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We are entering Ramadan, one of the most holy periods in Islam. For many, this is a little bit of a mystery. I believe that we, as good allies need to educate ourselves on things we don’t know about, and it shouldn’t fall to those in a group with different traditions and beliefs to explain it to us. So, I decided we should talk about this practice, as I have had the pleasure of participating in multiple events during and around this annual faith practice and decided I could try to help clear up some mysteries.
Like my faith, Christianity and the one ours flows from, Judaism, the Islamic calendar is lunar. So this observance moves throughout our secular calendar. It is ing the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It’s observance is one of the five major pillars of the Islamic faith. It lasts about 29 days running from the sighting of a crescent moon to the next. So, for 2024 it begins on March 11th.
For the time of this practice, adult Muslims who are not acutely or chronically ill, travailing, elderly, breast-feeding, diabetic, or the like, fast from Dawn to Dusk. There is a pre-dawn meal, the suhur, and a nightly feast that breaks the fast is called an iftar. I have had the honor of attending several of the later, and after appropriate prayers and meditation it truly is a chance for great community.
During the hours of fasting Muslims refrain not only from food and drink, but also tobacco products, sexual relations, and other things they believe separate them from God. Typically, practitioners devote themselves instead to salat (prayer) and study of the Quran.
Like Lent for Christians, it is a time of spiritual reflection, self-improvement, and heightened devotion and worship. The act of fasting is said to redirect the heart away from worldly activities, its purpose being to cleanse the soul. Muslims believe that Ramadan teaches them to practice self-discipline, self-control, sacrifice, and empathy for those who are less fortunate, thus encouraging actions of generosity and compulsory charity. Muslims also believe fasting helps instill compassion for the food-insecure poor.
Having undertaken fasts and other ways of denying myself during Lent, I can tell you it really did focus me on my prayer life and it also reminded me when I would fast for a whole day in high school that there are people in this world, and not far from me in my country, who go to bed hungry every night.
Having seen family and friends break the fast with women & men of the faith and having done it myself, I can tell you it is a great chance to get to know someone else’s beliefs. And for me, it has been a meaningful experience. I can tell you years ago, after the horrible events of September 11th, local Mosques and Islamic Schools were under threat. A group of churches, including mine helped out by sending women and men to the schools during lunch breaks to provide extra eyes and protection for the children and allow the faculty and staff a break to take care of themselves. The next Ramadan, after the threats had died down, we are all invited to break the fast at an iftar and we were welcomed into a community and truly had a great meal with friends. And I can tell you every chance since, has lived up to that.
So, from one who has enjoyed the spiritual and physical benefits of fasting from time to time, we wish our brothers and sisters of the faith, a meaningful Ramadan, Ramadan Kareem.
Like my faith, Christianity and the one ours flows from, Judaism, the Islamic calendar is lunar. So this observance moves throughout our secular calendar. It is ing the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It’s observance is one of the five major pillars of the Islamic faith. It lasts about 29 days running from the sighting of a crescent moon to the next. So, for 2024 it begins on March 11th.
For the time of this practice, adult Muslims who are not acutely or chronically ill, travailing, elderly, breast-feeding, diabetic, or the like, fast from Dawn to Dusk. There is a pre-dawn meal, the suhur, and a nightly feast that breaks the fast is called an iftar. I have had the honor of attending several of the later, and after appropriate prayers and meditation it truly is a chance for great community.
During the hours of fasting Muslims refrain not only from food and drink, but also tobacco products, sexual relations, and other things they believe separate them from God. Typically, practitioners devote themselves instead to salat (prayer) and study of the Quran.
Like Lent for Christians, it is a time of spiritual reflection, self-improvement, and heightened devotion and worship. The act of fasting is said to redirect the heart away from worldly activities, its purpose being to cleanse the soul. Muslims believe that Ramadan teaches them to practice self-discipline, self-control, sacrifice, and empathy for those who are less fortunate, thus encouraging actions of generosity and compulsory charity. Muslims also believe fasting helps instill compassion for the food-insecure poor.
Having undertaken fasts and other ways of denying myself during Lent, I can tell you it really did focus me on my prayer life and it also reminded me when I would fast for a whole day in high school that there are people in this world, and not far from me in my country, who go to bed hungry every night.
Having seen family and friends break the fast with women & men of the faith and having done it myself, I can tell you it is a great chance to get to know someone else’s beliefs. And for me, it has been a meaningful experience. I can tell you years ago, after the horrible events of September 11th, local Mosques and Islamic Schools were under threat. A group of churches, including mine helped out by sending women and men to the schools during lunch breaks to provide extra eyes and protection for the children and allow the faculty and staff a break to take care of themselves. The next Ramadan, after the threats had died down, we are all invited to break the fast at an iftar and we were welcomed into a community and truly had a great meal with friends. And I can tell you every chance since, has lived up to that.
So, from one who has enjoyed the spiritual and physical benefits of fasting from time to time, we wish our brothers and sisters of the faith, a meaningful Ramadan, Ramadan Kareem.
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In February of 2004 I had a difficult decision to make. I had joined a new firm a little over a year before, and it wasn’t a good fit. I had gone there after almost nine years at another firm that kind of came apart thanks to one partner not wanting to sell their controlling interest in the firm to the others.
The choice was try out yet another firm or do something crazy, start my own firm. I had some serious roadblocks. First, I had a 30 day window of opportunity. In the move from the firm of nine years I lost six out of seven of my clients. Unbeknownst to me the partners at the new firm were deliberately tanking the transition as they wanted to get my former senior partner to join them, and bring ALL of the firm’s clients with her. And it’s pretty near impossible to create a 600% increase in your client base in a year. And my wife was trying to turn around an inner city church that was constantly resulting in her cutting her pay.
Any new firm would have to be done on the most modest of shoestring budgets, I managed to borrow from my mother basically three months worth of expenses for what I designed. So, the race was on. I had 30 days to find an office, set it up, help transfer all of my files, which meant getting every client in to sign a gaggle of forms, and basically create something from nothing.
And it was a race against the clock. But I found an office in a good location. Saved a few dollars by agreeing to paint the office and pay for it myself, thanks to everyone who helped do that. I found a place that resold used office furniture and between them and Sauder we were set on that. Bought three computers, two copier, scanner printers, three two line phones, hung a room partition that turned two rooms into three, and on the morning of March 11, 2004, I opened.
Now the first month, it was me. That was it. I had reached out to a former colleague at the firm I was at for years. She was willing to work multiple jobs so long as part time with me was one of them. But due to cash flow, I did the first 30 days solo. But it took off from there.
A key settlement check came in, clients started finding us, we were able to bump Lisa to full time, and things took off from there, in part thanks to a client’s wife calling me and asking me a favor. I remember even saying, OK, but don’t get your hopes up on what I can do. She was asking if her son could intern for us to get college credit and see if he wanted to be a lawyer. Well, he not only did his internship, we hired him and he worked through his graduation from both undergrad and law school.
Speaking of employees, in our 20 years we’ve helped employ seventeen people with either full time or part time jobs. Two of those were of counsel attorneys, which means they also had their own practices outside of our office, and they helped employ four more people over that time.
And we have consistently tried to help out our local paralegal programs at the University of Toledo and Stautzenberger College, the essentially pre-law program at Lourdes University and both Toledo School for the Arts and Toledo Public Schools. We’ve had the privilege to have eighteen interns over that time with three of them eventually joining us as employees.
And thanks to those employees and staff we have made a difference. We have managed to guide thousands of people, over 5,600 to date, to some type of legal help. Along with our Workers’ Compensation practice, we have also, with the help of our of counsel partners, helped people in Personal Injury in two states, Social Security Disability, Probate, and more.
In the Workers’ Compensation practice, that has meant approximately 9,000 hearings before the Industrial Commission at their offices in Toledo, Lima, Dayton, Cincinnati, Mansfield, Columbus, Cambridge, Youngstown, Cleveland and Akron. Including seven trips to the final or Commission level hearing. In case you’re wondering, that is about 450 per year or an average of 9 hearings per week.
But we’ve not just been handling administrative Workers’ Compensation hearings during that time frame. There are two types of appeals to court on our Workers’ Compensation Cases. One involves a jury trial in the county in which you were injured and we have filed several hundred of these appeals, trying several of them. We have also taken cases up to the Tenth Appellate District Court of Appeals (for some fights go to the court of appeals in Columbus on Workers’ Compensation medical or money benefits issues), we also handled cases in the Sixth, Third and Eighth Appellate Districts. And we have fought three fights to the Ohio Supreme Court, winning two of three S tate of Ohio ex rel. Johns Manville v. Harold Housman; State ex. rel Daimler Chrysler v. Industrial Commission ; and State ex rel. Estate of Sziraki v. Administrator Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.
During that time we have been busy trying to make our community a better place. Our employees worked with Toledo Area Jobs with Justice offering voters free rides to the polls for nearly a decade until I became to prominent in local politics to stay and be considered non-partisan. We also have worked the YWCA Hope Center helping out domestic violence victims. We have volunteer with the Seagate Food Bank, Mobile Meals and others try to help stamp out hunger and Promise House Project to end youth homelessness. And we have members serve in unpaid positions at four churches.
We have also done our best to make the legal profession better with I have hadtwo articles on the practice of law published in that time frame. I have also been an instructor at Fifteen Continuing Legal Education Seminars for the Akron Bar Association, The Toledo Bar Association, and the Ohio Association for Justice. And that’s just Kurt. Our other of counsel attorney Russ Gerney has spoken to other ones.
And during all this time, I have also held three other paid jobs at various times, including Toledo City Council Member at Large, Instructor Stautzenberger College, Board Member of the Lucas County Board of Elections and some pretty intense unpaid servant roles.
How have we done? The firm and I have received thirteen different awards for practicing law, four political awards and two awards for his work in the community. So not bad if I say so myself.
But none of that would be possible without the support of all of our families, our vendor partners, our incredible team members here and those who have left, and our clients. We all want to thank you for whatever way we’ve worked together to make this possible, an we look forward to our next big anniversary.
The choice was try out yet another firm or do something crazy, start my own firm. I had some serious roadblocks. First, I had a 30 day window of opportunity. In the move from the firm of nine years I lost six out of seven of my clients. Unbeknownst to me the partners at the new firm were deliberately tanking the transition as they wanted to get my former senior partner to join them, and bring ALL of the firm’s clients with her. And it’s pretty near impossible to create a 600% increase in your client base in a year. And my wife was trying to turn around an inner city church that was constantly resulting in her cutting her pay.
Any new firm would have to be done on the most modest of shoestring budgets, I managed to borrow from my mother basically three months worth of expenses for what I designed. So, the race was on. I had 30 days to find an office, set it up, help transfer all of my files, which meant getting every client in to sign a gaggle of forms, and basically create something from nothing.
And it was a race against the clock. But I found an office in a good location. Saved a few dollars by agreeing to paint the office and pay for it myself, thanks to everyone who helped do that. I found a place that resold used office furniture and between them and Sauder we were set on that. Bought three computers, two copier, scanner printers, three two line phones, hung a room partition that turned two rooms into three, and on the morning of March 11, 2004, I opened.
Now the first month, it was me. That was it. I had reached out to a former colleague at the firm I was at for years. She was willing to work multiple jobs so long as part time with me was one of them. But due to cash flow, I did the first 30 days solo. But it took off from there.
A key settlement check came in, clients started finding us, we were able to bump Lisa to full time, and things took off from there, in part thanks to a client’s wife calling me and asking me a favor. I remember even saying, OK, but don’t get your hopes up on what I can do. She was asking if her son could intern for us to get college credit and see if he wanted to be a lawyer. Well, he not only did his internship, we hired him and he worked through his graduation from both undergrad and law school.
Speaking of employees, in our 20 years we’ve helped employ seventeen people with either full time or part time jobs. Two of those were of counsel attorneys, which means they also had their own practices outside of our office, and they helped employ four more people over that time.
And we have consistently tried to help out our local paralegal programs at the University of Toledo and Stautzenberger College, the essentially pre-law program at Lourdes University and both Toledo School for the Arts and Toledo Public Schools. We’ve had the privilege to have eighteen interns over that time with three of them eventually joining us as employees.
And thanks to those employees and staff we have made a difference. We have managed to guide thousands of people, over 5,600 to date, to some type of legal help. Along with our Workers’ Compensation practice, we have also, with the help of our of counsel partners, helped people in Personal Injury in two states, Social Security Disability, Probate, and more.
In the Workers’ Compensation practice, that has meant approximately 9,000 hearings before the Industrial Commission at their offices in Toledo, Lima, Dayton, Cincinnati, Mansfield, Columbus, Cambridge, Youngstown, Cleveland and Akron. Including seven trips to the final or Commission level hearing. In case you’re wondering, that is about 450 per year or an average of 9 hearings per week.
But we’ve not just been handling administrative Workers’ Compensation hearings during that time frame. There are two types of appeals to court on our Workers’ Compensation Cases. One involves a jury trial in the county in which you were injured and we have filed several hundred of these appeals, trying several of them. We have also taken cases up to the Tenth Appellate District Court of Appeals (for some fights go to the court of appeals in Columbus on Workers’ Compensation medical or money benefits issues), we also handled cases in the Sixth, Third and Eighth Appellate Districts. And we have fought three fights to the Ohio Supreme Court, winning two of three S tate of Ohio ex rel. Johns Manville v. Harold Housman; State ex. rel Daimler Chrysler v. Industrial Commission ; and State ex rel. Estate of Sziraki v. Administrator Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.
During that time we have been busy trying to make our community a better place. Our employees worked with Toledo Area Jobs with Justice offering voters free rides to the polls for nearly a decade until I became to prominent in local politics to stay and be considered non-partisan. We also have worked the YWCA Hope Center helping out domestic violence victims. We have volunteer with the Seagate Food Bank, Mobile Meals and others try to help stamp out hunger and Promise House Project to end youth homelessness. And we have members serve in unpaid positions at four churches.
We have also done our best to make the legal profession better with I have hadtwo articles on the practice of law published in that time frame. I have also been an instructor at Fifteen Continuing Legal Education Seminars for the Akron Bar Association, The Toledo Bar Association, and the Ohio Association for Justice. And that’s just Kurt. Our other of counsel attorney Russ Gerney has spoken to other ones.
And during all this time, I have also held three other paid jobs at various times, including Toledo City Council Member at Large, Instructor Stautzenberger College, Board Member of the Lucas County Board of Elections and some pretty intense unpaid servant roles.
How have we done? The firm and I have received thirteen different awards for practicing law, four political awards and two awards for his work in the community. So not bad if I say so myself.
But none of that would be possible without the support of all of our families, our vendor partners, our incredible team members here and those who have left, and our clients. We all want to thank you for whatever way we’ve worked together to make this possible, an we look forward to our next big anniversary.
