Chipotle Is Raising Menu Prices & Blaming It On “Employee Costs”

AND REPUBLICANS BLAME DEMOCRATS 

FOR FIGHT FOR $15 MINIMUM WAGE

Lydia Wang 

REFINERY29

Next time you head to Chipotle, guac won’t be the only thing that costs a little extra. Your whole burrito bowl will, too. As of Tuesday, the burrito chain’s menu costs have risen by around 4%, following worker demands for increased wages and better labor conditions. At a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol said the company’s executives “really prefer not to” hike up prices, “but it made sense in this scenario to invest in our employees and get these restaurants staffed, and make sure we had the pipeline of people to support our growth.”

© Provided by Refinery29

Chipotle announced in May that workers would receive an average payment of $15 an hour by the end of June. In a statement to Refinery29, a spokesperson confirmed that the menu price increase would “help off-set the wage increase that Chipotle is now offering its employees.” In other words, the marginally higher menu prices — Niccol said the price increase is akin to “quarters and dimes that we’re layering in” — will go towards fairly compensating current and future employees.

Many outlets ran with this reasoning: Reuters reported that “Chipotle raises menu prices as employee costs increase,” and the New York Times cited “labor costs” as the reason for the spike. But this frames the updated menu costs as a sacrifice consumers will have to make so that the chain’s workers — whose employer makes tens of millions a year — can earn a living wage. In reality, Chipotle’s executives should have been paying their workers appropriately all along.

“Chipotle is a multibillion-dollar company with one of the highest-paid CEOs on the planet,” Kyle Bragg, President of a New York-based branch of the Service Employees International Union, told Jacobin in May. “But it still pays most of its workers across the country less than $15 an hour.”

Niccol’s salary has only continued to grow over time. In 2020, Niccol received the highest compensation he’s made since he took over the reins as CEO in 2018. Per Newsweek, he was paid $38 million — a sharp increase from the $14.8 million he would have made if not for the pandemic-related modifications Chipotle implemented. This means Niccol made 2,898 times more than the median Chipotle employee in 2020, and actually earned more money during the pandemic than he would have had it not happened. Other executives, including CFO Jack Hartung, CTO Curt Garner, and Chief Restaurant Officer Scott Boatwright, also received pay increases last year.

Employees, meanwhile, saw their salaries go down. Chipotle confirmed to Newsweek that the average worker took a pay decrease as a result of government-mandated shutdowns and COVID-19 safety measures. A representative clarified, though, that Chipotle workers still made more than their peers working for competitors. “Since all Chipotle restaurants are company-owned, our employee population and resulting pay ratio is higher compared to industry peers that operate under a franchise model,” the company said in a statement.

Like many other restaurant chains, Chipotle has faced criticism, lawsuits, and a sharp decrease in prospective employees for understaffing and underpaying its workers. On May 8, a photo of an unknown Chipotle location went viral on Twitter. “Ask our corporate offices why their employees are forced to work in borderline sweatshop conditions for 8+ hours without breaks,” read a sign taped to the restaurant’s door. “We are overworked, understaffed, underpaid, and underappreciated.” And while employees at Chipotle have been attempting to unionize for awhile, they’ve faced a lack of support.

The exploitation of fast food workers has been an ongoing problem across brands and across the country, but the pandemic showcased just how little companies value the employees working tireless days for under $15 an hour — the same employees often considered essential workers. As a result, fewer people are applying to work at fast food restaurants, and the workers already there are facing increased hours and a heavier workload as a result, reported Business Insider.

Make no mistake: This is why Chipotle finally decided to pay employees fairly. If anyone is to “blame” for the extra 50 cents or so your next Lifestyle Bowl may cost you, it’s not the workers, who should have been making more money years ago. It’s the executives, who underpaid them from the beginning, while their own wallets grew fatter.

Chipotle Fined For 13,253 Child Labor Violations

ILLINOIS

Deal closing coal, subsidizing nuclear power expected next week

Greg Bishop, The Center Square

WASHINGTON EXAMINER

10/5/2021

The Illinois Senate is coming back to session Tuesday, and one issue they’re expected to take up is a bill regulating the state’s energy industry

.

Provided by Washington Examiner

Last week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said an energy deal is in the hands of the General Assembly. He wants to close coal-fired power plants by 2035.

