Announcements from the District Compliance Administrator
Memo from Jan Carlson, DCA | November 1, 2011
As the Compliance Administrator and the District enter the final stages of the journey toward substantial compliance, it is my feeling that the Court and all parties will be best served by more frequent reporting of our activities. Beginning with the report filed today, my office will issue reports each month. We have set a goal to publish these reports on or before the 15th day of the following month. This report describes the districts employment activities and steps taken to implement the new employment plan and other policies and procedures during the month of September, 2011. We have identified 10 categories of District employment actions that we will use as a template, and upon which we will report.
Memo from Jan Carlson, DCA | April 6, 2011
Earlier today it was called to my attention that the item labeled on our site as my Interim Fourth Report to the Court was actually a duplicate copy of our third report. I sincerely apologize for this oversight, the responsibility for which rests solely with me. The appropriate version of my Fourth Report as filed with the Federal District Court has now been posted in its proper place. I apologize for any inconvenience my error may have caused you.
Memo from the DCA | December 8, 2010
The Supplemental Relief Order (SRO) that governs the actions of the District Compliance Administrator requires that the DCA send a Notice of Determination to each claimant regarding his final decision. That Notice was mailed on November 23rd, 2010. The SRO further requires that within 30 days of sending that Notice the DCA must provide the District with a list of Claimants eligible for an award. That requirement was met on December 1st, 2010. Within 60 days of receipt of the DCA’s Notice, the District is required to mail a check in the amount of the award to each claimant. Their deadline for mailing checks therefore is January 31st, 2011. Once the matter has been passed to the District, as it was on December 1st, the DCA no longer has any control. We have no knowledge of when the checks will be mailed. The DCA’s staff attempted to get current addresses from everyone before providing the list to the District, therefore the check will be mailed to the address on the claim form unless the claimant has subsequently provided us with a new/different address. I hope that this informaton will be of some assistance to you all.
STATUS REPORT ON CLAIMS | November 23, 2010
I am happy to announce that Notice of Determination letters were mailed out today to all claimants except those who withdrew their claims during the investigations. The determinations are final and non-appealable and the investigators assigned to the claims are not at liberty to speak with claimants regarding my findings. I have a designated phone line for use by claimants with comments or questions regarding the determinations. That number is (312) 603-8908.
Important Notice
All claimants must meet with me or one of my Investigators before their claims are adjudicated. Most claimants have done so already but there are a few that have not. If you are one of those who have not yet done so, please contact Anthony Drew of my office to schedule a meeting no later than July 24, 2010. He may be reached Monday through Friday during standard business hours at (312) 603-8852. As the investigations are nearly complete, I will not be in a position to consider or adjudicate claims filed by any claimants who have not met with me or one of my Investigators by the stated deadline.
To those who have filed Claims:
To keep you informed on the status of claims filed with my office, please be advised that the District has experienced difficulties locating the documents that we need to review in order to evaluate your claims. For this reason, our investigations remain open. (See: Report No. 2) The flow of documents has recently begun to increase and I am cautiously optimistic that, if the District continues to produce documents at the current rate, we will be in a position to conclude our investigations by July 30th. Once we have evaluated the claims and given the District an opportunity to respond to my findings, I will provide written notification to each claimant regarding my determination of their claim and the dollar amount of the damages awarded, if any. The District is required to mail award checks within sixty (60) days thereafter.
News About Claims
All claims are currently in the investigation phase of our process. With the District’s cooperation in terms of providing prompt and complete access to documents and witnesses, the District Compliance Administrator’s office will be in a postion to adjudicate the claims by June 1, 2010. Please check the website for general status updates.
Information for Claimants
The deadline for filing a claim was August 7, 2009.
The District Compliance Administrator will attempt to contact claimants for the purpose of interviewing and obtaining supplemental information. If you have not been contacted by the DCA’s office by October 15th, 2009, please call us at 312-603-8908.
Announcement
We often prove that we are human beings by making a mistake. An error was made in the claim forms which transposed our room number. The proper room number, up to now, has been room 1416 at 69 W. Washington.
We recently moved our offices to the 8th floor. Effective June 30th our office will be located in room 840 in the same building.
The deadline for filing claims was July 6th. However, post cards are being sent to those people who applied for employment with the Cook County Forest Preserve District between June 1, 2005 and March 5, 2009 and the Court has extended the deadline for filing a claim for this group of people to August 7th. Any applicant who believes that she or he was not hired for the applied for position because of unlawful political discrimination on the part of the Forest Preserve District may be eligible to file a claim with the Forest Preserve Shakman Compliance Administrator.
Please refer to the left panel of the home page and click on the button marked “Filing a Claim” for information regarding your rights, how to file a claim and the claim forms. Mail the claim forms to the Compliance Administrator, 69 W. Washington, Suite 840, Chicago, IL 60202.
There has been some confusion about our web site address. Soon you will be able to reach us at both cookfpshakman.com and countyfpshakman.com, which is the web address that appears in our brochure. Thank you for your patience.
Jan Carlson, Compliance Administrator