Employment Discrimination Lawyers and Labor Law Lawyers

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Would Mexico be better if the USA and Mexico become one nation?

Improvement of the Mexican people lives, Employment, Environment. Freedom of choice in Politics. More guarantees of education, security, more drug laws, less crime, less corruption.

Oh heck no if that was to happen it would be the ghetto of the USA. I read in an artitical a few week back where Vincente Fox of Mexico was talking to some people of Columbia saying that the Mexicans were going to over rule our government. Don't know how true the source really was but as daddy says talk is cheap.

Downington Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Lawyers - Wusinich, Brogan & Stanzione, Attorneys

Do you think there is danger of our surrendering to a police state?

As I look around at the freedoms Americans have given up without much thought in the last few years, I have to wonder: are we poised, willing and ready to become a police state?

I understand your fears after 9/11 phones tapped, photo radar etc I do not believe we are in a Police State yet the best thing you can do personally is study the candidates & VOTE!

Review Your Employment Decisions With Statistics

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UK EMPLOYMENT LAW: Is it possible to be dismissed for a"variety" of reasons?

ie lets say you'd had warnings for lateness, making mistakes on the job, other misconduct etc but no gross misconduct and you hadn't actually been given a final warning, neither were you on probation.

Under the Employment Rights Act, if an employee pursues a claim for unfair dismissal the employer must establish the dismissal is fair based on one of the following reasons:

1.)A reason related to the employee's conduct (e.g., abusive behaviour, theft, bribery, sharing confidential information, tardiness, intoxication at work, etc)

2.)A reason related to the employee's capability or lack of qualifications

3.)Retirement of the employee (i.e., at age 65 or the organisation's normal retirement age)

4.)Redundancy

5.)A legal requirement prevents the employment continuing (e.g., the employee is employed as a driver but no longer holds a driving license)
If the reason the employee was dismissed does not fall within one of these five categories, it can still be a fair dismissal, provided there was some other "substantial reason of a kind such as to justify the dismissal of [the] employee holding the position which that employee held."

This might include an employee dressing or acting inappropriately at work, or acting in a manner outside of work hours that affects their performance at work.

In all circumstances, the employer must act reasonably in treating the reason as a sufficient ground for dismissing the employee. Tribunals will judge each case on its merits.

UNFAIR DISMISSAL

Dismissal can be unfair for a variety of reasons, i.e.:

The employer lacks a fair reason for dismissing the employee (e.g., there was nothing wrong with the employee's job performance)

The employer fails to follow the correct dismissal process

The employer dismisses the employee for an automatically unfair reason
** Additional Information & Advice **

You can obtain further information about unfair dismissal on FindLaw.

Depending on your circumstances, however, you may want to speak with a solicitor who specialises in employment law. You can be matched with an employment law solicitor in your area for free via solicitor matching services, which can also help you to understand the best course of action and whether you are ready to hire a solicitor.

And, again depending on your situation, they may be able to help you find a solicitor who will agree to take your case on a "no win no fee" basis, which means you don't have to pay for the solicitor's services unless you win your case.

By-Law Enforcement Officer - Working in Canada

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Disciplinary procedures in employment?

I as an employee fell down a customer's fire escape whilst delivering. As a result I was given a written warning for breaching Health and Safety rules for using the fire escape when I was advised 2 weeks previously by the customer that there was an indoor staircase I could have used. I have never had a verbal warning from my employer in the past. I have been told that if I breach H&S rules in the future, I will receive a final written warning. My question is a) is it employment law that a verbal warning should come first, and b) shouldn't warnings be spent after 12 months?
I feel as if I will be working in fear of another accident in the future being used as grounds for dismissal regardless of how far in the future this happens or the cause of it. Can anyone help me with my legal position please?

In most cases your employer must give you a verbal warning first but if the employer thinks that it is gross misconduct they can give you written or dismiss you traight away and as you had an accident while at work they saw that as a threat to them to hence why they jump for the written warning to cover them selves.
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/life/employment/dealing_with_grievances.htm
Theres a link that will tell you about it and will also tell you how to bring up grievence if you think it was unfair they gave you a disaplinary. Hope this helps

Do we have to go through a redundancy procedure if we can offer other work at a site 20 miles away?

Good News!: Black Employment Picture Improved In October
*While African Americans continue to have the highest unemployment rate of any major population group, the overall situation appeared to have improved last month with Black unemployment falling from 16.1 percent in September to 15.7 percent in October. According to the monthly Labor Department report released on Friday, this improvement took place while the jobless [...]
Blackstone's Employment Law Practice 2010

Need legal advice on CIVIL DISABILITY and Felony Conviction?

If a felony conviction is viewed by the US Department Of Justice, and The US Department of Labor as a CIVIL DISABILITY and a tax credit is given to employers who hire an ex-offender, the why can employers who claim to be an EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER and state on their job application that they DO NOT DISCRIMINATE AGAINST ANY RACE, RELIGION, OR DISABILITY, deny an ex-offender employment. That constitutes a violation of numerous disability acts and goes against federal law. The recidivism rate is high enough and without the ability to gain employment, what chance does an ex-offender have to gain a productive role in society?

I have that problem. I'm well qualified for the job that I apply for, but have felony convictions from over ten years ago and can't get hired. Can I collect disability from the government?

Employment Law

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Police Testing - Medical/Psychological?

I actually was offered a "conditional employment" by the Washington State Patrol, and I must take my final medical exam and psychological exam. The officer who notified me said that I would need to have blood drawn to make sure I don't have any "weird diseases or drugs in my system", anyone know what they test for, so I can be relieved to know I don't have that "weird disease"? Also, what are some general questions asked on a law enforcement psychology screening? Any help would be appreciated, thanks guys!

I think that a lot of police forces will give the MMPI which is a sophisticated personality test. Hundreds of questions (600 or so), many of which will seem irrelevant. All I can say is to be honest when taking it.

Benjamin Pinnock

Is a 16 year old considered an adult with employment law if they are emancipated from their parents?

Would he/she be subject to the laws normal 16 year olds are regarding hours aloud to work and breaks?

your still a minor so the minor labor laws apply

emancipated minors still have to attend school and act responsibily

Donald Trump: "You're Fired" Employee: "You Just Got Served"

Goodwill warns fake donation bin scam is feeding 'billion-dollar for-profit industry'
"One year's work by one outfit brought in about $58 million," says Goodwill official.

How does one become a Forensic Psychologist or Forensic Psychiatrist in Victoria, Australia?

I currently hold a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology (Interpersonal & Organisational) from Victoria University, and am attending the University of Melbourne doing a Graduate Certificate in Criminology (my subjects include criminological theories from graffiti to terrorism, Criminal Law, Policing, and societal structures in reference to crime) from which I hope to go on to do further studies.

Hi Oscar. In England, we study for the Master of Science MSc in Forensic Psychology. It is 2 years and involves allot of legal training. I thought it would be different than what it actually is and even though it is well paid, I choose not to do this now in the traditional sense. If I am honest, I found the people corrupt that I worked with and also I did not get any real satisfaction from helping anybody as my job was listening to criminals and paedophiles reason and blame others for their own horrendous crimes. You could go into the Police and probably do very well. Forensic social work or young offenders team work would also be an option for you

Spring Migration Gay & Lesbian Festival North East Vic

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Can a background check company in Texas reveal a non criminal conviction (from another state) to an employer?

I know in some states it is illegal for a background check company to reveal a non criminal conviction (violation) to an employer. Is this the case for employment background checks done for employment in Texas, and if so where in the law does it state this? Does it matter if the background check company is physically located in Texas or is there a loop hole for this?

In Texas and other states, employers have the right to do criminal background checks themselves, but most employers hire a service to do that .

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires an employer to get written authorization from an applicant to do a credit check if an outside agency will be used – in addition, if the applicant is turned down, the employer must tell the applicant why and let them know the name and address of the service that furnished the information.

The FCRA prohibits credit reports from including non-criminal violations, such as a conviction that only results in a fine. The FCRA applies nationwide.

Note that the restriction on reporting non-criminal convictions only applies to credit reports. If the employer does the research himself, he is entitled to any information that he obtains from public sources, and all convictions (of any type) are public information. The employer can also purchase a background check that could reveal the same information as long as it is not included in a credit check.

You can perform a free background check yourself to see what information is available.
Like many answers, it all depends on the details:
What information do you want?
How much work are you willing to do to get it?
How fast do you want it?

If you are willing to do some work yourself, you can perform a background check on someone for free.

