Remember why your mother wouldn’t let you get an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time for Christmas? Turns out that’s also a good reason to avoid sword-fighting. Jeremiah DuPrau learned that lesson the hard way, after he was stabbed in the eye by his sword-fighting instructor at the Milwaukie Elks Lodge in Portland, Oregon....
It’s not enough just to offer someone a great job, or even just great pay. Employees in this market are looking at their careers more holistically, and seeking benefits beyond pay and the possibility for advancement. So how do you attract talent and keep your employees happy? There are some standard benefits that you could increase or extend. And there are some not-so-standard benefits that your small business might think about implementing....
Planned giving, bequests, deferred giving, legacy gifts. They are all terms to describe the mode of donating through estate-planning vehicles such as trusts and wills. And during the current economic slowdown when a non-profit organization’s donors may be reluctant to submit regular donations, instead of closing shop a charitable organization may want to establish a planned giving program to allow donors to leave a legacy of supporting a cause. Here are some things your non-profit organization should know about planned giving:...
Once welcomed home like a hero, Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl is now being labeled a deserter. Sergeant Bergdahl returned home last year after spending nearly five years in captivity with the Taliban. Bergdahl was released in exchange for the release of five members of the Taliban held at Guantanamo Bay. While his family and community welcomed home with open arms, Bergdahl’s platoon members and fellow veteran soldiers accused him of deserting his post during war time, putting others at risk....
As we have discussed, Chelsea’s Law would lock up some child molesters for life, without the possibility of parole. The new sex offender law recently cleared the California State Assembly. The Assembly passed bill AB 1844, known Chelsea’s Law, on a 65-0 vote, the Associated Press reports. It was sponsored by Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher (R-San Diego) and would put some child molesters in prison for life after a first offense....
Your job may be full of hazards, such as heavy boxes and dangerous machinery. However, did you ever expect the hazard to come from that tasty hamburger you had at the company cafeteria? Food poisoning doesn’t just hurt your stomach. It can hurt your wallet when you have to miss work and pay to see the doctor. So, if you get food poisoning at work, can you get workers’ compensation?...
Small businesses make hiring decisions based not just on what an employee brings to the table today, but what he or she can bring to the company in the future. We want innovators with new ideas and meaningful contributions. So what if those good ideas are patentable? Do they belong to you or your employee? Well that all depends on what kind of agreements you have in place before the invention....
Licensed makers and sellers of handguns cannot be held legally responsible for the acts of a criminal who decides to go on a shooting rampage, a California federal appeals court decided this week. The decision is the latest roadblock in attempts to impose some form of civil tort liability on the manufacturers of firearms. In the case decided Monday, surviving victims and people who lost family members in a 1999 shooting spree in a suburb of Los Angeles sought to hold gunmakers and gun sellers legally responsible, via a civil lawsuit for damages....
Raw fish aficionados across the world can easily tell you the difference between sushi and sashimi: one has rice, the other doesn’t. A Ca-Shi offers all-you-can-eat sushi at the price of $28, a deal David Martin couldn’t pass up. When his first order arrived, he began picking the fish from his rolls, leaving behind the rice. When the owner saw the sushi desecration, he told Martin he’d have to eat all the sushi to take part in the deal, reports the Los Angeles Times....
A mother and her children are suing the state of Victoria in Australia after two of its towns failed to protect them from domestic violence. The state had asked the judge for a summary ruling dismissing the case, but the judge felt he couldn’t do that in good conscience. Though she had a protective order in place from her abusive ex-husband, the police failed to take action after she and her children were assaulted, and the police failed to protect the family on at least six occasions when she contacted them for protective help....
So you’ve finally reached settlement in your case, but how do you get your money? Settlement payments can be made in a number of different ways: lump sum payments, installments, or even in loose change. You may have seen the story this week of Andres Carrasco, 76, who was less than pleased to receive a $21,000 settlement – all in coins – from an insurance company he’d sued for assault. The Los Angeles Times reports that Carrasco had initially expected a check – only to receive more than a dozen paint buckets filled with change....
Getting hurt on your first day of work is not a great look. You were hoping to make a great first impression, and now your boss might be having second thoughts about her hiring practices. All future career concerns aside, can you get worker’s compensation benefits, even though you just started your job? How long do you need to be on the job before you’re eligible for workers’ comp? Tick, Tock While state workers’ comp laws may vary on the particulars, generally the workers’ compensation system doesn’t take your length of employment into account....
While the phrase “government shutdown” sounds ominous, it doesn’t mean that every federal agency will close its doors and the wheels of the executive branch will grind to a halt. As they did through shutdowns during Obama’s presidency, certain essential government agencies and employees would continue working during the looming Trump shutdown. That said, there are quite a few different government agencies involved in immigration applications and enforcement, so which ones are essential and which ones could slow down or close up shop during a government shutdown?...
Divorcing couples may be a bit in the dark about how to deal with joint tax returns, and a little knowledge can go a long way. That certainly was the case with Jason Alan Bruce and his ex-wife: Miscommunication over filing a joint federal tax return for their final year of marriage had both former spouses claiming their children as dependents on separate returns – and got Jason summoned to Tax Court....
An Ohio man charged with teasing a police dog by barking at it had his constitutional right to free speech violated, his attorney says. Ryan J. Stephens, 25, of Mason, was charged April 3 with a misdemeanor under a city law prohibiting teasing a police dog. His attorney, Jim Hardin, said Stephens was not striking the animal named Timber or the police car, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Friday. “It was simply barking,” Hardin said....
Chief Judge of the Federal District Court in Northern California, Vaughn Walker, lead the parties in the Proposition 8 case one more step down their long legal road today. On August 12, Judge Walker refused to put a hold on his decision to overturn the law banning gay marriage in the state of California. In his opinion, the judge found the law denies same sex couples of the right to due process and to equal protection as guaranteed by the Constitution....
Many of us have buyer’s remorse after completing a purchase or closing a deal. But luckily, there are some situations in which you can cancel the deal within three days. Caveat emptor (buyer beware) no more with these easy steps to cancel a recent contract: Before you use your state and federal law options for canceling your contract, you may want to try simply contacting the business via mail or email to release you from the contract....
A former Florida man who had his penis amputated is suing for medical malpractice. Enrique Milla claims he went to doctors for elective penile implant surgery. The procedure was to correct his erectile dysfunction, NBC Miami reports. But it took a turn for the worse and his penis was removed. He accuses the anesthesiologist, Dr. Laurentiu Boeru, of failing to postpone the surgery. So how and why did his penis end up getting cut off?...
Where do you go if you are looking for new loans for small business? Whatever you do, don’t hit up the big banks looking for cash. CNN reports that the country’s largest banks have cut back on new loans for small business by $1 billion dollars in November 2009. According to CNN, the banks that received the most in bailouts have cut their small business loan balances by $12.5 billion dollars since April 2009....
Many states have anti-women laws that are relics of our nation’s past. In New Jersey, some of these anti-women laws are now repealed. These old New Jersey laws date as far back as the early 1900s. One law stripped a woman of her property rights if she “ravished” another man or gave “consent to the ravisher.” That is, unless her husband forgave her and allowed her to move back in....