- Published on
As I said before, we wanted to talk about the famous and the not as famous figures of African American History this month. And honestly, despite getting A’s in history and all, this is a hero of our country I had never heard of until a few friends posted a meme about him and his story. And there have been attempts at making a movie about his life, but none have gotten to the screen yet, but believe me, when it does, it will be worth it to see.
Robert Small was born a slave in 1839 in South Carolina. Now, his mother was one of their owner’s favorites. She had made it from field hand to servant in the house. At first, their owners were not having Robert work in the fields or the like, but his mother asked for and was granted a chance for him to work for awhile on their fields. She wanted him to know that the life they had was not the plight of most slaves.
By Age 12, he was sent as laborer for hire in Charleston where his master got 15 of every 16 dollars he earned per week. He feel in love with the ships and the seas and worked as a longshoreman, sail maker, a rigger, and even up to a wheelman. Slaves were not allowed to have the title helmsman, but that is the job he did and he became very knowledgeable about Charleston Harbor.
By Age 17, he had married Hannah Jones, an enslaved hotel maid in Charleston. Together they had two children and he worked hard to try to win their freedom. But the cost was $800 per child, that’s just shy of $30,000 in 2024 money. He did manage to save an eighth of it, but was never able to reach that amount.
The Civil War broke out and he was conscripted into the Confederate Navy and was assigned to the CSS Planter a military transport ship. And served the ship well, gaining the trust of the captain and free crew. On May 12th, he put a bold plan into action, freedom. The free crew and captain were going ashore and he asked for permission for the slave crew’s families to come aboard and visit them. This had been allowed before and was again, so long as they were gone by curfew.
But Smalls had no intention of getting them off at curfew, they instead stole the ship with their families on board, and headed out to me the Union blockade. Along the way, they had to fool the crews of six confederate harbor forts. Smalls instructed the crew on the proper signals and he wore the captain’s uniform and did his best to mimic his movements. And the gambit paid off. The last fort figured out too late that the ship was not supposed to be there.
Smalls sailed the ship out to the Union ship USS Onward, and surrendered the ship and the cargo to the Union navy. He and his crew had earned their families’ freedom and were paid a large prize for the ship, Smalls’ share alone was $1,500 (just shy of $60,000 today). And he was hailed as a hero in the north. Eventually he helped earn northern African Americans the right to serve in segregated Army units. He himself was allowed to serve in the Navy, eventually serving as a captain of a ship, and again hailed as a hero for his actions there. There was controversy about it, but he was one of the few African Americans paid a pension from their service.
He learned to read and right in just nine months, and became an entrepreneur. At first offering services like education to his fellow freed men. And even ended up being given his former owner’s home and successfully fending off a lawsuit from that owner, which helped other similarly situated former slaves.
He then became active, during the brief time when Reconstruction made this possible in the South in politics. He was elected to as a delegate to the South Carolina Constitutional Convention in 1868, then to the South Carolina House of Representatives. He was later appointed to and retained his seat in the South Carolina State Senate. He worked his way to delegate to the Republican National Convention, while serving in the South Carolina Militia where he rose to the rank of Major General.
In 1874 he served in the US House of Representatives from 1874 to 1887. He even tried to integrate the US military in 1875, but sadly his amendment failed. He was only knocked out of politics by a conviction for taking a bribe, a charge that was later subject to a pardon as many of thos charges were made for political reasons and gains. Until the mid 20th Century he was the second longest serving African American in Congress. He was later appointed to positions by several US presidents.
And while few of us have heard of him, not one, but two US ships have been named in his honor. The most recent, the USS Robert Smalls a Ticonderoga class (very capable and important cruiser) CG-62 is still in commission and protecting US aircraft carriers today. Robert finally died in 1915 at the age of 75.
So, I hope we all get to watch a movie about this hero of American military and public service and that a few more people now known about an amazing American.
Robert Small was born a slave in 1839 in South Carolina. Now, his mother was one of their owner’s favorites. She had made it from field hand to servant in the house. At first, their owners were not having Robert work in the fields or the like, but his mother asked for and was granted a chance for him to work for awhile on their fields. She wanted him to know that the life they had was not the plight of most slaves.
By Age 12, he was sent as laborer for hire in Charleston where his master got 15 of every 16 dollars he earned per week. He feel in love with the ships and the seas and worked as a longshoreman, sail maker, a rigger, and even up to a wheelman. Slaves were not allowed to have the title helmsman, but that is the job he did and he became very knowledgeable about Charleston Harbor.
By Age 17, he had married Hannah Jones, an enslaved hotel maid in Charleston. Together they had two children and he worked hard to try to win their freedom. But the cost was $800 per child, that’s just shy of $30,000 in 2024 money. He did manage to save an eighth of it, but was never able to reach that amount.
The Civil War broke out and he was conscripted into the Confederate Navy and was assigned to the CSS Planter a military transport ship. And served the ship well, gaining the trust of the captain and free crew. On May 12th, he put a bold plan into action, freedom. The free crew and captain were going ashore and he asked for permission for the slave crew’s families to come aboard and visit them. This had been allowed before and was again, so long as they were gone by curfew.
But Smalls had no intention of getting them off at curfew, they instead stole the ship with their families on board, and headed out to me the Union blockade. Along the way, they had to fool the crews of six confederate harbor forts. Smalls instructed the crew on the proper signals and he wore the captain’s uniform and did his best to mimic his movements. And the gambit paid off. The last fort figured out too late that the ship was not supposed to be there.
Smalls sailed the ship out to the Union ship USS Onward, and surrendered the ship and the cargo to the Union navy. He and his crew had earned their families’ freedom and were paid a large prize for the ship, Smalls’ share alone was $1,500 (just shy of $60,000 today). And he was hailed as a hero in the north. Eventually he helped earn northern African Americans the right to serve in segregated Army units. He himself was allowed to serve in the Navy, eventually serving as a captain of a ship, and again hailed as a hero for his actions there. There was controversy about it, but he was one of the few African Americans paid a pension from their service.
He learned to read and right in just nine months, and became an entrepreneur. At first offering services like education to his fellow freed men. And even ended up being given his former owner’s home and successfully fending off a lawsuit from that owner, which helped other similarly situated former slaves.
He then became active, during the brief time when Reconstruction made this possible in the South in politics. He was elected to as a delegate to the South Carolina Constitutional Convention in 1868, then to the South Carolina House of Representatives. He was later appointed to and retained his seat in the South Carolina State Senate. He worked his way to delegate to the Republican National Convention, while serving in the South Carolina Militia where he rose to the rank of Major General.
In 1874 he served in the US House of Representatives from 1874 to 1887. He even tried to integrate the US military in 1875, but sadly his amendment failed. He was only knocked out of politics by a conviction for taking a bribe, a charge that was later subject to a pardon as many of thos charges were made for political reasons and gains. Until the mid 20th Century he was the second longest serving African American in Congress. He was later appointed to positions by several US presidents.
And while few of us have heard of him, not one, but two US ships have been named in his honor. The most recent, the USS Robert Smalls a Ticonderoga class (very capable and important cruiser) CG-62 is still in commission and protecting US aircraft carriers today. Robert finally died in 1915 at the age of 75.
So, I hope we all get to watch a movie about this hero of American military and public service and that a few more people now known about an amazing American.
- Published on
As I’ve said we’re going to be profiling one prominent African American each week of Black History month, some more well know, but maybe details you don’t know, others most of us haven’t heard of. This is one of those well known ones, but you may not know the whole story.
