stories about my childhood. Now all you get are stories about Starbucks and AT&T.

All I can say is, “Watch out now, you may learn something.”  See, one of the nice things about being an MBA candidate is that I get to play armchair judge.  What follows is my ruling in the case based upon the mock trial we conducted.

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Though outwardly and at first blush the case possesses the hallmarks of a disparate impact or age-based discrimination lawsuit, upon investigation of the facts the court believes neither to be accurate.  Instead, the court believes the Plaintiff’s charges of disparate impact and/or age-based discrimination are defeated by the Defendant’s claim of business necessity.

The very same negative economic situation affecting the Plaintiff(s) seeking reemployment is affecting AT&T.  As such, it is patently unfair to force AT&T to incur a greater economic burden by, in essence, expecting AT&T to serve retirees as a place of hop-on/hop-off employment.  Additionally, it is unrealistic and shortsighted to believe that the burden of rehiring 400 people would not have tremendous operational  impacts upon AT&T.  It is also shortsighted to believe, especially during the current and future similar economic downturns, that droves of retirees would not use this incident as a precedent to file comparable litigation.

AT&T has demonstrated a willingness to temporarily employ its retirees to meet business demands (Slackman, 2008).  It has also demonstrated a willingness to employ American citizen when the opportunity to do so is in its best fiscal interest.  Case in point, AT&T has sought to return 4000 jobs previously performed offshore to the US (Karpinkski, 2009).  To answer Ms. White’s charges that “it is ironic that within the time frame between the 2006 early retirement of the plaintiffs and 2008, AT&T issued a statement that they were having difficulty finding qualified workers in the US;” the investigation indicates a divorce between perception and reality.  Citing a near 50% high school dropout rate in portions of the United States, AT&T’s CEO went on to explain that

The “American public isn’t educated enough to handle customer service jobs at AT&T and probably thousands and thousands of others with all different kinds of employers, these companies will have little choice but to continue shipping jobs overseas” (Cafferty, 2008).

Additionally, the skill set AT&T is seeking and the skill set the Plaintiff(s) offer may not have been equitable, and geography may have played an important role.  As such, the irony is not the CEO’s comment but the Plaintiff’s use of this counterproductive quote.

What these employment-related examples illustrate is a company that forecasts, budgets, and manages itself to be successful for its shareholders, while also being conscientious of public opinion and the law.  Though not relevant in my ruling, AT&T has been cited numerous times for social awareness and inclusivity.  These accolades speak to its character as an organization.   Conversely, and also absent from weight in my decision, are AT&T past legal indiscretions.  The company has, as many pointed out, been successfully sued for similar –but not identical– situations.  These are NOT indicators of character, as they are situational and not applicable in this Judge’s ruling.

In cases of disparate impact, which is what the Plaintiff asserts this case to be, the burden of proof lay with the Plaintiff.  Defendants can counter disparate impact by claiming business necessity, which is what AT&T has done.  To that end, the court agrees with Mr. Hansberger’s assertion that “’employers enjoy fairly wide discretion to adopt hiring practices that they deem valuable to their organization’ resulting in laws that are ‘more proscriptive than prescriptive’ (Azera) .  The laws are written this way in order to allow employers the latitude required to run a successful business.  If the laws were written or interpreted in a highly restrictive manner, it would become impossible for employers to efficiently allocate their human resources” (Hansberger).

There is a fundamental difference between what Ms. White deems the Plaintiff’s “right to pursue gainful employment after retirement” and one’s right to be hired.  AT&T’s refusal to rehire retirees does not preclude the Plaintiff’s right to pursue such employment; the two are mutually exclusive.  As Ms. White stated, the members of American society have aged and the demographic has shifted.  The reality is that this change does not favor the Plaintiff, as the change sees so-called 83 million baby boomers retiring at a hire rate than any other segment of American society (L’Allier and Kolosh, 2005).

As Ms. White asserted, “Workforce planning strategies are used to reshape a workforce in response to skill set requirement changes in response to functions of organizations changing.  Resource managers do not offer an early retirement to a seasoned worker who has the skill set needed.  This does not make fiscal sense” (Ryan).  Furthermore, Ms. Ryan goes on to claim that the “VRIP and ERP programs are used to reduce, reshape or restructure the workforce of an organization.  These retirement incentive programs are costly in the short term however,  cost savings are realized over the long term in savings of salary and benefits.  In addition, a restructure of the workforce may mean that the function requires a different skill than what the retired employee has” (Ryan).

To expect that the former employers of these retirees should be obligated to rehire them at the whim of the retiree holds potentially catastrophic economic results.  The Nation is entering an era wherein population growth is dipping below levels in the 1950’s; conversely, the work force population has held steady for two decades and is forecasted to remain steady out until 2050 (L’Allier & Kolosh, 2005).  As such, the burden of rehiring retirees while the workforce population provides suitable alternatives is a case of business necessity and common sense.

