Helping Women Achieve Self-Sufficiency through Employment”

February 27, 2012 (MMD Newswire) — Smart Sexy Day, (SSD) is being launched as a joint effort between The Women’s Alliance (TWA) and Ariela-Alpha International. Jackets for Jobs, Inc, the local member of TWA, will be hosting a day long event on March 20, 2012, the first day of spring. The focus of the day is to provide knowledge and confidence through workforce training, professional image classes and the personal support required to local low-income women enabling them to take action to secure employment that will change their lives and the lives of their families.

The workplace has become more competitive than ever. For low-income and disadvantaged women, confidence to compete for jobs is built on a foundation of knowledge, skill building, improved personal and professional image and individual support. Ariela-Alpha International, The Women’s Alliance and Jackets for Jobs’ are sponsoring Smart and Sexy Day as a day to provide these tools to women in Detroit. Jackets for Jobs will provide the workforce and professional image training at their eastside Detroit office located at 5555 Conner from 9am-3pm, March 20th to provide an environment for wardrobe instruction and Smart Sexy lingerie fittings. This event is by invitation only.

March is an important month because of the strong focus on women with National events that include International Women’s Day, National Women’s History Month and Feminine Empowerment Month.

The 2012 launch of Smart Sexy Day includes a full day of training and motivation for women in four major cities across the country – New York, Philadelphia, Detroit and Washington, DC between March 13th and March 22nd.

About Jackets for Jobs, (JFJ)

Since opening the doors in 2000, the JFJ has assisted more than 14,000 individuals with various needs. This nonprofit organization provides year-round educational programs to men and women residing in the Metropolitan Detroit Area; and addresses the challenges associated with employment search, office etiquette, entering the workforce and balancing the demands of work and home.

This organization was imitated after the founder CEO, Alison Vaughn, lost her sister to cancer and discovered that her sister was on welfare. Alison wanted to do something to help others who were on welfare and had a desire to gain employment.

JFJ has been recognized by “The Today Show” (NBC), “The View”(ABC), the cast members from Donald Trumps “The Apprentice” and NASDAQ as a worthy organization to support. After a nationwide search, Star Jones, Barbara Walters and crew of the television show “The View”(ABC) selected JFJ

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CARLE PLACE (MMD Newswire) February 27, 2012 — Mavis Kemper, a native of Jamaica now living in Cambria Heights, Queens, is a woman with a strong work ethic. A housekeeper at the Holiday Inn in Westbury, Long Island, from June 2005 until January 2012, Kemper, 43, worked tirelessly, often working six days per week from about 6:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. for $9 to $11 per hour, cleaning the hotel’s 152 rooms, but she was never paid overtime. Reluctantly, she complained, but nothing was done.

“”I knew that I was working over 40 hours per week and that I was supposed to be getting overtime, but I needed the job,” said Kemper, whose average work week was 45-48 hours.

Now, in a class action suit filed Feb. 23 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Central Islip, Kemper alleges that the hotel (next to Chateau Briand Caters on Old Country Road) in Westbury, didn’t pay overtime to any of its employees who worked more than 40 hours a week over the last the last six years in violation of state and federal labor law.

The Fair Labor Standards Act and state law requires businesses to pay overtime at a rate of 1.5 times the regular rate for all hours worked over 40 hours over seven consecutive days.

Filed by Leeds Morelli Brown PC, a law firm in Carle Place, and Virginia Ambinder, LLP, a law firm in Manhattan, the lawsuit seeks class-action status for roughly 100 current and Westbury Holiday Inn employees. It names Westbury Operating Corp. and Norman Shapiro, president and chief executive of the company, as defendants.

“This hotel took advantage of Mavis Kemper and her fellow workers,” said Jeffrey Brown, a Leeds Morelli partner. “They were never apprised of their rights to collect overtime, despite consistently working more than 40-plus hours per week.”

The suit also alleges the hotel didn’t provide its employees with paystubs that correctly reflected the hours they worked, the rate of pay, the amount of deductions and other information required by law. According to New York Law workers are entitled to $100 for every paycheck they received that did not have a stub. These provisions are part of the state’s almost year-old Wage Theft Prevention Act – aimed at curbing wage violations.

