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Show BUSINESS MECHARLESJAFFE, E-3 RHONDA ABRAMS, E-4 Ml CONVENTIONS, E-4 Ml WEEKLY PLANNER, E-4 KOTO, SUNDAY JANUARY34, 1999 Ml HUMBERTO CRUZ, E-5 Staffing Firm LeavesTrail of Troubles Workers and companies who wereclients of Paragon Business Solutionsfaceliabilities of some $1 million BYPHIL SAHM Compiled by Lisa Carricaburu Theme Parks Report Drop in Attendance ‘Theme parks spend millions of dol- lars on new rides andattractions to keep visitors coming back. But are the parks beginningto lose their allure? That was a question raised when Amusement Business reported that, despite a robust U.S. economy, North America’s 50 most popular parks suffered a combined 1 percent drop in attendance in 1998, the first dropsince 1991. The trade publication blamedthe dip on a lackluster performancebythe big guys, including Walt Disney Co. — The Orlando Sentinel a The CEO Unmasked It’s lonely at the top, but it may be last fall. Terms of the settlement are THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE not public. A few months before First Utah discovered the Nearly four monthsafter state regulators shut down Paragon Business Solutions of America Inc., business owners and workersassociated with the company face unpaid medicalbills, fouled-up workers-compensation claims and delinquenttaxes. The full damage caused by the mismanagement of Paragon andits affiliate companies is unknown. But Paragon's court-appointed overseer estimates liabil- missing money, LaBronte trans- ferred his employees to the Paragon companies in an ities at nearly $1 million. “This is a real sore issue for me,” said Bill LaBronte, who owns AwningsUnlimited in South Salt Lake. LaBronte’s companyis one of nearly 200 that hired the Paragon companiesto handle payroll and benefits for employees. Paragonserved as the umbrella companyfor Professional Staffing Advantages Inc., an employee-leasing company. Until last summer, Paragon appeared to be a solid, growing company. But in June, the president of First Utah Bank — the bank Paragon used for its businesses — discovered $12.8 million missing. At the time, the sum represented about 25 percentof the bank’s assets. FormerPresident John Hanson, whosince has re- tired from First Utah, said Paragon’s principals, Diane C. and Steven C. Christensen of Sandy, misappropriated the money through electronic transfers from their account. The Christensens deny taking the money. The bank’s ownersinfused several million dollars into the bank,sued the Christensensandsettled the case employee-leasing arrangement. This made Paragon responsible for ensuring Awnings Unlimited's in- cometaxes, Social Security, insur- Steve Griffin/The Salt Lake Tribune Awnings Unlimited ownerBill LaBronteis a- formerclient F of ance and other benefits were ‘4 aid. Paragon Business Solutions. LaBronte’s brief experience with Paragon included bounced paychecks, unpaid workers-compensation claimsand deniedhealth benefits. Paragon also took $5,000 for workers-compensation insurance, hesaid, but never boughtthe in- Lake City, estimates his employees owe $5,000 to $6,000 in medicalbills that remain unpaid by Paragon's health plan.If those bills are not paid, Fassmansaid he will pay them himself. Paragon deducted money from employee paychecks for Quality Plating’s 401(k) plan, but did not pay it to the plan administrator, Fassman said. “This whole thing has been bad for employee mo rale,” he said Even Paragon's own employees becameentangled in the mess. Ex-Paragon worker Kyle Stowell thought the compa: nyhealth plan would cover his 2-year-old son’s surgery to correct crossed eyes. Not so far. Between the surgery and medical expenses for his wife, Stowell estimates he has $6,000 in unpaid bills. “I doubt I’m going to get my [insurance] moneyout of them,” he said Jeffrey Poore, the court-appointed overseer of Paragon and its affiliates, estimates unpaid medical bills from Paragon’sself-insured health plan at $150,000 to $200,000. Individual claims range from a few hundred dollars to more than $50,000. Paragon collected premiums from employeesof its customer companies and placed the money in First surance. Utah Bank. The account, intended to pay medical claims, currently holds about $160,000. DianeChristensenrefutes that claim, saying Awnings Unlimited had workers-compensation coverage. Similar problemsaffected other companies that hired Paragon. document designating the account for medical claims. Andthe bank, still looking to recover as much of its loss But neither Poore nor First Utah can find a trust Glenn Fassman, who owns Quality Plating in Salt See Paragon’s, Page E-5 lonelier for men than for women,ac- cording to a surveyof chief executives by Willard & Shullman Group, a market-research company in Greenwich, Conn.Virtually all the CEOs said they believe they aresatisfying their constituencies, but female exec- utives voiced greater satisfaction with their own job performance and with their personallives than did the men. — The Wall Street Journal o Fewer Union Dues In the midst of the strongest employment market in more than a generation, labor