Michael Grabell, Author at Pacific Standard

Home Archives for Michael Grabell

Economics

The Corporations Trying to Ditch Workers’ Compensation Hit a Snag

An Oklahoma commission ruled that a state law allowing companies to "opt out" of workers' comp and write their own plans was unconstitutional while similar bills in other states lose steam.

Michael Grabell

Economics

A Wild Night at the Workers’ Compensation Expo

Hummer limos, go-go dancers, a live alligator, and glowing aliens in spandex can all be found at the national workers’ comp and disability expo. Journey into the little-known workers’ comp industrial complex.

Michael Grabell

Economics

The Destruction of Workers’ Compensation

Over the past 25 years, the giant meatpacking company Tyson Foods has taken a lead in pushing for changes in workers’ comp in state after state—often to the detriment of workers.

Michael Grabell

News in Brief

What Is the NYPD Using Unmarked X-Ray Vans for?

The NYPD has a secretive program that uses unmarked vans with X-ray machines designed to detect bombs. ProPublica tried to find out more about it, but the NYPD refused to answer for three years. Now, a judge has stepped in.

Michael Grabell

News in Brief

California Passes a Bill to Protect Workers in the Rapidly Growing Temp Staffing Industry

The bill will hold companies accountable for labor abuses by temp agencies and subcontractors they use.

Michael Grabell

News in Brief

Do States Need to Do More to Protect Temp Workers?

A California bill would hold companies legally responsible for wage and safety violations committed by their subcontractors and temp agencies.

Michael Grabell

Economics

Permanently Temporary: The Truth About Temp Work in America

Today’s blue-collar temp laborers face abuses similar to those of migrant farmworkers depicted in the iconic 1960 CBS documentary Harvest of Shame.

Michael Grabell

Economics

The Expendables: How the Temps Who Power Corporate Giants Are Getting Crushed

America is now dotted with “temp towns”—places where it’s difficult to find blue-collar work except through a temp agency and where workers often suffer lost wages, no benefits, and high injury rates.

Michael Grabell

Economics

Were Your Clothes Made in a Bangladeshi Factory?

After the deadly building collapse in Bangladesh, Walmart released a list of factories it had banned. But it has continued receiving shipments from two of them.

Michael Grabell