Criminal Background Check:
Criminal records are kept by the Clerk of Courts in each courthouse. Every city, town, county, state, and the federal government have their own courthouses. We know there are 50 states, 3000 counties, and over 30,000 cities, towns, or townships in the USA. That is a lot of courthouses, and most of them do not share their information. However, it is all public information, and you are allowed to review it.

If you know where the subject person has lived and traveled, then you know which courthouse records to check.

Do-it-Yourself Free Background check issues:
a)One problem is finding out your subject-persons lifetime travel history. He could have committed a crime anywhere he has ever been.
b)2nd problem is the amount of work you must do to check every courthouse in those locations.
c)3rd problem is that you could miss important records if you miss any of the locations that your subject-person has been to.
d)4th problem is cost. If the courthouse has digitized their records and published them on a website, then you can often review them for free. But if you must travel to the courthouse, that requires your time and travel costs. Finally, if you get copy of the record, some courthouses charge $1 per page. Wow! That can be expensive.
e)So a do-it-yourself background check may cost you a significant amount of money if you want to perform a complete background check.

Other Records:
You will probably want to check out some other records on you subject-person.
Do your want to know about:
Marriages and Divorces
Bankruptcies
Tax liens
Civil law suits
Professional licenses
Corporate ownership
Property ownership.

All of that information is public, and you can review it. But, you have the same issues that you had with the Criminal Records. The information is not all in one place. You have to find out where it is, and you may have to travel to those locations.

Information Aggregators
On the internet, some companies specialize in collecting all of this public information, putting it in their database, and making it available for instant access. For example, Illinois Youth Soccer (http://www.iysa.org) has a Risk Management publication that refers to
http://backgroundsearch.com

You can review some of this information for free and get the results immediately on the internet.

How to Perform a Do-It-Yourself Free Background Search & Check:

Step #1 – At an information aggregator, like BackgroundSearch.com , you can put in your subject-person’s name and find every city that he lived-in. That website provides this information for free. You can enter as many names as you like, as many times as you like. Now you know which courthouse records to review.

Step #2 – At the same website, you can find a list of the Criminal Record Offices of every city, county, and state in the USA, along with their website (as reported to the U.S. government.).

Step #3.- Go to the courthouse website, or to the courthouse (if they do not have a website), and review their public records.

Step #4 – Back at BackgroundSearch.com, you can find the Record Offices for Vital Records (Marriage, Divorce, Births, Deaths). Repeat step #3 for Vital Records and any other type of records that you need.

Purchasing a Background Check:
If you want to get a complete report, instantly, you can purchase a comprehensive background check from BackgroundSearch.com (or other information aggregators). Every company (without exception) will charge you something for a complete background check. The companies have to cover their costs to gather all of the public information, put it in a database, keep it up to date every day about everyone, and make it available to you on the internet for instant access.

Sex Offenders:
The U.S. government does keep a list of all convicted sex offenders in one place. You can find it here: http://www.nsopr.gov/
Source(s):

Good luck with your background check research.

Workforce Solutions Upper Rio Grande Employer of the week Alpine Access

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Simple quick question: how is PTO/Vacantion/Holiday calculated in the first year of work in Illinois?

HI, I just arrived in US last year. Why I'm trying to understand by this question is if the Illinois law gives you the right to any kind of paid leave in the first year of employment.
Thanks

Those are issues for you and your employer to work out. Most employers will say, "This is what we offer. Take it or leave it." This is subject to change when a more ardent fascist gets elected as president and pushes for mandatory vacation/holiday pay.

How hard is it for a UK law graduate to gain employment in New York or Canada?

Hi,

The link below would be a good place to start. The system of law in Canada is MUCH closer in style to the system of law that you have in the UK than is the American system. Hope you get all the information you need to make a decision.

Introduction to Royse Law Firm

possibly lawsuit? lawyer or attorney with advice?

my husband is "sub contracted" by my father, basically for tax reasons. He uses all my fathers equipment and does all my dads B!tch work basically. he does not do anything on his own time and he does not have his own equipment. His employment was also not temporary. Well anyways while at work he was told to clean the windows so he got out one of my fathers ladder and on his way up the ladder had a big crack in it which cuased the ladder to give and my husband to fall. HE broke his neck and now he cannot work and we have no income. Is this a possible lawsuit? my father in law says he asked a laywer and they said it sounded like a case. If we do sue their company's insurance would they lose their buisness? how much would it affect them? what could we gain out of this? normally i wouldnt even consider doing this to my family but they have completely refused to help us with money, and fired him so we couldnt claim workers comp either. This happened in Williamson county, TN.

He's not a sub-contractor, he was working for your dad. Since at the time of the accident he was an employee he can still file a comp claim and your dad can get in a LOT of trouble for firing him after he was hurt. Talk to your dad, tell him you need to file the claim. He will not lose his business, he might have to pay more for insurance but face it, your husband has a broken neck. If your dad doesn't want to cooperate, get a good lawyer(not an ambulance chaser). Don't wait too long there are statues of limitations that apply.

WORKERS' COMPENSATION

Business People Twin Cities
Minneapolis-based Olson promoted Tate Nolan to creative director. She leads projects for client Target. ... Minneapolis branding and advertising agency mono hired Dustin Black as an art director and Shawn Hoglund as a 3D designer. ... Martin/Williams Advertising, Minneapolis, added Amanda Tibbits as an account supervisor.
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Can someone give me a summary or case brief?

I'm a business student and writing a paper for my Employment Law class. Does anyone know anything about the case of :
NOSRAT KHAJAVI, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. FEATHER RIVER ANESTHESIA MEDICAL GROUP et al.,

The best way to understand a case is to write your own brief, using the FIRAC method. FIRAC is the acronym for Facts, Issue(s), Rule, Analysis, Conclusion.

If you can quickly state each of those, you understand the case, and how the court reached its conclusion.

In this particular case, a large and well respected law firm may have saved you the trouble. See: http://www.akingump.com/docs/publication/288.pdf

Justice for Women Stalked in the Workplace and Retaliation by Their Employers

Privacy laws in Canada protecting employees personal information?

My T4 slip was given to an individual to give to me from my former place of employment. Although I trust this person, it was done without my consent. It contains my full name, address, postal code, and social security number. What are my rights as an ex-employee? Aren't there privacy laws against my information being shared? What can be done about it?

Yes there are laws. But in your case since you claim you "trust" that person so you can't really say you suffered any damage. At most your employer could be given some small fine but not a big deal.

It would be a better case if the information would have been given to strangers or people you don't trust.

Still what your employer did was wrong and technically you could take legal actions against them. Also you can put a formal complain on your local labor bureau.

Don't answer The census of 2010

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PPG Appoints Glenn E. Bost II as Senior Vice President, General Counsel
PITTSBURGH----PPG Industries today announced that Glenn E. Bost II has been named senior vice president and general counsel, effective July 1. Bost will become a member of PPG’s executive and operating committees, reporting to Chairman and CEO Charles E.
Employment Discrimination Law Firm Pittsburgh

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Online Accredited College Degree Program: for the New Student Committed to Success

An online accredited college degree program allows you to take individual online college courses and to get an impressive college degree, without having to attend on-campus classes.


These programs are ideal for non-traditional adult students, who can study at their convenience, while meeting their work and family responsibilities. They get a second chance to complete their college education and to acquire a degree that will add to their career portfolio.


You can join an online accredited college degree program and get a Bachelor's degree, Master's degree or Doctorate in a subject of your choice. Some of the popular subjects are business, information technology, computer science, education, psychology, social work, counseling and journalism.


Many students prefer to join professional certificate programs in subjects like stress management, security management, law enforcement and public health nursing, that will help them in their careers.


What you need to consider before you sign up


Before you join an online accredited college degree program you need to be sure about your personal goals and how an online college degree will help you to reach them. If there is a clearly defined benefit that an online college degree can provide, like a pay raise, promotion or a better job, you must go ahead and join the course.


A college degree doesn't come cheap and you need to carefully weigh the costs and benefits of joining an online accredited college degree program. Find out if your employer offers some type of tuition assistance as an employee benefit.


You need the support of your family and employer and be prepared to find time to work on the online degree program, in spite of having a packed schedule. You must be fully committed, have a positive attitude and believe that you can succeed through your own efforts.


Two-year schools offer associate degrees and certificate programs, while four-year schools and universities provide bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. Two-year schools are suitable for students who are very concerned about the cost and are not sure of their long-term goals or academic capabilities.


Four-year schools are suitable for students who are clear about their goals and are confident about their academic capabilities. Certificate courses are suitable for people who want to update their work skills, while degree courses are suitable for people who require an advanced degree and want to enter a professional field.


