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The British Medical Journal (BMJ) has announced that Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s autism study is fraudulent. The controversial autism study said that the MMR vaccine is somehow linked to autism in children. Parents who heard about the autism study panicked and led to a sharp drop in the number of children who received the MMR vaccine. The MMR vaccine prevents measles, mumps, and rubella. As a result, the Baltimore Sun reports that while MMR vaccinations dropped, the number of measles cases increased in the United States....

Bedbugs don’t discriminate – though at $695 a night, you’d hope they did. The New York incarnation of the Ritz-Carlton has bedbugs. Lots of them, too. A pest elimination company has been called in to treat rooms, and workers have been trained on how to identify the pesky bloodsuckers. But one room attendant is still scared – what if she brought them home? What are you supposed to do when there are bedbugs at work?...

If you think your business is exempt from California overtime laws, think again. Under the California Supreme Court’s newly released decision in Sullivan v. Oracle, all non-exempt employees are subject to California’s wage and hour laws for any work that is conducted within the state’s borders. This is regardless of whether an employee is a California resident, or your company is based within the state. California regulates both hours (8) per day and (40) per week, which is much stricter than most other states....

Americans work too hard. Because of long hours and work stress, many of us are working ourselves towards a heart attack. If you get a heart attack, either at work or at home, can you get workers’ compensation? Work Related While workers’ compensation law does vary from state to state, generally, you can get workers comp for an injury that is work related. If your job is to put books onto a shelf, and you break your leg falling off a ladder, your injury was a result of your work duties eligible for workers’ comp....

Losing custody of a child is not something any parent wants to experience. Courts want to do what is best for the children, and, unfortunately, sometimes that means removing a child from a parent’s care. Losing custody can be temporary or permanent depending on the reason. For parents going through a divorce, determining child custody is frequently the most important and contested part of their case. However, for a court to decide that a child should be removed from a parent’s custody, there must be a very compelling reason....

A fatal explosion at a ConAgra plant in North Carolina may have been triggered by a gas leak from a water heater that was being installed at the facility. And a contracting company that was working on the natural gas lines at the plant is now facing lawsuits from victims of the explosion. The June 9 explosion at ConAgra’s “Slim Jim” production facility in Garner, North Carolina killed three employees and injured dozens more....

A North Carolina law that allows officials to refuse to perform marriage ceremonies as a religious accommodation is being challenged by 3 couples. Although the law arose from local opposition to same-sex marriage, the challenge is brought by a mixed group of plaintiffs. They filed a lawsuit yesterday arguing that the state is violating the First Amendment of the US Constitution and using taxpayer money to advance a religious point of view, according to the Associated Press....

If your employees haven’t voted by mail, they’ll likely need to hit the polls on Tuesday. That can put an awful strain on your small business, so are you required to give staff time out of the office to go and vote? Here’s a look. Paid Time Off Statutes that govern time off to vote vary from state to state, and 24 states require employers to give employees paid time off to vote: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming....

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which enforces federal discrimination laws in the workplace, has filed a lawsuit against Walmart for discriminating against pregnant employees. This suit was filed in Wisconsin, though the EEOC has almost identical class-action claims pending against Walmart in both New York and Illinois, representing thousands of employees. The federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act, under which the EEOC has filed this claim, prohibits workplace discrimination against pregnant women....

“Why don’t you leave this to the boys, sweetcakes.” – Former ESPN Announcer Ron Franklin. Sexual harassment is no joke, it can cost you your job. So learned ESPN announcer Ron Franklin after calling a female “sweet baby” during a Chick Fil-A Bowl pregame meeting and when she objected, called her an “asshole.” Franklin was pulled from the Fiesta Bowl broadcast for the comments made to sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards. Another colleague was present when Ron Franklin made the comments and reported him to ESPN management, SPORTSbyBROOKS reports....

You can’t judge a book by its cover and you can’t judge a person by their titles. Former Oklahoma Senator and Tulsa Better Business Bureau CEO, Rick Brinkley, is going to prison for fraud and tax evasion. Accused of stealing $1.8 million from the BBB, Brinkley must turn himself in on April Fools Day, ironically, to serve a 37-month sentence resulting from his guilty plea last summer. He was sentenced last week and the hearing was revealing, according to Oklahoma’s News on 6....

Whistleblowers shed light on corruption and wrongdoing. They do so at the threat of losing their job, or worse. Although there are numerous state and federal protections for whistleblowers, coping with job loss for reporting illegal activity can be both emotionally and financially challenging. It is illegal to fire an employee for reporting illegal employer misconduct and other acts of misconduct. If you find yourself in such an unenviable situation, one of the most important aspects of asserting your legal rights is painfully obvious: you actually have to assert your rights....

If you ever poured fuel gels into firepots to light up some of your patio decorations, you should stop. Firepot injuries have caused 75 injuries and two deaths. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has now issued a voluntary recall of the gel fuels. The recall covers around 2 million bottles and jugs of fuel gels from nine manufacturers and distributors, reports CNN. The nine manufacturers involved also came to an agreement with the CPSC....

The world is a veritable landmine for slip and fall accidents. You’ve got cracked sidewalks, ripped carpet, spilled drinks, banana peels, and that crotchety old neighbor who just won’t move all that stuff from his front yard. It’s no wonder slip and fall attorneys are so busy. Actually, the truth is that slip and fall attorneys are so busy because slip and fall accidents are extremely complex, involving a determination of fault and an intense calculation of damages....

When we hear stories about companies like Lockheed Martin using a “14-foot-tall, gleaming black box that can only be opened by solving one of the world’s most impossible aerospace equations” as part of their hiring process, the future feels like it’s finally arrived and our heads begin spinning with the possibilities of applying similar technology to our own recruiting and interview programs. Small Biz and Big Data So, before you let AI take over your HR, talk to an experienced employment attorney....

Just in case you thought the last fax machine was bashed into oblivion during the filming of Office Space, think again. Fax machines remain in existence, and apparently in use for marketing campaigns. So much so, in fact, that lawsuits based on junk faxes in violation of federal consumer protection laws have increased a hundredfold over the past eight years. So where are these faxes coming from? Who are they getting sent to?...

Can a tenant change the locks on their rental? Tenants may have multiple reasons why they’d like to change locks. Maybe there have been a number of burglaries in the area. Or, maybe a tenant would just feel more secure with a heavy-duty bolt. Landlord-tenant laws vary depending on your state. And, you may need to read your lease agreement closely. It’s possible you signed a provision in your lease that forbids changing locks under certain circumstances....

When it comes to a person’s diary or their personal private journal, the truth is that these are rarely going to be considered confidential in a court of law. A person seeking emotional distress damages in a lawsuit, or embroiled in a nasty custody dispute or divorce, may be required to turn over their personal diary. Diaries are, however, private as opposed to confidential. Barring extraordinary circumstances, diaries cannot be published or broadcast without permission....

With mad cow disease currently giving pause to every American beef eater, laws on how tainted animals are handled are in the public eye. Retailers in Korea have even halted the sale of U.S. beef. Despite reports that the infected dairy cow found in California was a result of random mutation, people are still worried about beef safety. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), aka mad cow disease, is a fatal disorder that can wreck your brain and spine....

Hooters wants to have its hot wings and eat them too, legally speaking. New complaints filed last week against the restaurant chain in Sacramento, San Francisco, San Bruno and Orange County claim that Hooters wants want to be classified as places for sexual entertainment and as a family friendly restaurant – all at the same time. The National Organization of Women’s complaints argue Hooters can’t have it both ways. Hooters has been the subject of many suits for sexual harassment, over uniforms, and as recently discussed in this blog, for weight discrimination....