Vallone v CNA Financial Essay Example for Free

Vallone v CNA Financial Essay In Vallone v. CAN Financial, this lawsuit is a purported class action brought on behalf of individuals who elected early retirement from the Continental Insurance Company in 1992. Plaintiffs allege that health care benefits promised to them as part of the early retirement package were terminated in violation of federal and state law. Along with hundreds of other Continental employees nationwide, plaintiffs elected to accept the package from Continental known as the Voluntary Special Retirement Program (VSRP). The VSRP provided early retirees with special health care benefits that differed from the benefits extended to regular retirees under Continentals Comprehensive Health Care and Dental Plan (the Plan). One such feature involved the Retiree Health Care Allowance, a subsidy from Continental provided to help offset the cost of retiree health care benefits. Under the Plan, employees had to retire at age 62 or older and have 25 years or more of service to qualify for the maximum retiree health care allowance. An employee retiring before the age 62, or with less than 25 years of service, would receive a reduced health care allowance. Early retirees under the VSRP, however, were to receive the maximum health care allowance, regardless of their age or years of service. Features such as this one enticed plaintiffs and hundreds of others to take early retirement. In August 1998, CNA informed all retired Continental employees that, as a result of the merger of health care plans, the retiree health care allowance contributions would end on December 31, 1998. Upset by the termination of the health care allowance, some early retirees under the VSRP decided to challenge CNAs actions. In August and September 1998, plaintiffs Vallone and Heidemann telephoned officials at CNA, arguing that the early retirees were given a lifetime health care allowance and inquiring about whether there would be a review of the termination of benefits. They were informed that CNAs actions were appropriate and final, and that no reconsideration or other remedy was available. Dissatisfied with the responses they received from CNA officials, plaintiffs filed this purported class action lawsuit on behalf of the approximately 500 or more persons nationwide who retired under the VSRP. In their complaint, plaintiffs allege that the termination of the retiree health care allowance violated the Employee Retirement Income and Security Act (ERISA) and state common law. On December 28, 2000, the district court granted CNAs motion for summary judgment on the plaintiffs claims of wrongful denial of benefits under ERISA (Count II), breach of ERISA and common law contract (Count IV) and equitable estoppel (Count V). On March 28, 2003, the district court granted CNAs motion for summary judgment on the plaintiffs one remaining count, their breach of fiduciary duty claim (Count III). The whole of this argument is to show that these individuals â€Å"retired† during the term of the agreement. No matter what new companies when merged or not does in the future you at-least have to fulfill and honor what agreement was in place before that time. Five Star Transportation v. NLRB In early January of 2003, nearing the expiration of the Districts contract with First Student, the District began organizing the bid process for awarding the 2003-2006 bus services contract.   As a part of the bid specifications distributed to potential vendors, the District required that any new vendor give current drivers â€Å"first consideration for employment.†   At the January 16, 2003 â€Å"bid opening† meeting, Five Star submitted the lowest bid. Thereafter, on January 21, Clifford wrote to the District expressing his concern that Five Stars bid was so low-nearly $300,000 lower than the then-current contract-that it was questionable whether it would be able to maintain the drivers wage and benefit levels, and the safe and effective service, then provided by First Student. Because of this a letter was sent out from the school board to Five Star Bus Company, saying that all employees must be paid the union wage and other items with no response. The school board also talked and had them write letters of the former Five Star employees, who were also trying to get back on board with the bus company if they are awarded the contract. After Five Star was awarded the bus services contract, seventeen former First Student drivers who were members of the Union bargaining unit applied for a position at Five Star. Of these, only six were hired. The company admits that the sole reason the other eleven applicants were not hired or even considered was because they had written letters critical of Five Star. On August 14, the Union filed a charge against Five Star with the NLRB alleging that â€Å"by failing to hire former unionized Belchertown bus drivers, the Company had discriminated against them because of their protected and concerted activity.† A three-member panel of the NLRB reviewed the ALJs findings and the parties exceptions and supporting briefs.   It divided the eleven drivers into three categories:  (1) those whose letters had failed to raise common employment-related concerns; (2) those whose letters primarily raised such concerns; and (3) those whose letters primarily disparaged Five Star. The NLRB concluded that Five Star had violated only as to the six drivers belonging to the second group, because only those drivers actions were protected by the Act. It ordered these drivers reinstated and granted back pay with interest. This goes back to over a half century of established National Labor Relations Act both with its hiring and firing practices. Five Star was very in the wrong and should have been better about their hiring and what they used against the employees or hopeful employees to choose for hire. Doing a bit more research on the Five Star bus company and for the contract from 2003-2006, I found that the company had a very bad reputation for poor maintained busses with many break downs. The school was very dissatisfied with the bus company over the three years and did not renew their contract.