Institutions offering accredited online college degree programs


The University of Maryland University College (UMUC) offers several online bachelor's degrees and undergraduate certificates. It is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, Philadelphia.


The University of Phoenix Online is the nation's largest, accredited private university. It is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.


Before you sign up for an online accredited college degree program, you must be clear about your career goals. Look for a school and a program that will help you to achieve what you want and be fully committed to success.

About the Author

Jim Zorn is web master of the Guide to Distance Learning. Visit us to learn more about online colleges and universities, distance learning degrees, majors and courses offered.
http://www.guide-to-distance-learning.com

Business & Office Management and Technology Program at Bevill State Community College

Jean Chatzky: This week, we dip into the mailbag
I thought I'd dedicate some time to answering a few of the questions my readers have been sending in lately. I selected a few topics that I think will benefit a wide range of people. So let's get started:
Drinking Age new law

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Esperanza Aguirre Spain's First Woman Prime Minister

FIRST FEMALE PRIME MINISTER OF SPAIN.

Esperanza Aguirre set to take the wheel.

By Michael Mifsud.

Her name means hope but in this instance it means a little more than that,  for the very presence of Esperanza, the controversial and sophisticated President of the Madrid Community, already speaks of her future role in the leadership of Spain.

For those with a feel for the urges of destiny and its political “expressants”, there is no shadow of doubt about the outcome of the next general elections which may come sooner than the intended end of term vaunted by the present Prime Minister, Luis Zapatero. But things are not easy in the Iberian front as the economy begins to illustrate what many have suspected and which most have papered over – that it was never there in the first place. It certainly looks like that with the disastrous economic figures that should have, by now, forced the country into ruinous bankruptcy. Spain is a relative newcomer to the modern world of Europe and its strategic position within the landmass, made her a useful ally and potential partner in the construction of a unified economy. It has not turned out that way with a tendency on the part of the lower European members to dig into an antiquated and reclusive nationalism directly contributing to increasingly convergent economies set out to carve their own courses at the expense of the genuine European contributors. Spain, like Portugal and Greece has not emerged from the downturn produced by the simple lack of tourists and the incredible property bubble that has all but destroyed the majority of the foreign investors whose nest eggs have been dragged into the vortex. Little hope of recuperation and crippling designer taxes set on taking whatever is left from those who left their own shores to settle in what appeared to be an idyllic place, has brought many to the point of rescue by other members of the family. The hot spots like the Costa Del Sol, overbuilt and incapable of controlling its own effluence has further damaged the delicate ecology of the one time enchanting Mediterranean seashores.

Concentration on massive building on ribbon development scale has completed the picture of what is now a social wasteland devoid of the basic recreational necessities for communal living that does not end up consequently, at the local bars. Greed and corruption has destroyed an economic dream gone sour, but worse, as tourism, the lax and lonely supporter of the national budget, threatens to bring a veritable house of cards down. No significant effort has been made to create employment and worse still, where the effort has succeeded to keep the figures apparently moving, it has been in the public sector with a Government bill and employment ratio that speaks volumes of political incapability of understanding the nature of genuine job creation. In the worst hit ares of Southern Spain political opponents have thrown out facts that have underlined the wasteful nature of national and local political expenditure with successive governments spending on itself and its own and neglecting the struggling businesses without which there would be no employment at all. Classification of employment within the public administration needs a category all of its own, since, in the main it is not a net contributor to the national economy and clearly, an unbridled expense. This adds on to the practically inexistant export market and steady decline in production infrastructure with China supplying practically every item of expendable, low cost consumer goods.

Questionable Attitudes

The lack of industrial production or the resettlement of desperately needed foreign producers on the Iberian shores are linked with national deterrents based on narrow interests in state revered monopolies and the cost of hire and fire of local labour stuck in antiquated and aggressive, overprotective unions. Modern production units with built in social and entertainment centres in the style of the British contribution to the Spanish economy in the early 20th. Century, have been conspicuous by their absence despite the obvious case for a proliferation of such efforts. These would have pushed Spain into the 21st. Century without any formal dependence on cheap tourism and modern infrastructures demanded by the new wave of foreign residents. Both factory and villa in the sun would have opened a demand that would have outstripped the local needs and set up the much needed export flow that would have guaranteed the welfare of the Spanish family for generations to come, The bad press which Spain has received over the last ten years however, has eroded the platforms on which these economic possibilities would have been launched.

The total lack of political will demonstrated in the economic figures, betray disguised import export deficits that have contributed to unattended, underlying inflation rates. This has made Spain too expensive for the type of tourism on which it fed. It is also now sending panic stricken British pensioners back to the UK leaving the sale of their properties to the market misfortunes. Taxation is also a nightmare as is also the subjective, judicial system which has been classified as "not protective" and of poor quality by most of the European media. Whereas many basic taxes have been abolished in the states of upper Europe, Spain continues to multiply them with property purchase tax running at approximately 7% and social security contributions at a record breaking 45%. Wealth tax, vehicle transfer tax, and an incredible rental income tax for foreigners (denounced by the EEC) whether they let their properties or not, begins to destabilise the foreign, second home sectors which in the main accounted to over 60 % of the restaurant and bar trade. Additionally, property purchase taxation is now dependent on municipal valuation (and not democratic free market valuation) of property, rendering buyers vulnerable to as much as double the amount. The local council amazingly determines what the property should have sold for, taxing it at whatever figure chosen - an unethical tactic hitherto unseen in Europe.  In the private sector this would be called fraud. The legal system is incapable of blocking what even its own administrators, classify as illegal tactics based on a form of indirect taxation much criticised by the European Authorities. Europe however, simply denounces.

Esperanza Aguirre stands in the wings with no magic wand, but already her foreign public appearances have ingratiated her to the citizens with her liberal approach to social structures and now see her as a potential Margaret Thatcher for the country. She is probably the only Spanish politician of any standing who can speak good English and she is viewed with caution by those whose power would be left in the shadows if she made her way to the leadership of the party. There is a hint of optimism in political circles that this will not take too long. Both the previous Prime Minister, Jose Aznar and the present Mariano Rajoy have left Spain particularly unimpressed with their theatrically structured and hollow attacks on the present Socialist ruling party and it is very doubtful that either will make it to the next General Election. A similar situation arose in the Thatcher days and it was a foregone conclusion that the thrust of a totally novel concept into what appeared to be a never ending, crisis ridden, political scene would attract voters. It did and temporarily shook the country to its feet. The same happened in Turkey and Pakistan with results too difficult to interpret out of context, but without doubt, Spain will be the next entrant in the female achievement scenario. It will also, for reasons to do with her liberality and lack of the sort of chauvinism which is killing Spain, prove to be a future platform on which a hopelessly lost economy can be restructured within intelligent and more family and business oriented efforts.

A Woman of Destiny

Esperanza Aguirre studied law and like Thatcher whom she confesses to have been attracted by (except for her stance on the Tyrant Pinochet), keeps her iron rod well hidden from public view, showing a Shirley McClaine front that reveals little other than the impact of her innocuous, not so politically correct, occasional remarks. She is the mother of two and married to an aristocrat who also happens to be successful in his career. She is presently President of the Madrid community equivalent to the London County Council and one time President of the Senate which is also equivalent to an, Upper House Parliamentary Speaker. Political conflict has never been her chosen aim, but within the ranks of the right wing party, Partido Popular, her liberal characteristics have kept its leaders casting glances in her direction with a degree of disquiet. Some serious brush ups with both the leader Rajoy and the uninspiring, ever popular, Mayor of Madrid, Gallardon have enkindled what is now a dawning realisation - that she will lead the party to electoral success.