After going into overtime, Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, said there’s a deal in the works.

“My caucus members are assuring me generally that they’re comfortable with the 2035 date,” Harmon said last week. “A few members might not be able to vote for it because of impacts in their district, but I’m confident we’ll have the votes to support the decarbonization.”

This week, Harmon announced the Senate will return June 15 to take up an energy plan.

“This is a landmark clean energy plan that both protects thousands of jobs and moves Illinois responsibly toward the future,” Harmon said in a statement Tuesday.

State Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, Friday said she raised her concerns of the negative impacts on her community of closing coal-fired plants.

“And it wasn’t just me that was speaking out about those, my colleagues from across Illinois have been speaking up on them and I trust that President Harmon has been interjecting those ideas and concerns,” Turner said.

The House is expected to return the following day, House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch said in a statement Tuesday.

"As I indicated before we adjourned on the final day of session, the House is expected to return next week on Wednesday, June 16 to take care of some final-action legislation," he said. "Items such as the energy proposal, unemployment insurance, and an elected school board for Chicago will be at the top of our list. We were able to accomplish big things this legislative session, and I'm eager to keep that spirit alive in a quick special session next week."

Any legislation with an effective immediate date after May 31 requires a supermajority to pass each chamber.

State Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, said closing coal-fired power plants like Springfield’s municipally-owned facility doesn’t work for downstate Illinois energy reliability.

“We’re going to have to pull it from somewhere else in the MISO grid, probably from coal-fired power plants in Kentucky or Indiana, which is kind of humorous when you think about that,” Butler told WMAY.

Butler criticized possible “sweetheart” deals for the nuclear energy industry noting the CEO of Exelon made $15 million last year.

“I’m all for keeping the nuclear fleet on, but we need to protect the assets that are owned by the citizens of Illinois at Prairies State and [City Water Light and Power],” Butler said.

While some say there needs to be a focus on more clean-energy jobs, Evan Wooding, business manager for Steamfitters in Peoria, said that won’t replace the careers of coal-fired power plants.

“So you go by all these facilities, there’s people there 24/7, 365, making sure they’re up and running and you’re talking about a job coming in and building a wind farm or a solar facility and then they’re gone,” Wooding said.

Full details on a proposed energy bill have not been released.

Ohio sues Google, claims tech giant should be regulated as public utility

David K. Li

JUNE 9,2021

The state of Ohio filed suit against Google on Tuesday, claiming the tech giant should be regulated as a public utility due to its "discriminatory and anti-competitive" practices.

The civil action, filed by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost in Delaware County Common Pleas Court, does not seek monetary damages, but instead asks for Google to be declared a "common carrier" that could come under oversight from a body such as the state's Public Utilities Commission.

“Google uses its dominance of internet search to steer Ohioans to Google’s own products — that's discriminatory and anti-competitive,” Yost said in a prepared statement.

“When you own the railroad or the electric company or the cellphone tower, you have to treat everyone the same and give everybody access."   

© Provided by NBC News The Google Store in New York, on May 28, 2021. (Victor J. Blue / Bloomberg via Getty Images file)

In the civil complaint, Yost said he's concerned about Google's ability to create "no click searches," which means a query that directs users "to other Google platforms, such as YouTube, Google Flights, Google Maps, Google News, Google Shopping and Google Travel."

Google "has a duty not to artificially prioritize Google services and links higher than they would be displayed as a result of Google's internet searches algorithms in which the algorithm is not programmed to prioritize Google's owed products and services," the suit said.

A representative for Mountain View, California-based Google said the lawsuit will not succeed.

“Google Search is designed to provide people with the most relevant and helpful results," according to a company statement.

"AG Yost's lawsuit would make Google Search results worse and make it harder for small businesses to connect directly with customers. Ohioans simply don't want the government to run Google like a gas or electric company. This lawsuit has no basis in fact or law and we'll defend ourselves against it in court.”

MSNBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos said Ohio's end game isn't to put Google under the direct authority of a utilities commission, but to lay the groundwork for increased regulation.

He cited services such as cable TV, trash hauling, airlines and casinos that are provided by private companies, but are almost always subject to rules and regulations above and beyond other businesses.

"When a business serves such a substantial part of the public that its rates, charges and methods of operation become a public concern, it can be characterized as a public utility" and targeted for increased government oversight, Cevallos said.