Thurgood Marshall served from 1967 to 1991 as an Associate Justice on the US Supreme Court. And he was one of my favorites as a student. But it wasn’t so much for what he did on the court, it was what he did as an attorney that makes him my hero.
Every civil rights movement needs three types of people or groups in my experience. First there is the by any means necessary fighter(s) who are not afraid to live life outside the bounds of an unjust system. This isn’t my favorite category, but I will admit I can’t think of an effort that has succeeded without these folks. Women who voted illegally before women had the right to vote, protestors that shut down major events to fight for funding for the treatment and hopefully cure of AIDS, Malcom X, just to name a few.
Then there are the ones who dance on the edge. They are mostly working inside the bounds of the system, using confrontation but also trying to persuade and use dialogue. In the African American Civil Rights Movement the first, but even close to only, name people cite is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
And the last group is the ones lawyers like, because we are supposed to live inside the bounds of unjurst systems and fix them from within through legal battles. Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the ACLU on women’s rights is a prime example, also the legal team that helped Him Obergefell and his deceased husband John and others create marriage equality for the LGBTQ community.
But the master architect of that approach was Thurgood Marshall. He was born Thoroughgood Marshall on July 2, 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland, his father held various jobs as a waiter in hotels, in clubs, and on railroad cars, and his mother was an elementary school teacher. He attend Lincoln University for his undergraduate degree and Howard University for his law degree where he finished first in his class. He passed the Maryland bar exam on his first try, and started a law practice in Baltimore.
His first major desegregation victory came in private practice. While trying to maintain a for profit law practice, he also did voluntary legal work for the local branch of the NAACP. In 1935, Marshall brought suit against the University of Maryland on behalf of Donald Gaines Murray, an African American whose application to the university's law school had been rejected on account of his race. Marhsall went to Howard for the same reason. He won, in the Maryland state court system.
Unable to make a for profit legal practice a reality, in part because of all of his free legal work, he soon decided to joint the NAACP legal team and eventually became director-counsel of the newly formed NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Their approach to ending segregation was to pick selected fights in various state and federal courts, and slowly build up a body of lower court cases and then use those plus the use of sociological data to show that segregation was inherently unequal. And a series of landmark Supreme Court Cases that gutted that injustice from within. Of the thirty-two civil rights cases that Marshall argued before the Supreme Court, he won twenty-nine. This during a time when the country’s will was very much continuing this oppression. His most famous victory of that string was Brown vs. Board of Education. In a little side note, as the grandson and nephew of UAW members, I can say I’m proud to say that the United Auto Workers provided the major funding for Marshall and the NAACP’s legal team. The decision was a unanimous one in Brown. And let me tell you that is rarity.
This model is pretty much what Ruth Bader Ginsburg used with the ACLU on women’s rights. Taking on the case of a man, being denied a tax deduction because of his gender, then using the victory and lessons learned to step by step tear down that discrimination brick by brick.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Marshall to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Giving up a lifetime appointment, four years later, Johnson appointed him as the U.S. Solicitor General. The Solicitor General is the US Government’s lead attorney on cases before the US Supreme Court. After two years, in 1967, Johnson nominated Marshall to replace Justice Tom C. Clark on the Supreme Court. Initially it was feared that due to all of these battles, he would have alienated too many Senators to be confirmed. But he was by an 86% vote.
I could go on for pages on his opinions as a justice, and he was a great one. But for me, it’s the going into the heart of an oppressive system, despite being one of the oppressed, and brining it down brick by brick. I will likely retire never arguing a series of cases of such importance. But I can tell you, he does inspire me daily to stand up for my clients, in a system where super majority control by a party opposed to my clients’ rights.
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Now I said our series would be about those who you may not know about, but I am also including two figures you may not know the whole story about. This is one of the later.
Nichelle Nichols was born Grace Dell Nichols in a suburb of Chicago, where her father a favor work became Mayor and Chief Magistrate. She hated her name and asked her parents to let her change it. They suggested Nichelle, which they said meant "victorious maiden".
Ms. Nichols began her professional career as a singer and dancer in Chicago. She then toured the United States and Canada with the bands of Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton. She also became a stage actress, and occasionally modeling.
In 1967, Nichols, was cast in the role that made her a pop culture icon. Lieutenant Nyota Uhura on Star Trek. She was one of the first Black women featured in a major television series. And fo her to be a bridge officer was unprecedented at that time. The series didn’t stop with her though. There were black actors cast as doctors, brilliant scientists, captains and admirals.
She told a great story about being part of Star Trek in an NPR interveiw in 2011. Nichelle was very discouraged after the first season of Star Trek. Her character’s lines kept getting cut, she was getting all kinds of racist mail, and she really dreamed of being a Broadway star and the offers for that started to roll in. She went so far as to draft her resignation letter.
But before she turned it in, she went an NAACP fundraiser in Beverly Hills. One of the promoters of the event took her aside and said someone who was a huge fan of her and the show wanted to talk to her. She, of course, espected a typical Trekker, but up to her walked Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He warmly greeted her and told her he was a huge fan of hers and the show.
She basically thanked him, but said she was just the black lady on the bridge who answered the space phone. He changed her mind about that and quitting saying “Nichelle, whether you like it or not, you have become a symbol, If you leave, they can replace you with a blonde haired white girl, and it will be like you were never there. What you’ve accomplished, for all of us, will only be real if you stay.’ He compared the importance of her staying to marching in civil rights marches, etc. Well she did stay for the series, the movies, the conventions, all of it.
But that wasn’t her biggest contribution to space and space exploration. After the TV series ended, she was approached by NASA. NASA realized they had, to say the least, a bit of diversity issue. With exactly zero black astronauts at the time and the same number of women, they knew they had to change that. And they asked her to be part of an effort to recruit both.
The program was a huge success. Among those recruited were Dr. Sally Ride, the first American female astronaut, and United States Air Force Colonel Guion Bluford, the first African-American astronaut, as well as Dr. Judith Resnik and Dr. Ronald McNair, who both flew successful missions during the Space Shuttle program before their deaths in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986. Former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison cited Nichols' role of Lieutenant Uhura as her inspiration for becoming an astronaut. Recruits also included Charles Bolden, the former NASA administrator and veteran of four shuttle missions, Frederick D. Gregory, former deputy administrator and a veteran of three shuttle missions and Lori Garver, former deputy administrator. She served from the mid-1980s on the board of governors of the National Space Institute (today's National Space Society), a nonprofit, educational space advocacy organization.
So, now you know a bit of why Nichelle wasn’t just an actress, she actually changed the world by being one. And to this day her character is still a vital part of the Star Trek lore with Zoe Saldana playing the character in movies and Celia Rose Gooding playing the character in Star Trek Strange New Worlds, as she says playing Uhura the way Nichelle would have in the 1960's if they had let her. Nichelle Nichols died in 2022.
Nichelle Nichols was born Grace Dell Nichols in a suburb of Chicago, where her father a favor work became Mayor and Chief Magistrate. She hated her name and asked her parents to let her change it. They suggested Nichelle, which they said meant "victorious maiden".
Ms. Nichols began her professional career as a singer and dancer in Chicago. She then toured the United States and Canada with the bands of Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton. She also became a stage actress, and occasionally modeling.