During the course of the year, events will force her into the open as the crumbling support for who must now be the most disliked leader in Spanish history, Zapatero, reach dangerous levels of public unrest. Whilst not all the ills of Spain can be laid at the feet of this relatively young but weak socialist, it is now increasingly obvious that despite the major institutional and economic changes that he pontificates at every turn, both unions and rabid left wingers frighten him into submission at every turn. Labour and judicial legislation which lie at the heart of lack of serious investment, has been tackled in this expected time bomb now full of grey areas, which converts it into a disappointing useless squib. The balance of support for industry and stimulation of confidence in overprotected employees lends no credibility to a new scenario, where employers can distill quality and contribution from a low standard labour pool intent to work arrogantly and exclusively for the periods of paid unemployment it provides in the future. Spanish labour syndicates continue to militate for shorter and shorter working hours, longer holiday periods, more festive days and increased minimum rates way above those provided in Europe generally. Employers turn away. Labour courts can bankrupt most small businesses with hefty penalties running into the thousands plus salary payments long after the employee has left. It will also deny witnesses from within the employer´s direct influence and subject him or her to an intolerable, humiliating series of appearances and long journeys. As a result, investment capital has started to leave the country and the local self employed have restricted their expansion within family members. The situation also contributes to the underground economy which in most Latin Countries is much bigger than the surface one. This situation will remain and even prove dangerous when tackled, since it could throw an even greater number of people onto the unemployment queues which are now stretching way round the blocks. Spain therefore needs an injection of genuine values devoid of party political sectarian interests and prevalent corruption that has kept a handful of people among the richest in the world at the expense of the rest. It also needs to re-establish institutional ethics to render those bodies of any public use. Most are membership conscious and find it difficult to relate to complaining outsiders with the resulting loss of social balance mechanisms that make investing in Spain a non too digestible spectre.

Esperanza Aguirre was expected to make a public statement to the effect that she is conscious of her possible contribution to the aspirations of her country, but the stalemate between her and the prevailing party authorities can only be broken with the sort of public demands expected during the course of this year. This situation, according to many within the body of the party, is rapidly coming to a head. If this is the case, an early election could be on the books, not by consent but by force of circumstances and the escape valve will be no other than the redoubtable charismatic and very willing Esperanza.

About the Author

Michael Mifsud was Parliamentary correspondentat the age at 15. Royal touring writer and Agency Commonwealth writer, he published Britain's first trade journal for drivers and established the first ever chauffeuring profession and academy. He is a millionaire businessman, hotelie amd restauranteur. As a researcher he was a contributor to The Holy Blood and Holy Grail. Messianic Legacy. Sword and the Grail.He is a Freeman of the City of London and has Dynastic Orders of Merit of Poland, Afghanistan and Serbia. He is also a member of the Council of Elders of the Knights Templar (Versailles 1705) and author of the popular book Al Andalus - a trail of discovery.Amazon.

European Agenda: 8. June 2009

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Free Economical Zone Transformation in Georgia

There are a lot of free economical zones in the world. What priorities will it have to form free industrial zone in Georgia, and what will make it successive?

We may consider geographical location of the country, also closeness with Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, and markets of Middle Asia to be prior for forming free industrial zone. It must also be foreseen, that direct neighbor of Georgia on the Black Sea is Euro Union.

It must be mentioned, that Sea port of Poti is the larges in the Black Sea. It is the largest port servicing dry Caucasian cargo, it is situated on the TRASECA corridor and it the most important part of Caucasian transit transporting web. The port is connected by direct sea directions with Europe and Asian largest ports, has direct ferry connection with Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria. The port is connected with the railway web of the country, it is connected with every Georgian city with the automobile road, has relations with Poti airport and international airport of Batumi. The seaport serves all kinds of cargo. It has received ISO-9001-2000.

Poti port can widen conductivity and serving more then 25 million tones of cargo annually.Together with geographical location, closeness with international transit arteries and cheap working force also are considered to be prior.

They are going to open free industrial zone on 400 hectares, it borders to the seaport from the north and followed the sea beach line.

Exactly advantage location of free economical zone and extremely liberal legislation system must provoke attracting foreign investments, as investment environment in Georgia is not very attractive from the various points of view. First defining factor of the investment environment is the size of a market. Larger is the market size, the more attractive it is. Georgian market doesn't differ with large scales.

Second factor is legislation. Georgian legislation is liberal. Heritage Foundation considers us to be attractive country in this direction. According to the index of economical independence, Georgia occupies 32nd place. This means, that there are quite liberal barrier for displaying providing business and industrial initiatives in Georgia.

An interrupting factor is political instability. It is known, that inventors pay large attention to the political stability and investment guarantees. A problem of territorial integrity of our country, what puts Georgia under the permanent danger of war is also added to all, mentioned above.

There are some problems from the point of executing law. Fixed facts suppressing private property influenced negatively upon investment surrounding. It is important to provide profitable activities and creation of the mechanisms of legislative protection.

Qualification of working forces is also a serious problem. it is very low in Georgia. Intellectual resource is also reduced.

Main reason of creating free industrial zone is attracting investments, growth of business activity in the region and achieving employment. For this the country must form advantage financial conditions to the investors, for making their choice for the benefit of Georgia among many others. We'll see in the future how much successful the functioning of free industrial zone is, and if inflow of investments take place.

They call free industrial zones off-shore ones. These are the territories, which are under the doubtful sight of everyone, because of being uncontrolled. Its creation in Georgia has been followed by opposition and critical dependence. Most of Georgian experts have negative dependence upon free industrial zones, because it is considered to be the sphere of unreduced actions of private interests of definite persons, for whitening "black money", selling capital in the way of avoiding rules and taxation, perspective of which in Georgia is very doubtful. To their mind, it is incomprehensible, why is there any need of founding free economical zone in such country in which there have been made important steps towards liberalization of economical and industrial surrounding. Complete liberalization of foreign trade took place in the 90s. This meant that export was released from taxation. Tariff-free reductions, as quoting and licensing were abolished. Since 1998, currency operations have complete independence. In 2006 they reduced high custom tariffs. Today custom tariff on agricultural production is 12%, on building materials - 5%, others are zeroed. They simplified licensing and rights on beginning industrial activities and their realization. A professor, economical expert Vladimir Papava exclaims: "creating free economical zone under the conditions of free economy is the most ineffective step. Exactly for this I consider creation of free economical zone in Georgia to be nonsense".

He finds following explanation to his point of view. There are countries of two kinds in the worlds - those, which have surplus investments and which suffer lack of them. Countries having surplus investments strengthen inner investor in its free economical zone. I.e. the country forms such conditions, that the investor invests money in the free zone at the territory of his/her country and doesn't take it out of it. Creation of free economical zones in the country being in hunger of investments hardens the situation, as the investor doesn't come in the country itself, but in the zone. Local investor will try to do same. Georgian economy is not firm and creation of free economical zone will ruin economy of whole country.

The expert Temur Giorkhelidze writes: "the fact, that something will be done in one town and whole country will be raised is illusion. One zone will not stand international capacity. Development of insufficient industrial surrounding at whole territory of the country will cause chaos in this zone!"

Authors of the project and supporters of founding of FIZ estimate its foundation to be positive and consider that Georgia will be better developed and will overcome poverty easier if the economy is more open and liberal.

The author of the bill Kakha Benduqidze considers such zone to be necessary for increasing business-activity in Georgian regions. This will be industrial zone with high technologies and processing industry, in which industrial persons will work in the zeroed regime, which will make additional stimuli for providing their business.

Deputy Minister of economics Vakhtang Lezhava writes: "there is quite liberal regime of business regulation in Georgia. Main goal of making free industrial zone is to create more liberal industrial surrounding in the definite territory of the country to be oriented towards real employment". Lezhava exclaims, that "Georgia will not turn into the off-shore zone, there is no preconditions for this". According to the governmental statement, free economical zone will bring economical raise to the country.

Thus, creation of free industrial zone has been followed by various points of view. There is a permanent question - "What will foundations of free industrial zone bring to Georgia?" in such situation they often say, that "a stick has two ends" or there are as positive, so negative sided of it. They must provide analyzing, which side surpluses another and make advantage decision, is it positive or not to found FIZ in Georgia.

Let's discuss expected dangers and problems of founding free economical zone:

• foundation of FIZ is followed by expenses, at the first stage because of tax payments, and this reduces budgetary incomes.
• Attractive legislative regime of free industrial zone will give rise to the inflecting investments to one concrete region of the country at the expense of other ones. This will ruin less interesting regions from the point pf investments. This may give rise to the opposition among various regions, as people living in this or that region may say that they are oppressed and have no opportunity for being developed.

It is defined by the law, that free economical zone may be founded at any territory of the country, i.e. it is possible to open it in every region. This is exactly where the experts see the danger, as foundation of FIZ is possible on those border territories, in which there is ethnical variety, as free industrial zone comes out of economical domain of our country and it becomes possible to be completely integrated for the territories of neighbor country from the economical point of view.