T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land †Can We Learn From the Past ? Essay examp

T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land – Can We Learn From the Past ? And he is not likely to know what is To be done unless he lives in what is not merely the present, but the present moment of the past, unless he is conscious, not of what is dead, but what is already living. --T.S. Eliot, "Tradition and the Individual Talent" When read for the first time, The Waste Land appears to be a concoction of sorts, a disjointed poem. Lines are written in different languages, narrators change, and the scenes seem disconnected, except for the repeated references to the desert and death. When read over again, however, the pieces become coherent. The Waste Land is categorized as a poem, but exhibited visually, it appears to be a literary collage. And when standing back and viewing the collage from afar, a common theme soon emerges. Eliot collects aspects from different cultures or what he calls cultural memories. These assembled memories depict a lifeless world, in which the barrenness of these scenes speak of a wasted condition. He concentrates on women, including examples of violence committed against them and the women's subsequent lack of response to this violence, to show how apathetic the world is. But The Waste Land is not a social commentary on the plight of women. Rather, the women's non-reaction to the viole nce against them becomes a metaphor for the impotence of the human race to respond to pain. Violence recurs throughout time, and as Eliot points to in his essay "Tradition and Individual Talent" in the epigraph, we can break this cycle of violence and move ahead only by learning from the past and applying this knowledge to the present. Form often follows function in poetry, and in this case, Eliot uses this notion whe... ...ing these fragments, he saw how asleep he used to be: I have heard the key Turn in the door once and turn once only We think of the key, each in his prison, Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison (412-415) These memories become his "key" to awken the rest of us who are still pretending. The reader is left with two choices at the end of the poem. S/he can either forget about the poem, and go back to living in a waste land, or s/he can stop repressing pain and feeling and leave the waste land. Eliot ends the poem with a man (maybe himself?) sitting on a shore, "[f]ishing, with the arid plain behind me" and asking, "Shall I at least set my lands in order?" (425-36) The man here, by facing his pain, has left the waste land, and is able to move ahead. Work Cited [1] Plato, Republic, in Great Diaologues of Plato (Mentor: New York, 1984), 313.

Be True to Yourself Essay

William Shakespeare, perhaps the most extraordinary writer who ever lived, includes some magnificent philosophical truths in his work. Brilliantly constructed, his world-renowned play, Hamlet, demonstrates his excellence. When reading it, I felt privileged to read such beautifully written language, and choosing my favorite quote was difficult. In the beginning of the play, Laertes prepares to go to France. Naturally, his father Polonius gives him some special words of advice before he leaves, â€Å"[t]his above all: to thine own self be true, / And it must follow, as night the day/ Thou canst not then be false to any man† (I.ii.84-86). If Laertes is honest with himself his father believes he won’t misrepresent himself to others, and he will be a true gentleman. Not only is this quote pleasurable reading, it is entirely truthful. Lying and cheating are two violations of this truth that I’ve witnessed frequently. For example, English has always been one of my weaker subjects because I’m not a very efficient reader. Even so, I study hard for my tests and often get a decent result. However, several others, whose English skills are also relatively weak, choose to cheat, there by obtaining a grade equal to or higher than my own. I could easily do this as well—leaving more time to sleep and devote to soccer—but not while being true to myself. After studying intently for a test and getting the result I deserve, I’m completely satisfied, with the grade and myself. This is what’s important according to Shakespeare: to be able to look into the mirror and be proud of the face looking back.

