by Ashleigh Atwell via blavity.com
A jury awarded Ellen Harris, a nurse in Honolulu, Hawaii, over $3.8 million in damages after she claimed her employer ignored her reports of racial harassment, according to a press release from Harris’ lawyer.
Harris, who is black, worked in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at The Queen’s Medical Center from 2006 to 2011. During her time there, she reported a “potentially fatal event” involving another nurse who was allegedly harassing her.
When she told officials about the incident, her supervisor told her to write a statement; which she did. The day after she turned in her statement, she found a note in her work mailbox that read “LAZY *SS N*GGER B*TCH.”
Harris made another report and mentioned that the nurse who was harassing her was also acting “erratic,” and may have been under the influence. That nurse later resigned after the supervisor discovered she had been stealing “tremendous” amounts of fentanyl, a highly addictive narcotic. Harris’ supervisor and the hospital’s human resources director investigated the matter, and concluded that the note wasn’t threatening, but rather “a comment on Harris’ work ethic and communication skills.”
It took seven weeks for the investigators to interview two parties related to the note, and on Christmas Eve 2011, the night after the second person was interviewed, Harris found a picture of a noose taped to her locker. The incident was reported to Honolulu Police and investigated as terror threat.
Harris, who worked the night shift, requested a security escort to her car, additional security in the MICU, the results of any investigations and an apology. The HR department denied her security escort because the incidents didn’t occur in the parking lot.
She filed a lawsuit in 2013. Five years later, after a five week trial, Harris got her day in court. The jury declared that Harris was entitled to $630,000 in general damages and $3.2 million in punitive damages. Harris was happy with the decision and expressed that her safety, along with that of her patients, was important to her.
“I am so grateful to this jury for hearing my case and understood this is wrong. No one should be degraded or threatened like this,” Harris said. “I was only trying to make sure my patients were safe and received critical care they needed. After I found the noose on my locker, I did not think my patients or I were safe. Nurses depended on each other in the MICU. I was afraid something would happen to one of my patients or me after receiving this threat of violence.”
Source: https://blavity.com/nurse-that-received-note-reading-lazy-ss-ngger-picture-of-a-noose-awarded-over-38-million-in-damages?utm_content=bufferfc805&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Posts tagged as “Hawaii”
President Barack Obama marks his 54th birthday Tuesday with a busy schedule that covers United Nations policy, his vice president, entrepreneurship, and the Iran nuclear deal.
In the morning, Obama welcomes United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the Oval Office, with an agenda likely to range from Iran to climate change. The president addresses the U.N. General Assembly next month.
The president also holds his weekly lunch with Vice President Biden. This session holds special interest, coming in the wake of news reports that Biden will soon decide whether or not to seek the presidency in 2016.
In the afternoon, Obama hosts a first-time event: White House Demo Day, featuring entrepreneurs from across the country.
“Unlike a private-sector Demo Day, where entrepreneurs and startups pitch their ideas to funders, these innovators from around the country will ‘demo’ their individual stories,” says the White House schedule.
The president will view some of the demonstration exhibits and make remarks.
Obama ends the day by meeting with American Jewish community leaders to discuss the Iran nuclear deal.
It’s another part of an overall White House effort to promote the agreement in which the U.S. and allies reduce sanctions on Iran as it gives up the means to make nuclear weapons.
Congressional Republicans and some Jewish organizations oppose the deal, saying it gives Iran room to cheat and stressing Iranian threats against Israel.
Sometime along the way Tuesday, Obama will presumably celebrate his birthday. The president was born Aug. 4, 1961, in Hawaii.
article by David Jackson via usatoday.com
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkHbflBNNmE&w=560&h=315]
ENews reports Oprah Winfrey is offering the first glimpse of her farm in Maui (see video above), which is now yielding healthy produce she gives to the needy. All signs point to Winfrey intending for her farm to eventually supply an organic foods business with partner and fitness expert Bob Greene. Additionally, Winfrey and Greene are holding a contest to bring one lucky viewer/reader and their guest on a tour of the farm. Details on how to enter can be found at Oprah.com.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson and Lesa Lakin
It looks like media mogul Oprah Winfrey is getting into the organic food business. According to online filings for the US Patent and Trademark Organization, several applications for “Oprah’s Organics” were filed late last month. The filings are to use the name for bath soaps, sunscreen, massage oils, hair products — and also for organic salad dressings and frozen vegetables, soups, beverages and snack dips. Applications for “Oprah’s Farm” for a beverage and catering service and “Oprah’s Harvest” were also submitted for this fall. The addresses for the applicant’s include the Wilshire Boulevard addresses of Winfrey’s business and the Chicago address of Winfrey’s Harpo Inc., offices. Winfrey, who launched her own girls’ school in South Africa and has topped Forbes’ list of highest-paid celebrities this year earning an estimated $165 million, already owns hundreds of acres in Maui, which include a large farm and a bed and breakfast. A rep for Winfrey told us: “The trademarks were filed for Oprah’s farm on Maui to enable the farm to grow and distribute produce on Maui and throughout the Hawaiian Islands.”
article via nypost.com