Items
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Employment
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2022-07-04
When is long-COVID a disability?
This is a news story from Stephenson Harwood, a law firm with its headquarters in London. This is on the classification of long-COVID as a disability. Using the Equality Act from 2010, it classifies a disability as physical or mental impairment which would prevent someone's ability to carry out daily activities. Using a case of Burke v Turning Point Scotland, it describes Mr. Burke developing long-COVID symptoms, which prevented him from doing work. He describes immense fatigue, where tasks like showering would become exhausting. Due to this, he remained off work, with his sick pay ending around June 2021. In August 2021, he was dismissed on grounds of ill health. The ruling with the Scottish Employment Tribunal declared that between November 25, 2020 and August 13, 2021 that Mr. Burke was disabled. For his specific case, he can now file disability discrimination against the company, but it does not mean the employer discriminated. The law firm suggests that employers develop methods to better serve employees that could end up having long-COVID. Some of these suggestions include: change in policies around disability services, changes in communication to handle an employee suffering from long-COVID, and a supportive environment where employees will feel comfortable giving updates on their symptoms. -
2022-06-16
Overall employment in Arizona 15% higher than pre-COVID
This is a news story from Tuscon.com. Overall, employment has risen by 15% compared to pre-COVID numbers. Bars, restaurants, and hotels have increased employment by 10.6% since last year. Permits issued for single and multi-family homes are down by about 16% compared to last year. There is also a 32.6% price increase on energy prices, being driven by rising gasoline prices. Overall, this article shows economic trends in Arizona and how COVID has impacted various industries and consumer trends. -
07/25/2021
Lauren Pease Oral History, 2021/07/25
Ashley Tibollo interviewed stay-at-home mom, Lauren Pease about her experience with the Covid-19 pandemic. In this interview, they discuss her experience with the lockdown, her worries about the pandemic, and what life was like during lockdown with her foster child. This interview also touches on political protests, virtual learning and her husband's transition to working from home. -
2021-07-24
Joseph D. Joseph, Oral History, July 24, 2021
Ashley Tibollo sits down with Joseph D. Joseph in an ice cream shop in Buffalo, New York to discuss how his life has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this interview, Joseph describes changes in his day-to-day routine, his life as a martial arts instructor, and changes in his economic status. He also discusses his students and how the pandemic affected them. In the last part of this interview, Joseph discusses his views on politics and what he hopes the future generations will learn about the response to this pandemic. -
2021-05-02
Charlotte Botenhagen Oral History, 2021/05/02
This was an interview from Jennifer Botenhagen who is a preschool teacher living in a tiny mountain town. This interview details her experience adapting to teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. -
2021-04-28
Can employers legally require COVID-19 vaccinations?
As the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available to everyone, there are questions about whether or not an employer can require employees to get the vaccine. While making the vaccine required is well within the rights of an employer, it is unlikely this will happen. However, there are many places that are strongly recommending that employees get the vaccine. -
2021-04-05
Online Article: ‘Burned out’: Portland cops leave scathing exit interviews
This article from Oregon Live/The Oregonian was picked up by Police1, and it discusses a number of exit interviews that retiring and resigning Portland Police Bureau officers, detectives, and administrators left during the past year. Of particular interest is the section that discusses the story of Jaykary Jackson: "Young officers of color have left, including Jaykary Jackson, who went to Boise, and Elise Temple, who was one of the Police Bureau’s recruiters. Temple declined to comment on the record. Jackson didn’t respond to messages but he was one of the officers who spoke out last summer about being on the front line of racial justice protests as an officer with the Rapid Response Team. A graduate of Portland State University who joined the Police Bureau after working for Nike for 10 years, he said then that he became a cop because he “wanted to make the most out of my life by helping others.” He also was following in the footsteps of his father and aunt. But Jackson said he was disgusted by the hatred he and other officers faced while standing on the police lines. He got hit by an explosive one night, felt tingling in his fingertips and heat from the device, and got berated by young white protesters. Often when he tried to talk to someone of color at the protests, he said, “Someone white comes up and blocks them and tells them not to talk.” Or yells, “Eff the police ... don’t talk to him.” He left shortly after he was named to be a new community engagement officer." The article illustrates the additional concerns that officers in major cities and law enforcement agencies face, especially when their civilian oversight overwhelmingly seeks to placate protests with emotional vindication in lieu of reasoned, rational, and planned reforms. -
2021-03-25
Navajo Nation casinos reopen as new virus cases dwindle
By Donovan Quintero | Mar 25, 2021 | Business, CORONAVIRUS | CHURCH ROCK, N.M. Peterson Zah has a concern. On Tuesday, while hundreds of Fire Rock Casino patrons tried to win some money, the former Navajo Nation president wanted to hear what the COVID-19 public service announcement sounded like in Navajo. “I didn’t hear any of the PSA while inside because it’s so noisy,” he said. After taking a step outside the casino, the former Navajo Nation president said he was able to hear it. But that raised a concern for him. “And it’s pretty good,” Zah said, explaining the PSA in Navajo was clear and concise. “But you can only hear that clear outside and inside you can’t really understand it.” Zah said he was concerned no one would hear the COVID-19 safety guidelines everyone needed to follow. His other concern was that since many Navajo people have gotten both doses of the vaccines, many of them might become emboldened. “The reason why I was concerned is people have this attitude that because of the shots … they say, ‘Hey, I’m immune, I don’t have to worry about the virus.’ So when I go places I’m gonna take mine (mask) off,”’ Zah said Tuesday. According to the president’s office, more than 76,000 people have been fully vaccinated as of March 23 and more than 191,000 total doses have been administered. Zah didn’t think people should take any chances by easing up on protecting themselves from the contagious respiratory virus because some people were not wearing masks. After being closed for more than a year, Fire Rock Casino and Northern Edge Casino were on the fifth day of a two-week “soft reopening.” Just the gambling portion of the casinos were open at 25% capacity, and only Navajo Nation residents were allowed into the casinos, according to Navajo Gaming interim CEO Brian D. Parrish. Parrish clarified Navajo Nation residents meant everyone, including non-Natives, living on the reservation would have access to the casinos during the reopening phase. “We’re doing it with a two-phase reopening plan that started with Fire Rock and Northern Edge first,” he said. “We’re going to reevaluate with the Navajo Nation. They’re going to do audits and monitor our implementation of our workplace safety plan.” Of the 1,180 casino employees, 650 have returned to work since last Friday, said Parrish. Employees like Fire Rock Casino housekeeper Mildred Russell, who said she’s been out of work for over a year, were happy to be working again. “It’s been a struggle,” Russell said while cleaning a slot machine last Friday. “Hopefully this pandemic will be gone and everybody can go back to their normal lives.” Other employees, like casino security officer Vernon Keeswood from Hogback, New Mexico, shared Russell’s gratitude for getting the call to go back to work. “It’s good,” he said on Tuesday during a telephone interview that was arranged by Michele J. Crank, executive director of communications and public relations for Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise. Instead of the usual hugs and shaking hands, Keeswood said, now it was “fist bumps” and “elbow bumps.” As for the reopening, he said many Northern Edge Casino customers “are pleased and happy” the Navajo casinos have begun reopening. He added a few customers were not sure if the casinos should reopen. “I hope everyone washes their hands and practices social distancing so we open to 100 percent capacity,” Keeswood said. “I hope it opens more.” After all, the threat of another COVID-19 outbreak looms on everyone’s mind, including that of Robert Peterson from Thoreau. “People are still afraid to come here but a lot of them want to enjoy being out instead of being stuck at home,” said Peterson, who said he lives alone, last Friday. Peterson said being alone and dealing with the pandemic has been hard for him. Despite his fears, he decided to head to Fire Rock to get his mind off COVID-19. Mary