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CLEARWATER, Fla. — The leader of the Church of Scientology struck his subordinates numerous times and set an example for physical violence among the tightly controlled religion's management team, four former high-ranking executives told a newspaper for a story published Sunday. The executives who have since left the organization told The St. Petersburg Times that they witnessed David Miscavige, chairman of the board that oversees the church, hit staff members dozens of times. "It was random and whimsical. It could be the look on your face. Or not answering a question quickly. But it always was a punishment," said Mike...

New and strengthened Democratic majorities in many state legislatures are pushing measures that require businesses to grant employees additional time off for personal or family reasons. Governors in Colorado and Nevada signed laws within the past month that give employees unpaid leave for school-related events, becoming the first states to do so in a decade. Wisconsin lawmakers will take up similar legislation this fall. Lawmakers in roughly a dozen other states are debating measures that would require employers to grant paid family or sick leave; President Barack Obama campaigned in support of such laws last year. Democrats now control both...

GARNER, N.C. -- Three people were missing and 20 taken to hospitals after an explosion at a Slim Jim meat products plant in North Carolina, officials said Tuesday. Jeffrey Hammerstein, district chief with Wake County Emergency Medical Services, said five people taken to hospitals were tagged as priority patients with serious conditions. Hammerstein said officials were searching for three people missing from the site in Garner, a Raleigh suburb, but it wasn't clear whether they were inside during the explosion. Garner Mayor Ronnie Williams said injuries ranged from burns to smoke inhalation. Emergency crews were keeping people away because of...

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Her job description says Madeline Adams is a social worker. But lately she's begun volunteering for tasks she never had before at the St. Louis marriage counseling agency where she works: planning events, ordering supplies, stocking shelves. She estimates she's put in hundreds of hours of unpaid overtime work. Adams isn't gunning for a promotion. She just wants to keep her job. Bosses around the country these days are discovering it's not too much ask for a little extra help around the office. Anything but. More employees seem to be showing up early, forgoing vacation time, taking on extra projects...

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, June 2, 2009) -- The Army wants Soldier-dads to know there is a new paternity leave policy available to them and spread the word to military bloggers at the Pentagon today. The policy, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush Oct. 14, 2008, allows new dads up to 10 consecutive days of administrative leave after the birth of a child. Leading the roundtable was Col. Larry Locke, chief of compensation and entitlements for the Army G-1. He said the policy is one way of showing appreciation for Soldier-dads, because leave time can take...

Voters disagree with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's controversial ruling in the New Haven firefighters' reverse-discrimination case by more than three-to-one, a new poll shows. Voters also strongly oppose using affirmative action programs to increase diversity, according to the Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday morning. "If you look at the data," Quinnipiac Assistant Director Peter Brown tells Newsmax, "what's most interesting is how large their objection is for diversity being a reason for affirmative action. The numbers are staggeringly negative." In an unusual survey of 3,100 voters -- most national polls rely on about 1,200 respondents – voters by 71...

To cut labor costs, Ari Bousbib has tried almost everything. The president of United Technologies' (UTX) $34 billion-a-year commercial businesses has frozen hiring, deferred pay increases, and required some executives to take a week of unpaid leave. His company is getting rid of more than 11,000 jobs this year. But one thing he refuses to consider: direct cuts to salaries. "Across-the-board pay cuts have an impact on morale," he says, "and it is very difficult to rebuild motivation." But Bousbib's thinking is not as universal as it once was. For decades, reducing salaries was anathema to managers. Employers could cut...

What's offensive about the American flag? Some people don't like it but I'm not like that. It reminds me of the tens of thousands of people who have died so I can be free. If you live in the U.S. and display an American flag at your home or in your personal work space no one should tell you to take it down. Who would do that anyway? It would be shameful.According to FoxNews, Kindred Hospital - Mansfield, TX would. A woman with her daughter deployed in Iraq was told to remove the American flag from her area because it...

"When McLucas came to work Friday, her boss told her another supervisor had found her flag offensive. "I was just totally speechless. I was like, 'You're kidding me,'" McLucas said." (snip) "Wednesday morning, however, our story received nationwide attention. We have received hundreds of emails and comments from people who had something to say about it. Among the supporters was a combat medic in Iraq: Debbie McLucas' daughter, Lillian McLucas Dressig. "My mom is a true hero in my book," she said."