Top U.S. antitrust lawmaker targets Big Tech with new bills - sources

By Diane Bartz

© Reuters/REUTERS FILE PHOTO FILE PHOTO: The logos of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers in the House of Representatives are working on drafts of five antitrust bills, four of them aimed directly at reining in Big Tech, and may introduce them within days, according to three sources familiar with the matter.


Reuters has read discussion drafts of five measures. Sources familiar with the process say they may be changed before they are introduced. They may be introduced this week but that may be delayed, two sources said.

Among the five bills being considered, two address the problems of platforms, like Amazon.com, creating a space for businesses to sell products and then competing against those products.

One of the two would make it illegal in most cases for a platform to advantage its own products on its platform with potentially a fine of 30% of the U.S. revenues of the affected business if they violate the measure. A second requires platforms to sell any business if owning it creates an incentive for the platform to advantage its own products or lines of business.

A third bill would require a platform to refrain from any merger unless it can show the acquired company does not compete with any product or service the platform is in.

A fourth would require platforms to set up a way for users to transfer data if they desire, including to a competing business. A fifth is similar to a Senate measure that would raise what the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charge to assess the biggest companies to ensure their mergers are legal and increase the budget of the agencies.

The House Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel wrote a report that was issued in October 2020 that spelled out abuses by four big technology companies, Alphabet Inc's Google, Apple Inc, Amazon.com and Facebook. The report -- which was scathing -- suggested expansive changes to antitrust law.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by David Gregorio)

ITALY BUSTS BOOKING.COM FOR 

TAX EVASION

By Emilio Parodi

© Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch FILE PHOTO: The logo global online travel brand Expedia of is pictured at the International Tourism Trade Fair in Berlin

MILAN (Reuters) -Italy's tax police believe Booking.com evaded 153 million euros of value added tax (VAT) in connection with holiday rentals booked through its platform, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

The Genoa police said in a statement they "uncovered a massive tax evasion of more than 150 million euros in unpaid VAT from 2013 to 2019 by a multinational online travel agency based in the Netherlands", without mentioning the company by name.

The police said their tax audit was conducted as part of a criminal investigation led by prosecutors in the northwestern coastal town.

Booking.com confirmed it has recently received the audit report "which we intend to discuss in full cooperation with the Italian tax authorities."

The company argues that hotel and bed-and-breakfast owners that use its platform are themselves responsible for collecting and paying the VAT they owe in Italy and other European Union countries.

The Italian move comes days after an agreement by the Group of Seven rich countries' to create a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15% to squeeze more money out of multinational web companies and reduce their incentive to shift profits to low-tax offshore havens.

Colonel Ivan Bixio, head of the Genoa police group leading the investigation, told Reuters the sort of evasion they had uncovered "generates huge profits to the beneficiaries, harming public budgets and altering the rules of competition."

The probe concerns VAT on payments between private individuals for rental properties advertised by the online travel agent based in The Netherlands and owned by the U.S. group Booking Holdings inc., based in Delaware.

Booking.com works as an intermediary between property owners and guests. Private accommodation sites which are not professionally run often have no VAT number, and Italian tax authorities believe the online travel agency should then act as withholding agent.

However the Genoa police, having checked 896,500 property owners who worked with the Dutch online giant, concluded it did not pay VAT due to Italy from 2013 to 2019, according to the two sources.

During this period, the commission collected by Booking.com in Italy from this type of private client amounted to 700 million euros, with unpaid VAT of 153 million euros, the sources said.

The Italian probe has attracted the attention of several European tourist destination countries, said one of the sources, with the tax authorities of these nations informally asking investigators for information on the matter.

He did not identify these countries.

As the Genoa prosecutors' criminal investigation proceeds, Italy's tax office will launch a separate procedure at the end of which Booking.com will have to decide whether to agree to pay or to contest any allegations of wrongdoing.

(Additional reporting by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam, editing by Gavin Jones and David Evans)

Managers at centre of B.C. nursing college probe 'caused or contributed to' young woman's death, mother alleges

Bethany Lindsay CBC
JUNE 10,2021
. 

© Supplied by Margaret Lavery Katrina Lavery, shown here at left with her mother Margaret, died in hospital at the age of 21 after living in housing operated by Victoria's Garth Homer Society.