• it is negative as there will be another uncontrolled territory in the country, in which trade may also not be controlled, as on the sections of Roki - Down Zaramaga and Adler -  Gantiadi. It will be very difficult to realize custom control
• it is necessary to foresee special measures of security, for not letting production provided on the territory of the zone to get to the inner market by the illegal ways. They must reduce entering and outgoing ways maximally and their strict controlling. There is a danger of contraband in the free economical zone. They see danger in the existence of fictive firms, which will pull amounts. Though the authors of the project exclaim that there are levers in the law for avoiding this danger.
• Free industrial zone will give rise to the danger of "whitening" money. There are a lot of methods of "whitening" money. Operations related with cash money, illegal usage of banking and other financial institutions, operations related with expensive movable and unmovable property, gambling games are considered to be classical mechanisms. The simplest way of "whitening" money is in the process of privatization and in the free zones. A free zone is the best way for entering commodity in the contraband way.
• It's well-known axiom, that, in those countries, in which liberalization of economy, opening borders, transit development, entering foreign investments, increasing movement of physical persons are in progress, in the countries, where quite large part of the population is abroad and which is surrounded by ill-disposed countries, possibility of "whitening" "black" money is very high.

Georgia "satisfies" almost every condition named above and it may be considered one of the zones for "whitening" money. The fact that so-called off-shore companies, which represent symbols of "whitening" money provide activities in Georgia, strengthens this danger.

To my mind, danger of "whitening" money is higher in FIZ, than at whole territory of Georgia, foreseeing the fact, that registration of such enterprises, as banks is prohibited in FIZ. To my mind, this process is in progress in Georgia today anyway, because foreign investors, placing their sources in Georgia do not belong to the number of transparent capital owners. In fact, there is no civilized capital flowing in Georgia. Invested capital is entered by the firms registered in off-shore zones (for example, from Marshal and Virginia isles), and this, of course, means, that they are doubtful.

• Free industrial zone, to my mind, will support growth of inflation. Foreign investments will enter FIZ. This will give rise to the growth of masses of foreign currency in the country, which devaluates it in relation with Lari, and this is bad for export.
• There is no political stability in Georgia, rights of the owners are abolished, and working force is not qualified. Permanent changing of legislative system is still continuing. According to this, there is a danger, that foreseeing disadvantage business environment, short termed foreign capital of doubtful appear will enter FIZ, which will run out of the country as soon as the conjuncture worsens a little and thus provoke finance-economical destabilization.

There is danger in selecting an operator. FIZ wouldn't b successive, if it operator were not recognized worldwide and a successful investor in this business. For being successive, it is also necessary to make Georgian FIZ a part of industrial infrastructure of the world and integrated chain.

Creation of free industrial zone has its positive sides. There are large possibilities for business development and growing business activity. It is possible to develop backward region, and zeroed taxation regime will be additional stimuli for providing business.

A positive side of free industrial zone also is the fact, that leading technologies and Know-How will enter the country.

It will increase inflow of foreign currency, because, the capital is objective in its nature it moves towards the place, where there is low payment. Inflow of investments gives the possibilities for economical and social development. Investments will give rise to the creation of working places, relatively - employment.

Creation of free industrial zone in Georgia, as a they say, is not calculated for fiscal effect, it is necessary to provide investments and create attractive surrounding for new business and new working places.

With free industrial zone export potential may be increases. The largest part of manufactured production will be for export that will definitely be successive for Georgia, as firming Lari in the country gave rise to the rise the price of export and worsening taxation balance. For example, data of covering import with export was 32% in 1995; in 2000 it grew up to 46%, for today it is reduced till 23%. From 1995, till 2007 the volume of export has been increased 8 times, and 11 times - of import. Nominal WIP at the same period has been increased from 3.9 Billion Laris to 17 billions i.e. 4.36 times, while real WIP has been increased only per 2.1. Exchange rate of the currency gave rise to the worsening of taxation balance. Only 10% of the production manufactured in FIZ will be permitted in Georgia, others will be exported to other countries. This will provoke improvement of taxation balance.

Free industrial zone - from the point of territorial integrity. FIZ is directed towards territorial expansion. Its territory duels in 5-10 years. if FIZ of Guria-Samegrelo works successfully, Guria-Sukhumi-Ochamchire will join it. Separatists will not be able to block all good of FIZ. For example, Turkish separatists of North Cyprus requested themselves to join economically successful Cyprus.

To the experts' mind, economical integration is necessary. They must make joint investment projects with Abkhazians and Alanians. Founding such zones will give rise to the centralized lob in the conflict regions, which will play positive role in the affair of regulating conflicts. Though, this is only a dream today, as it is known, that they need very good control and stability. If realization of good administration is possible in the conflict regions and the investors have feeling of stability, it will be really possible to create FIZ there. In the modern reality it is utopia, though we can not exclude anything in the future.

Creation of free industrial zone is already decided and it will be activated very soon. FIZ is expected to be an impulse for economical development of Georgia, though opening of free industrial zone is not a miracle, there mustn't be surplus expectation, it is a permanent process, which will bring first results in 5-10 years.

Modern century is of globalization. A process of economical globalization in the world will not be avoided by Georgia and it will be progressively integrated into the world economical system. The process, to our mind, has already begun. Foundation of free industrial zone speaks for this.

Georgian government passed the law "about global competition abilities of financial sector", which foresees foundation of financial center. Main goal of the law is integration of Georgia to the world financial system. Articles involved in the processed "revolution legislative" package touches upon founding off-shore zone in Georgia. We mean foreign banks and assets per ten million dollars.  According to the articles put in the law, the banks' profit up to 100 million dollars will not be taxed. They also touch upon providing the rule of taxing banking-financial operations, capital movement and so on.

How much does it matter to found financial center in Georgia on the background, when financial centers of London, Milan and Hong-Kong are on the highest level of development and need no representatives in Poti. In case, if we offer them taxation oasis and really advantage conditions, they may stop their choice on Georgia. Though it will not be enough, as foreign investors pay large attention to the countries distinguished with economical-political stability, to the category of which Georgia doesn't belong. There is no institutional, technical-economical infrastructure and a mechanism of protecting property is very weak in Georgia.

Notwithstanding everything, integration of Georgia in the world economical domain is inevitable and this is only matter of time, because under the conditions of total globalization no national state may exist without total financial economical space.

About the Author

Lamara Qoqiauri

Date and place of birth: October 6, 1948

Working place: Tbilisi Iv. Javakhishvili State University

Tel.: (+99532) 79-07-10; (+99532) 760595

Web-site: www.nino.skola.dlf.ge

e-mail: qoqiauri@yahoo.com

Address: Tbilisi, Varketili, 159, Gakhokidze St.

Working experience

A republican department of Georgian State Bank (National Bank) ---------from 1970 1976

Tbilisi, 3/5, Kirov (now Leonize) St. - Accountant economist, An inspector of providing accountant-loan operations, cash fulfillment of budget.

A republican department of "MshenBank --------------------------------------- from 1976 - 1977

As a Chief economist

Tbilisi Iv. Javakhishvili State university ------------------------------------------ from 1977 - till now

As a Laboratory assistant of a cathedra, Research worker, Associate professor, Professor.

Gori Economical Institute (now State university)

English private school-college "Nino"- Owner

Education/training

Tbilisi, Komarov high school of physics and mathematics

Tbilisi, technical school-college of finances and economy

Tbilisi, Iv. Javakhishvili State University, Faculty of economy (evening department)

Post-graduate course of Georgian scientific academy of economy and logistics

Tbilisi State University, Economical faculty

Nongovernmental association of private schools

Qualification

Scientific status - Professor

Doctor of economical science

Doctor of economical science, professor.

Accountant-economist of Bank

Candidate of economical sciences, associate professor

Published works

Quantity of works -108

Monographs between them – 14

Manuals between them -5

Quantity of works during last 10 years – 84

Quantity of works in the referred magazines- 43

I need an attorney who helps with TECLOSE related law enforcement issues?

I am a Texas law enforcement officer who has had many problems concerning job employment. I believe that I need a TECLOSE attorney if there is such a thing.

Get a lawyer who is good in labor law.

Border Patrol Stuck In Sand

Courts on relatively new ground with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
CHICAGO — As long as his mom could remember, Matthew Link was impulsive, making bad choices and not understanding right from wrong. He required constant supervision and would tell "off-the-wall" stories that made him look tough and powerful.
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Can you hire a Contract Employee and have a Termination Fee or similar?

We want to hire an apprentice under a one year contract of employment in California (for a construction position). We do not want to train this employee and have them quit within one year of employment. Can we hire them as a contract employee and charge a termination fee or similar of employee quits during the contract? I have already looked under my CA employee laws page and could not find the answer to my question there.

I don't think you can do that as such however you can incorporate the cost of training into the contract and get reimbursed for it if they leave before the contract end. You really need a lawyer

Los Angeles Wage & Hour Law Attorneys CA Employment Law

Whats the best way to quit taking adderall for good?