“Situations such as this one involving Mavis Kemper are becoming all too common across the business landscape and we hope that by filing this suit, workers will realize that they have rights,” said Len Leeds, also a partner at Leeds, Morelli

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January 23, 2012 (MMD Newswire) — Mr. Juan Fernandez, O’Toole Fernandez Weiner Van Lieu, LLC, has been selected to speak at the 2012 Annual Conference of the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM.) Mr. Fernandez is slated to speak on the topic of DIVERSITY – Improving the attorney-client relationship and meeting the client’s diversity and other corporate goals through an effective Relationship Partner.

Juan C. Fernandez has 22 years experience in labor and employment law and commercial litigation and has also served as Essex County Counsel, Assistant Union County Counsel and Union Township Municipal Prosecutor. He is a former member of the District Ethics Committee and The New Jersey Educational Facilities Authority. Mr. Fernandez maintains an active litigation practice in labor and employment matters and has represented corporate clients in the courts of New Jersey, New York and abroad. Mr. Fernandez also provides commercial litigation services to corporate clients focused on restrictive covenants and employment disputes. Mr. Fernandez is a member of the New Jersey State and Federal Bars.

The CLM conference will be one of the largest, fully inclusive defense industry conferences in 2012. It will be held March 28-30 in San Diego, California where more than 80 collaborative educational sessions featuring more than 300 speakers are scheduled and is expected to draw attendees from around the world.

About the CLM

The Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM) is an inclusive, collaborative organization that promotes and furthers the highest standards of claims and litigation management and brings together the thought leaders in both industries. CLM’s Members and Fellow include risk and litigation managers, insurance and claims professionals, corporate counsel, outside counsel and third party vendors. The CLM sponsors educational programs, provide resources and fosters communication among all in the industry. To learn more about the CLM, please visit www.TheCLM.org

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Agreement includes $219,000 in back wages and interest for 69 African-American and Caucasian applicants plus job offers for some

HOUSTON (MMD Newswire) January 13, 2012 — The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs today announced that government contractor JacintoPort International LLC has agreed to settle allegations of hiring discrimination on the basis of race involving 48 African-American and 21 Caucasian job applicants who were rejected for longshoreman positions at the company’s cargo facility in Houston.

“In this day and age, it is shocking that any company would allow race to be a factor in determining who gets hired,” said OFCCP Director Patricia A. Shiu. “This settlement should put all federal contractors on notice that, in the Obama administration, we will be persistent when it comes to rooting out workplace discrimination and will vigilantly monitor employers who violate the law until they get it right.”

OFCCP previously cited JacintoPort for violating requirements of Executive Order 11246 by failing to implement an applicant tracking system for new hires, and to develop and execute action-oriented programs to recruit women and African-Americans. That matter was settled on June 6, 2006, with a conciliation document in which JacintoPort agreed to correct the violations and produce semiannual reports on the company’s progress in employing women and minorities.

In reviewing those progress reports, OFCCP investigators found that the company was giving preferential treatment to Latino applicants and systematically discriminating against African-Americans and Caucasians seeking longshoreman jobs. Under the terms of the latest conciliation agreement, JacintoPort will pay $219,000 in back wages and interest to the affected individuals, and make 17 job offers to members of the original class as longshoreman positions become available. In addition, JacintoPort has agreed to undertake extensive self-monitoring measures to ensure that all hiring practices fully comply with the law, including record-keeping requirements.

JacintoPort, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shawnee Mission, Kan.-based Seaboard Corp., currently holds more than $1.2 million in contracts to store and transport cargo for the Defense Commissary Agency.

In addition to Executive Order 11246, OFCCP enforces Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974. As amended, these three laws require those who do business with the federal government, both contractors and subcontractors, to follow the fair and reasonable standard that they not discriminate in employment on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, national origin, disability or status as a protected veteran. For general information, call OFCCP’s toll-free helpline at 800-397-6251 or visit its website at http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/.

Source: US DOL

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