unions gained just 100,000 new members last year even as they watchedthe proportion of union workers in the economycontin- uea slide to levels not seen since the 1930s. Union membership grew to 16.2 million last year. But the percentage of union members dropped from 14.1 percent of the overall workforce in 1997 to 13.9 percent last year. — Newsday a Consumers Go Cordless Just as wireless cellular phones have captured the fancy of footloose Americans, their cordless cousins have become a dominant feature in the home. According to newstatistics from the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association, 1997 marked the first year that sales of cordless phones surpassed those of corded models. More than 28 million units were shipped, representing a 37 per- cent increase over 1996. — The Chicago Tribune oO Go Without Me JW Genesis Financial Corp., a Boca Raton, Fla., brokeragefirm, has found an unusual way to reward em- ployees who workatleast three weekend days in a month. It gives the worker's spouse orsignificant other tickets to concerts, showsor sporting events for use while the spouse is anothertime. ‘The Wall Street Journal " o Serve Upthe Cerveza Not that long ago, sales of Corona Extra and Budweiser at El Jardin’s Phone Deregulation Yet To Find Its Way Home Most newtelephone companies are competing to serve businesses BY STEVEN OBERBECK ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Pick up the telephoneandlisten. If you are a Utah homeowner, it is a safe bet the dial tone you hear is being delivered by US West. The 1996 Telecommunications Act was supposed to changethat. It was supposedto help give homeowners in Utah and nationwide the opportunity to choose which company provides them with residential phoneservice. It has not happened Nearly three years after Congress passed the legislation in February 1996, the country’s telecommunications industry is busy examining whatthe act has wrought. One thing is obvious: If success is measured by how many homeowners get their phoneservice from a companyother than one of the Baby Bells formed from the breakup of the Bell System and them with the BabyBells’ already-established phone networks. “The actin and of itself gave competitors the opportunity to go into the local voice business,” said Cronan O'Connell, vice president of industry affairs for the Association for Local Telecommunications Services. “Pretty much up until com director of western public policy. even if they have yet to make the leap to providing residential service. “There is no doubt that from an eco- progress, The successof the 1996 act is a lot like beauty; it is in the eye of the nomic perspective, it has been a suc- beholder. have been further along if some of the big issues had been addressed up front." mission chairman. “But we do have new entrants into the marketplace, companies that are competing in US West's territory.”” Since 1996, nearly two dozen national companies — known as competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) — have entered Utah to offer telephoneservice in competition with US West. MARKET VALUATION 5S 125 Ea 100 88] 7 33 50 £8) % 281 0 1998 1995 MARKETSHARE— CLEC MarketShare 0.5% $1.1 Billion 115 A fiberoptic cableis a g| 90 80,000+ bundleof glass strands = thatcarrieslight alee: | 60 pulses. 3 asl c so} Q] 15 q a oi Bl The 1996 act was designed to open lo- incentive for BabyBells to allow compet- 94.6% BabyBells FIBER OPTIC MILESINSTALLED BY CLECs cess,” O'Connell said. “But we would cal telephone markets by providing an CLEC Market Share 5.4% $5.7 Billion 99.5% BabyBells the act has been a monumentalsuccess, That does not mean there has been no “The progress [toward competition] has been slower than I expected, slower than many people expected,” said Stephen Mecham, Utah Public Service Com- (NEWCLEC COMPETITORS 175 i“ g 8 150|-146 —— transfer their customers’calls and link “Consumersare still waiting for the benefits that were promised, They are still waiting for competition in the local market,” said Bill Levis, MCI/World- Since passageof the Telecommunications Act of 1996, new competitors known, as CLECs,or competitive local exchangecarriers, have emerged to challenge US Westandtheother BabyBells for a shareoftheir telephone business. Nationally, the number of CLECs setting their own networks of switches and lines has grown to nearly 150 from just 13 prior to 1996. They have invested billions, laying 80,000 miles of fiber-optic line and installing hundredsof switches so they can 1996 there were rules and regulations that precluded potential competitors from going in and competing.” Unfortunately for the average consumer, new competitors have ignored residential users. They have concentrated on providing services to businesses because it is moreprofitable. Businesses often demand and pay for extra high-margin services. Still, from the CLECs’ point of view, AT&T,the act so far hasfailed. Growing Telecommunications Competition CLEC MarketCapitalization (in Billions) 2¥9ED fyoF STS,FEES career The Salt LakeTribune Source: Association for Local Telecommunications Services Rhonda Hailes Maylett ‘The