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PUBLIC RELATIONS
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PUBLIC RELATIONS | SAFETY | COMMUNITY ACTION
CHALLENGE| PUBLIC RELATIONS | SAFETY|COMMUNITY ACTION CHALLENGE|
A MESSAGE FROM
YOUR PUBLIC RELATIONS CHAIR:
What a great beginning we've had for this year! I
am proud to be on the CA Council Team. Our California Council Director, Kathleen Kerstenbeck, has set high standards and great
goals for this year, and got us started on the right path by holding a very successful Leadership Workshop in Fresno on Saturday, July 31st, 2010. I feel that everyone who
attended the workshop walked away with a wealth of information and tools to take back to their local associations to help
with recruiting and retaining members, setting up workable budgets and streamlining their association's day-to-day operations.
Your new
Public Relations Team has been busy. Cruise this website - Education Chair, Kathleen Soares has been busy keeping updating
this page with current class schedules and CE Providers, while Legislation Chair, Rebecca Aherne has been keeping us
posted on the legislative updates and decisions that ultimately affect our clients and families. Safety Chair, Pamela Head has great safety articles posted on the Public Relations page, while our
Communications Liaison & Webmistress, Wendy Pike does a fabulous job keeping the website and information contained
therein up-to-date, attractive and current. Last
but not least my Public Relations Liaison, Gina Thomas Patterson, has been a great help to all the PR Team in helping
us all and working round the clock. See her Challenge to our California Associations at the end of this page. Thank
you so much Gina.
Our Community Action Challenge for this month is below - we are asking all
our California Associations and MAL's to join us in the Chevrolet "CELL PHONES for SOLDIERS" Charity event. Chevrolet's
goal is to raise $1 million in support to help U.S. Troops be able to call home. For more details please see the article
below & attached flier under "COMMUNITY ACTION CHALLENGE".
I hope to see you all
at the California Council 2010 Meeting on September 24th in Torrance being hosted by South Bay Chapter of NAIW. Please remember
to submit your CWC application to me or Gina before September 15th, 2010 (application and guidelines attached).
In Fellowship,
Mitula
Mitula Patel
CA Council Public
Relations Chair, 2010/2011
Insurance Women of Los Angeles
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SAFETY ARTICLE of the MONTH: Employers
- Get a "Severance Sign-off"
Employers often use severance pay as a way to fend off possible lawsuits
by departing employees. But here's the catch: If you don't require the employee to sign a waiver of all rights to
sue you in exchange for the severance, you can be sued anyway. Whenever you offer severance an employee is not otherwise entitled
to, be sure to get a valid release of claims--otherwise, you might just be throwing money away.
To help ensure the release will hold up in court; keep the
following tips in mind: 1) Put the agreement
in language the employee can understand, avoiding complicated legalese.
2) Allow the employee to consult with an attorney
before signing.
3) Be sure that the release covers, but isn't limited to, any and all claims under state, federal
and local law, and be specific regarding any claims you're aware of. But remember that some types of claims, such as those
for unpaid wages or workers' compensation, can't be relapsed.
4) Remember that the Older Workers' Benefit
Protection Act (OWBPA) imposes additional requirements for the waiver of age bias claims for workers over age 40; as does
the Age Discrimination in Employment (ADEA).
Article by: Victor Mena, President- HR & Safety Compliance, Inc.
Reprinted with permission from Victor Mena. Mr. Mena holds
a bachelor of arts in political science from UCLA. Mr. Mena has been awarded the WCCA designation in Workers Compensation
Claims Administration.
I hope that this is helpful!
Pamela Heard, CISR, CPIW
California Council Safety Liason
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COMMUNITY ACTION CHALLENGE: 
CHEVROLET TO RAISE
$1 MILLION TO HELP TROOPS CALL HOME
http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/
(see flyer)
Chevrolet is launching a year-long campaign, with the goal of raising $1 million to support Cell Phones for Soldiers. To reach that goal, Chevrolet is calling on General Motors employees, NASCAR race fans, and Chevrolet dealers across the
country to donate their unwanted, gently used cell phones to the cause. Cell Phones for Soldiers will recycle the cell phones, and use the proceeds to provide
pre-paid calling cards and cell phones to troops serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
"We feel Cell Phones for Soldiers is a worthy cause that fits well with Chevrolet's long-standing commitment to support the men and
women serving our country," said Mark Degnan, General Motors director of Local Advertising and Marketing. "Personally,
with a brother and a nephew in active duty in Iraq, I know how important every call home can be for soldiers overseas, and
their families at home."
Cell Phones for Soldiers was founded in 2004 by brother and sister Robbie and Brittany Bergquist. To date, they have provided more than 60 million
minutes of free calling cards through a national network of individual and corporate supporters.
Cell Phones for Soldiers recently announced a new campaign to offer free cell phones to all armed forces returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Returning troops can receive a refurbished phone, preloaded with a month's worth of calling time, to help them restart
their lives after active duty.
To
help raise funds for Cell Phones for Soldiers, Chevrolet is launching a year-long campaign, including: - Calling
on all 77,000 General Motors employees in the U.S. to donate their personal phones to the program.
- Introducing Cell Phones for Soldiers to millions of NASCAR fans at 15 Chevy Racing events in throughout the 2010 race season. In May, Dale
Earnhardt, Jr. introduced Cell Phones for Soldiers
to NASCAR fans at Richmond International Raceway. Additional Cell Phones for Soldiers events will be held at Ponono, Michigan International Speedway, Daytona, Indianapolis,
Atlanta, Kansas, and Fontana race tracks.
- Providing Cell Phones for Soldiers collection boxes throughout the Chevrolet dealer
network, providing thousands of collection centers across the U.S.
"There are
more than 130 million phones retired every year in the United States ," said Robbie Bergquist, "If just 2 percent
of Americans were to donate their unwanted phones, we could supply every soldier with a free call home – and a small
measure of our national gratitude."
Imagine what the support of our California NAIW Associations could do
for this timely project. It is our hopes our California Associations of NAIW will take up this project and gather retired
cell phones for this worthy cause. Ask your local President if your chapter is planning a cell phone drive. Individuals
who would like to support the cause also can also download a pre-paid mailing label at http://www.recellular.com/gm, to ship donations of one to one hundred cell phones.
~gina~
Gina Thomas
Patterson, CISR
CA Council Public Relations Liaison
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