Additionally, the case possesses elements of a legally-binding business contracts.  As Ms. Tinsley argued, AT&T’s Voluntary Retirement Incentive Plan/Early Retirement Plan (VRIP/ERP) package is both voluntary and contains consideration.  ‘The consideration is something of value to which a person is not already entitled that is given in exchange of an agreement to do, or refrain from doing, something’ We believe that the consideration was accepted by Yates and many others in exchange for him resigning from his job not to return” (Tinsley).

The court agrees that, from a contractual perspective, the scenario meets all of the requirements to being a legally binding contract.  Upon acceptance of the VRIP/ERP, the retirees received consideration.  As such, the contract, whether implied or explicit, is legally binding.  In absence of available information on this case, the court assumes that AT&T did consult with its legal and human resources departments to apply lessons learned and require that acceptance of the VRIP/ERP be a legally-binding contract that forbade rehire.  The VRIP, by nature, has an Incentive that is mutually beneficial; the employee retires early with his/her benefits and pension, and the company is able to manage its workforce, personnel budget, and forecast manpower availability in relation to needs, which includes business skill sets.

Notwithstanding contractual recourse, the court agrees with Mr. Mazzocchi’s assertions the Plaintiff fails to meet the criteria established in precedent cases.  Specifically, four criteria must be met:

[…] that the [Plaintiff] is a member of a protected class, that [the Plaintiff’s] job performance was satisfactory, that [the Plaintiff] suffered a negative employment action, and that another individual who is not a member of the same protected class was treated favorably in the same situation as [the Plaintiff]. If the plaintiff can prove these four things, they would have established prima facie evidence of discrimination under the ADEA. If not, summary judgement [sic] for the defendant should be granted.

Mazzochi correctly argues that the Plaintiff does not meet the established criteria:

Firstly, [the Plaintiff] has not suffered a negative employment action. Use of the various retirement programs such as VRIP and ERP would be entirely voluntary, and would bestow a benefit (early retirement) on [the Plaintiff]. Failure to be rehired does not necessarily constitute a negative job action, as the plaintiff was at one time an employee and left voluntarily while obtaining a benefit. Since [the Plaintiffs] who accepted the retirement plans obtained a benefit, there is no disparate impact to the policies described. (Mazzocchi)

The crux of the business necessity defense is that the employees seeking rehire did not possess the skills necessary to make them valuable to AT&T.  They were not unfairly subjected to a test that precluded them from reemployment inexorably linked to their age, but rather to their lack of business skills.  Had the retirees possessed such skills [that is, prior to retirement], AT&T would have conceivably offered a counterincentive in order to effectively dissuading them from retiring.   The court believes that it is coincidental–but unrelated to being denied reemployment– that the retirees are of a protected class.

Judgment in favor of the Defendant.  Case dismissed.

Please send hate mail to: The Honorable Corey King

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References

Bagley, C.E. & Savage, D.W. (2006). Managers and the legal environment: Strategies for the 21st century (5th ed.). Mason, OH: Southwestern-Cengage Learning

Dessler, G.  (2009). A Framework for Human Resource Management, 5th Edition.  Pearson Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Brown and Keeley. (2007). Asking the right questions: a guide to critical thinking. 8th Edition.  Pearson Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Cafferty, J. (2008, March 3). What does it mean if AT&T is having trouble finding skilled U.S. Workers? Cafferty File. Retrieved October 26, 2009, from http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/ 2008/03/27/what-does-it-mean-if-att-is-having-trouble-finding-skilled-us-workers/.

Disparate impact. (2009). Retrieved October 29, 2009, from http://law.jrank.org/pages/6188/Disparate-Impact.html

EEOC.  (July 2009). Understanding Waivers of Discrimination Claims in Employee Severance Agreements. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Retrieved October 28, 2009 from http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/qanda

Karpinski, R. (January 2009). In tough economy, AT&T brings off-shore jobs back home. Retrieved Oct 31, 2009 from http://telephonyonline.com/residential_services/news/att-brings-jobs-back-0130/

L’Allier and Kolosh.  (June 2005).  Preparing for baby boomer retirement.  Retrieved Oct 31, 2009 from http://www.groco.com/readingroom/babyboomer_retirement.aspx

Salckman, D. (July 2008). AT&T seeks assistance from retirees during possible work stoppage. Retrieved Oct 31, 2009 from http://retireearly.ning.com/group/attemployeesformeremployees/forum/topics/830039:Topic:2861

Sauls, J.G. (April, 1995). Proving business necessity: the disparate impact challenge. Retrieved Oct 31, 2009 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2194/is_n4_v64/ai_16921449/

Smith, E., (2009). EEOC goes after AT&T on class action age discrimination case. Employee Rights Post. Retrieved October 31, 2009 from http://www.employeerightspost.com/tags/equal-employment-opportunity-c-1/

derailment [n]: a defensive argument, statement, or question that dismisses or seeks to undermine anti-racist arguments in an effort to preserve privilege or the status quo

When faced with evidence that racism is still alive and well in our society, many white people will try to avoid responsibility for promoting racial justice and reconciliation by attempting to dismiss or undermine the evidence with derailment techniques.