In 1967, Nichols, was cast in the role that made her a pop culture icon. Lieutenant Nyota Uhura on Star Trek. She was one of the first Black women featured in a major television series. And fo her to be a bridge officer was unprecedented at that time. The series didn’t stop with her though. There were black actors cast as doctors, brilliant scientists, captains and admirals.
She told a great story about being part of Star Trek in an NPR interveiw in 2011. Nichelle was very discouraged after the first season of Star Trek. Her character’s lines kept getting cut, she was getting all kinds of racist mail, and she really dreamed of being a Broadway star and the offers for that started to roll in. She went so far as to draft her resignation letter.
But before she turned it in, she went an NAACP fundraiser in Beverly Hills. One of the promoters of the event took her aside and said someone who was a huge fan of her and the show wanted to talk to her. She, of course, espected a typical Trekker, but up to her walked Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He warmly greeted her and told her he was a huge fan of hers and the show.
She basically thanked him, but said she was just the black lady on the bridge who answered the space phone. He changed her mind about that and quitting saying “Nichelle, whether you like it or not, you have become a symbol, If you leave, they can replace you with a blonde haired white girl, and it will be like you were never there. What you’ve accomplished, for all of us, will only be real if you stay.’ He compared the importance of her staying to marching in civil rights marches, etc. Well she did stay for the series, the movies, the conventions, all of it.
But that wasn’t her biggest contribution to space and space exploration. After the TV series ended, she was approached by NASA. NASA realized they had, to say the least, a bit of diversity issue. With exactly zero black astronauts at the time and the same number of women, they knew they had to change that. And they asked her to be part of an effort to recruit both.
The program was a huge success. Among those recruited were Dr. Sally Ride, the first American female astronaut, and United States Air Force Colonel Guion Bluford, the first African-American astronaut, as well as Dr. Judith Resnik and Dr. Ronald McNair, who both flew successful missions during the Space Shuttle program before their deaths in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986. Former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison cited Nichols' role of Lieutenant Uhura as her inspiration for becoming an astronaut. Recruits also included Charles Bolden, the former NASA administrator and veteran of four shuttle missions, Frederick D. Gregory, former deputy administrator and a veteran of three shuttle missions and Lori Garver, former deputy administrator. She served from the mid-1980s on the board of governors of the National Space Institute (today's National Space Society), a nonprofit, educational space advocacy organization.
So, now you know a bit of why Nichelle wasn’t just an actress, she actually changed the world by being one. And to this day her character is still a vital part of the Star Trek lore with Zoe Saldana playing the character in movies and Celia Rose Gooding playing the character in Star Trek Strange New Worlds, as she says playing Uhura the way Nichelle would have in the 1960's if they had let her. Nichelle Nichols died in 2022.
- Published on
February is Black History Month, so each week we are going to be featuring an influential African American who has transformed our country or world for the better. When I was looking at this, I wanted to focus on men & women who either spoke to me personally as an ally, who are not as well known as they should be, or who had some connection to what we do. Well we found a great one to start with.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper is not a name many know, unless they have taken courses in African American studies or have researched heavily. She was born in Baltimore, MD. At 13, Frances had to abandon her formal education and was employed as a seamstress and nursemaid for a white family that owned a bookshop. While She stopped attending school, she read prolifically and became a writer herself.
By the age of 20 had her first book of published poetry. At the age of 67 she published a critical acclaimed novel, “Iola Leroy’, which one of many she wrote. She was a prolific writer for publications working to abolish slavery. And became a well respected public speaker in that fight. Part of her inspiration came from her uncle, a African Methodist Episcopal pastor.
By age 25 she was an instructor at Union Seminary in Columbus, connected to the African Methodist Episcopal church (and I could write another long post on why there was a Methodist Episcopal (the current name is United Methodist Church) Denomination and An African Methodist Episcopal Denomination, short answer is what you think it was, men & women of color were treated as lesser than in the denomination and split off ).
In 1858, Harper refused to give up her seat or ride in the "colored" section of a segregated trolley car in Philadelphia[17] (97 years before Rosa Parks). In the same year, she published her poem "Bury Me in a Free Land" in The Anti-Slavery Bugle, which became one of her best known works. She became of friend to or mentor of many other African American writers and journalists, including Mary Shadd Cary, Ida B. Wells, Victoria Earle Matthews, and Kate D. Chapman.
As she continued to write and speak out, she experienced and began to write and speak out against the gender stereotyping she faces as well.
Even before the Civil War she had begun speaking out for the need for women’s suffrage, at time few were. She combined her fight for African American civil rights with her advocacy for women's rights. Sadly the movement was about white women getting the right to vote, but she fought hard to gain the inclusion of women of color. The effort did eventually prevail, and many credit a speech she gave to a national convention of women’s rights in 1866. That organization found the American Equal Rights Association (AERA), which incorporated African American suffrage into the Women's Suffrage Movement. But it is noted that Mrs. Harper does not appear in the History of Woman Suffrage anthology written by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
As a poet, author, and lecturer, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was a household name in the nineteenth century. Not only was she the first African American woman to publish a short story, but she was also an influential abolitionist, suffragist. She spent the rest of her career working for the pursuit of equal rights, job opportunities, and education for African American women.
Mrs. Harper died at the Age of 85. Despite being a prolific writer of poetry, short stories, essays, and multiple novels, most of us have not heard of her. I hadn’t until I was researching people to profile in our Black History Month posts.
So, this Black History Month, learn more about some of the more well known figures of African American history, but also look for women & men like her. I guarantee you there are events and people of color you didn’t learn about in even the best history class.
- Published on
Punch the Clock Day is celebrated annually on January 27. It is a day to recognize the ‘punch the clock’ system of clocking in and out of work. Other names for the punch clock include time clock, time recorder, or clock card machine. Most companies have moved away from the original mechanical time clock to computer-based ones that use smart phone or tablet technology. But the concept is still very much applicable, and while we’ll admit that it is one of the more random holidays, it is a great opportunity to talk about one of the most common problems for workers in the US, Wage Theft. But again a quick history on the punch clock.
Historically, hourly wages were calculated based on manual data kept by employers. Managers would write down records of hours worked by employees and determine payroll accordingly. This, however, left a lot of room for miscalculation, workplace disputes, and discrepancies in the money paid and money owed. Employers could write down fewer hours to pay less, and employees could claim they worked more to get paid more, with no secondary source to double-check.
Then came the Punch the Clock system. In 1888, Willard Le Grand Bundy, invented a clock where employees could punch in and punch out the hours they worked. An employee would punch their card into the clock, with their exact work hours logged onto it. Employees got paid what they earned, and employers only paid what they owed, a revolutionary change in hourly-wage workplaces.
Over time, this system has become even more advanced. Due to technological advancements, wage calculating systems have become digitized and more secure and accurate than ever. Employers can invest in software that tracks employees’ hours on their computers, biometric trackers that store employees’ hand prints and eliminate proxy punching, scan unique barcodes on identification cards, and so much more. And supposedly, the system of tracking and paying employees by the hour was supposed to be fair and efficient.
Or at least that’s what was supposed to happen. However, issues with workers’ not getting properly paid are so common, I have a colleague’s office practically on speed dial. My friend and fellow attorney Bob DeRose is a Partner at Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, LLP. His practice these days is almost exclusively in wage and hour/overtime issues.
The following is their information on this issue and your rights from their website (portion in italics);
Holding Employers Accountable for Paying Workers Fairly
As wage and hour attorneys, much of our work is done under provisions of the FLSA and the Ohio Minimum Wage Fair Standards Act (“the Ohio Wage Act”). For the majority of hourly workers, the federal law mandates time-and-half for each 15-minute increment of work performed in excess of 40 hours during a 7-day week. Questions over who, exactly, qualifies to earn overtime get complicated and the answers change with updates to U.S. government policies. Anyone with concerns about possible unpaid overtime should consult with an attorney.