I have been prescibed Adderall for 6 years and want to stop taking it. Its a huge hassle to call the doctor 24 hrs in advance and then go in person to get the refill.
I do construction work and take alot of pre-employment and random drug screens. It is a huge hassle to take the drug screen and then wait up to 3 days for the results to be confirmed by an MRO (medical review officer) All these places refuse your proof of medication when you take the drug screen due to what they claim is HIPPA law restrictions but force you to return 3 days later to show the same prescription bottles you tried to give them in the first place! Pharmacys wont fax the required information. My doctors office is too slow to respond.
The headaches far out weigh the benefits.

U should talk directly to ur doc about this. Maybe they can help u make the whole process less of a headache. Ur best bet is to stay on it if u r constantly sleepy. Good luck!!!

The Recovery Act Year One

How Do I Find Good Employment Law Firms in Los Angeles?

Over the past 30 years, Los Angeles has made significant steps in protecting the employment rights of its residents especially that of the lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender.

This includes their right against discrimination. Los Angeles is one county in California whose economy is booming. Economic stability means more jobs. More jobs means more employment disputes filed in court.

As employment cases are one of the most common court battles in Los Angeles, its residents are rest assured of the best legal assistance. People who want to pursue legal options may consider Los Angeles’ employment law firms which specifically handle employment-related disputes.

Employment cases include discrimination, non-payment of overtime pay, denial of leave benefits, termination, retaliation, breach of employment contract and other disputes.

How to Choose the Right Firm

Engaging the services of a law firm increases ones advantage and confidence that his or her case would be given ample attention. One will be assured of the best services than hiring a lawyer not associated with any firm.

In selecting a firm, several considerations must be taken into account. These are some of them:

1. Choose a firm that focuses on employment cases.

Employment disputes are best handled by lawyers with expertise in the area of employment and labor law. A firm’s concentration in one area means a highly developed level of expertise and capability in said field. Thus, it is assured that it will give better service, better representation and better results for its clients.

2. Consider the firm’s financial and staff resources.

Choose a firm that has considerable number of seasoned lawyers and support staff. A firm must have resources to do well against well-financed insurance companies and corporate defendants.

A firm or a lawyer who does not have enough resources may be pressed to settle cases too early or for fewer amounts.

3. Select a firm that has top caliber attorneys in its list.

Choose a firm that has a top team of experienced and expert lawyers dedicated only to the representation of illegally dismissed employees or against abusive employers. Consider firms with lawyers who have successfully prosecuted a huge number of employment cases.

4. Check firm’s record of accomplishment.

Determine the record of the firm. Check if how many cases it has won or how much amount it acquired in settlements. Usually, referrals come from clients who have been satisfied of its services.

Choose a firm with exceptional experience, expertise, and ample resources.

5. Select a firm that is committed to its clients.

Law firm with lawyers who are passionate about their job are most likely to do well. Determine if their operations are designed with various levels of quality control to ensure that its legal representation is superior.

A firm should also address its clients’ needs and concerns promptly and satisfactorily. It should give an enthusiastic and aggressive work on behalf of the clients. At the same time, it must provide an encouraging relationship with its clients and render caring and compassionate services.

6. Choose a firm whose lawyer appears regularly before the judge.

Regular appearance before the court is a great assurance that your case is being followed up and handled eagerly.

Our Los Angeles law firm handles employment discrimination and other related concerns. You can seek the assistance of our skilled employment lawyers by logging on to http://www.mesrianilaw.com/Los-Angeles-Employment-Lawyers.html and have your case evaluated.

About the Author

Jean is a content writer for the web page of one of the prestigious law firms in Los Angeles. She also worked as a legal analyst for a Florida based company and a paralegal to a credit cooperative. She hopes to publish her own book someday.

Employment Law : What Is an Employment Contract?

why the resevations for govt. jobs given on the basis of caste and class in india?

hindu backward communities have mostly benefitted due to such an approach by the indian constitutional experts,while muslims generally have lacked behind and have hardly benefitted both monetarily as well as socially due to such a partial approach of the political strategists and law makers in case of public employment recruitment in india.

Not just muslims, but Hindu Brahmins also have been at a disadvantage due to this system. Few years ago, backward communities were ill treated, and so needed some 'support' from the government and hence this kind of policy. I think it is time for some change, but trust Indian policy makers are best to decide.

United Arab Emirates, do not buy the Rafale! I have a better idea: let Dassault make a crash..._1

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[mage lang="" source="flickr"]employment law probation periods[/mage]
This is an uk employment law question.?

Hi, i handed in my resignation letter and due to some unforceen circumstances i had to retract it and ask to keep my jobs..my boss accepted. But she said i was now back to my 3 month probation period. even though i hadnt actually ever left my employment, and this means im not entitled to any holidays etc that i have accumlated etc. i think this is unfair as i never left my emplyment.

If you had not completed your notice period then NO, they cannot take away your accumulated benefits etc.

Go to your HR department and get it sorted out.

UK employment law, continual petty misconduct?

Where do I Stand in taking serious disciplinary action against an employee who has a large history of petty misconduct Occasions of poor time keeping, small lapses of job performance, poor attitude, occasional poor standard of work, poor customer service, dignity at work lapses, petty insults, also a confrontational / vexatious approach when challenged on the above by junior managers. No one single incident is by any means serious, events do not tend to repeat themselves it's something different each time but they have amassed a history of warnings & counsellings and show no sign of their behaviours coming into line. At what point can i reasonably move to say a final warning even if the trigger event is "petty" and unconnected to a previous incident. I s there a legal expression or clause for this type of behaviour

Have they had any verbal or written warnings previously?

If they have then you can move to final warning or sacking if the behaviour continues.
If not then get the process started asap.
It is upto the company to determine the timescale for improvement but it must be "reasonable".

Make sure you detail all the reasons for the disicplinary and ensure you have regular meetings during the "probation" period.

Ron Cummings Interview Action News

Employment Law Cases - Identifying Trends

Presently, there are a lot of changes occurring with employment law governing us. These changes may have dramatic impacts on us and other various areas. What the courts are handling down now can create a whole lot of different scenarios.


Although on a daily basis we will not exactly bother ourselves with employment laws and their implications, it will do well if we take a look at them. There are sites which offer an overview with these employment laws- they provide the necessary summary and meaning of these laws. Summaries can be very useful rather the official versions of these laws. They tackle the laws directly and provide the highlights on the matter.


Here we provide some of the highlights of some employment cases. For further details on the cases you could look for AARP v. EEOC (3rd Cir. 2007).


In reality, employers and employees should be able to create and make health plans for retirees and other rewarding programs for early retirement so that the retirees would be able to enjoy the Medicare benefits when they are still most suited to. This matter can be very important to anyone even you for the fact that more and more employers are providing benefits for retirees especially on health. Companies are resulting to this for higher profit. Health care costs are becoming increasingly expensive nowadays. The gist is that if they would be able to lessen these health benefits without stepping on some federal age discrimination laws.


There are many cases that are available are normally old and thrive more on ratio decidendi - meaning the precedents they set for case law across the nation. Ratio decidendi is the reason behind most of the decisions of a case.


Another major employment case that is now gaining attention is when key employees go up against the firm they left. There is a significant verdict in this area in this case: Aero Fulfillment Services, Inc. v. Tartar (Ohio 2007). This set for the rights as well as the limitations of employers have when these key employees leave. With this employers are granted steps where they can take when their employees leave. These steps are: company trade secrets, confidential information and customer retention/fishing. These cases can help you learn a lot when it comes with US labor laws and the likes. It may not be useful for this time but chances are you can would be able to make use of it in the future.

About the Author

Abhishek is a Career Counselor and he has got some great Career Planning Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 71 Pages Ebook, "Career Planning Made Easy!" from his website http://www.Career-Guru.com/769/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available.

Paternity Leave: The Ultimate Family Vacation

How to Pick Your Recommenders

Excerpt

The following is an excerpt from the book The Ivey Guide to Law School Admissions

by Anna Ivey

Published by Harcourt; April 2005;$14.00US; 0-15-602979-0

Copyright © 2006 Anna Ivey

How to Pick Your Recommenders

Avoid jumping all over the first person who offers to write you a "great recommendation." Recommendation writing is both an art and a science, and few people do it really well, either because they don't know you well enough to address the things admissions officers care about, because they can't be bothered, or because they don't know how.

