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The Department of Homeland Security has projected that worker absentee rates could reach 30% or even 50% this flu season, as reported by the Sacramento Business Journal. A survey by the Harvard School of Public Health was also cited as finding that only one-third of companies reported that they could continue business as usual if half of their workers were absent for two weeks. The U.S. has had 9,000 confirmed cases of H1N1 flu (swine flu) so far, with worldwide numbers topping 350,000....

There are several different ways of learning that you’ve struck it rich. Some may see their winning numbers on a television screen. Others may hear the door knock as Publisher’s Clearinghouse waits outside. In Arlene Magdanz’s case, she got a phone call telling her she was Walter Samasko Jr.’s closest living relative. Who is Walter Samasko Jr. you may ask? Well, not that many people may know as the Carson City, Nevada man was a recluse....

Tommy Fry was stuck on the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride at Universal Studios Orlando for about an hour back in 2015, when the ride he and his two sons were on malfunctioned. Fry claimed to have been suspended upside down for this time, though the facts are unclear, since the ride technically does not invert passengers, but rather, tilts them. Fry sued in 2017, claiming injury and mental anguish among other things....

A handful of states are reconsidering a certain brand of highway guardrails after investigations revealed they were harming drivers instead of protecting them. Trinity Industries, the manufacturer of the highway guardrails, reportedly made a change to its design in 2005, one that allegedly can cause the guardrail to impale an impacting vehicle rather than curl out of its way. The New York Times reports that guardrails with this questionable design were installed “coast to coast” over at least seven years, prompting a rival company to sue under federal law....

You started an online shop, which is doing great, and now you want to hire help. The issues you face are similar to any other employer. You need something done and you need someone to do it. But considerations may be slightly different than in a brick-and-mortar business, as the skills you’ll require are likely to be distinct. For one thing, you need someone who is comfortable with technology while traditional sales skills, like making conversation, may be unnecessary....

Now that you’ve submitted your tax filing to the IRS, what do you do with your copy of the paperwork? What about the filing for last year and the year before? How long should you keep your business’s tax records? While the IRS has its own recommendation, there are a few other considerations you might want to take into account before sending your old return paperwork through the shredder. The Official The IRS generally recommends keeping records that support income, deductions, or credits for three years....

You got your employees in the office, so now how do you keep them in line? You’d hope that the interview process would’ve weeded out any bad apples, but even a good egg can have a bad day. So how do you punish a misbehaving employee without incurring his or her legal wrath? Here’s how to discipline employees, legally, from personnel policies to social media suspensions. Fines and Fees It seems like an easy idea: if an employee is responsible for breaking something or consumer theft, just make them reimburse the company, right?...

Have you received a “Notice of Possible Income Underreporting” from the IRS? If so, take a deep breath and relax a bit – you’re certainly not alone. The IRS has sent the letter to thousands of small business employers, asking them to review and confirm that they accurately reported their income on last year’s tax returns. So far, some 20,000 employers across the country have received the letter, according to The Washington Post....

We live in a day and age when marketing products as either organic, all natural, or environmentally friendly influences sales. Eco-conscious consumers are looking to vote with their dollars, and, whether those products are actually better than their synthetic counterparts, we feel better about ourselves for buying the “good stuff.” But what happens when you find out the good stuff ain’t so good? Or that a shampoo labeled “Herbal Essences” and “Wild Naturals” actually contained “synthetic, unnatural, and dangerous ingredients”?...

We’ve all heard stories of mistaken identity, but this is the case of a house’s mistaken identity. One family is suing the police department for searching the wrong residence described in a search warrant. Faulty Warrant Could Have Been Cured With Adequate Surveillance According to the plaintiff, the warrant detailed the wrong house, since it “failed to describe the actual residence that police should have surveilled.” Additionally, the lawsuit claims this mistake could have been corrected, since the warrant had a three-day window period, more than sufficient to determine the correct house to raid, according to plaintiffs....