Beginning in 2020, the Ohio Wage Act requires employers to pay most workers at least $8.70/hour for each hour an employee works. Tipped employees such as wait staff, bartenders and dog walkers can be paid $4.35/hour, but their average hourly pay must still total at least $8.70. Every Ohio resident who earns the minimum wage is assumed to be eligible for overtime, even those who take tips.
Employers engage in many illegal and deceptive practices to deny employees the minimum wage and overtime pay. Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, LLP, are available to assist workers who fall victim to any of the following problems.
Miscategorization of Employment Status
In order to avoid minimum wage and overtime laws, unscrupulous employers often miscategorize full-time and part-time employees as independent contractors. The federal government and the State of Ohio enforce rules that determine which workers must be paid at least minimum wage and overtime as employees. At their most basic level, those rules treat a person as an employee if he or she reports regularly to a single worksite, works under the direct supervision of a manager employed by the same organization, and depends on the organization for the equipment and resources needed to complete tasks.
Kurt’s note - The Independent Contractor game is very common in workers’ compensation too. If you employer says you are one and pays you with a 1099, it is not the deciding factor. In fact the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and the Industrial Commission of Ohio look at a 20 part checklist. So if you get hurt and your boss says you can’t file because they don’t have coverage, you can. If they say you can’t file because you’re not an employee call us or another competent attorney. It’s not like they have a whole load of reasons to lie to you, oh no, they do.
Misclassification of Eligible Overtime Hours
Misclassification occurs when an employer treats an overtime-eligible worker as ineligible for overtime. The legal terms are “exempt” and “nonexempt,” with earning a high salary, supervising co-workers, and/or performing professional duties as evidence of exempt status. Employers sometimes misreport earnings and give a person a professional-sounding job title in order to unlawfully deny earned overtime pay.
Off-the-Clock Work
Employers cannot require overtime-eligible or hourly employees to do uncompensated work. This means that managers cannot insist that tasks be completed before an employee clocks in or after an employee clocks out. It also means that mandatory unpaid overtime, clocking employees out without their knowledge, and withholding overtime pay as a punishment are illegal.
Illegal Deductions of Employee Wages
Employers are allowed to make certain deductions from workers’ wages for uniforms, special equipment, and employee-caused losses such as money drawer shortages and damage to company property. However, deducting wages for work performed as a punishment for a policy violation is not allowed. Nor can an employer deduct so much from an employee’s pay that the worker ends up earning less than the minimum wage.
Illegal Rounding of Employee Hours
Rules put in place to ensure employees get paid for each hour they work require employers to record work time in 15-minute increments. Periods of 1-7 minutes can be rounded down to the previous quarter-hour; periods of 8-14 minutes must be rounded up. Some employers cheat workers by always rounding down. Other employers refuse to record workers’ time in increments shorter than half hours or full hours.
Misreporting/Miscalculating Employee Break Time
Employees cannot be required to work during unpaid breaks. Also, employers cannot require workers to clock out for breaks that are shorter than 20 minutes. What this means in practical terms is that workers cannot have their pay docked for taking bathroom or other short breaks.
Withholding Pay for Employee Travel Time
Traveling for work—but not commuting to work daily—is what the law and lawyers call “compensable.” The time spent driving to call on clients must be paid time. So must the day spent flying from headquarters to a business meeting. Overtime accrues while traveling for work, as well.
Poor or Fraudulent Record-keeping of Employee Hours and Wages
Laws like the FLSA require employers to keep accurate, detailed, and reviewable records of hours worked and wages paid. A worker cannot be held responsible for keeping track of wage and hour details. Employers who misreport worktime and pay cheat workers even when the errors are not made intentionally.
A Unpaid Wage Attorney Who Fights for Workers
Employees have legal rights to demand fair wages and earned overtime. The laws and regulations that enforce these employee rights, however, also impose tight statutes of limitations. As soon as you notice that your employer is engaging in illegal pay practices, contact the experienced wage and hour attorneys at Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, LLP.
In addition to explaining your legal options, our Ohio employee rights lawyers can help you identify and obtain essential evidence. Our lawyers may also be able to identify other workers the employer has underpaid and exploited and form a group of plaintiffs that has more influence than one individual.
Can I Afford an Attorney?
Our wage and hour attorneys understand that when it comes to wage theft, it can feel like an impossible task to go up against your employer. With the cost of attorney fees often outweighing the lost wages in question, many affected by wage theft choose not to pursue legal action. Fortunately, 29 U.S.C.sec 216(b) sets guidelines for fee-shifting. This practice gives employees who successfully bring claims of FLSA violations against their employers the opportunity to have the cost of their attorney’s fees shifted and become their employer’s responsibility. This means that your employer pays your attorney and not you.
So, ever had someone try to do this to you or someone you care about? Contact us and we can connect you with Bob & his team to help take care of this. Call us at 419-244-7885. And don’t let an employer take away your workers’ compensation rights by calling you an independent contractor and not filing. Call us and we can look at the facts with you and give you an unbiased take on whether you really are an employee or not.
Historically, hourly wages were calculated based on manual data kept by employers. Managers would write down records of hours worked by employees and determine payroll accordingly. This, however, left a lot of room for miscalculation, workplace disputes, and discrepancies in the money paid and money owed. Employers could write down fewer hours to pay less, and employees could claim they worked more to get paid more, with no secondary source to double-check.
Then came the Punch the Clock system. In 1888, Willard Le Grand Bundy, invented a clock where employees could punch in and punch out the hours they worked. An employee would punch their card into the clock, with their exact work hours logged onto it. Employees got paid what they earned, and employers only paid what they owed, a revolutionary change in hourly-wage workplaces.
Over time, this system has become even more advanced. Due to technological advancements, wage calculating systems have become digitized and more secure and accurate than ever. Employers can invest in software that tracks employees’ hours on their computers, biometric trackers that store employees’ hand prints and eliminate proxy punching, scan unique barcodes on identification cards, and so much more. And supposedly, the system of tracking and paying employees by the hour was supposed to be fair and efficient.
Or at least that’s what was supposed to happen. However, issues with workers’ not getting properly paid are so common, I have a colleague’s office practically on speed dial. My friend and fellow attorney Bob DeRose is a Partner at Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, LLP. His practice these days is almost exclusively in wage and hour/overtime issues.
The following is their information on this issue and your rights from their website (portion in italics);
Holding Employers Accountable for Paying Workers Fairly
As wage and hour attorneys, much of our work is done under provisions of the FLSA and the Ohio Minimum Wage Fair Standards Act (“the Ohio Wage Act”). For the majority of hourly workers, the federal law mandates time-and-half for each 15-minute increment of work performed in excess of 40 hours during a 7-day week. Questions over who, exactly, qualifies to earn overtime get complicated and the answers change with updates to U.S. government policies. Anyone with concerns about possible unpaid overtime should consult with an attorney.
Beginning in 2020, the Ohio Wage Act requires employers to pay most workers at least $8.70/hour for each hour an employee works. Tipped employees such as wait staff, bartenders and dog walkers can be paid $4.35/hour, but their average hourly pay must still total at least $8.70. Every Ohio resident who earns the minimum wage is assumed to be eligible for overtime, even those who take tips.
