A $100,000 payment of back pay to graduate teaching assistants at Michigan State University will settle a dispute over the work that such TAs perform between semesters. The summer teaching term has an overlap of a number of days with the spring term, forcing the TAs to perform double duties for a period of time while previously only being paid for one. The union representing the TAs pursued a grievance over the matter, and the matter was all set to go to arbitration for an interpretation of the TA's employment contracts.
Dow accused of illegally firing whistleblower
Dow Chemical Company is accused of having illegally fired an employee for whistleblowing in violation of a Michigan state statute. The wrongful discharge lawsuit was filed in the Midland County Court by a woman who worked for Dow for approximately 25 years. She conducted internal investigations for the company and was mandated to report the results of those investigations to her superiors at the company.
Survey shows young people fear starting new businesses
A good many people in Michigan and elsewhere are fearful about the prospects of starting a new business. It appears that younger people may even be more fearful than others about the prospects that a new business start-up will ultimately prove to be a failure. This was all confirmed in the results of a new extensive survey.
Seacrest start-up facing commercial litigation for tech design
Celebrity television star Ryan Seacrest is facing patent infringement allegations from smartphone manufacturer BlackBerry. Seacrest is the subject of commercial litigation that alleges that his Los Angeles start-up company copied technology from BlackBerry in order to design keyboards for recent iterations of the iPhone. As a consequence, BlackBerry is looking to recover unspecified damages and force an injunction that would prevent the start-up, Typo Products, from producing the keyboard without permission.
Michigan firm acquired by Answers.com
Growing a business that is almost exclusively online can prove to be a challenge. One company is thriving in the online world, though, and has opted to acquire another company. Answers.com is preparing to go public at the end of the year. In preparation for that transition, the company has raised $300 million for the acquisition of a Michigan-based analytics firm.