Katrina Lavery had a thirst for life.

She loved people and animals and rarely argued with her mother — even during her teenage years.

"[She was] the happiest camper every morning of every day that she woke up … pretty much a very joyful person that was taken way too soon," mom Margaret Lavery recalls.

Katrina died at the age of 21, succumbing to a bowel obstruction on New Year's Day 2018 in a hospital room in Victoria.

Katrina had Angelman syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes intellectual disability. She was non-verbal and required full-time nursing. At the time of her death, she was living in a home operated by the Garth Homer Society (GHS), a local non-profit that provides services for people with developmental disabilities.

Her mother filed a lawsuit in 2019 alleging that senior managers at GHS ignored symptoms of Katrina's condition for months, rebuffing support staff who urged them to seek medical attention and severely restricting Lavery's access to her daughter when she spoke out about her concerns.

"I feel like Katrina's death just didn't need to happen," Lavery said. "I feel like I've gone through a kidnapping."

This is the first time Lavery has spoken publicly about what happened. She agreed to an interview with CBC News after learning that the College of Nurses and Midwives of B.C. had suspended the nursing licences of Victoria Weber and Euphemia (Phemie) Guttin, both senior managers at GHS, after identifying "serious concerns" about the care they were providing.

The disciplinary action is a direct result of what happened to Katrina in GHS's care, along with complaints from two other families and a former employee.

Community Living B.C. (CLBC), the Crown agency that provides support for adults with developmental disabilities, also launched an investigation in the aftermath of Katrina's death. In May 2018, it cancelled its housing contract with GHS, withdrew funding for five residences and removed the society from a list of pre-qualified vendors for residential services, according to a civil claim filed by GHS earlier this spring.

Through all of this, Weber and Guttin have kept their jobs in high-level positions at GHS — Guttin as the executive director for service operations and Weber as the senior manager for health services and education. GHS has said they are "integral members" of the team.

In a written statement this week, the society's CEO Mitchell Temkin described Katrina Lavery as "a much-valued member of the Garth Homer Society community" and said everyone there was saddened by her death.

"Because of privacy legislation and because these matters are before the courts, we are unable to share details of her care when she was with the Garth Homer Society. However, we are confident that the care provided by GHS did not contribute to her unfortunate passing," Temkin said.

He said Katrina died two months after leaving the society's care — referring to the period of time she spent in hospital.

'Her skin was stretched so badly'

The allegations in Lavery's lawsuit have yet to be tested in court, but a trial date has been set for October 2022.

In a civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court in March 2019, Lavery alleges that GHS "caused or contributed to" Katrina's death through its negligence, naming as co-defendants Weber, Guttin, GHS's residential supervisor Rana Weihs and CLBC.

Lavery's claim alleges that beginning in May 2017, Katrina's belly became increasingly distended, and she started having more frequent seizures and high temperatures.

In photos taken of Katrina during that time period and shared with CBC News, her abdomen appears hard and rounded, prominently jutting out from the rest of her body.

"Her skin was stretched so badly that she looked like she was nine months pregnant," Lavery alleged.

"Staff were told that they couldn't call an ambulance."

Lavery's claim alleges that when she began reaching out to GHS and CLBC with her concerns, they told her she was inappropriately interfering with their business and "severely restricted" her access to her daughter, while threatening staff with discipline if they spoke to her.

Katrina was admitted to hospital on Oct. 27, 2017, where she was diagnosed with a bowel obstruction "that had been left untreated for many months," the claim alleges.

Despite multiple surgeries, doctors were unable to save Katrina's life. She died on Jan. 1, 2018.

GHS denies causing or contributing to Katrina's death, according to a response to Lavery's claim filed on behalf of the society, Weber, Guttin and Weihs.

The document disputes the allegation that Katrina's symptoms became progressively worse in GHS's care, claiming that Katrina's bowel obstruction "occurred spontaneously and acutely" rather than developing over months.

GHS also denies restricting Lavery's access to her daughter, but says there were mutually agreed-upon "terms of engagement."

Guttin, Weber and Weihs did not respond to requests for comment.

CLBC has also denied all allegations of wrongdoing in Katrina's death in its response to Lavery's claim.

