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Senator Charges "Criminal Negligence" In FDA's Failure to Protect Food Supply As a salmonella outbreak linked to
some types of raw tomatoes sickens hundreds of Americans across 17
states, a Republican Senator, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, charges
the Bush Administration with "criminal negligence" in not moving
faster to provide the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with monies
for food protection efforts, the
New York Times reports. Robert L. Abell President Bush Should Support Fair Pay Law President Bush should follow the recent signing of the anti-genetic discrimination bill with support for passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would restore the ability of women who are unfairly and wrongly underpaid because of gender discrimination to recover the fair pay they have earned. That ability was taken away last year by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision that disregarded the overwhelming consensus of the intermediate federal appeals courts and a common sense appreciation for the regular workplace. Lilly Ledbetter worked as an area supervisor for Goodyear in Alabama, the only woman out of a total of 15 area supervisors. After nearly 20 years of faithful service and hard work, she learned that she was being paid from $500 to $1500 less per month than all her male counterparts including a number with lesser seniority. She filed suit, a jury ruled that gender discrimination was the basis for her being underpaid and she was awarded some $250,000 of wages she had rightfully and fairly earned. The Supreme Court took it away, ruling 5-4 that Ledbetter could recover only that lesser pay that occurred within the last six months of her employment. Goodyear, of course, like many employers – studies have shown that one-third of private sector employers prohibit employees from discussing their pay – kept a tight lid on salary and pay information. As a result, Ledbetter, despite her undeniable qualifications and hard work, was grossly underpaid in comparison with her male counterparts for many, many years. Only when she found out what had been done to her did she file suit. But the Supreme Court ruled no matter, she waited too late. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act simply seeks to restore what every woman working in America had before the Supreme Court’s decision: that is, a realistic opportunity to recover in court the earnings and benefits that they deserve based on their performance and qualifications but have been denied because of their gender. The House of Representatives passed the bill overwhelmingly, but it died in the Senate in the face of a Republican-led filibuster with both of Kentucky’s Senators, McConnell and Bunning, standing tall against equal pay for equal work. It would seem a very American notion: that women (and everyone else for that matter) should be paid fairly and equally for the work their skills, abilities and labor enables them to do. President Bush’s support for the anti-genetic discrimination bill is a sensible and reasoned response to a real world, real life problem. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is the same, and the President, along with Kentucky’s Senators, should line up in support of equal pay for equal work. Robert L. Abell Criminal Prosecution for Worker Safety Violations Enacting meaningful criminal penalties for worker safety violations is urged by former Justice Department prosecutor David M. Uhlmann in an op-ed column, "The Working Wounded," in the New York Times. Mr. Uhlmann reports some disturbing statistics and information: an employer that violates a worker safety rule and kills an employee faces only 6 months in jail under the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA); if the employee is maimed and disabled the maximum penalty is up to a $70,000 fine; and since 1970 only 68 cases have been prosecuted under OSHA, although approximately 341,000 people have died at work. Robert L. Abell Preemption and the Decline of States' Rights In an astute editorial observer
column in the May 23, 2008, edition of the
New York Times, Adam Cohen
describes the ascendancy of the doctrine of federal preemption under
the Bush Administration that has crippled, in some cases prevented,
states from being able to protect their citizens. The Bush
Administration has run rough shod over the traditional Republican
assertion of "states' rights" to prevent, by the doctrine of federal
preemption, states from protecting their citizens. Robert L. Abell FDA Chief Bypasses Bush Administration To Beg Congress for More Money The New York Times reports that FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach has bypassed the Bush Administration to appeal directly for more money for the troubled agency, which is charged with protecting Americans' food, drugs and a myriad of everyday items. Although the Commissioner acknowledged earlier in the year that the FDA was not able to meet its responsibilities and an FDA Science Panel reported last year on the agency's failings, the budget requested by the Bush Administration was insufficient to cover even payroll increases. Protecting the American public was not considered a priority for the Bush Administration, which meanwhile has issued a series of regulatory rules to insulate corporate wrongdoing from accountability, responsibility and liability through the legal doctrine of preemption. Robert L. Abell Bush Administration Rules Protect Corporate