“But what about Oprah?” Pointing to people of color who have achieved fame, popularity, wealth, or political leadership is a popular derailment tactic. The names vary (Barack Obama, Bill Cosby, Tiger Woods), but the argument is basically the same. People who employ this tactic are suggesting that Oprah proves everyone has equal opportunity and the means to attain success, and racism is not (or no longer) a significant obstacle.

History shows time and again that it is fallacious to argue that the success—even great success—of a few is a good indicator of equal opportunity.

Frederick Douglass’ autobiographical Narrative, published in 1845, quickly became a bestseller in the United States and was even translated and published internationally. But Douglass’ great fame was no indicator of equal opportunity. Race-based slavery was still legal in the United States, and fellow abolitionists feared that the book’s popularity might provoke Douglass’ former owner to try to recover his “property.”

Madam C.J. Walker became the first female millionaire by creating a hugely successful line of beauty and hair products for black women. Walker’s financial success did not mean racism was “a thing of the past,” nor could one plausibly argue that it meant women and people of color enjoyed equal opportunity. Walker could not legally vote and racial segregation, both legal and illegal, was the norm in many states, including the one in which she began to build her business. Over 3000 African Americans were lynched between 1880 and 1951—more than one a week in the year Walker became a millionaire.

Ralph Bunche was the first African American, even the first person of color, to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Again, his great achievement was no indicator that people of color already enjoyed equal opportunity or that racism was not a very significant obstacle. Years would pass before Brown v. the Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

And, of course, a number of entertainers of color enjoyed a measure of fame and popularity in times when no one could reasonably argue that people of color enjoyed equal opportunity. It is easy to name people like Hattie McDaniel and Sidney Poitier, Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald.

Tim Wise, in discussing this topic, quotes the words of James Baldwin: “A few have always risen—in every country, every era, and in the teeth of regimes which can by no stretch of the imagination be thought of as free.”

People who appeal to the “But what about Oprah?” excuse believe that her success is an indicator of opportunity. But what happens when we compare not extremes or exceptions, but average folk?

When it comes to wealth, the typical white family has eleven times the net worth of the typical black family, and eight times the net worth of the typical Latino family. More could be elaborated on this point, but I’d like to turn to Asian Americans (who typically have higher incomes than African Americans and Latinos) because many people have an exaggerated idea of their socioeconomic achievements. We hope to address the “model minority” myth at greater length sometime in the future, but here’s a little foretaste.

Native-born Asian Americans earn less money than native-born white Americans, and possibly less than white Americans who are foreign-born. White Americans are paid more than Asian Americans who have equal or even more education. Even when they have the same qualifications, Asian Americans earn less than white Americans in many occupational categories: 10-17% less for men and as much as 40% less for women.

Comparing household incomes might appear to indicate parity between whites and Asian Americans, but it is an illusion. The typical Asian American household includes more people than the average white household, and more members of the Asian household are likely to be working. “It is not an apt comparison,” Frank Wu writes, “to match an Asian American family that earns $50,000 per year by pooling the wages of a husband, a wife, a grandparent, a child, and a cousin with a white family that earns the same amount through the salary of a single breadwinner.” And there are other factors to consider too. Asian Americans are more likely to be self-employed, putting in longer hours with fewer benefits and increased risk of bankruptcy. Asian Americans are more geographically concentrated in states and urban areas with high costs of living. Controlling for other factors shows these inequalities are based on race—or more accurately, racism.

White privilege may be discerned in other areas of life as well. In addition to wealth disparities, there are significant health disparities. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights revealed this year that “racial and ethnic minorities continue to have more disease and related conditions of hypertension, disability, and premature death than non-minorities.” People of color tend to receive a lower quality of health care than white people, even when access-related factors such as patients’ insurance status and income are controlled. Doctors at the Institute of Medicine have argued in a report that these racial disparities are rooted in bias, discrimination, and stereotyping on both individual and institutional levels.

There are also significant racial disparities in education, which Cayce has recently written about.

Oprah’s exceptional success cannot excuse anyone, least of all privileged white people, from promoting racial justice and reconciliation.

I hope this inspires the marketing gents and Jills over at American Apparel.  Nothing I would love to see more than a couple of ho-tastic, Brooklyn-esque, semi clean, questionably bi-raical young ladies hog tied in the name fashion.  Nothing says “women’s basics” like a couple of tied up mistresses of the hip.

