Mike Chalmers of The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., found a pattern of “denial and delay” among administrative law judges who have the power to grant or deny Social Security benefits to disabled workers in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. The News Journal “analyzed four years of decisions by ALJ in every state, more than 1.7 [...]
Archive for the ‘Workplace’ Category
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Child workers found laboring on U.S. blueberry farm
October 30th, 2009 
Beth Children as young as 5-years-old were found working in the fields of the Adkin Blue Ribbon Packing Company — one of the biggest blueberry growers in the country — this summer, according to a report by Avni Patel, Angela M. Hill, Asa Eslocker and Brian Ross of ABCNews.com.
Rulings by California’s worker safety appeals board questioned
October 22nd, 2009 Beth A Los Angeles Times investigation found that the Cal-OSHA Appeals Board “has repeatedly reduced or dismissed penalties levied by Cal-OSHA over the last few years, even in situations in which workers have died or been seriously injured.“
Series exposes conditions of aging mentally retarded workers
May 27th, 2009 admin Clark Kauffman of the Des Moines Register follows up on the newspaper’s initial, exclusive stories about mentally retarded processing plant workers who spent 40 years living in an aging Iowa bunkhouse run by a Texas labor broker. The latest installment, “The Last Bunkhouse,” focuses on a licensed care facility on a rural Texas farm where [...]
New York’s failing workers’ compensation system
April 3rd, 2009 Beth Steven Greenhouse of The New York Times reports on an investigation into New York state’s workers’ compensation system uncovering delays, fraudulent claims, and questionable rulings.
Juvenile center supervisor used staff doctor to get painkillers
March 20th, 2009 Meganm A 10-month investigation by producer Lauren Sweeney and reporter Melissa Yeager at WINK-Fort Meyers helped change policy at Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice. A worker at a juvenile justice center for kids with drug abuse and mental problems blew the whistle on his supervisor for obtaining a prescription for powerful painkillers from the staff doctor. Two separate [...]
Texas company exploited disabled workers
February 9th, 2009 Beth In an exclusive story, the Des Moines Register reported that a company had been sending mentally disabled Texans to work at a meat-processing plant in West Liberty, Iowa, for 34 years. The company housed the men in a 106-year-old bunkhouse and deducted from their pay $1,000 per month for room, board and “kind care.”
Foreign workers hired as banks failed
February 6th, 2009 Beth The Cruelest Cuts series
November 11th, 2008 Beth Occupational disability claims an epidemic at L.I.R.R.
September 22nd, 2008 Beth An investigation by The New York Times has uncovered an epidemic of occupational disability claims among retirees of the Long Island Rail Road.