'Dismissive of front-line staff's concerns'

There are parallels between the allegations contained in Lavery's legal claim and the issues investigated by the nursing college.

In a May 27 disposition letter to Lavery, the college's professional conduct review consultant Tansey Ramanzin confirms that Guttin and Weber breached professional standards.

"Ms. Guttin and Ms. Weber ... failed to take steps to properly assess Katrina and escalate care when symptomatology was present, ongoing, and/or worsening. They were dismissive of front-line staff's concerns," Ramanzin wrote in the letter, which Lavery shared with CBC News.

Ramanzin said Guttin and Weber asked staff to forward cellphone photos of Katrina rather than doing in-person assessments of her condition.

The disposition letter also says Guttin and Weber were "combative" in their communication, alienating and obstructing Lavery when she tried to advocate for Katrina.

"They negatively characterized and labelled you as difficult and/or dangerous, downplayed your concerns about Katrina's health, and told people you may be acting contrary to Katrina's best interests," Ramanzin wrote.

"Staff were told not to communicate with you upon threat of termination."

Lavery said she is planning to ask for a review of the college's consent agreement with Guttin and Weber, explaining that she wants their licences to be revoked permanently.

"I don't think they've done enough, and I don't understand," Lavery said.

In a response to Lavery's concerns, the college offered a written statement describing the disciplinary measures as "severe and proportional" to Guttin and Weber's conduct.

The statement notes that both of their licences will be suspended for more than three years altogether, and they will have to undergo remedial education and work under "extensive oversight" if they choose to return to nursing.

CLBC contract was wrongfully terminated: GHS

Meanwhile, the Garth Homer Society began its own legal battle earlier this spring against Community Living B.C., alleging the Crown agency wrongfully terminated its contract in 2018.

The society's notice of claim also accuses several CLBC staff members of defamation for telling GHS clients and their families the contract was cancelled because of "allegedly unsafe, mismanaged and inadequate" services.

CLBC has yet to file a response and none of the allegations have been proven in court.

Spokesperson Randy Schmidt confirmed in an email that CLBC no longer contracts with GHS for residential services, but said he couldn't comment further on that issue or Katrina's death because of the legal actions.

"CLBC believes it has followed its responsibilities and monitoring guidelines and we will be responding via the appropriate legal process and will continue to do so," Schmidt wrote.

OLDEST BILLIONAIRE FAMILY IN CANADA
Thomson Reuters shareholder support for human rights review rises
By Ross Kerber and Sheila Dang

© Reuters/ANDREW KELLY FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: The Thomson Reuters logo is seen on the company building in Times Square, New York.

(Reuters) - A shareholder proposal for Thomson Reuters Corp to review human rights issues emerging from its U.S. government contracts gained increased investor support but failed to win approval at the company's annual meeting on Wednesday.

Thomson Reuters, the parent of Reuters News, has contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) worth at least $17.4 million, public records show. Company spokesman Dave Moran declined to say what the contracts were for. Moran said a contract to provide the CLEAR online investigation software to ICE had expired in February. The software aggregates billions of data points and public records information for law enforcement agencies and financial services firms, according to a company website.

The shareholder proposal came from a British Columbia labor union and focused on Thomson Reuters work with government agencies including ICE.

The proposal won the support of 19% of the votes, Thomson Reuters Chairman David Thomson said at the meeting, which was webcast, more than double the 7.6% share that a similar resolution received last year.

The tally potentially represented a majority of support from outside investors. The Woodbridge Co, representing the Thomson Reuters controlling Thomson family, owns two-thirds of the company shares and had planned to vote against the resolution, according to a securities filing. Final voting figures had yet to be filed and Moran did not provide additional details.

Wednesday's resolution called for the company's board to produce a "human rights risk report" describing potential issues it faces and comparing risk-control procedures against those of other technology companies.

Under the Trump administration that ended in January, ICE played a leading role in sweeping raids and deportation of undocumented immigrants.

Stephanie Smith, president of the union that sponsored the resolution, said in a statement the result showed "Thomson Reuters is failing to tackle very serious and concerning human rights risks related to contracts with agencies like ICE, and shareholders aren’t buying their excuses."

The company had opposed the resolution as unnecessary given existing internal controls.

Thomson Reuters Chief Executive Officer Steve Hasker said at the meeting: "We continue to see a net societal benefit to providing CLEAR and similar products to law enforcement," provided they are used as permitted by regulations.