It’s nice to see guys and gals really living up to the standards of todays equal opportunity. In honor of these opportunists I’ve made a compiled video collection. And while this may be humorous to some, I don’t think abuse is funny at all. Unless no ones looking and it’s on you tube. That being said…Heres yet another video that screams….what da fuq! So…go ahead and laugh, no ones looking…

Inside the Theatre!!

Well As I sit here waiting for the afternoon showing some thoughts seem to occupy my mind today.

The debate regarding diversity in the management of noted companies has become a hot topic in Sweden. New surveys show the lack of diversity. We have seen headlines as “Uniformity in executive managements”.

And as MTG is listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm and especially as we are part of the OMX30 index, the top 30 most traded stocks, we are part of the most publicised survey, done by Dagens Nyheter, the largest subscribed morning paper.

Among the companies there are number with only Swedish men in their executive management – and they have rightfully been singled out as the worst examples.

MTG has been singled out as one of the companies with the most diversity in the executive management. Of the ten in the management group, five are Swedes, only four of them born in Sweden. Three in our group are women.

Dagens Nyheter made an interview with Irina Gofman, CEO of MTG Russia & CIS as the exception from uniformity. I need to admit I was amused with the following part:

“Irina Gofman has worked for MTG twice. When she got the question, after a few years within other media companies, if she wanted to have the job as CEO for MTG in Russia and CIS she was pregnant.”

“When I told Hans-Holger Albrecht he just said ‘great’. That was one of the reasons I took the job.”

We don’t believe in quotation. We don’t believe in rules and regulations from the authorities to force diversity onto companies. We just believe in individual performance, regardless of gender, age or family background.

For me as a CEO it is not a question of quotas, it is all about the idea to support everyone, in particular women with children, to have a balance between a good private life and at the same time all the opportunities to make a career.

To make equal opportunity possible you need to have a work place culture where you have a chance to have a balance between your job and your personal sphere, may you be single, married, in partnership or cohabiting. It needs to be possible to make a career and at the same time build a family if you chose so. Currently in Sweden, we have 27 women and 7 men on parental leave. Neither of them will be overlooked for advancement. The criteria are the same for them as for everybody else; you must have the right attitude and show that you can execute decisions.

As competitive as we are as a company inside and outside, it is for us just an obligation to prepare a fair and even playing field for all people and employees, but how you then play at the end is up to you. It has worked for us as we can see from the survey, it has worked for our employees, and it has worked for our shareholders.

Hans-Holger Albrecht

(Copyright © 2009)

Our outlooks on the world are governed by networks of electrochemical connections in our brains, in turn governed by the unique biochemical circumstances in which those networks were formed during earliest infancy and childhood, as well as by changes in neural connectivity resulting from subsequent life experience.

Our outlooks on the world determine our expectations. Our expectations determine how we extend ourselves into the world through personal behavior, which in turn determines how we receive world gestures into ourselves as episodes of meaningful experience.

How we take the world into ourselves influences our next round of behavior, which sets us up for the next cycle of feedback to be interpreted in light of our outlook.

Round and round we go on the continuous ride of expectancy and fulfillment in a looping engagement with a world we cannot know in itself but interpret nonetheless from our unique point of view within whatever situation we construe as our current reality.

Our ongoing loop of engagement with the world is none other than our personal life. Which is unlike any other life because our innermost electrochemical connectivity and our experience are unique to ourselves. So, too, are the values by which we guide our adaptation to what we take to be the outside world as an expression of our will to survive. Our minds are our unique, personal minds, our acts are our acts, our interpretations are our interpretations, our adaptation is our adaptation, our survival is our survival, our life is our life.

But that’s only the beginning. Imagine all the relationships each unique person has with those around her—including family, friends, society, pets, wildlife, vegetation, landscapes, habitats, institutions, governments, cultures—all those loops reaching out from each person into his surrounding milieu, generating occasions for feedback, interpretation, and subsequent responses through actions, gestures, utterances, and so on.

Considering the complexity of our ongoing interactions, engagements, interrelationships—all different, all changing—we can appreciate the challenge of even the simplest human life we can imagine—that, say, of the infant, or the hermit in his mountain retreat. Add the necessity of keeping track of it all though learning and memory (and blessed forgetfulness of trivial details) so that our experience is more-or-less cumulative and orderly, it is a wonder each of us isn’t overwhelmed by the relentless flux of events in our personal worlds of  consciousness.

If in fact we are created equal, it is as equal experiments in the universe. Where many will adapt to the occasions of their lives and muddle through, others will succumb. Day after day, the issue is personal survival. If our respective sets of unique characteristics are a match for the conditions in which we strive, and our minds and bodies are up to the challenge, we will live another day. That is the big IF in whose shadow we awaken each day, and surrender to mock oblivion later on.

