MY AM ADVANTAGE

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BY CRYSTAL BLAIR

Michigan News Connection Staff Writer

LANSING (PNS)  — A new report shows Michigan workers would be better protected under a just cause employment standard instead of at-will rules.

Most workers in the state can be fired for almost any reason, or no reason at all, even as Michigan saw more than 213,000 job openings and 68,000 layoffs in October 2025 alone.

Kathy Lara, policy analyst at the Oregon Center for Public Policy and the report's author, said at-will employment can cause further problems.

"The research also shows that workers then tend to accept unhealthy and hazardous workplace conditions in order to not experience those unfair firings," Lara reported. "They might deal with management hostility because of it. They might accept wage theft because they don't wanna be unjustly fired."

Lara noted even with antidiscrimination laws on the books, the burden usually falls on workers to prove bias, which can be harder when employers do not have to give a reason for firing someone. The report argues a just cause law would require documented, legitimate reasons for termination, set clear guidelines for progressive discipline and include strong protections against retaliation.

Lara pointed out many union workers and most public sector employees already work under just cause standards, along with many CEOs and other high-level executives, who often have contracts guaranteeing notice and, in some cases, severance pay.

"These high-level employees understand that without a contract, their positions are precarious," Lara observed. "I think that same basic protection should apply to everyday workers too, whether that’s someone in retail, a bus driver, or a gas station attendant."

The report found sudden firings can force workers to drain savings, take on debt and struggle to afford basics like food and child care. Supporters have argued that a just cause standard would give Michigan workers more stability and clearer expectations on the job.

PHOTO CAPTION: About 74% of U.S. workers are considered at-will employees, meaning their employment can be ended at any time for almost any reason that isn’t illegal. — PNS PHOTO

BY GARY ANDERSON

CCN Staff Writer

(CCN) — Here are business news briefs from around the nation, across the state and in the Metro Flint regional area:

AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE battery producer has announced plans to close plants in Macomb County's Warren and Oakland County's Hazel Park, and move work there to South Carolina. Akasol says it will permanently shut down the two Michigan facilities, leaving 188 workers without a job by the end of April.

STELLANTIS EXECUTIVES in Auburn Hills tell the Detroit News that the automaker is on the mend this year after profits fell 70% in 2024, leading to local layoffs in Warren as well as at its nearby Toledo plant.

 (CCN) — Kevin Adel plans to retire and sell his media empire in Metro Detroit, according to a story published just after midnight (Sept. 12, 2024) by the Detroit News. Adel's father launched WDAL TV 38 in Detroit 35 years ago, he inherited it when his father died in 2013, his father had started The Word Network in 2000 and Kevin Adel then bought 910 AM from Disney in 2015.

Adel told the Detroit News that the "passion is just not there" about why he has decided to retire.

He has a daughter who just started college and he said he wants to "go fishing" and enjoy life. He's 57. Adel told the Detroit News that he is using  Tideline Partners as his broker for the sale of all three stations. 

The Federal Communications Commission approved a $75 million sale of WADL to Mission Broadcasting last spring with several conditions. Adel told the Detroit News that the deal fell through when Mission Broadcasting "didn't want to buy it because of the conditions."

WADL reaches about 2 million households in Metro Detroit, according to the station sales brochures. Its ratings have long trailed Fox 2 Detroit, WXYZ TV 7, WDIV TV 4, Channel 50 and Channel 20 in the Detroit market and Adel Media offers the least expensive TV prices for commercials.

Adel Media launched The Word Network in 2000 and he targeted blacks with what he now bills as a cable satellite TV broadcasting company with the "largest African American religious network in the world." Most hosts on the network pay The Word Network to obtain air time on the national network.

Adel also developed a strong black audience when he bought WFDF 910 AM and tabbed it as "910 the Superstation" with local hosts who worked for free. He pulled the plug on the format in mid-2023, temporarily aired an all-sports format and then settled on a conservative talk format in September 2023. Adel's Adel Media paid $3 million in early 2015 to buy WFDF 910 AM when Disney was shuttering its Disney Radio division.

Adel has been dogged by the federal government for years over overdue taxes to Oakland County, serious federal tax problems and inheritance tax woes after his father passed away and left a $33 million estate. The federal government filed a lawsuit in April of last year, threatening to sell his Bloomfield Hills mansion, alleging he not only owes thousands in property taxes to Oakland County but $17.8 million in estate and gift taxes to the federal government after the inheritance.

The civil action filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit remains unresolved with the feds seeking a court order to sell Adel's $3.7 million mansion in Oakland County after filing tax liens against it for $8.1 million in unpaid gift taxes and $9.7 million in unpaid estate taxes.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Kevin Adel who tells the Detroit News that he has decided to retire after 35 years as a media executive in Metro Detroit.

LANSING (CCN) — Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is opening the public checkbook to keep Dow Chemical jobs in her state. She is expected to soon steer $120 million in tax dollars to Dow to retain about 5,000 jobs at the Michigan Operations Industrial Park in Midland and the Auburn Operations facilities in nearby Williams Township.

The Michigan Strategic Fund Board approved the funds on Tuesday (July 23, 2024) in Lansing.

"This project invests in people and ensures we are home to cutting-edge R&D facilities." Governor Whitmer said. "I am grateful to Dow for betting on Michigan."

Dow officials told the Michigan Strategic Fund Board that its plans include improving and expanding its manufacturing processes for silicone gels, coatings, encapsulants and other materials used to make electric vehicles.

The same board sent more than $680 million to Big Rapids for a company from Communist China to build a battery factory, more than $400 million went to build a plant to support EV's in Delta Township near Lansing and more than $260 million has gone to the Flint & Genesee Group's Flint & Genesee Economic Alliance to build a plant on a 1,200-acre Mega Site in Mundy Township to support President Joe Biden's push for EV's.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Michigan Govenor Gretchen Whitmer who is prepared to send $120 million in tax dollars to support Dow Chemical retaining 5,000 jobs and positioning itself to help with her push for EV's to support President Joe Biden's clean energy initiatives..

BY GARY ANDERSON

CCN Staff Writer

 (CCN) — On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina   has announced that its two restaurants in Oakland County are closing while USA Today reports that Forever 21 is rumored to be closing four Michigan locations, including in Macomb and Oakland counties as it is headed toward a second bankruptcy filing in five years, according to media reports around the country. 

On The Border is a national restaurant chain which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week.

The two Oakland County locations to close were on Haggerty Road in Novi and on Baldwin Road in Auburn Hills.

On The Border restaurants in Westland and Holland also closed, leaving its only Michigan location still open in Allen Park.

Company officials at Forever 21 have said that no final decisions have been made on store closings, but multiple media outlets around the country have reported on the 200 store shutdowns as a way to eliminate non-profitable stores in an attempt to survive by improving its online sales in other markets.

A Pennsylvania TV station said the stores in Michigan set to close at in the Partridge Creek strip mall on Hall Road in Clinton Township, at Great Lakes Crossing on Baldwin Road in Auburn Hills, at Briarwood in Ann Arbor and at the Woodland Mall in Grand Rapids.

An employee at the Partridge Creek location confirmed the closing of the store there on Sunday to the Oakland Press.

Forever 21 operated 800 stores worldwide before its first bankruptcy in 2019 when subsequently cutting back to 500 stores.