Asked about the vote result, Thomson Reuters' Moran said that "As we review best practices for identifying and mitigating human rights risks, we always welcome feedback from our shareholders and will continue in our dialogue with our investors as part of our shared commitment to human rights."

(Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston and Sheila Dang in Dallas; Editing by Howard Goller)

Union criticizes plan to hire replacement responders

The union representing most private paramedics and emergency medical responders (EMRs) in the eastern and central regions of Newfoundland says the Department of Health is ready to break with safety measures in order to attract replacement workers if job action is taken.

The province is also offering higher pay and expenses.

“The NL Paramedicine Regulation went one step further and introduced legacy registration,” Hubert Dawe, business agent of the Teamsters Local 855, said in an email Tuesday. “This allowed medics who have not been on the road for up to five years to be reregistered without meeting any of the requirements that currently registered medics have to.”

Dawe said paramedics normally have to demonstrate they completed continuing medical education credits to show they are current in their knowledge. They also complete a yearly protocol exam to ensure the medics who are giving medications or applying medical procedures are competent in their skills.

“These checks and balance ensure patient safety, but apparently none of this matters during a labour dispute,” he said. “I am not sure what kind of precedent this is setting if they refuse registration to a medic in the future.”

A former paramedic sent a message to The Telegram Tuesday expressing anger at the offer.

“The fact that myself and other former medics were contacted to work under special circumstances if a strike happens is disgusting,” he said.

“This is flat-out wrong, shouldn’t be allowed and needs to be brought to the public eye and stopped.”

Dawe said the offer from the government is considerably higher than what the drivers employed by the private operators currently get.

The offer, sent to all registered current and former responders in the province on May 25, was $275 per day and $220 per day for paramedics and EMRs, respectively.

“The (regional health authorities) will arrange for accommodations and compensate (at the provincial government rate) for travel, meals and miscellaneous expenses,” Wayne Young, manager of the Road Ambulance Program, wrote in the memo.

The money would be paid by the employer, who would then be reimbursed.

Dawe said paramedics with the Teamsters currently earn $177.20 per day, and an EMR makes $152.48.

When the union threatened job action in mid-May, Dawe said the workers would not withhold emergency services.

“Our proposal for job action would see no interruption to emergency ambulances or transports necessary for medical intervention, diagnostic imaging, etc,” he said. “However, when we look at transfers between medical facilities or other destinations, there will be a decrease in ambulances available.

“It is important to note that we are not an ‘essential service’ under law in this province,” he added.

The Department of Health did not provide a response to queries about the offer before deadline.

Peter Jackson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Telegram

CRA is unfairly focusing on Muslim charities, civil rights group says
Ryan Tumilty 


OTTAWA — In a new report, a civil rights group says the Canada Revenue Agency has unfairly targeted Muslim charities for audits, causing a disproportionate number to lose their charitable status.© Provided by National Post The Canada Revenue Agency building in Ottawa.

The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group studied the work of the Review and Analysis Division (RAD), a unit set up inside of the CRA in 2003 to specifically look for terrorist financing connected to the charitable sector.


The unit takes tips from the public and shares information with the RCMP and CSIS in a bid to root out charities that may be — knowingly or not — supporting terrorist activities overseas.

The report found that between 2008 and 2015, 75 per cent of the charities who have seen their status revoked were Muslim charities, despite Muslim charities representing only 0.47 per cent of charities overall.

RAD audited 16 charities during that time, and Tim McSorley, the group’s national co-ordinator, said of the eight charities that lost their status, six were Muslim, centred around mosques or other Islamic organizations.

McSorley said they’re hearing from the community that they feel targeted by the audits.

“Our concern was we have been hearing from individuals and groups in the Muslim community, that they’ve been facing increased audits and several questionable revocations,” he said.
The CRA is watching you: Auditors scouring social media for unreported income from influencers
CRA suspends about 800,000 taxpayers' accounts after login credentials found on dark web

Some of the charities lost their charitable status because of controversial speakers who were invited to mosques, others lost it because funds they provided may have ended up in the hands of terrorist groups after being sent to provide aid in Muslim countries.