Employers engage in many illegal and deceptive practices to deny employees the minimum wage and overtime pay. Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, LLP, are available to assist workers who fall victim to any of the following problems.
Miscategorization of Employment Status
In order to avoid minimum wage and overtime laws, unscrupulous employers often miscategorize full-time and part-time employees as independent contractors. The federal government and the State of Ohio enforce rules that determine which workers must be paid at least minimum wage and overtime as employees. At their most basic level, those rules treat a person as an employee if he or she reports regularly to a single worksite, works under the direct supervision of a manager employed by the same organization, and depends on the organization for the equipment and resources needed to complete tasks.
Kurt’s note - The Independent Contractor game is very common in workers’ compensation too. If you employer says you are one and pays you with a 1099, it is not the deciding factor. In fact the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and the Industrial Commission of Ohio look at a 20 part checklist. So if you get hurt and your boss says you can’t file because they don’t have coverage, you can. If they say you can’t file because you’re not an employee call us or another competent attorney. It’s not like they have a whole load of reasons to lie to you, oh no, they do.
Misclassification of Eligible Overtime Hours
Misclassification occurs when an employer treats an overtime-eligible worker as ineligible for overtime. The legal terms are “exempt” and “nonexempt,” with earning a high salary, supervising co-workers, and/or performing professional duties as evidence of exempt status. Employers sometimes misreport earnings and give a person a professional-sounding job title in order to unlawfully deny earned overtime pay.
Off-the-Clock Work
Employers cannot require overtime-eligible or hourly employees to do uncompensated work. This means that managers cannot insist that tasks be completed before an employee clocks in or after an employee clocks out. It also means that mandatory unpaid overtime, clocking employees out without their knowledge, and withholding overtime pay as a punishment are illegal.
Illegal Deductions of Employee Wages
Employers are allowed to make certain deductions from workers’ wages for uniforms, special equipment, and employee-caused losses such as money drawer shortages and damage to company property. However, deducting wages for work performed as a punishment for a policy violation is not allowed. Nor can an employer deduct so much from an employee’s pay that the worker ends up earning less than the minimum wage.
Illegal Rounding of Employee Hours
Rules put in place to ensure employees get paid for each hour they work require employers to record work time in 15-minute increments. Periods of 1-7 minutes can be rounded down to the previous quarter-hour; periods of 8-14 minutes must be rounded up. Some employers cheat workers by always rounding down. Other employers refuse to record workers’ time in increments shorter than half hours or full hours.
Misreporting/Miscalculating Employee Break Time
Employees cannot be required to work during unpaid breaks. Also, employers cannot require workers to clock out for breaks that are shorter than 20 minutes. What this means in practical terms is that workers cannot have their pay docked for taking bathroom or other short breaks.
Withholding Pay for Employee Travel Time
Traveling for work—but not commuting to work daily—is what the law and lawyers call “compensable.” The time spent driving to call on clients must be paid time. So must the day spent flying from headquarters to a business meeting. Overtime accrues while traveling for work, as well.
Poor or Fraudulent Record-keeping of Employee Hours and Wages
Laws like the FLSA require employers to keep accurate, detailed, and reviewable records of hours worked and wages paid. A worker cannot be held responsible for keeping track of wage and hour details. Employers who misreport worktime and pay cheat workers even when the errors are not made intentionally.
A Unpaid Wage Attorney Who Fights for Workers
Employees have legal rights to demand fair wages and earned overtime. The laws and regulations that enforce these employee rights, however, also impose tight statutes of limitations. As soon as you notice that your employer is engaging in illegal pay practices, contact the experienced wage and hour attorneys at Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, LLP.
In addition to explaining your legal options, our Ohio employee rights lawyers can help you identify and obtain essential evidence. Our lawyers may also be able to identify other workers the employer has underpaid and exploited and form a group of plaintiffs that has more influence than one individual.
Can I Afford an Attorney?
Our wage and hour attorneys understand that when it comes to wage theft, it can feel like an impossible task to go up against your employer. With the cost of attorney fees often outweighing the lost wages in question, many affected by wage theft choose not to pursue legal action. Fortunately, 29 U.S.C.sec 216(b) sets guidelines for fee-shifting. This practice gives employees who successfully bring claims of FLSA violations against their employers the opportunity to have the cost of their attorney’s fees shifted and become their employer’s responsibility. This means that your employer pays your attorney and not you.
So, ever had someone try to do this to you or someone you care about? Contact us and we can connect you with Bob & his team to help take care of this. Call us at 419-244-7885. And don’t let an employer take away your workers’ compensation rights by calling you an independent contractor and not filing. Call us and we can look at the facts with you and give you an unbiased take on whether you really are an employee or not.
- Published on
International Sweatpants Day is marked on January 21 every year, and I’m going to celebrate it by wearing my sweatpants that day. First let me tell you about the history of those comfy pants and then why I care .
Until I researched this post, I didn’t know this, but the first pair of sweatpants was introduced in the 1920s by Émile Camuset, the founder of Le Coq Sportif. The first sweatpants to be made were simple knitted gray jersey pants that allowed athletes to stretch and run comfortably. Since then, traditionally, sweatpants have been ash-gray in color, but over the recent years, companies like Nike, Champion, Under Armor & others have put considerable effort into making them more attractive while at the same remaining just as comfortable as the original ones. Despite the fact sweatpants were made for exercise, people wear them for the exact opposite reason, to relax!
And I will admit, when I come into the office alone to get some work done, it’s going to be in jeans or sweats. Thanks to virtual hearings being the norm these days, I can get away with a bunch more casual clothes than any time in my career. But again, by now, you have to be saying, again, Kurt why this blog.
Well I want to tell you a story, it’s about my wife’s former church and a person who attended there. But it also applies to our clients. In case you don’t know my wife is a United Methodist Pastor. She currently serves as a Spiritual Care Coordinator or some call them Chaplains for Hospice. But when we first met she was serving a small, but growing church in Findlay, just under an hour south of Toledo.
At the time, she was sent there to turn the church around. It, like most mainline churches had been declining for years. But she was sent it to turn the tide and she did at that church and her next one as well. Methodist pastors usually move around a lot, but because of me, she was to stay within an hour or so of Toledo.
Thanks to the good work she and the church were doing, she started to attract people who didn’t have a church home. One of them we’ll call Roger. Roger came to church every week for a time, wearing sweatpants, would stay for the small group, Sunday school class, and then leave every week. Finally, I got the courage to ask him why he didn’t stay.
He explained that he didn’t think it was right for him to come into the service in sweatpants and right now, that’s all he had. This was not a church where everyone dressed up. Sure there were older members of the congregation in fancier clothes, but lots of people in khakis and the like. I offered to get into my sweats, as the pastor’s new spouse who was generally well liked and sit with him. I told him no one would say a word and he’d see we were OK with that. But he never did.
Not too many weeks after he died. And we found out a bit about him that we never knew. We knew he had battled some dark times, and struggled with substance abuse. But what we never knew, until his family, who had just started to reconnect with him before he died, told us was Roger was not a poor, addicted man all of his life.
Before he had been a successful CEO, who yes owned fancy suits and lived in a large home. But things crumbled and he literally lost everything, including the clothes on his back. So at the end, he truly only had sweatpants. He died never feeling like he could be a part of our church fully. And I can tell you that truly opened my eyes. If anyone needed that church fully it was him.
I can tell you that Cheri has served or we have attended four churches since then. And I make it a point every so often to dress in sweats, jeans, a t-shirt or the like. Why? Because I want the other Rogers of the world to feel at home.
