September 22, 2012

New England Dispatches

From news service reports

BOSTON

Harvard Club, waitstaff reach deal in tip dispute

The exclusive Harvard Club of Boston has reached a $4 million settlement with its waitstaff in a tip dispute.

The staff sued in November claiming the 17 percent gratuity the club tacks on every bill was not given to employees.

Even though the club has a no-tipping policy and staffers make more than most hospitality workers, state law says service charges a customer would "reasonably expect" to be given to a server in lieu of a tip must go to the employee.

The Boston Globe reported that the settlement, which needs a judge's approval, was reported in a letter to club members and confirmed by the plaintiffs' lawyer.

The club with about 5,000 members is not affiliated with Harvard University, but many of its members are alumni of Harvard.

NORTHAMPTON, Mass.

Doctor sues physicians after ending up blind

An Amherst doctor has sued his personal physicians, claiming their misdiagnosis led to his blindness.

Frederick Levine said in the suit filed this week in Hampshire Superior Court that Dr. Deborah E. Smith failed to adequately assess, diagnose or treat a lesion on his lower back after Levine had allegedly brought it to her attention several times.

The Daily Hampshire Gazette reported that Levine was at the same time receiving radiation therapy from Dr. Linda Bornstein for treatment of a form of bone marrow cancer. He alleges Bornstein, too, failed to assess, diagnose or treat the lesion.

He says failure to treat the lesion led to blockages of the arteries in the eyes, resulting in blindness.

CHESTERFIELD, N.H.

Police say homeless man got drunk, abandoned tot

Police have charged a homeless man with abandoning his 1-year-old son while he slept intoxicated under a bridge.

Chesterfield police charged 35-year-old Lonnie Place with endangering the welfare of a child, resisting arrest, possession of a controlled substance and possession of an open container of alcohol. He was taken to the Cheshire County jail.

Police said they were called on Wednesday about a boy wandering along the edge of Route 9. Child welfare officials took custody of the boy while police searched for a parent.

The Brattleboro Reformer reported police found Place sleeping and drunk under the bridge.

HOOKSETT, N.H.

Man faked disability, tried to expose self, police say

A New Hampshire man has been accused of pretending to be disabled and hiring an in-home caregiver on the Internet to change his underwear for him.

The Hampton Police Department said it arrested the 24-year-old Hooksett man on Thursday for attempting to commit indecent exposure.

Police said they investigated a Sept. 12 report that the man solicited the caregiver by responding to a Craigslist ad. They say he posed as a 22-year-old who couldn't control his bowel movements because of a brain injury.

Police say he met with a female adult caregiver in Hampton and asked her to change his dirty undergarments but she became suspicious and reported him.

Investigators say he was arrested in his hometown last year for a similar offense and was convicted of indecent exposure this summer.

 

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