Recommender Tip #1: Academic Recommenders Many law schools state an express preference for academic recommendations, meaning someone who has taught you in college and can speak to your strengths as a student and a scholar. The reason they do that is because they look to your recommendations to try to predict, as best they can, how you'll do in law school, so they want to get a sense of your talents in the classroom. If the LSAT score is meant to give them an idea of your intellectual horsepower, your recommendations (along with your transcript) are supposed to let them gauge what you do with that horsepower. We all know people who are whip sharp but slackers in the classroom, and people who have to work their buns off to perform well -- admissions officers want to figure out where you fall on that continuum.

If you've been out of college for more than two years, admissions officers understand that it can be very difficult to track down your old college professors, and they'll cut you some slack. If you're in a graduate program, you can ask one of your graduate professors to write a letter. If you're out in the working world, you can ask your boss. If an undergraduate recommendation is at all possible, though, you should try to drum one up, and submit a second, nonacademic one (if required) from one of these alternate sources.

Of your various professors, the most useful ones are going to be those who taught classes that approximate law school the best: classes that are heavy on analytical reasoning, reading, research, and expository writing. Recommendations from classes like Theater, Communications, Creative Writing, Statistics, and Conversational French won't be as useful.

Recommenders that are almost always useless for the purposes of law school admissions include your state senator, friends of the family, relatives, famous people and muckety-muck judges who know you only socially (if at all), your lacrosse coach, and your choir director.

If you're still in school or a recent graduate, and you have some experience working in a legal capacity (as a paralegal, say, or an intern at a legal clinic), you can certainly submit a recommendation from the people you've worked for. Just make sure they are supplemental recommendation letters rather than substitutes for your academic recommendations.

If a school states no preference for the type of recommender they're looking for, assume they prefer an academic one. And if any school gives you instructions that contradict what I'm telling you here, follow those instructions.

Recommender Tip #2: Closeness Trumps Rank Remember poor old Matthew from the beginning of the chapter? He made a classic mistake: He assumed that a recommendation from a Nobel Prize winner was too good an opportunity to pass up, and he didn't stop to ask himself what that professor would be able to say about him. Matthew would have been much better off asking his TA for that class to write his recommendation (or picking another class entirely for his recommendation). His TA would have been able to base his recommendation on their weekly discussion groups and weekly assignments that the TA graded. Many law school applicants attend colleges that do not enable up-close-and personal relationships with professors -- some people spend four years interacting only with graduate students -- and they shouldn't worry that they are at a disadvantage with respect to their recommendations. The person writing the recommendation should be able to speak with experience and authority about you in the classroom, and if that means you have to forgo the Nobel Prize winner, that's okay -- you're better off with the TA. The same principle applies if your recommendation is coming from the working world. You're better off requesting a letter from the congressional staffer you worked with and reported to every day than the bigwig senator who still mispronounces your name or confuses you with the aide who worked for him three sessions ago.

Once you've cleared that hurdle, if you're choosing between someone with less teaching experience and someone with more, pick the latter. Being able to speak from the experience of teaching ten years' or fifteen years' or even decades' worth of undergraduates will give a teacher's opinion more weight. A TA won't have been teaching that long, and calling you the best student he's ever taught won't sound impressive if this is his first year teaching.

A caveat: While it's generally true that law schools prefer academic recommendations over professional ones, there's a tipping point for older applicants where it starts to look funny if you don't provide a recommendation from your employer. Unless you've been out of college for at least seven or ten years, though, or unless a school specifically prefers or requires a professional recommendation, you're still better off trying to drum up at least one academic one if you can.

Recommender Tip #3: Seminars Trump Lectures Why? Because your professors get to know you in seminars in a way they can't in lecture classes. The more class participation opportunities you have, and the more substantial the writing and research you do for a class, the better able your professor will be to discuss your academic talents. If you're reading this book in your undergraduate years, try to take multiple seminars with a professor with whom you really hit it off. Even better, take on a major project with a professor, like a thesis.

Seminars tend to be higher-level classes, so you probably won't be able to take them until your junior year, at the earliest. Your professor will need at least the entire semester, if not multiple semesters, to get to know you and your work, so plan ahead. You'll need time to cultivate those relationships.

Recommender Tip #4: Willing and Able It's human nature: People are busy at best, lazy at worst, and don't like writing bang-up recommendations except for the few pet students and employees they really want to go to bat for. And that's under the best of circumstances. With the huge upsurge in law school applications in recent years, professors and bosses are bombarded with recommendation requests, and they grant many that they shouldn't. Why? Because they are usually nice people who don't have the heart to say no, even though they don't have the time or the energy or the knowledge to write meaningful letters, letters that will really help your cause with admissions officers. So be smart about how you approach people. You should ask professors to be candid with you:

Do they have time to write a recommendation for you? Tell them you understand that they are deluged with requests and that a well-crafted and effective recommendation letter takes time and effort. Ask them politely to decline if they don't think they can make that commitment right now. This also gives them an easy out if they don't think they can write you a favorable letter.

Do they think they can write a very strong letter on your behalf? If they say no, be gracious and thank them for their honesty. Make clear that you're happy to approach someone else if they have any reservations at all, and explain that you'd still love to hear their constructive feedback for your own benefit.

If there is any resistance or push-back or wavering, anything less than an enthusiastic commitment right off the bat, let it go. Thank them and move on. There will be times when you have taken a number of classes with a professor or worked very closely with a boss who has gotten to know you very well, but you suspect that she is not one of your greatest fans for one reason or another. Maybe she doesn't like your writing style. Maybe he doesn't like your view of Plato, or how you handled the Crisco account. Maybe she's sick of losing her top people to law school. Maybe you'll lose your bonus if he gets wind that you'll be bailing. Whatever the reason, you're better off finding someone else. Closeness and status don't help if a recommender isn't going to say great things about you.

Recommender Tip #5: Collaboration Also try to gauge whether your potential recommenders would be willing to work with you on the letter. They should be grateful to receive that offer of help -- and many will be -- but some won't be open to collaboration at all. All else being equal, pick the person who is willing to work with you and understand why you're applying to law school, what you're trying to communicate in your applications, and how you're trying to present yourself.

For example, I recall reading an application essay that set forth all the compelling reasons why that particular applicant wanted to leverage his banking and finance experience as a corporate lawyer. You can imagine my eyebrow cocking when I got to the recommendation letter written by his boss at the bank, who explained that the applicant wanted to go to law school so he could be an "agent for social change." Those things aren't inherently exclusive of each other, but the recommendation just wasn't in sync with the rest of the application, which hadn't talked at all about wanting to bring about social change. It felt like something the recommender had just thrown in there because he thought that must be what law schools want to hear.

How do you make sure that your messages are in sync? By being prepared and giving them the information they need to write their letters. Collect the information that you want your recommenders to have:

A letter explaining

why you're applying to law school;

what schools you're applying to (your list doesn't have to be final, but if, for example, you're applying only to New York or D.C. schools, your recommenders should know that, and why);

how you're positioning yourself in the rest of your application (if you're far enough along with your drafts, you should include your personal statement or statement of purpose; good recommenders will demand them);

which qualities you want them to address in their letters (you'll compile that list from the individual law schools' recommendation forms), along with suggested anecdotes and examples to illustrate them; and

when the letters are due (i.e., when you want them submitted to LSDAS), and when you'll be checking in with them to follow up

Your résumé

Your transcript

Copies of any graded class work and assignments for that professor, as well as any exams you've taken for that class; for a professional recommender, copies of any reports, assignments, memos, and evaluations

Stamped and addressed envelopes for mailing the letters to LSAC

It's best to present this information to them when you both have some time to review it together. Offer to take your recommender out to lunch or coffee so you can have a heart-to-heart about your strategy and your goals, and also so you can refresh your recommender's memory about your talents and performance. Make sure they know how to get in touch with you if they have any follow-up questions or run into any problems.

Explaining your goals is particularly important when you meet with your recommenders, because many professors and employers despair at losing their top talent to law schools. They are not wrong in concluding that law school is a default choice for many college students and employees looking for a career change. You will go a long way toward winning their unqualified support if you can persuade them that you've really thought about why you want a law degree and what your long-term career goals are.

Recommender Tip #6: Show-offs Most professors think they are A+, world-class recommendation writers when in fact, as I explained above, most are far from it. If a professor shows off about how great his recommendations are, don't assume it's true. Better to run far away -- in my experience, those are the people who are the most clueless about what a good law school recommendation looks like. I'd be especially wary of people who claim to have a great reputation with law school admissions committees or to have some kind of special "in" at the admissions office. There's way too much turnover among admissions officers at law schools to assume that the person who ends up reading your file will have even heard of that professor. The delusions of grandeur are hilarious from the admissions officer's side of the fence, but it's not funny for the applicant.