McSorley said there is no clarity about the evidence the agency uses to determine that a charity’s funds are being used to support terrorism. He said charities have been sanctioned for payments they make to relief organizations overseas that have connections to terrorist groups.

“There’s a lack of nuance and lack of clarity around who could be accused of supporting terrorism by interacting in complex situations with for example, hospitals, and other government ministries,” he said.

McSorley said the agency relies on tips from the public, but also monitors the sector in ways that are unclear.

“They undertake their own surveillance and monitoring of the charitable sector, but they’re not upfront about what that entails — what kind of tools they use, how they verify the information that they’re collecting, and what the scope is. There’s just an overall lack of transparency around where the information is coming that leads to these audits.”

McSorley said even though several of these charities had their status revoked for supporting terrorist entities, none of them were ever charged criminally for that offence. The report found that the stigma of having a revocation often led to the groups losing banking services.

In a statement, the CRA was adamant that the charities targeted were not looked into simply because of their faith.

“The Canada Revenue Agency does not select registered charities for audit based on any particular faith or denomination, nor does it maintain statistics tracking audits based on denominations,” a statement from the agency said. “The CRA is firmly dedicated to diversity, inclusion and anti-racism, aligning with our values of professionalism, integrity, respect and collaboration.”

The agency stressed that charitable status requires organizations to follow specific rules and that when it revokes a status it is because those rules are being broken.

“Being registered as a charity comes with both privileges and obligations under the law. The CRA has a responsibility to protect the integrity of the tax system and the charitable sector by ensuring that all registered charities follow the rules.”

The agency also said it works to use education first and only revokes a charitable status as a last resort.

“The CRA generally provides a charity with an opportunity to correct non‑compliance through education or compliance agreements before resorting to other measures such as sanctions or revocation. Only a very small proportion of charity audits conducted by the CRA result in serious consequences such as sanctions or revocation.”

• Email: rtumilty@postmedia.com | Twitter: ryantumilty

JBS settles Muslim discrimination lawsuit for $5.5 million

DENVER (AP) — The second-largest producer of beef, pork and chicken in the U.S. will pay up to $5.5 million to settle a lawsuit that claimed the company discriminated against Muslim employees at a meat processing plant in northern Colorado.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit in federal court in Denver in 2010, saying JBS Swift & Company discriminated against employees at its beef processing plant in Greeley by denying them bathroom breaks and disciplining them more harshly than other workers because they were Muslim, immigrants from Somalia, and Black.

JBS USA LLC, doing business as JBS Swift & Company, must pay the $5.5 million to about 300 employees who were included in the settlement, which was announced by the commission on Wednesday.

Nikki Richardson, a spokeswoman for JBS USA, said the company does not admit any liability in the settlement, prohibits all discrimination and harassment at its facilities and “is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace.”

According to the lawsuit, JBS prevented Muslim employees from praying and harassed them when they tried to pray during scheduled breaks and bathroom breaks.

JBS also was accused of shutting off water fountains during the holy month of Ramadan in 2008, keeping Muslim Somali workers from getting a drink at sundown after a day of fasting, and from washing before prayers. According to the lawsuit, JBS managers and other employees threw meat or bones at Black and Somali employees, called them offensive names and tolerated offensive graffiti in restrooms at the Greeley plant, including the use of the N-word, “Somalis are disgusting,” “F—- Somalians” and “F—- Muslims."

“This case serves as a reminder that systemic discrimination and harassment remain significant problems that we as a society must tackle," EEOC Chair Charlotte Burrows said in a statement.

JBS must take several steps to prevent further discrimination, including allowing former employees covered under the settlement to be eligible for rehire; reviewing, updating and posting its anti-discrimination policies; and maintaining a 24-hour hotline for reporting discrimination. The company also will be required to provide quiet locations other than bathrooms for employees to pray.

Many Somalis started working at the Greeley plant following a 2006 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in which 270 Hispanic employees were detained.

The treatment of the Somali workers came to a head two years later when they asked company officials to move the plant's scheduled meal break so they could stop fasting at sunset during Ramadan.

Officials agreed to an earlier meal break but changed course three days later and, according to the lawsuit, Muslim workers who were told to go outside to pray weren't allowed back into the plant.

Days later, several workers were fired for what the company said was an unauthorized work stoppage, according to the lawsuit.

Thomas Peipert, The Associated Press