Is it okay to show your patriotism at the office? For one Arlington woman, the answer was "no" after she hung an American flag in her office just before the Memorial Day weekend. Debbie McLucas is one of four hospital supervisors at Kindred Hospital in Mansfield. Last week, she hung a three-by-five foot American flag in the office she shares with the other supervisors. When McLucas came to work Friday, her boss told her another supervisor had found her flag offensive. "I was just totally speechless. I was like, 'You're kidding me,'" McLucas said. McLucas' husband and sons are former...

Oklahoma City - A pharmacist who shot and killed a 16-year-old would-be robber is now charged with first-degree murder in the case. The incident happened on May 19th at Reliable Discount Pharmacy. Antwun Parker was shot six times by 57-year-old Jerome Ersland, who says the shooting was in self defense.

By DANA MATTIOLI Accelerating health-care premiums and sharp revenue shortfalls due to the recession are forcing some small companies to choose between dropping health insurance or laying off workers -- or staying in business at all. Sheryl Weldon, owner of Commerce Welding & Manufacturing Co., saw health-insurance payments increase to more than $800 monthly per employee from about $200 five years ago. With monthly revenue down 10% since December, Ms. Weldon stopped providing health coverage to employees, including one being treated for prostate cancer, for the first time in the 64-year-history of the Dallas sheet-metal company. Ms. Weldon and several...

Christian fears for NHS hospital job after refusing to remove her crucifix over 'infection fear' By DAILY MAIL REPORTER 23rd May 2009 A Christian hospital worker fears for her job after refusing to take off a crucifix which 'could harbour infection', it emerged today. Helen Slatter, 43, says she will not choose between her faith and her job after the NHS claimed the jewellery could spread disease or even be used as a weapon. Gloucestershire Royal Hospital explained today that health and safety rules applied to everyone and the regulations had nothing to do with religion. The blood collector -...

Washington (CNSNews.com) – Union leaders, clergy and liberal members of Congress gathered in the mostly empty U.S. Capitol Visitors Center early Tuesday morning to hear multicultural choir music, speeches from religious leaders--and to pray for the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). The event was a prayer breakfast sponsored by Faith Leaders for Workplace Fairness--a coalition of liberal religious groups that was formed for the sole purpose of promoting EFCA, commonly known as the “card-check” bill. Under this bill, union organizers could compel an employer to recognize a union as representing the employer's workers any time more than...

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts directed employees earlier this month not to log onto the Drudge Report website with government-issued computers due to potential viruses on the site. In an e-mail message sent May 4, Paul Harvey, an information-technology official for the Boston office, wrote that security specialists with the U.S. Attorney’s Office at the Department of Justice asked them “to reformat/reimage two computers because the user visited the drudgereport.com site.” “Please avoid the Drudgereport website from the [United States Attorney’s Office] computers,” Harvey wrote. Harvey said that if employees had a “work-related reason to visit the site,” access...

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 13 (UPI) -- A refrigerator stench at a California AT&T call center caused the building to be evacuated and seven people to be hospitalized with nausea, authorities said. The San Jose Fire Department said a hazmat team was sent to the office complex just before lunchtime Tuesday and determined the odor was coming from an office mini-fridge, the San Jose Mercury News reported Wednesday. The stink caused seven people to be hospitalized with vomiting or nausea and 21 others were treated at the scene by paramedics. All 325 AT&T employees were evacuated from the building. Fire...

It had been somebody's lunch once. Or maybe a soft-cheese snack, tucked away — and then forgotten — in the back of an office mini-fridge at the AT&T call center in North San Jose. That was long ago, before figs become fur-bearing and corned beef mutates into stink on rye. Nobody really knows what it was in the offending refrigerator that prompted an evacuation Tuesday morning and ambulance rides to the hospital for seven people, who were overcome by the stench and fumes from an ill-fated attempt to clean it. It finally became so unbearable that the San Jose Fire...

Muslim chef 'refused to cook sausages and bacon for police officers' breakfasts' By NEIL SEARS 12th May 2009 Muslim chef Hasanali Khoja at the employment tribunal in Watford A Muslim working as a catering manager for the police 'flatly refused' to cook sausages and bacon for officers' breakfasts, a tribunal has heard. Hasanali Khoja, 60, would not have any direct or indirect contact with pork products, even if using gloves and tongs, claiming that 'splashback' from frying would breach the requirements of his faith. After meetings to discuss the issue, Mr Khoja complained that a Metropolitan Police human resources manager...

