If you’ve ever had to take time off work to handle family emergencies or because of a medical issue, you might have qualified for FMLA medical leave. The FMLA, or Family and Medical Leave Act, is a federal law that grants employees the right to take time off work to deal with certain personal issues. So, what are some of the basics of the FMLA? What kinds of employers fall under the FMLA?...
When you go watch a football game, you expect the injuries to happen on the field of battle. After all, 300-pound men who can run 40 yards in less than five seconds are not charging down the field to hit you. Still, you may be surprised at the amount of football stadium injuries to befall fans. Fan injuries can range from the comical to the tragic. And the source of injuries are usually not from where you would expect....
Spring break can be an unforgettable experience for college kids across the country. Unfortunately, for many, those memories include getting injured while partying. When a person is injured while on vacation, or on spring break, they may not know what to do. Below, you find a list of five common spring break injuries and legal remedies. While calling the police is critical if you are the victim of crime while on vacation, you may also have legal rights depending on what happened....
This Thursday is Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day. This annual holiday seeks to strengthen the connection between parents and children when it comes to work and education. Here are seven tips to keep in mind when preparing your office for the holiday. Make the office kid-friendly. Business owners are responsible for making sure that their offices are a relatively safe environment and can be liable if for accidents and injuries occur on the property....
Think your work emails are completely private? Think again. They may not be so confidential when your company gets dragged into court. Uber’s Chief Executive Travis Kalanick found this out the hard way when a federal judge ruled that the rideshare company had to disclose Kalanick’s emails in a California lawsuit accusing the company of deceiving customers. Fortune reports that last week’s ruling upheld an earlier ruling by a magistrate judge allowing executive emails to be reviewed for evidence of Uber’s tipping practices....
The San Francisco Police Department crime lab has been forced to close indefinitely after audit reporting concluded that there were too many cases per analyst. According to the audit report, the crime lab had been “sacrificing quality for quantity” and that employees needed to adhere more closely to the industry’s average annual caseload per worker, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. In scrambling to keep up with the fast pace, the crime laboratory abandoned sound practices, the audit concluded....
‘Baker’s Bills’ are the cute name for laws that allow individuals to sell homemade food to the public. More formally known as cottage food laws, they permit small-time entrepreneurs to sell food made in home kitchens rather than commercial spaces. So far 32 states have laws that apply to the sale of home-baked goods. They generally limit the amount of money these businesses can make before they have to upgrade to commercial kitchen space....
For a small business, free Wi-Fi can be a great way to lure in customers, encouraging them to spend time at your establishment. However, offering internet access comes with a bit of a risk, opening your business up to security breaches and providing others with a place to engage in illegal activity, such as downloading copyrighted material and viewing child pornography. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to protect your business....
You might have heard the phrase “doctor-patient confidentiality” or “physician-patient confidentiality” tossed around on some of your favorite television shows like Law & Order or CSI. But, like most things on television, what you see isn’t exactly reality. Doctor-patient confidentiality doesn’t necessarily mean you can go and spill your guts to your physician with the assurance your secrets will never come to light. It’s not an absolute right. What does this mean exactly?...
In some limited situations, an individual can be sued for yelling at or for insulting another person. While the threshold for when an insult or scream crosses the line is rather hazy, there are some clearly defined lines that are helpful. For instance, if the yelling is threatening violence, or is done in a way where the listener fears for their physical safety, there are likely possible legal consequences. Not only is the act of making a threat of violence illegal in every state criminally (so long as the threat is credible), but it can also lead to civil torts, such as assault, or intentional inflection of emotional distress....
A new chatbot, a computer programmed to mimic conversation with users, is hoping to help refugees by providing free legal assistance. No, the chatbot is not a walking, talking, humanoid-type lawyer-robot, it is simply a program that runs through Facebook Messenger. The chatbot’s creator, who’s still too young to legally drink in the United States, saw significant success with the initial rollout of his chatbot, named Donotpay, which has provided free legal help to users in London and New York City to fight their parking tickets....
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, undocumented immigrants make up 3.5 percent of the United States’ population. In California alone, undocumented immigrants make up 10 percent of the workforce. With so many undocumented immigrants in the workforce, it is inevitable that some will get injured at work. But, can undocumented immigrants get workers’ compensation? Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) Undocumented immigrants are not legally authorized to work in the United States....
Today is unofficially “Star Wars” Day – as in, “May the Fourth be with you.” (Get it?) While many fans will mark the day with a clever social media post, we’re reminded of how the company behind “Star Wars” has famously used The Force – of the law – to try to protect its trademarks in court (with mixed results, as Motherboard has pointed out). Meantime, a search of FindLaw’s archives reveals a few other “Star Wars”-related legal tales as well....
Recreational marijuana could be headed to New York in 2019. In a remarkable turnaround, Governor Cuomo announced his plan to legalize recreational marijuana next year in his speech outlining his agenda for the first 100 days of his third term. Governor Cuomo Historically Against Marijuana Just last year, Gov. Cuomo declared marijuana a dangerous “gateway drug” that shouldn’t be legalized. He rejected medicinal marijuana for years before finally approving a limited pilot program with very heavy restrictions in 2014....
Ads for attorneys sometimes include something like “we don’t get paid unless you win” as a way to explain their fee system. Most lawyers call it a “contingency fee.” The attorney’s fee is based on the contingency or condition that your case wins at trial. If you win then the lawyer gets his fee. If not then he won’t make a profit. These kinds of billing systems are common in personal injury cases and forbidden in certain legal areas, like divorce....
I’m sure there are a million things you’d like to do to a shoplifter in your store. That’s your merchandise (and hard earned revenue) walking out the door. But you don’t want to get in trouble yourself, right? So what are your legal rights when dealing with shoplifters? A Pound of Cure A private individual who wrongfully detains a person can be sued for false imprisonment. However, store owners are given a bit more leeway if they think someone is stealing something from their store....
The Hustler lawsuit’s $20 million judgment against the magazine for publishing nude Nancy Benoit photos after her death has been reduced to $375,000 by a federal judge. Nancy Benoit was married to professional wrestler Chris Benoit. Nancy and her 7-year-old son, Daniel, were strangled to death by Chris Benoit in 2007. Chris Benoit then committed suicide, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Nancy Benoit originally posed for the nude photographs when she was an aspiring model back in 1983, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution....
A memorial built at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland over a mass grave interring 409 unidentified victims of the 1978 Jonestown massacre was completed this week. To the shock of Jynona Norwood, the granite markers not only list cult leader Jim Jones as a victim, but were partially paid for by his son. She’s now suing. If you were a child of the 80’s (or 90’s), Jim Jones led a cult, known as the Peoples Temple....
Kenneth Biros will be the first Ohio death row inmate executed under the state’s new one-drug method. He also will be the first to undergo the new method as it has never been tried before on any U.S. death row inmate. His attorney had argued Ohio’s three-drug intravenous cocktail amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. The judges concluded Biros’ argument was essentially moot since the state announced last week it will change its protocol and rely on one drug....
Many mothers have extolled the virtues of midwives before, during, and after giving birth. And in the past few years, the number of expecting mothers using midwives has hit record highs. The vast majority of births using midwives are healthy, for both mother and child. But if something does go wrong, can midwives be liable for malpractice? In many states, midwives must be licensed, and the midwife licensing requirements and laws for each state can vary....
