Employees

A Middle River woman was sentenced last week to six months in jail for defrauding the federal government through the Freestate ChalleNGe Academy at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Lynn Carol Williams, 56, sentenced May 6 by U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett, will also serve six months of home detention with electronic monitoring as part of three years of supervised release for wire fraud in connection with a scheme to misuse the Freestate Challenge Academy corporate purchasing card, causing losses of more than $107,493.  Freestate Challenge Academy is a Maryland National Guard program at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

The City Council is poised to vote Monday on a bill that would require businesses receiving large city contracts or major financial support to hire 51 percent of new workers from Baltimore - or face sanctions. "We have the highest unemployment rate in the state," said City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young, the bill's lead sponsor. "If a business wants to take our money, at least hire us. As they begin to enrich themselves, enrich the citizens as well. " But the city's law department is challenging the legislation - calling it unconstitutional - and some businesses are objecting to what they believe is a burdensome requirement.

A federal judge has ordered a West Pratt Street clinic and its former chief executive to repay more than 60 current and former employees nearly $50,000 that the private company never deposited into their retirement accounts as required. U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles Jr. also awarded $27,800 in attorneys' fees to lawyer Richard Neuworth and colleagues who represented the plaintiffs. The March 22 order marked the latest chapter in the troubled recent history of Baltimore Behavioral Health Inc., once a successful mental health clinic that ranked among the city's largest providers of drug treatment services.

Bethesda-based Marriott International warned the state that it will lay off 35 employees in June, and potentially several hundred others later in the year, the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said Friday. The company's layoff warning notice said it is reorganizing and outsourcing some "information resources" operations. The initial cuts are planned for June 28 in Bethesda, Frederick and Gaithersburg. Marriott said several hundred more employees could be laid off between July and December.

An emergency drill at the Woodlawn-based Social Security Administration is likely to cause traffic delays Friday near Security Boulevard and Woodlawn Drive. Most employees from the Security West building will be evacuated from the facilities during the drill. The public is encouraged to take a different route to avoid delays. The drill will take place in the afternoon, but Social Security declined to announce a specific time. The exercise is required in accordance with federal, state and local requirements to prepare employees for any future threats they may encounter.

City school officials said they will take extra security measures at a Southeast Baltimore charter school after five fires were set this week at the school, which also had an altercation that injured an administrator and a student arrest. Officials said they will increase the presence of school police officers and district staff at the Friendship Academy of Science and Technology Middle/High School, which they acknowledged has had "significant safety issues" this week. Among them were five trash-can fires - two Wednesday and three Thursday.

Members of Baltimore's fire and police pension board are questioning whether one of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's top aides should remain part of the lucrative pension system that covers sworn public safety officers. Administration officials say Robert M. Maloney — a career firefighter — has worn multiple hats within city government since becoming a deputy to the mayor in August. He is a sworn paramedic who responds to emergency calls, they say, while as a mayoral aide, he monitors agencies including the Health Department and the Mayor's Office of Information Technology.

Workplace violence is a serious occupational hazard in hospitals and other health care facilities, a fact that has escaped an unsuspecting public. Nationally, nursing assistants employed by nursing homes have the highest incidence of workplace assault among all workers, according to federal data. For women who work in nursing homes, social services and hospitals, the likelihood of being harmed on the job is like that of women working the late-night shift in convenience stores. To draw attention to these and other hidden risks, the Alliance Against Workplace Violence has designated April as Workplace Violence Awareness Month.

A team of five restoration and remediation experts from Rainbow International of Northeastern Maryland, at 323 Williams St. in Bel Air, have earned additional certifications for microbial remediation, structural drying and restoration following water damage. Rainbow professionals earning new certifications included Jay Van Deusen (Applied Microbial Remediation), Carlos Urgiliez (Applied Structural Drying), Fabian Mantilla (Applied Microbial Remediation), Kyle Benoit (Applied Microbial Remediation)

Doreatha C. Jordan, a retired Morgan State University student center director, died of a pulmonary embolism April 13 at Sinai Hospital. The Northwood resident was 89. Born Doreatha Cecelia Diggs in New Rochelle, N.Y., she was the daughter of Leroy and Nellie Diggs. She moved to Baltimore and was a 1942 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School. She attended Coppin State College. In 1946, she married the Rev. Basha Jordan, a United Methodist pastor. She moved with him to assignments in West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland.