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Although employers and regulators are constantly finding ways to make the workplace safer in general, the unfortunate reality is that on-the-job injuries still do occur and workers’ compensation is as necessary as ever. When a worker is injured on the job or in the course of employment, that worker may be eligible for workers’ compensation, the insurance system that provides benefits to injured workers. Though this may seem relatively straightforward, there are an array of issues and important questions that accompany every potential workers’ compensation claim....

The U.S. Postal Service announced this week that it is offering up to 30,000 employees a $15,000 resignation bonus to leave their jobs. The initiative would cost the USPS $450 million but could save another $500 million over the next fiscal year. Trimming back and going lean. It’s like the Atkins diet, for the post office. The slow economy is not the only factor that has motivated the slimming measures. With increasing online and electronic communications, the USPS has already been experiencing a steady decline in mail deliveries....

Maybe it’s the “gig economy.” Or maybe it’s employers trying to avoid paying benefits or taxes. Either way, more and more people are working as independent contractors these days. While it’s great that workers can take advantage of more flexible employment designations, what happens when employers try to take advantage of their independent contractors? Many contractors don’t know what they’re entitled to when it comes to employment agreements, work decisions, and wage and tax responsibilities....

Embezzlement happens when an employee, or someone with authorization to possess something of value, misappropriates (aka steals) that something for themselves. Most commonly, embezzlement occurs in an employment setting where an employee has access to cash, or other resources or valuable items, and sees that there is a way to steal without getting caught. It can be something as small as not punching out during a lunch break to large thefts of thousands of dollars or more....

Whole Foods has changed its controversial “English-only” policy for workers after drawing ire from customers, thousands of whom had vowed to boycott the upscale retailer. The original language policy, which allegedly caused two New Mexico employees to be suspended, had limited employees to speaking only English when “on the clock and discussing work-related tasks or subjects,” reports NBC News. While Whole Foods’ English-only policy is no more, was it even legal in the first place?...

Remember those “I Heart Boobies” cancer awareness bracelets that a school banned but an appeals court reinstated? Well, it turns out the battle of the bosom swag isn’t over just yet. The Easton Area School District in Pennsylvania has voted to appeal the “I Heart Boobies” bracelet case to the U.S. Supreme Court. That’s right. You may get to hear Justice Antonin Scalia say the word “boobies.” And you will giggle....

Any motor vehicle accident can lead to property damage or injury, but are there many potnetial ways in which a truck crash can differ from an “ordinary” car crash. From special insurance coverage to commercial truck laws, there are actually several factors that can make truck accidents unique. Here are three common differences between commercial truck accidents and standard car accidents: These are just a few common ways that truck crashes can differ from car crashes....

Forgive the pun, but age discrimination is an age-old problem that employers often ignore. Almost everyone knows that you can’t put up an ad looking only for employees of a specific race or religion. But how many employers know that you can’t discriminate against older workers either? And if they do know, how come we still see so many job advertisements looking for “recent college grads” and so many older applicants being passed over for promotions in favor of less experienced, younger, candidates?...

A new study seems to debunk the widely held belief that elderly drivers are less safe than younger drivers. The study, released this week by AAA’s Foundation for Traffic Safety, found that seniors are more likely to avoid unsafe behaviors behind the wheel than younger drivers, reports CBS News. As a result, accident rates for drivers 65 or older have been declining, with 31 percent fewer fatalities in 2012 than in 1997....

Here’s a question business owners may be wondering on National Handwriting Day: Will handwritten agreements and promises hold up in court? Legally binding contracts for business purposes are typically envisioned as volumes of printed paper with wax seals and signed with a quill pen. But in reality, many handwritten agreements are just as valid. So even if your business contracts are written in crayon, here’s a breakdown of the legal effect of handwritten agreements:...

