OIEC Quarterly Review, Number 11, July-September 2008 Page: 2
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It was a rare treat as all OIEC employees attended the agency's third
OIEC Conference in July. The agency had grown since the
conference the year before: over 50 new Ombudsman Associates
and Customer Service Representatives had been hired to enhance
OIEC's early intervention initiatives.
The conference topics ranged from business writing skills to appellate
case law. On the second day of the conference, the employees broke
into three groups based on their work functions so that the training
could be more targeted to their daily activities.On the last day the group met back together and enjoyed a powerful presentation by Dr. Beverly Chiodo, a
Texas State University professor who motivated OIEC's employees. This conference closed with the annual
employee awards ceremony. OIEC is full of dedicated, knowledgeable, and skilled employees, and several
were recognized with an award.
Team Excellence Awards were presented to a member of each of the seven Ombudsman Program teams:
Anita Flores (Midland), Enedelia Guimarin (San Antonio), JoAnn Simmons (Fort Worth), Leo Montano
(Missouri City), Nick Perez (Dallas), Sabrina Alfaro (Beaumont) and Teresa Tuch (Victoria).Technical Achievement Awards were presented to one Ombudsman Assistant and one
exceptional skill and proficiency. This year Ombudsman Assistant Adriana Torres (Lubbock)
Melody Manuel (Denton) were recognized with these awards.Ombudsman for
and OmbudsmanOIEC is already busy planning next year's conference, which will be held June 24 - 26, 2009 in San Antonio.
Impact of Hurricane Ike
In the early morning hours of September 13th, Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast and moved, slightly weakened,
inland. OIEC worked closely with the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers' Compensation
(DWC) to ensure the employees were safe and that equipment and claim files were protected in all of the field
offices.
The Beaumont, Bryan, Corpus Christi, Houston East, Houston West, Lufkin, Missouri City, Tyler, and Victoria
Field Offices experienced temporary closures due to the hurricane. While they were closed, all other field
offices were open and prepared to handle calls that were re-routed from the affected offices.
Some hearings were affected by the office closures. If a customer's hearing was canceled due to an office
closure during the week of September 15th - 19th, the hearing will only be rescheduled upon request. The field
offices affected were Houston East, Houston West, Missouri City, Beaumont, Lufkin, Tyler, and Bryan.
DWC's Hearings Division encourages all participants to talk and decide how, when, and where they want the
Benefit Review Conference or Contested Case Hearing reset. Choices include:
" attending the hearing by telephone,
" requesting a change of venue for the hearing to a different field office, or
" requesting the hearing be reset in the original field office.
All affected OIEC field offices have re-opened for business, and its employees have volunteered to help with
Disaster Relief by participating in shelter outreach.Third Annual OIEC Conference
01EC Customer Service Representatives
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Texas. Office of Injured Employee Counsel. OIEC Quarterly Review, Number 11, July-September 2008, periodical, July 2008; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth576051/m1/2/: accessed June 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.