E. Silversmith, 79, from Lupton, Arizona, ensured no one came to visit her with a “no visitors allowed” sign posted on her hogan. She was happy to support the casino employees who returned to work. “The casinos were opened for the casino employees,” she said on Tuesday at Fire Rock. “Many of have children and they have bills to pay. “Because of that, I am OK with the reopening,” she said. “Some people have been criticizing the reopening. Not me, I don’t think that way or talk that way.” Before the pandemic, Silversmith said she frequently ate at Fire Rock, as well as at Twin Arrows Casino and Resort, when she had extra money to spend. Silversmith was wearing a surgical mask. To gain entry into both casinos during the soft reopening, a state ID, like a driver’s license, is required and a working number at which customers can be contacted. Temperature checks were also part of the requirements for anyone wanting to enter. After their temperature was checked, security asked customers to momentarily remove their masks and look at the front entrance security camera. The purpose of collecting all of the information is for contact tracing, said Parrish. “We have an excellent plan that’s in place,” he said. “We’ve had it reviewed and modified and enhanced by public health experts, not only on Navajo, but outside the Navajo Nation.” He added that Navajo Gaming invested close to $2 million in “equipment, supplies, signage, training,” to keep everybody safe. U.S. Indian Health Service officials toured both of the casinos’ kitchens on March 12, Parrish added, to review their safety procedures. “And in terms of reopening of the other properties, especially at a higher capacity percentage, that’s going to be based not only on how well the enterprise does, but what’s happening with the public health metrics, the rate of vaccinations on Navajo and other key indicators like that,” the interim CEO said. The Navajo Gaming enterprise’s careful planning even got praise from Jordan Schermerhorn, a senior research associate at Georgetown Center for Global Health Science and Security. Schermerhorn stated in an email to NNGE their plan showed the tribe was leading “the entire country in a smart, careful return to normalcy.” “Combined with the Navajo Nation’s outstanding vaccine rollout, this soft reopening shows what is possible with a data-driven pandemic response in a community dedicated to public safety,” Schermerhorn‘s email said. Even the ventilation, air conditioning and heating systems, which completely re-circulate the air inside the casinos 15 times a day, were reviewed, said Parrish. “We’re ready to go to fifty percent, we’re ready to offer food and we’re ready to bring the rest of our team back,” Parrish said. Zah watched casino patrons trying to win money as sounds from the Tuesday afternoon hustle and bustle all but drowned out the COVID-19 PSA. “So basically, the attitude shouldn’t be such now that because they got their shot they don’t have to worry about it,” he said. “It’s still around. Even though ninety percent of the people may be wearing their mask, or all of them, if one of them comes in that has it, then we’re in trouble.” Zah explained a new COVID-19 variant is much smaller than the original strain, which to him was why everyone needed to double mask. “If you can see light through your mask that means it’s gonna go through,” Zah said. “We gotta start wearing two masks.” He said he intends to go on KTNN and remind everyone not to run off to Phoenix or Albuquerque just because they’ve been vaccinated. “At the same time, they still have to follow those protocols,” he said. “I want to say, ‘You gotta start wearing double masks.’” As of Tuesday night, the Navajo Nation Department of Health reported a cumulative 30,010 cases of the virus and 1,233 deaths. -
2021-02-02
Southern NM County Mandates COVID-19 Vaccine for First Responders Including Sheriff's Deputies
This article discusses a recent mandate from the Dona Ana County government, which is seated in Las Cruces, New Mexico, that orders all its first responders to submit to vaccination. To my knowledge, this is the first such mandate in the United States, and it illuminates the relative lack of control first responders have over their lives once they enter their respective profession. The order is likely to be contested, particularly when such requirements have not historically been a condition on employment, The order reads in part, "Being vaccinated is a requirement and a condition of on-going employment with the County due to the significant health and safety risks posed by contracting or spreading COVID-19." The order applies to all paid personnel in the county's law enforcement, fire, detention, and medical professions. -
2021
Tens of millions of American's are out of work.