WHEN British consumers are compelled to buy energy-efficient lightbulbs from 2012, they will save up to 5m tons of carbon dioxide a year from being pumped into the atmosphere. In China, however, a heavy environmental price is being paid for the production of “green” lightbulbs in cost-cutting factories. Large numbers of Chinese workers have been poisoned by mercury, which forms part of the compact fluorescent lightbulbs. A surge in foreign demand, set off by a European Union directive making these bulbs compulsory within three years, has also led to the reopening of mercury mines that have ruined the environment. Doctors,...

Black Fortune 500 CEOs with a "babyface"appearance are more likely to lead companies with higher revenues and prestige than black CEOs who look more mature, an upcoming study says. In contrast with research showing that white executives are hindered by babyface characteristics, a disarming appearance can help black CEOs by counteracting the stigma that black men are threatening, according to the study from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. The study is scheduled to be published in the journal Psychological Science in September. A babyface is characterized by combinations of attributes, including a round face, full cheeks, larger forehead, small...

IN THE CUTTHROAT world of business, companies are always looking for ways to increase their profits. They outsource to Bangalore. They endlessly tweak their "brands." Some even try to shed their least desirable customers. Now, a growing number of consultants and corporate leaders swear by a new strategy to boost the bottom line, one that departs from the standard bag of tricks: put more women in charge.

A BRITISH air stewardess was sacked for refusing to fly to Saudi Arabia after she was ordered to wear a traditional Islamic robe and walk behind male colleagues. Lisa Ashton, a £15,000-a-year stewardess with BMI, was told that in public areas in Saudi Arabia she was required to wear a black robe, known as an abaya. This covers everything but the face, feet and hands. She was told to follow her male colleagues, irrespective of rank. Ashton, 37, who was worried about security in the country, refused to fly there, claiming the instructions were discriminatory. She was sacked last April....

A BRITISH air stewardess was sacked for refusing to fly to Saudi Arabia after she was ordered to wear a traditional Islamic robe and walk behind male colleagues. Lisa Ashton, a £15,000-a-year stewardess with BMI, was told that in public areas in Saudi Arabia she was required to wear a black robe, known as an abaya. This covers everything but the face, feet and hands. She was told to follow her male colleagues, irrespective of rank. Ashton, 37, who was worried about security in the country, refused to fly there, claiming the instructions were discriminatory. She was sacked last April....

Scientists discover we are genetically hard-wired to work in 8-hour intervals. Think about it, workaholics.

Valerik Kashkin, a clown in the Moscow State Circus, was performing in Liverpool's Sefton Park last Saturday when he fell from a three metre high slack wire, injuring his foot. Although he continued to perform for the rest of the show, when he went to hospital later that evening, he was told he had broken the metatarsal bone in his left foot. When he returned to the circus he was told by management he could no longer wear the size-18 shoes because they compromised his health and safety. Mr Kashkin features in the circus' reworking of the Rasputin tale, The...

The US recession has opened up the biggest gap between male and female unemployment rates since records began in 1948, as men bear the brunt of the economy’s contraction. Men have lost almost 80 per cent of the 5.1m jobs that have gone in the US since the recession started, pushing the male unemployment rate to 8.8 per cent. The female jobless rate has hit 7 per cent. This a dramatic reversal of the trend over the past few years, where the rates of male and female unemployment barely differed, at about 5 per cent. It also means that women...

"It's had serious repercussions," Swihart said. "These young adults who were raised in the '80s, now in their 20s and in the workplace -- those who received praise, rewards and prizes for everything they did without working very hard -- often are very entitled and self-absorbed

....There is no possibility of appeal of an MCAD ruling. This is truly government by unaccountable tribunal. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court so ruled in May 2004, according to the Boston Globe: In a finding that could significantly impact employers throughout the state, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court this month overruled its 1997 decision allowing employers to seek a jury trial following an adverse decision from the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, the state's antidiscrimination agency. The high court said it erred seven years ago when it ruled that the Massachusetts constitution gave employers the right to seek redress before a...

NEW HAVEN — Frank Ricci has been a firefighter here for 11 years, and he would do just about anything to advance to lieutenant. The last time the city offered a promotional exam, he said in a sworn statement, he gave up a second job and studied up to 13 hours a day. Mr. Ricci, who is dyslexic, paid an acquaintance more than $1,000 to read textbooks onto audiotapes. He made flashcards, took practice tests, worked with a study group and participated in mock interviews. Mr. Ricci did well, he said, coming in sixth among the 77 candidates who took...