It is not that I am pitting my values and uniqueness against yours for the privilege of making it through till tomorrow. Living in the shadow of the big IF is the lot we share in common with humanity and all life. But it is not surprising that within that one lot, differences are inevitable. Those differences are part of the plan in setting us up for the ultimate test of survival. Those who are most adapted to their life circumstances will go on, while others stumble, and eventually collapse. That’s what it means to exist as one of Earth’s children.

But when one group or class takes advantage of another, using it to boost its own comfort and chances of survival—then campfires and bombardments will light the night sky in answer to such skullduggery. 

Human history is written in blood spilled by one group rising against another in response to unjust oppression for the sake of stealing a survival advantage. Every chapter tells of farmers standing against ranked troops, archers or rock throwers against those with guns who have invaded their land, suicide bombers killing as many innocents as possible, slaves against masters, workers against bosses, subjects against armies of kings and emperors, those out of power against those in power, and on and on. Power, ultimately, bestows a survival advantage upon those who possess it, depriving the powerless to an equal degree.

Consciousness matters because it is the gauge of our equality under the circumstances that prevail in our current social situation. We can tell our relative station in life by how others treat us. If we feel put upon, neglected, abused, under-represented, or generally at a disadvantage compared to others in our social realm, we will act according to our degree of disaffection. Nowhere is it written that one class should stride upon the bodies of its underlings. Nor is it decreed that the socially underprivileged must bow to their self-styled betters as exemplars of a more noble form of humanity.

Uniqueness is uniqueness; humanity is humanity. Each of us has an inherent right to equal treatment and respect. It is not up to us to impress others into serving our personal values and goals. If all do not stand for one, and one does not stand for all, we risk  elevating ourselves as higher beings more fit than the rest. Yet we are born to die—as everyone is—mortals first-to-last. If our uniqueness is to receive its due, it is as a proclamation that our respective gifts have equal worth as agents of survival in the universal experiment that is humanity. We do not know where the next great advance will arise—in what climate, habitat, nation, genome, or stream of consciousness.

We cannot see beyond the shadow of the big IF that falls equally upon us. Therefore it is not for us to weigh the value of others’ gifts. We can only manage our consciousness to make our unique selves happen as best we can under the circumstances that befall us—and insist on everyone’s right to do the same.

In this light, personal consciousness is not primarily a means for advancing ourselves beyond others, but rather a means of striving for sufficiency while recognizing we are in this life together and deserve equal chance to make ourselves happen—not as higher and lower beings, but as uniquely gifted members of our common humanity. Each of us is but one biochemical wonder among many with diverse outlooks and expectations, all with equal hopes of fulfillment in adapting to the world shadow that falls across us for the duration of our lives.

By Chris James

By and large, our members don’t go into business with the express purpose of filling in paperwork or negotiating bureaucratic obstacles.

However, most inevitably find the regulatory burden frustrating and time consuming, with VECCI surveys consistently nominating red tape as one of the key business bugbears.

In this section, we try and get a grip on the problem and list the red tape burdens that are bugging our members, as well as those that are looming.  More positively, we also list those that VECCI has managed to assist in pushing away.

The Victorian Government is undertaking its own war on red tape, aiming to save business $500 million per annum by 2012 – under its Reducing the Regulatory Burden program, it is seeking examples of red tape as well as solutions – betterregulationunit@dtf.vic.gov.au

Looming

Road Freight Access Charge (RFAC) at Port of Melbourne - $100m new tax on transport sector; will require much paperwork to administer

Equal Opportunity – possible new own-motion investigation powers for Commissioner to demand information from businesses; possible new rules for private clubs

Long Service Leave Portability for community sector - cost and administrative burden

Upon Us

Fair Work Act – new restrictions on unfair dismissals; return of penalty loadings for some sectors; `good faith’ bargaining with unions; impact of modern awards; and new brakes on agreement-making between employers and employees

Major private sector non-transport projects – held up by multi-agency input.

Pushed Away

Major Transport Projects Facilitation Bill – will cut planning time for projects by about half; staged process will introduce greater certainty of timing for private sector operators using manpower and equipment on big transport projects

Amendents to Crown Leases Act to allow for 65 year leases on Crown land, up from 21 years – gives greater certainty to tourism operators/investors.

Have you been tangled up in red tape recently? Tell us about your experiences, in our comments section!

It’s been a long past couple of days for me.  I flew to North Dakota to pick up my friends car, so she would not have to leave her kids to do so.   She is going through a tough time, so I figured I would pitch in and help if I could.  So the plan was to fly to ND, pick up her car and drive it back here to the Mid Atlantic.  While I mainly did it to her help her out,  I will say that the time off was much needed on my behalf.  So in the last few days I have been able to decompress and sort out some issues I am having in my life…I made some observations and came to some conclusions….