Do you know when a creative Halloween decoration pushes the envelope and becomes an illegal Halloween decoration? In the good ol’ days, one could simply decorate his house with a Jack-o-lantern. But now simply having a pumpkin is lame. Instead, homeowners are upping the ante with an assortment of decorations from flying witches to rising zombies. However, while Halloween may give you an opportunity to get your creative juices flowing, you should be careful not to go too far as to make an illegal Halloween decoration....

All small businesses operate toward the same goal: staying in business. Once the initial shaky stage is over, the next step is preparing for the future. One aspect is choosing the best retirement plan for your company. However, the task can seem daunting. After all, owners want to choose something that’ll be fair to their employees and give the right amount of tax benefits. But they also don’t want a plan that’ll eat up their company’s liquidity....

While children and adults can both find bounce houses to be tremendous amounts of fun, like trampolines, there’s a serious risk of injury when things go wrong. A recent injury lawsuit filed in New York State by the parents of two children injured in a bounce house is a reminder of how often these injuries occur. The parents of the two injured kids are bringing claims against the owner of the bounce house, the toy store that sold it, and the manufacturer....

The Midwest is up in arms over the collective bargaining rights of state workers, and the whole country is watching. Whether you agree or disagree with the proposed changes, as an employer, you need to understand what your duties are should your employees decide to form a union. The National Labor Relations Act governs the rights and responsibilities of both employees and employers with regards to labor unions. Overall, the statute is designed to protect and encourage collective bargaining, guaranteeing most of America’s workers the right to form a union....

Despite crackdowns by schools and state legislatures, college and high school students continue to get injured and even killed during hazing rituals. Last month, a California State University, Northridge student died after being found by a park ranger shoeless and dehydrated in a nearby national forest. His family and friends believe that he was being hazed by members of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity who had taken him and other fraternity pledges on the hike, reports the Los Angeles Times....

As we wrote about earlier here on Injured, former beauty queen Carrie Prejean was sued by the Miss California USA Pageant over her breast implants. The pageant demanded that Ms. Prejean pay back the $5,200 that it gave her in order to pay for the procedure. The spat over breast implants came after the beauty queen’s initial suit against the pageant, in which Prejean claimed that she was fired from her post out of religious discrimination....

There has been a lot of talk about “budget reconciliation” with regards to the passage of Obama’s health care regime. Budget reconciliation affecting healthcare is not new and is not limited to the Democrats – with COBRA serving as a prime example. The Reagan administration used the reconciliation method to pass The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) in 1986. COBRA places compliance rules onto many businesses, requiring employers who maintain group health plans to give employees, and their dependents, the opportunity to continue coverage at affordable group rates in events where they would otherwise lose coverage....

There may be a big splash in the medical malpractice reform pool coming soon. President Obama is privately urging that medical malpractice lawsuit limits be included in any federal health care package, as a means of keeping overall health care costs down, the New York Times is reporting. President Obama is attending the annual American Medical Association meeting this week. And recently, in what the Times calls “closed-door talks,” Obama has been “making the case that reducing malpractice lawsuits – a goal of many doctors and Republicans – can help drive down health care costs, and should be considered as part of any health care overhaul, according to lawmakers of both parties, as well as A....

Medical negligence, commonly referred to as medical malpractice, can take many different forms. Depending on who caused the injury, medical negligence claims can be brought against hospitals, hospital staff, or directly against a doctor, nurse, or other healthcare professional. However, sometimes, after a person suffers an injury in a hospital, or after a medical procedure, they may not know what kind of claim to bring. Generally, if the injury does not involve the medical care, such as a slip and fall on a wet floor in a hospital waiting room, then there will not be a medical negligence case....

There’s been quite a bit of talk about rising divorce rates in the recession, while at the same time there’s also been mention of how hard times can make it tougher for couples to split up, simply as a practical matter. But if a couple going through rocky marital times lives in New York, they may find even more obstacles to getting a divorce that aren’t found elsewhere. When one or both parties to a marriage come to the difficult decision that it is time to seek a divorce, it might be assumed that it is a matter of paperwork and going through a court proceeding to obtain one, particularly where there are no difficult custody or property issues to deal with....