Wrongdoing As part of its ongoing and to date very successful effort to insulate corporate wrongdoing from accountability, responsibility and liability, the Bush Administration has adopted since 2005 a total of 51 regulatory rules that preclude lawsuits arising from all sorts of everyday items including drugs, cars, railroads, medical devices and food. The legal doctrine is known as "federal preemption." Here's how it works: say for instance the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) adopts a regulation outlining drug labeling and packaging. However, the labeling and packaging causes confusion and, as a result, children are badly injured. That's what happened to actor Dennis Quaid's newborn twins who were given massive doses of blood thinner at a hospital. The Quaids filed a lawsuit in Illinois state court claiming that the manufacturer -- Baxter Healthcare Corp. -- was negligent n packaging different doses of the product in similar vials with blue backgrounds. Under the doctrine of "federal preemption," however, the Quaids' suit could be barred because the manufacturer's compliance with a deficient federal regulation preempts any liability it might have for causing harm. Earlier this year FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach publicly acknowledged that the agency "may fail in its mission to protect and promote the health of every American" and that "peril exists." That admission followed on the heels of a report late in 2007 from the FDA Science Board that the agency does not have the capacity to ensure the safety of the nation's food, cannot adequately regulate the development of medical products based on "new science" and had many other materials failings. Historically, state tort and liability lawsuits have been viewed as complementary to federal agency regulations. But the Bush Administration has hit upon a successful formula to ensure not consumer safety but corporate immunity from responsibility and accountability: render the regulatory agencies unable to function and preempt any attempt to protect consumers. The American Association for Justice and other groups are opposing mightily these efforts and you can learn more here. Robert L. Abell FDA Report Acknowledges Agency Cannot Protect American Public The Supreme Court seems certain to
rule within the next year that FDA approval of a drug bars any type
of lawsuit that the drug is dangerous and caused injury or death.
This seemingly inevitable ruling makes all the more important the
FDA for the protection of the American public. Robert L. Abell Drug Companies Find Shelter In Overwhelmed FDA Probably in the next year and in
furtherance of Chief Justice Roberts's expressed desire that the
Supreme Court function to insulate corporate America from
accountability, responsibility and liability, drug companies will
find themselves immune from any lawsuit arising from harm, damage
and injuries caused by their products based on FDA approval and the
preemptive shelter the Supreme Court will rule it provides. Robert L. Abell Disability Insurers Causing Overload of Social Security A growing backlog of pending claims for disability benefits from Social Security indicates that the Social Security system is being swamped through the actions of insurance companies compelling their insureds to file benefit claims with Social Security. Most disability insurance policies have a provision that requires the insured to apply for disability benefits from Social Security and then allows, if that claim is approved, the insurance company to reduce the payment it makes to the insured. Oftentimes, disability insurers refer their insureds to a law firm or company to help them with their claim to Social Security. Approximately 2.5 million people apply annually for disability benefits from Social Security. A recent study found that 18 percent of these applicants acknowledged being unqualified, because the standard to receive Social Security disability benefits requires that a person be unable to work in any job because of a total and permanent disability. Typically, disability insurance policies pay benefits when a person is disabled from performing their last job, not any job. Some insurance companies have stopped paying benefits where there insured has refused to file a claim with Social Security. An interesting study of this practice and a pending lawsuit was reported as the lead story in the New York Times on April 2, "Insurers Faulted As Overloading Social Security." Robert L. Abell
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ROBERT L.
ABELL 866-578-5302 TOLL FREE
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Robert L. Abell is a
Personal Injury and Accident lawyer for Lexington, Winchester, Paris,
Georgetown, Frankfort, Versailles, Nicholasville, Richmond, Lancaster, Stanton,
London, Corbin, Shelbyville, Danville, Lawrenceburg, Williamstown,
Jeffersontown, Louisville, Harrodsburg, Campbellsville, Liberty, Bardstown,
Covington, Columbia, Elizabethtown, Newport, Pikeville, Ashland, Morehead,
Jackson, Cynthiana and other communities located in central and eastern Kentucky
and Fayette County, Scott County, Clark County, Madison County,
Laurel County, Powell County, Morgan County, Breathitt County,
Harrison County, Woodford County, Bourbon County, Jessamine County,
Mercer County, Boyle County, Anderson County, Shelby County,
Jefferson County, Owen County, Franklin County, Grant County, Boone
County, Kenton County and elsewhere in Kentucky. |
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