There's been a whole lotta shootin' going on out there in recent times. Just wondering how many Freepers are employed at Companies that prohibit firearms on the property. I am curious as to how common a practice that is. If you don't mind, please sound off on what your Company's policy is, whether you are the Employer or the Employee. Anything you could add, regarding any incidents of violence, use of firearms in self-defense, etc., at the workplace, would be most appreciated. I plan on using the information I gain as "ammunition" to get my Employer to reverse its policy...

A Tampa Bay middle school teacher has resigned after officials say she was drunk at school. Kylene Nelson, a language arts teacher at Rushe Middle School in Land O'Lakes, faced dismissal over last week's incident. In a letter to the district, she said her last day would be April 21, the date of the next school board meeting. The 42-year-old reportedly forced students to dance with her before being removed from class. The Pasco County Sheriff's Office says Nelson later ran from campus and passed out at a nearby recreation center. Authorities say her blood-alcohol level was more than three...

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Police officers who lose their sense of smell also risk losing their jobs, a Pennsylvania appeals court ruled Thursday. A suburban Pittsburgh township had the right to terminate Officer David J. Agostino after he lost his sense of smell in an off-duty motorcycle accident, because officers must be able to detect drugs, alcohol, hazardous materials, natural gas and other substances, a three-judge Commonwealth Court panel ruled.

AUSTIN, Texas — Texans who love guns and pickup trucks with equal fervor could soon have the right to keep them together all the way into the company parking garage. The Texas Senate gave unanimous approval to legislation Wednesday that would allow people to carry firearms to work and then store them in their parked vehicles outside. Businesses could still keep guns out of their offices and company-owned vehicles. But the bill, a top priority of the National Rifle Association, would no longer let employers ban guns in company parking facilities — as long as they remain locked up inside...

A jury decided last June that Wachovia had violated his rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act, which requires employers to provide workers returning from service a salary, status and seniority similar to what they had before leaving. It was left to Judge Arterton to decide damages.

I began to notice an unusually large number of people dying of cancer at a young age. I began to collect death certificates of our members and began my own study. Some had noticed rodents in the plant with large cancerous tumors protruding out of them. Hundreds of widows and family members came to the local union looking for answers. These family members were desperate. Do I have any rights? Who will provide for my family? One young widow with three children came to me asking if she and her children could receive her husband’s pension as survivors. Her husband...

US companies pull out of retirement contributions By Deborah Brewster in New York Published: March 10 2009 23:34 | Last updated: March 10 2009 23:34 A wave of US companies are suspending payments to their staff 401(k) retirement plans in a bid to cut costs amid the economic downturn. Saks, General Motors, newspaper group McClatchy, clothing company J.Crew, FedEx, UPS, Coca-Cola Bottling, Reader’s Digest, Motorola, Regions Financial and Sprint Nextel are among the growing list of companies which have suspended contributions in recent months. Even the AARP, the influential advocacy group formerly known as the American Association for Retired Persons,...

PC Javid Iqbal: 'My beard is an important part of my identity' A Muslim police officer claims he was forced out of his job by colleagues who made fun of his beard and called him a 'f***ing Paki'. PC Javid Iqbal, 38, said white officers openly discussed in front of him how they were ' better' than their ethnic-minority colleagues. The married father of two also claims officers pulled faces at each other if told they had to go out on patrol with him and forced him to walk home from a job instead of picking him up. Mr...

Cities all across Arizona are being forced to cut their budgets. One of the ways some are saving money is by cutting their work week from five days to four. Mesa has joined the ranks of Buckeye, Avondale and Queen Creek as it begins its four-day workweek pilot program. If its success is anything like Avondale’s, it could become permanent. On Monday Blaine Comeaux, an election specialist with the Mesa city clerk's office, began a new schedule. He admits he is, “Getting used to working longer hours…staying mentally focused the entire day.” Comeaux and nearly 2,500 other Mesa city employees...

Thursday February 26, 2009 The Pornification of a Culture -- What's Going on in the Office Next Door? Commentary by Dr. Albert MohlerFebruary 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The scourge of pornography is now so pervasive that it begins to define the culture at large.  America is fast transforming itself from a society that allows and markets pornography into a culture that is pornographic.  Boundary after boundary is being transgressed.Adding insult to injury, courts have ruled that public libraries have no right to use filters that prevent viewing of pornography on public computers.  Now, the marketers of pornography are looking...