Salt Lake Tritrune ing companiesto tie into their system of lines and switches. If the Baby Bells opened their local markets to competition, they could get into the highly lucrative interstate long. distance business, Yet almost from thestart, would-be competitors and the regional Bell operating companies wereat odds. ‘Theyarguedoverthe termsand condi- call is switched and connections made tions under which accessto thelocal net- They argued over whoshouldset the work would beset. They arguedover the cost of accessing the “local loop” or the“last mile,’ terms rates — the individual states or the Fed. eral Communications Commission With the battle lines being drawn, i! that referto the wires betweena custom: er’s homeandthenearest office wherea See PHONES, PageE-5 Fiesta Cantina in Wrigleyville, Ill., ran bottleneck and neck. But after the Mexican-themedance club introduced a Thursday “salsa night,” the predominantly Hispanic crowd helped Corona dethrone Budweiser as the reigning king of beers. It's as clear as Corona’s signature long-neck bottle that la cerveza fria de Mejico has become muy caliente in America, making Mexican imports the fastest grow. ing category in a beer business that has goneflat. Coronaisn’t alone. Sales of Tecate, Modelo Especial and Book Looks at Why Women Sabotage One Another in Workplace BY RAYMOND McCAFFREY Pitching Paradise history as feminism's worst nightmare. ‘Their devious deed: They sabotaged another woman — Monica Lewinsky in Tripp's case and Nancy Kerrigan in Harding's, They set a sister up, knocked her down, stabbed her in the back and left her writhing on the floor while they walked away without a second thought “It's despicable, it's catty — and it’s all too common,” ‘The Aloha State is banking on 4 quarter-ton sumo wrestler floating in a buge inner tube and singing “Blue Woman 2000," which explores woman-on-woman sabotage in the workplace. Dos Equis Amber surged 20 percent or more in the past year. — The Chicago Tribune 0 Hawaii” to reviveits faltering tour ism industry. Hawaiian-born former sumo champion Konishiki, who weighs in at about 85 pounds, will have to makea big splash — thestate has suffered its first decline in tour says Judith Briles, author of the new book Womanfo According to Briles, more than 75 percent of women in one survey ahe conducted said they had been “under mined" by another woman in the workplace. Some common sabotage tactics: somebody taking credit for your work, failing to give you important messages, betraying confidences, passing on false informa- ismin five years. The primary cause tion about you longed economic flu. The Associated Press which is one of the easiest ways to destroy one's career,” says Briles, wholives in the Denver area. Whyare so many sabotaging their fellow women? was a 10 percent decline in Japanese visitors still battered by Asia's pro- It can be as simple as plain old-fashioned gossip, Briles believes one reason is fear: Since women are usually lower on quarter of a century, has been helping womenenter the they feel more “I've worked in women’s organization for a long time and we've always worked as a team," says Betty Osgood, a counselor at the agency However, Osgood and Briles appear to be on the same the corporate ladder than men. KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSSERVICE Linda Tripp and Tonya Harding might go down in threatened in the workplace. They tend tostrike out more at other women, whom Linda Tripp Tonya Harding they are more likely to have power over, Briles says. “It’s also really important to stress that this is not an exclusive femaleissue,” Briless: “This goes on with workplace through workshopsandone-on-one counsel ing. pageonat least onecount. Osgood sees a lot of the same insecurity in women that Briles does. A lot of women seem to lack confidence,” Osgood says, “It's very scary for womento enter the worldof work especially if they've been homemakers fora while Their focus has been on their family.” Lorayne LoCascio, a ColoradoSprings real estate ap praiser, has run into a different kind of woman in the men, too, but there are differences. Men are usually workplace. sabotagein a more covert way. “Like the wind, you can feel it have foundis if you work very hard and do very well, moreovert, blatant. Womenare morelikely to deliver It’s present and here, but you're just not sure whereit originated,” Briles’ theory could be considered heresy in feminist circles, After all, wasn't the women's movement all about empowering a sisterhood ready to take its right ‘Td work with a guy any day,” LoCascio says “There's something about the female gender. What | womentry to drag you down, I have found rather than try to work together they work against each other. LoCascio, now 34, recalls that when she was 27 and Well, certainly that sisterhood does exist, Witness working her way through college, an older female coworker in her office reacted poorly when LoCascio was promoted. organizations such as the Colorado Springs, Colo., non profit ney" Resource Agency, which, for rougyly a See SABOTAGE AT WORK] Page E-S ful place in what had long been a man's world? |