Tens of millions of American's are out of work. Half our people are living paycheck to paycheck. -
2020-08-18
Reparations in America
"Reparations is very important. Here in America, Black women are saddled with the highest amount of student debt in the country. For Black women in Boston, their median net worth is $8. In Los Angeles, the median value of assets for Black families is $200. In St. Paul, according to ISIAH, Blacks are 120% more unemployed than their white counterparts." - Trahern Crews Protestors gathered at the Minnesota Governor's Residence on August 16th to demand the United States government pay reparations to American Descendants of Slavery for 400 years of slavery, redlining, lynching, mass incarceration, and discrimination in education, housing, and employment. Photos from Reparations Rally In Honor of George Floyd, August 16, 2020 -
2020-11-22
Tiffany Asher Oral History, 2020/11/22
Tiffany Asher is a wife, mother, and she suffers from a terminal illness called cystic fibrosis. She chooses to care for elderly people suffering from COVID-19 against the wishes of her healthcare providers. -
2020-09-15
Jewish Melbourne: Jewish Care blog post - 'what can be done if you're unemployed during coronavirus'
An article by Simon Jedwab, Program Manager - Employment Centre, providing advice and support for people who are unemployed during the pandemic -
10/04/2020
Cheyenne Alexander Oral History, 2020/10/04
Transcript Only. In this interview, I am asking my girlfriend questions about her life and how it has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some topics that we go over is some background information about her, how her employment has been affected, how her family is handling these extreme situations, her community’s response, any health risks or experiences with sickness, how she believes the government has handled the outbreak, and what she sees for her future. We are both just average middle-class college students, and she has some interesting insights on the past six months. -
0202-10-15
Fears of COVID from within the archive
Yesterday was my first official day as a curator at A Journal of the Plague Year. The only feelings I had were of complete joy and gratitude to be able to have a job, one where I get to do something that interests me, at that. But as the day went on, I began to feel something that many have tweeted about. I started to feel achy and I was coughing. Some have tweeted something like, "is it allergies or COVID?", and while I should have reflected on the fact that I had not taken my crucial allergy medicine in two days (I am severely allergic to dogs, yet I have two of them in my small apartment), I spent a good hour bundled up and lying in bed. By the afternoon, I felt completely fine. It was one thing when I would have these fleeting moments of panic, or see people online posting about their own, in the past. But it seemed to be a particularly interesting moment that right when I start a job at an archive documenting the COVID-19 pandemic, I experience one of the specific anxieties of actually living in that pandemic. I think this short instant shows how the the pandemic is both all-encompassing of everyday life and shows up in particular moments. It is at the same time impersonal and extremely personal. Despite the fact that even the illusion of being an observer is inherently participation, in one moment I went from being an outside observer of the pandemic to being subject to the worries it causes. -
2020-09-01
Costume Designers during COVID-19
I found this post on Ali Ewoldt's public Instagram account. This post puts the spotlight on costume designers and how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their business. Much of the publicity with the shutdown of Broadway has been on the actors so far, but as this post mentions, Broadway employed many people to work backstage and those people may end up going out of business is the federal government doesn't provide reimbursement for the shutdown. This post also points out how little the performing arts sector is asking compared to the economic benefits they offer to the United States. -
2020-09-07
I Am an Arts Worker
I found this post on Ali Ewoldt's public Instagram account. This post breaks down the importance of performing arts in the economy and explains the DAWN Act. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, performing arts venues have been closed down and unable to reopen, causing major financial losses to that business sector. The DAWN Act is one of several bills being considered by Congress to help the performing arts sector get back on its feet. -
2020-07-25
Danville School Lunch Delivery Service "ChoiceLunch" Helping Serve The Community
An East Bay school lunch delivery company is switching gears to help serve the community during the coronavirus pandemic. KCBS Radio's Carrie Hodousek has details of the partnership between ChoiceLunch in Danville and the Alameda County Food Book. -
2020-05
Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston, Coronavirus Response
Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston offered this Coronavirus Pandemic Response update outlining the work they have continued doing during the pandemic, including information about intake, community legal education and outreach, legal advocacy, small business support, unemployment assistance, medical-legal partnerships, and litigation. "The demand for our free legal services has increased exponentially since the start of the public health and economic crisis. Since March, we have received over 350 requests for legal assistance (intakes). The estimated demographic breakdown is as follows: 55% Black; 25% Latinx; 10% Asian American; and 10% other."