Briefcase

Laid-off state workers file age discrimination suit

LEWISTON – The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare is being sued by five former workers who say they were laid off because they were closer to retirement and had higher wages than their colleagues.

The workers, all from north-central Idaho and Eastern Washington, filed the age discrimination lawsuit in Lewiston, Idaho’s 2nd District Court. The Lewiston Tribune reports that the workers say they were among 126 employees laid off last year amid budget cuts and office closures around the state, and that the department selected older employees for the layoffs.

Associated Press

Forum to feature legislators

Washington Policy Center, a nonprofit business advocacy group, is sponsoring a Wake-Up Forum Thursday at the Quality Inn, 8923 E. Mission Ave., in Spokane Valley.

The 7 a.m. free public session will feature Rep. Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane, and Rep. Kevin Parker, R-Spokane Valley. Parker will attend the meeting; Ormsby will plug in by videoconference. They’ll discuss the recent legislative session and what can be expected from the special session convened this week in Olympia.

To sign up, call Chris Cargill at (509) 570-2384, or register with wakeupcall@washingtonpolicy.org.

Tom Sowa

Aflac chooses duck voice

NEW YORK – Aflac is betting a sales manager from Minnesota has the voice to drive the name “Aflac” into the recesses of your brain and keep it there.

Daniel McKeague, 36, a father of three from Hugo, Minn., beat out 12,500 other contestants to replace actor Gilbert Gottfried and become the new voice of the reinsurance company’s duck mascot.

He gets a one-year contract in the low six figures that the company said will likely be renewed for several years.

Gottfried voiced Aflac’s duck for U.S. audiences for 11 years but was ousted in March after making insensitive remarks on Twitter about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which produces about 75 percent of Aflac’s revenue.

Associated Press

Ford has strong first quarter

Ford posted its best first-quarter profit in 13 years thanks to an improving economy and a lineup of fuel-efficient vehicles that reached showrooms as gasoline prices surged. Ford’s revenues rose 18 percent to $33.1 billion. The company was profitable in all regions even as commodity costs rose. Ford ended the quarter with $16.6 billion in debt, down $2.5 billion from the beginning of the year.

Associated Press