North Dakota  -   While I can see how some people enjoy the country life, that place is as secluded as I have ever seen.  I saw homes that were just surrounded by land as far as the eye can see.  Living on the ranch is great but the animals will not answer you if they are the only ones you are talking too.   The fog on sunday morning was like nothing I have ever seen, I think that’s where stephen king got his idea for THE MIST.   From Bismarck (STARTING POINT) to the border it was one little house on the prairie to the next.

So then we keep driving and we run into the great state of:

Minnesota -  Well more of the same, lots of farm land and low and behold and major metropolis called Minneapolis..looked alot like any other city.

So Sunday nite was my first stop and It landed me in

Madison, Wisconsin   -   Beautiful city with lots of Packer Fans,  although It did have a blemish that I will not soon forget.  After I was checked in, I went across to the parking lot to a restaurant called PERKINS.  Real cozy place and the food was good.   There was this older person sitting in the next booth that HAD NO BUSINESS BEING THERE.  She was sick and hacking up and making the kind of  noisess that absolutely ruin your dinner, not too mention she was most definetely too sick to be in public like that..plus she blew her nose a few times…..some PEOPLE HAVE NO SENSE……..

So the next day Monday,  I was moving right along and low and behold I stopped in:

Chicago, Illinois -  This was only a lunch stop but Illinois has the coolest service areas that they called and OASIS…they are service areas that go over the road and look like a bridge that contain stores…there is an overpass that you can look at the oncoming traffic and the one I stopped at..had the coolest view of chicago.

Going to MinneapolisChicago OverpassChicago

Chicago Overpass

Chicago

So we keep moving down the road and make our second layover for the night at:

Youngstown, Ohio-  Now while i was driving I figured maybe I would stop at the NFL Hall of Fame, but it turns out that Canton was 65 miles in the wrong direction so i scrapped that plan…I will get there eventually….Had a really good burger at the bar and grill next door and was going to watch the Packer-Viking game but was tired so that plan was scrapped as well….Ohio is a nice enough place it seems like…..but it wasnt Canton……

So Tuesday gets here….car delivery day……uneventful day drove from Ohio to homeplate..and delivered the car to my friend so hopefully it will help her out……

I used my time wisely i think,  I have some issues that I am trying to figure out…about why some things upset me and how I should approach some other things.  I know I worked out an issue about me getting sick.  For the longest time, I was curious about why my.   So I asked and I think he answered me in a strange way well have to see.   But I did take a break in ND and just sat and watched the world go by for a little while and just let some things that have been bothering me go.  I get misty eyed when i think about all the shit that I have done in my life, so this was my chance to just apologize to myself and figure out a way to move forward…I think I did that…So thats my road trip story….Just a quick traveling thought…..

isn’t it strange what’s come to pass in victoria? churches can (oh and they will) discriminate against human beings on the grounds of their sex, their sexuality and their parental state. so, all you lesbian mums out there – catholics and anglicans and god knows all the rest of those lunatics who believe in fairies at the bottom of the garden, they frickin’ hate you. they think you’re sick. they think there’s something really, really disgusting about you.  and kids in church schools, if you’re weird enough to put your kid in one, will learn that lesbians and poofters and single parents (and lesbian mums, especially, because they’re double, even triple-barrel bad) are NOT OK.

Ok, this doesn’t mean serve food and drinks folks. This is equal opportunity, the way it should be. Nancy Duff Campbell, an advocate for expanding the role of women in the U.S. armed forces, said it would be easy to resolve problems associated with so-called “hot-bunking.”

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090928/od_nm/us_submarines_women_odd

By Erin the Employer

I awoke this Sunday morning to find myself a fully paid-up member of the “Religious Right”.

Fortunately, this was not a Da Vinci Code-style fantasy, where I was a crusading member of Opus Dei.  More mundanely perhaps, it was the Sunday Age allocating me, as a non-practising Christian, the same label as foam-flecked Taliban jihadists and tub-thumping born-again moralists.

To elaborate, the lead story in the Sunday Age this weekend was “Government bows to religious right“, referring to a decision by Attorney General Rob Hulls to “protect the right of hundreds of church-run organisations – including schools, hospitals and welfare services – to refuse to employ or provide services to people who they believe may undermine their beliefs”. 

It appears that the “religious right”, in The Sunday Age’s lexicon, encompasses anybody who has the temerity to opposes or express doubts about the one-size fits all progressivist equality agenda, which in this case would have forced Islamic schools to hire Christian and Jewish staff, and vice versa.

The prospect of this has united Christian, Jew and Muslim like never before, and has provoked the concern of even employer organisations like VECCI, which see merit in keeping a leash on overweening big government and retaining the separation between Church and State that has underpinned our democracy.

Rather than being a backdown, it is a pragmatic and commendable decisison on the part of the Government.

A Parliamentary Committee is also looking at other exemptions to the Equal Opportunity Act, including one that underpins single sex Clubs.

The Gardner Review into the Act also made some recommendations for changes to the Act, including own-motion investigation powers for the Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission, which is currently a complaints-based jurisdiction.  VECCI believes the case has not been made for such an increase in powers that could lead to a new WorkCover-style inspectorate, adding to the red-tape burden of Victorian business.

Apart from the Sunday Age’s intervention, debate around these possible changes has been relatively measured and civilised, with VECCI a key contributor.

A few weeks after it was released in early October 2003 I went to see the movie Kill Bill Vol. 1 with my friends Justin, Aft and Aaron. I didn’t know very much about the movie heading in but I had seen other Quentin Tarantino directed films such as “Pulp Fiction” and “Reservoir Dogs” so I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting myself into. I enjoyed pretty much all aspects of the movie so I was able to get past the cartoonish amount of violence that was laced through the film’s chapters.

Bored one night while I was living in Skokie during the summer of 2004 my parents asked me if I had any movies in my possession that they might be interested in watching. Since at the time I didn’t have the most complete or sophisticated film collection, consisting mainly of immature Adam Sandler flicks and dramas they had already seen, I wasn’t very optimistic about having something I thought they would enjoy. As my mom and I searched through my stacks of DVDs I found myself continually answering, “No” to her inquiries into whether her and my dad would enjoy watching a particular movie.

As my mom and I became frustrated with the process and desperation to watch something began to set in I decided to offer up Kill Bill Vol. 1 as an option. I read my mom the back of the box and she was intrigued by plot line. After attempting to explain to my parents the level of gratuitous violence that accompanied the interesting story line we all settled on the couch for film’s 111 minute running time.

As soon as the bold opening music kicked in I figured we had about another 111 seconds before my parents were disgusted by the violence and wanted to watch something else. Not surprisingly my dad almost immediately became turned off from the picture because all of the blood, but I was simultaneously shocked when my mom didn’t follow him out of the room. To my utter amazement she continued watching and ending up really enjoying the movie prompting her to immediately inquire into when Vol. 2 was coming out.

The following summer after Kill Bill Vol. 2 was released on DVD my parents and I again sat down to watch the new Tarantino movie as we had the summer before. After my mom and I filled my dad in on the plot points he had missed after giving up on Vol. 1 he was ready to give this concluding installment another try. It was like déjà vu as my dad once again became overwhelmed by the violence and brutality of the movie quickly leaving the room. As I glanced over to see if my mom would follow I was once again was left shaking my head in amazement as my mom sat mesmerized on the couch cheering on Oma Thurman’s character Beatrix Kiddo toward her ultimate triumph over Bill (David Carradine).

At the end of the movie, after Beatrix had killed Bill and lay on the bed in her room holding her daughter, my mom’s eyes began to swell. As much as she had enjoyed Vol. 1 she was overcome by the emotional ending to its sequel.

In a movie world where action stars like Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Harrison Ford leave moviegoers breathless through their feats of daring and courageous acts we sometimes forget that heroic actions can come from anyone.

In the case of Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2 while my dad was turned off by the fact that this was another action film with too much violence for his tastes my mom saw something very different. Unlike my dad she was so intrigued and proud of the fact that this action movie had a compelling plot being propelled by a strong female heroine that she was not turned off by the violence.

I guess in our more enlightened age we may finally have come to realized that along with everything else women can wield swords and dismember people on the big screen just as well as men can.

Days of Winning Teams!!

The theatre is cranking well,  The yankees have locked up the east and Big Blue has cruised to a 3-0 start.  Besides some stress cracks I have from work issues, things should be good with me.  However as I perused the local sports pages I noticed  the NHP Gladiators are once again off to a 1-2 start.  What’s disappointing is that they have not only lost they have gotten their asses handed to them.  46-0 to Garden City and 41-0 to MacArthur, as I see it you lose that bad you are not even trying.  As a fan of the game, I think the sports teams are partly responsible to the fans to put a team on the field that can compete and if they cannot someone needs to find a head coach that can.   I know I said it last season Coach Dolan just cannot seem to fire up his team enough to get excited about winning…least thats how I see it…just a quick FIRE COACH DOLAN thought

  YES THIS WHAT I NEED RIGHT NOW!!!

Peace !!!