The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien - 1211 Words

A young male, First Lieutenant, in the Army will unknowingly become a man as men server under him. Becoming a man with such unspeakable responsibilities at such a young age can emotionally test even the strongest man. An example, of this transformation is in the short story by Tim O’Brien called, The Things They Carried, it shows a young, First Lieutenant, in the Vietnam War named Jimmy Cross, and his journey to become a successful leader, but only after the death of one of his men. This young, First Lieutenant, will have to come to the grips that other men’s lives are his responsibility. This task of keeping his troops alive will tremendously test Lt. Cross’s heart and soul, by choosing to lose a component of his own humanity along the way. There must be order at all times when you’re in charge of men’s lives, and Lt. Cross must become capable of setting aside his own personal mind-set and align his thoughts with that of the essential standard oper ating procedures (SOP). Lt Cross eventually decides to follow the SOP, and he finally understands the importance of having an SOP; sadly it comes at the expense of one of his own men. The SOP has allowed Army personal to their job with no reluctance, no matter the situation, quickly being able to adapting to change, always acting in the approved manner by which they shall treat others with dignity and respect, and always having honor in their county, unit, and fellow soldiers. It doesn’t matter if someone is enlisted orShow MoreRelatedThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien892 Words   |  4 PagesThe Vietnam War was a long, exhausting, and traumatic experience for all of the soldiers and those who came with them. The Things They Carried, by Tim O Brien illustrates the different affects the war had on a variety of people: Jacqueline Navarra Rhoads, a former nurse during the Vietnam war, demonstrates these effects within her own memoir in the book, The Forgotten Veterans. Bot h sources exemplify many tribulations, while sharing a common thread of suffering from mental unpredictability. DesensitizationRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1377 Words   |  6 Pageslove to have it as good as we do. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried discusses many veterans who experience the burden of shame and guilt daily due to their heroic actions taken during the Vietnam War. The book shows you how such a war can change a man before, during, and after it’s over.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As I reflect on the many conflicts America has been a part of, none can compare to the tragedies that occurred in The Vietnam war. As told in The Things They Carried (O’Brien), characters such as NormanRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1457 Words   |  6 Pagesthe theme pertains to everyone regardless of their background. It conveys the same ideas to people from all across our society. Lastly, a classic is timeless, which means it has transcended the time in which it was written. In Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, he offers a new, intriguing way to view war or just life in general and also meets all of the crucial requirements mentioned above to qualify it as a book of literary canon. Though this book is technically a war novel, many peopleRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1242 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Tim O’Brien is obsessed with telling a true war story. O Brien s fiction about the Vietnam experience suggest, lies not in realistic depictions or definitive accounts. As O’Brien argues, absolute occurrence is irrelevant because a true war story does not depend upon that kind of truth. Mary Ann’s induction into genuine experience is clearly destructive as well as empowering† (p.12) Tim O’s text, The Things they Carried, details his uses of word choice to portray his tone and bias. Tim O’BrienRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1169 Words   |  5 Pagesbut are set in the past and borrows things from that time period. A story that fits this genre of literature is The Things They Carried. The story is about Tim O Brien, a Vietnam veteran from the Unite States, who tells stories about what had happ ened when he and his team were stationed in Vietnam. He also talks about what he felt about the war when he was drafted and what he tried to do to avoid going to fight in Vietnam. The Things They Carried by Tim O Brien was precise with its portrayal of settingRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1004 Words   |  5 Pages Tim O’Brien is a veteran from of the Vietnam War, and after coming home from his duty he decided to be a writer. His work â€Å"The Things They Carried† is about a group of soldiers that are fighting in the Vietnam War. The first part of the story talks mostly about physical items that each soldier carries, and also mentions the weight of the items as well. Though, there is one exception to the list of physical things. Lieutenant Cross is a character of the story, and Tim O’ Brien quickly states theRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien896 Words   |  4 PagesTrouble without a doubt is what First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross c arried around his shoulders because he was out in war, where mistakes happen. Lost and unknown of his surroundings he had to lead his men into safety, while destroying anything they found. First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross only holds onto one thing for hope and that is Martha, the woman who he hopes is a virgin to come back to. Tim O’ Brien introduces symbolism by adding a character that has a meaning of purity and a pebble, which symbolizesRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien Essay832 Words   |  4 PagesSummary: â€Å"By and large they carried these things inside, maintaining the masks of composure† (21). In Tim O’brien’s The Things They Carried, the American soldiers of the Vietnam War carry much more than the weight of their equipment, much more than souvenirs or good-luck charms or letters from home. They carried within themselves the intransitive burdens—of fear, of cowardice, of love, of loneliness, of anger, of confusion. Most of all, they carry the truth of what happened to them in the war—aRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1369 Words   |  6 PagesMany authors use storytelling as a vehicle to convey the immortality of past selves and those who have passed to not only in their piece of literature but in their life as an author. In Tim O’Brien’s work of fiction The Things They Carried, through his final chapter â€Å"The Lives of the Dead,† O Brien conveys that writing is a matter of survival since, the powers of s torytelling can ensure the immortality of all those who were significant in his life. Through their immortality, O’Brien has the abilityRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1407 Words   |  6 Pages       Our introduction stated that in â€Å"The Things They Carried,† author Tim O’Brien tells us not directly of the soldiers of Vietnam, or the situations they find themselves in, but about the things they carry on their shoulders and in their pockets. These â€Å"things† identify the characters and bring them to life.   I find that to be true as the author unfolds the stories about war and the uncommon things one carries in to war both inadvertently and on purpose.  Ã‚  Ã‚  As it was noted: Stories about war –