CLEARWATER, Fla. – It's a fish story that's turning into a whale of a legal tale. The owners of a Florida bait and tackle shop have filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Clearwater to defend their right to display artwork of marine life on the outside of their business along with a banner of the First Amendment to the Constitution. The salty dispute started in December 2007 when Herb and Lori Quintero invested their life savings to purchase and renovate a dilapidated building they turned into the Complete Angler, selling fishing accessories such as rods, reels and live...

Wal-Mart started taking a hard look at costs and what could be done to keep workers healthy with better care management. Today, Wal-Mart employees can receive any one of 2,500 generic drugs for $4 per prescription. All expensive transplant cases go to the Mayo Clinic to ensure top of the line care and prevent unnecessary procedures. And pregnant women receive nurse counseling to prevent premature births. Wal-Mart is just one of the many companies that are bringing innovation to health-care arrangements. Toyota is known for its relentless attention to production detail. In recent years company executives have turned some of...

"Victim's heroics rouse judge," read a headline in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, but Nigel Haskett's heroics apparently didn't rouse his employer, McDonald's. The hamburger kingpin has denied Haskett's claim for workers compensation benefits. According to newspaper accounts and Haskett's lawyer, Philip M. Wilson, Haskett was working at the McDonald's at 10201 Rodney Parham Road last August when he interceded to stop a man who was beating a woman in the restaurant. The assailant, later identified as Perry Kennon, went outside. Haskett also stepped outside and stood at the door to keep Kennon from re-entering the restaurant. Kennon retrieved a gun from...

ATTORNEY GENERAL USED AN NRA LAWYER TO ARGUE THE STATE’S POSITION DENVER - An appeals court said Wednesday that Oklahoma’s law allowing employees to have guns at work in their locked vehicles is valid. The Denver-based court’s decision overturns a ruling by U.S. District Judge Terence Kern in Tulsa, who barred enforcement of the law. Gov. Brad Henry and Attorney General Drew Edmondson appealed Kern’s 2007 ruling. "It was our opinion that the law is constitutional and the court agreed with us today,” Edmondson spokesman Charlie Price said. "We are thankful for the assistance of the National Rifle Association and...

NEW YORK - A New York City foreign-currency trader has filed a lawsuit claiming he was harassed and fired because his supervisor believed he was a gay vegetarian. Manhattan resident Ryan Pacifico says he traded euros for Calyon in the Americas and did well until late 2006, when Robert Catalanello became his supervisor. Court papers say when Catalanello learned Pacifico didn't eat meat, he called him "a vegetarian homo." The papers say Catalanello made a similar comment when he saw a photo of Pacifico in running tights.

Smoking bans in public buildings, workplaces and at some outdoor venues are commonplace. Becoming more common is the practice of barring smokers from employment. But this approach is unfair and may have unintended consequences that do more harm than good, researchers say in an essay published in the journal Tobacco Control. Policies banning the hiring of smokers have gained popularity in the past year, a co-author of the report, Dr. Michael Siegel, said Wednesday. One U.S. company, for example, has stopped hiring smokers, has made smoking outside the workplace grounds for firing and has extended its smoking ban to employees'...

NEW YORK Millions of workers at small businesses across the country will take time tomorrow to watch Barack Obama be sworn in as president -- and will do so with their bosses' blessings. Many companies will allow workers to take a break to watch the swearing-in on TVs or their computers, while others are making rooms available so staffers can gather. Still others are planning celebrations to mark a historic event, and some owners are giving staffers the day off. At BlissPR, a New York-based public relations agency, many employees will be in the conference room watching Obama's inauguration on...

A Christian bus driver has refused to drive a bus with an atheist slogan proclaiming "There's probably no God". Ron Heather, from Southampton, Hampshire, responded with "shock" and "horror" at the message and walked out of his shift on Saturday in protest. First Bus said it would do everything in its power to ensure Mr Heather does not have to drive the buses.

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Manners maketh the businessman, with a global survey finding Americans and Britons to be the most easily insulted by lack of workplace etiquette, while Australians are among the most offensive. The survey, by Australian-based international office space provider Servcorp, listed the top five most offensive workplace behaviors as not saying hello or good morning, not offering office guests a beverage, speaking loudly across the room, using swear words and taking calls on mobile phones.

A Northern Virginia delegate is proposing to cram a 40-hour workweek into four days for many state workers, in the hopes of recouping energy costs and encouraging Virginians to access the Internet for government services.