Avid followers of fashion might be confused by the suit. Aren’t there dozens of stores whose sole purpose is to translate runway fashion into affordable clothes? Stores like Zara, H&M, Topshop and Forever 21 are in business solely to bring the trends found on the runways of Paris, New York and Milan to the streets of San Francisco, Dallas, Madrid, Lyon. Where’s the problem? The problem, as the plaintiffs see it, is that the design of the Madden copy is so exact, down the the placement of its toy colored straps, that original designer fears actual confusion between the two....

Prominent Minnesota attorney Aaron Biber’s civil case ended in a judgment for the plaintiff, a victim of child sexual assault, in the amount of $15 million. Biber served as the treasurer of the Minnesota State Bar Association, and was a former partner at the firm Gray Plant Mooty where he specialized in antitrust law. The civil case began last June, a month before Biber pleaded guilty in the child sexual assault case....

Minnesota is no “flyover” state when it comes to civil rights, as Gov. Mark Dayton is poised to sign a bill into law permitting same-sex marriages. It will make Minnesota the second Midwest state to do so. The Minnesota gay-marriage bill reframes all marriages as “civil marriages,” removes gender from the state’s definition of eligible partners to a marriage, and will allow marriages to begin August 1. Like many other states that have passed marriage bills this spring, Minnesota’s proposed marriage law has its own unique legal quirks....

Religious freedom may be one of the tenets upon which the USA was founded, but you sure wouldn’t be able to tell based on the law that just passed in Alabama by an overwhelming majority. The result of the new law is that faith-based adoption agencies can turn away gay couples who are looking to adopt. The law doesn’t apply to agencies that receive state or federal funding. Basically, the law gives Alabama’s private, religious adoption agencies the right to discriminate against LGBT communities, as well as other faiths, atheists, and agnostics, when providing the public service as an adoption provider....

Children Join Immigration Debate via Lawsuit President Obama’s been sued over his citizenship before, but the most recent lawsuit against him involving citizenship actually was brought by over a hundred kids who say they are being denied their rights as U.S. citizens. The children are suing Obama and asking that a court stop their immigrant parents’ deportations, according to an AP story. The children’s plight is sympathetic, after all, they had no part in the decision-making leading to their circumstances....

AP reports that a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation shows that passenger buses that are subpar and unsafe are still making it out onto the road. NTSB reports that their investigation of a rollover crash in Texas was due to a bus driver falling asleep, but also discovered that the bus company had been using legal loopholes in order to allow the operation of subpar buses on the road....

During these tough economic times, employers may be looking for any opportunity to cut their expenses. One area that has particularly suffered is employee benefits. Employers have cut vacation time, paid sick leave, and other benefits. But while cutting these costs may save money immediately, these cost saving measures may end up costing you more in the long run. A recent survey of workers found that employees who are not given paid sick leave are much more likely to suffer work-related injuries....

It’s nearly tax season. That means you should be in the midst of pulling all your documents together. One thing you may be wondering about is what the rules are with regards to qualifying relatives as tax dependents. Most Americans are familiar with general tax rules. One regulation allows for parents to claim their children as dependents on their tax return. This gives them an exemption. And it lightens their tax bill....

Despite the federal recovery efforts to increase lending to small businesses, the loans many small businesses have waited on are the Small Business Administration (SBA) emergency ARC loans designed to help struggling businesses temporarily bridge the financial gap. The SBA has released more details about which businesses will be eligible for the loans, set to become available next week. As discussed previously, the ARC loans, to come from private lenders, will be for up to $35,000....

It takes approximately 15 minutes for a nurse to change into and out of her scrubs. Or so says a lawsuit filed by Natalie Fiore and Lisa Stransky, nurses at Colorado’s Aurora Medical Center. The nurses’ scrub lawsuit argues that the hospital’s nurses should be paid for changing their clothes. Employees are required to wear the hospital’s scrubs, but are not allowed to take them home. Instead, they must show up 15 minutes early and locate the proper sized scrubs....