We spend all day around here helping people who are in dark places financially, and we don’t judge you by what clothes you show up in. I have had clients who were housing insecure or flat out homeless. I have had people shake my hand with greasy, dirty hands, wearing dirty coveralls, etc. And a few clients who showed up for any appointment in sharp suits.
Just know, we treat you all the same around here. Because you deserve that. When clients talk to me at the beginning calling me Mr. Young or Sir, I quickly say thank you for the respect. But I am Kurt, and I want you to get used to a guy with a suit being on your side.
So this Sunday, I’ll be in my sweats for church. And I’m pretty sure my pastor and my wife will be OK with that.
Until I researched this post, I didn’t know this, but the first pair of sweatpants was introduced in the 1920s by Émile Camuset, the founder of Le Coq Sportif. The first sweatpants to be made were simple knitted gray jersey pants that allowed athletes to stretch and run comfortably. Since then, traditionally, sweatpants have been ash-gray in color, but over the recent years, companies like Nike, Champion, Under Armor & others have put considerable effort into making them more attractive while at the same remaining just as comfortable as the original ones. Despite the fact sweatpants were made for exercise, people wear them for the exact opposite reason, to relax!
And I will admit, when I come into the office alone to get some work done, it’s going to be in jeans or sweats. Thanks to virtual hearings being the norm these days, I can get away with a bunch more casual clothes than any time in my career. But again, by now, you have to be saying, again, Kurt why this blog.
Well I want to tell you a story, it’s about my wife’s former church and a person who attended there. But it also applies to our clients. In case you don’t know my wife is a United Methodist Pastor. She currently serves as a Spiritual Care Coordinator or some call them Chaplains for Hospice. But when we first met she was serving a small, but growing church in Findlay, just under an hour south of Toledo.
At the time, she was sent there to turn the church around. It, like most mainline churches had been declining for years. But she was sent it to turn the tide and she did at that church and her next one as well. Methodist pastors usually move around a lot, but because of me, she was to stay within an hour or so of Toledo.
Thanks to the good work she and the church were doing, she started to attract people who didn’t have a church home. One of them we’ll call Roger. Roger came to church every week for a time, wearing sweatpants, would stay for the small group, Sunday school class, and then leave every week. Finally, I got the courage to ask him why he didn’t stay.
He explained that he didn’t think it was right for him to come into the service in sweatpants and right now, that’s all he had. This was not a church where everyone dressed up. Sure there were older members of the congregation in fancier clothes, but lots of people in khakis and the like. I offered to get into my sweats, as the pastor’s new spouse who was generally well liked and sit with him. I told him no one would say a word and he’d see we were OK with that. But he never did.
Not too many weeks after he died. And we found out a bit about him that we never knew. We knew he had battled some dark times, and struggled with substance abuse. But what we never knew, until his family, who had just started to reconnect with him before he died, told us was Roger was not a poor, addicted man all of his life.
Before he had been a successful CEO, who yes owned fancy suits and lived in a large home. But things crumbled and he literally lost everything, including the clothes on his back. So at the end, he truly only had sweatpants. He died never feeling like he could be a part of our church fully. And I can tell you that truly opened my eyes. If anyone needed that church fully it was him.
I can tell you that Cheri has served or we have attended four churches since then. And I make it a point every so often to dress in sweats, jeans, a t-shirt or the like. Why? Because I want the other Rogers of the world to feel at home.
We spend all day around here helping people who are in dark places financially, and we don’t judge you by what clothes you show up in. I have had clients who were housing insecure or flat out homeless. I have had people shake my hand with greasy, dirty hands, wearing dirty coveralls, etc. And a few clients who showed up for any appointment in sharp suits.
Just know, we treat you all the same around here. Because you deserve that. When clients talk to me at the beginning calling me Mr. Young or Sir, I quickly say thank you for the respect. But I am Kurt, and I want you to get used to a guy with a suit being on your side.
So this Sunday, I’ll be in my sweats for church. And I’m pretty sure my pastor and my wife will be OK with that.
- Published on
For the Tenth Year in a Row Kurt Young has been named an Ohio Super Lawyer in Workers' Compensation Law. In order to be named you have to be nominated, be vetted by a research team, and rank as one of the top 5% of the attorneys in your area of practice in your state and area of practice based on survey of past winners and other notable attorneys. To Qualify you must have over 10 years in practice and be nominated.
From 2005 to 2007 Kurt was named an Ohio Rising Star Super Lawyer, which is for the 2.5% of attorneys in an area of practice under the age of 40. Kurt sadly "aged out" of that category in 2008.
Congrats again boss, and as we joke with you every year, no you can't wear a cape to work.
From 2005 to 2007 Kurt was named an Ohio Rising Star Super Lawyer, which is for the 2.5% of attorneys in an area of practice under the age of 40. Kurt sadly "aged out" of that category in 2008.
Congrats again boss, and as we joke with you every year, no you can't wear a cape to work.
- Published on
Our office will close Monday January 15, 2024. Today, I want to talk about why Martin Luther King Day is so important to celebrate. We know it's a day off for many, including all government agencies we deal with. But it's so much more than that. This day is all about honoring the incredible legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the ongoing fight for equality and justice.
First off, Martin Luther King Day is a time to remember and reflect on the life and work of Dr. King. He was a powerful voice in the civil rights movement, advocating for nonviolent activism and equality for all people. His tireless efforts paved the way for significant changes in our society, and his words continue to inspire generations.
Moreover, celebrating this day is a way to recognize the progress that has been made in the fight for civil rights and social justice. It's a reminder that change is possible, and that each of us has a role to play in creating a more inclusive and equitable world.
Additionally, Martin Luther King Day serves as a call to action. It's time to consider how we can contribute to Dr. King's vision of a more just and harmonious society. Whether it's through volunteering, advocating for policy changes, or simply having meaningful conversations, each of us can make a difference.
Finally, this day is a chance to celebrate diversity and unity. Dr. King's message of love, compassion, and understanding is as relevant today as it was during the civil rights era. By coming together to honor his legacy, we reaffirm our commitment to building a society where everyone is valued and respected.
So, as we enjoy the day off, let's also take a moment to appreciate the significance of Martin Luther King Day. It's a time to remember, reflect, and recommit ourselves to the ongoing pursuit of equality and justice for all.
First off, Martin Luther King Day is a time to remember and reflect on the life and work of Dr. King. He was a powerful voice in the civil rights movement, advocating for nonviolent activism and equality for all people. His tireless efforts paved the way for significant changes in our society, and his words continue to inspire generations.
Moreover, celebrating this day is a way to recognize the progress that has been made in the fight for civil rights and social justice. It's a reminder that change is possible, and that each of us has a role to play in creating a more inclusive and equitable world.
Additionally, Martin Luther King Day serves as a call to action. It's time to consider how we can contribute to Dr. King's vision of a more just and harmonious society. Whether it's through volunteering, advocating for policy changes, or simply having meaningful conversations, each of us can make a difference.
Finally, this day is a chance to celebrate diversity and unity. Dr. King's message of love, compassion, and understanding is as relevant today as it was during the civil rights era. By coming together to honor his legacy, we reaffirm our commitment to building a society where everyone is valued and respected.
So, as we enjoy the day off, let's also take a moment to appreciate the significance of Martin Luther King Day. It's a time to remember, reflect, and recommit ourselves to the ongoing pursuit of equality and justice for all.