I THINK MY CREW AT WORK IS TRYING TO KILL ME !!!…I know they are not, just the issues that have come up in the last week or so are just causing me serious stress cracks…I feel like a machine that is working but there are little energy leaks here and there.  They are probably the most talented and hardest working crew I have ever had the pleasure of supervising, but geez louise if they cannot create issues.  If it is not,  He said-she said I dont like this persons stuff then its baby mama drama.  One of my guys is also going through a life changing personal crisis, and I am trying to help them out as well.  I need to take a quick vacation and get refocused, but I dont know anyone in the places I would like to go……The Moon would be perfect,  but I will settle for some place out west.   Its funny cause after going through more serious things then work issues its the work issues that are causing the most stress.  I really like my crew and think the world of them but geez I wish they would just put me out my misery already. HAHAH….Just a quick stressful thought.

Spic and Span Clean !!!

…One of the many sayings in the Navy (AND ONE THAT MOST PEOPLE HATE) is the word Field Day.  It means to clean a room from top to bottom, and while Sailors take pride in their surroundings field days usually coincide with another daily tradition LIBERTY.   So today when I opened the theatre I decided maybe it was time to do some cleaning of my own.  I cleaned out the widgets and thingamajigs,  I wiped down the counters and tightened up the blogroll.  To me, sometimes a good cleansing is what straightens things up.  When we distance ourselves from the old machinery and dustbunnies we can often get a new perspective on an old space.  Yes siree this cleaner space is free of boringness and those pain in the ass dustbunnies who never do anything unless you get rid of them all on your own….Just a quick cleaner theatre thought…

Now let me take a second just to double check, I have posted about my favorite places to eat and my favorite movie scenes of all time.  I love to read it’s one of those things that let’s me take a mental break from the world.  I usually read that same time everyday and usually sit in the same place when I do.  For me, reading is like watching a little movie,   I imagine what the characters might look like and match them up with someone I know or some famous actor that would play them on tv or in the movies.  I have even guessed right a few times when the book was made into a movie, on who played the main character of the book.  Hmm beat that….So here are my 10 Favorite books of all time in no certain order

Tuesday with Morrie   by Mitch Albom   – Outstanding read about life’s lessons.                                                                           

About Alice by Calvin Trillon  -  Great read about love and life

Audacity Of Hope by Barack Obama  – Not very well written but a great story about overcoming adversity

Night by Elie Wiesel  -  Was written in the 50’s and it absolutely blew me away….probably my favorite…

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak  -  The reason I love to read.  First book I ever read by myself..was  maybe 5 or so.

Descent into Darkness by Edward Raymer -  One of the best WWII books I have ever read.

The Five People You Meet Heaven  by Mitch Albom  – Great story about redemption, fate and forgiveness.

A Civil Action  by Jonathan Herr -   Another great story about life and greed.

MacBeth  By Shakespeare   -   A MUST READ FOR ALL.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch – Bravest guy I have ever even read about.

Just a quick read a book thought….

The words “You’re a racist” are words that most people dread to hear and most people dare not say unless they mean those words. In my 27 years on this planet the words, “you’re a racist” left my mouth twice, with the intended, non-mocking sense. Both times, I meant it and believed in my soul that the person on the receiving end of those words deserved to be called one. Both instances happened when I was 15 years old.

Fast-forward to 2009, these words are thrown around by any and everyone, without regard to their ACTUAL meaning. The word “racist” is defined as : “hatred or intolerance of another race or other races”, well, that’s the intended definition anyway. Apparently anyone who has ever said anything opposing President Obama is a damn racist. Really? Do you freaking leftists really believe that?? I mean honestly?!?! Where were all the damn white people between 2001-2008 yelling about race when blacks were marching and protesting against President Bush? Ohhh…yeah, can’t do that, THAT’S RACIST!! Another double standard. Of course, if you go by that logic, everyone is a damn racist.

Here’s the thing, some conservatives are being pretty overly sensitive to the whole race thing. Here’s my stance: I DON’T GIVE A DAMN IF YOU’RE BLACK, WHITE, PINK, ORANGE, OR BROWN. If you’re fucking up the country, I will tell you you’re fucking up the country, Bush or Obama. I guess I’m a racist. The problem I see is that liberals see people ONLY based on skin color, and if you don’t…well you’re a god-damned racist. If I think no differently of a poor white person and a poor black person, I’m a racist because I SHOULD see color. I SHOULD realize that the poor black family has it far worse than the poor white family, simply because they’re black. But alas, I don’t. Equal opportunity NOT equal outcome, but some people forget that.

So all you simple-minded liberals out there, continue calling me a racist. (Yes, I mean you too,Jimmy Carter.) I could really care less. It’s apparent that words and logic mean NOTHING to you people. So I will embrace the name calling. Just more proof that liberal idiots cannot have a civil debate without resorting petty school yard tactics. Hey, maybe next time you’ll pull my hair, at least that would be slightly more effective and perhaps even a bit enjoyable.

Only If Obama Wins
Having an African-American in the White House is already one historical accomplishment, for only then we can say we don’t discriminate, and that America is the land of equal opportunity.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/933025/only_if_obama_wins.html