Recommender Tip #7: Presentation I'm almost embarrassed to have to say this, but I've seen this all too often: Make sure you choose someone who can write well. It's shocking how badly some recommenders write. Sometimes one gets the sense that they're just hasty and sloppy and haven't proofread their work, but other times it's clear that they're just bad writers, plain and simple. Bad writing gravely undermines whatever good things they might have to say about you.

Recommender Tip #8: Timeliness Be wary of professors who are habitually, chronically, congenitally tardy or disorganized. I've seen too many applications held up by recommenders, when the entire file is complete but for that one letter. Some people end up missing the application deadline entirely because of their recommenders. Don't let this happen to you. If the best person to write your recommendation has a problem with deadlines, you need to ask early and often and ride him hard, or pick someone else altogether.

Copyright © 2006 Anna Ivey

Author

Anna Ivey, JD, served as dean of admissions at the University of Chicago Law School. She now runs Anna Ivey Admissions Counseling, a counseling firm for college, business school, and law school applicants. She divides her time between Boston and Orlando. Please visit her website at http://www.annaivey.com.

About the Author

Elaina Goldstein for Rhode Island Senate

[mage lang="" source="flickr"]california employment law disability leave[/mage]

Fair Opportunity for Disabled Employees

There are certain forms of workplace discrimination that are not allowed in the United States under the Employment Law. The employer must be discriminating on the basis of a protected category in order for the discrimination to be considered illegal.

Such forms of illegal discrimination protected under the area of Federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Laws include age, gender, race, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, pregnancy, and disability discrimination. This article will discuss on the latter: disability discrimination.

The Federal Law which forbids employment discrimination against “qualified individuals with disabilities” in the private sector, and in state and local governments falls under the Title I and Title V of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990.

ADA defines disability, with respect to an individual, as:

a. A mental or physical impairment that significantly limits one or more of the major life activities of such individuals; (Major life activities are actions that an average person can perform with little or no difficulty such as walking, seeing, breathing, hearing, speaking, learning, working, and caring for oneself..)

b. A record of such an impairment; or

c. Being considered as having such impairment

A qualified employee or applicant with a disability is described as an individual who possess the legitimate skills, experience, education or other requirements of a position. Further, he or she can perform the essential functions of the job in question with or without reasonable accommodation.

Reasonable accommodation is any modification or adjustment to a job or work requirement that will enable a qualified applicant or employee to participate in the application process or to perform essential job functions.

An employer is required to make reasonable accommodations to the known disability of a qualified applicant or employee if it would not impose an “undue hardship” on the operation of the employer’s business.

Job discrimination against people with disabilities is illegal if practiced by:

• Private employers

• State and local governments

• Employment agencies

• Labor organizations

• Labor management committees

Under the ADA, it is unlawful to discriminate a disabled person in any aspect of employment, including:

• Hiring and firing

• Compensation, assignment, or classification of employees

• Transfer, promotion, layoff, or recall

• Job advertisements

• Recruitment

• Use of company facilities

• Training and apprenticeship programs

• Fringe benefits

• Pay, retirement plans, and disability leave

• Other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment

Unfair prejudice denies disabled people the chance to participate and compete equally with other workers. They are also denied the opportunity to live independently and be self-sufficient. The laws on discrimination prevent these from happening.

Now, if unlawful discrimination is practiced by an employer or any entity, a disabled applicant or employee may file a claim. He or she may file it with the local office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or the anti-discrimination agency of the state where the employee works. In the state of California, this agency would be the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH).

Once the EEOC has determined that a person has a right to sue, the plaintiff will normally have 90 days to file a lawsuit in court. An expert disability discrimination attorney will be a great partner in taking a legal action.

If you think you have been discriminated by your employer due to your disability, seek the aid of our vigorous Los Angeles lawyers. Just log on to our website and know how to contact our expert legal team.

About the Author

Before becoming an online writer, Claysphere worked as a legal researcher, data analyst, and lyricist in a local band in his hometown. He has a degree in law, and worked for several law offices as a paralegal, office staff and as a researcher. He has continued to write topics relating to his learning in law.

HIV & AIDS Discrimination in San Francisco - Dolan Law Firm

Who is going to win this weekends Australian Federal Election?

Only 3 days to go so who would you choose:(A) Kevin Rudd ;Labour Party :polls have him at 42%,young idealistic and also declared his conservatism,might sign Kyoto but details hazy so he probaly wont ratify Kyoto,made an early bid to unroll new intrenet network but has gone silent recently can mean only one thing its been canned,will soften Howards radical employment laws if elected. (B) John Howard;Liberal Party: polls have him at 34%,Australias long serving Prime Minister over 10 long years ,introduced G.S.T. tax,radical rationalisation of employment laws,refuses to ratify Kyoto treaty,admits he might lose his own seat in this weekends election and said he will retire mid-term and hand over power to Peter Costello.So who would you choose?
I will vote for Kevin Rudd ,i find John Howard to be a mean old man completely out of touch after 11 long years in power.

I was watching Laurie Oakes, veteran political analyst who has a pretty good track record for his knack of predicting election outcomes, last night on Channel 9. He was sounding pretty darn sure than Labor could win as many as 20 seats, it would be an absolute landslide victory and Howard was almost certain to lose his own seat of Bennelong.

He explains how their ploys are failing and how Costello's reputation is getting quite a battering:
http://thebulletinelection.ninemsn.com.au/coalitions_interesting_times.htm

Prop 8 Trial Re-enactment, Day 3 Chapter 1 (re-edit)

New DUI Law Will Allow Drunk Drivers to Keep License
A new change in DUI laws will give first time offenders a second chance.
WorkersCompensation.com's NewsLine Report for 3/27/2007

New Miami-Dade law targets wage theft by employers
Miami-Dade workers have a new tool for collecting their wages: a law requiring companies to pay them within 14 days of doing the work. Sparked by stories of low-wage workers going unpaid, the county commission enacted the rule Feb. 28, making Miami-Dade County one of the few places in the country with such protection.
Annette Bernhardt and Amy Carroll on Unprotected Workers

[mage lang="" source="flickr"]employment law jury duty[/mage]
If I have been summoned to court, can my job fire me for missing a day?

I am in the first 90 days of probationary employment. Jury duty is covered, but is there a blanket coverage for if I am officially summoned to court in any matter? What if it is my own court case?
Was wondering what the laws in AZ were regarding this, or if it was a federal right.
This isn't jury duty. It is a summons to my own trial. Please read the question more carefully.
Thank you.

Well employers are not allowed to fire people for civic duties of the employees.

Current Legal Issues in Breastfeeding: Family Law Legislation Including Employment, Nursing in ...

On Guerilla Warfare. [Reprint]

Reprint From: http://chairmanmaozedong.org/article/274.html

(1937)

1. What Is Guerrilla Warfare?

In a war of revolutionary character, guerrilla operations are a necessary part. This is particularly true in war waged for the emancipation of a people who inhabit a vast nation. China is such a nation, a nation whose techniques are undeveloped and whose communications are poor. She finds herself confronted with a strong and victorious Japanese imperialism. Under these circumstances, the development of the type of guerrilla warfare characterized by the quality of mass is both necessary and natural. This warfare must be developed to an unprecedented degree and it must co-ordinate with the operations of our regular armies. If we fail to do this, we will find it difficult to defeat the enemy.

These guerrilla operations must not be considered as an independent form of warfare. They are but one step in the total war, one aspect of the revolutionary struggle. They are the inevitable result of the clash between oppressor and oppressed when the latter reach the limits of their endurance. In our case, these hostilities began at a time when the people were unable to endure any more from the Japanese imperialists. Lenin, in People and Revolution,[A] said: 'A people's insurrection and a people's revolution are not only natural but inevitable.' We consider guerrilla operations as but one aspect of our total or mass war because they, lacking the quality of independence, are of themselves incapable of providing a solution to the struggle.

Guerrilla warfare has qualities and objectives peculiar to itself. It is a weapon that a nation inferior in arms and military equipment may employ against a more powerful aggressor nation. When the invader pierces deep into the heart of the weaker country and occupies her territory in a cruel and oppressive manner, there is no doubt that conditions of terrain, climate, and society in general offer obstacles to his progress and may be used to advantage by those who oppose him. In guerrilla warfare we turn these advantages to the purpose of resisting and defeating the enemy.

During the progress of hostilities, guerrillas gradually develop into orthodox forces that operate in conjunction with other units of the regular army. Thus the regularly organized troops, those guerrillas who have attained that status, and those who have not reached that level of development combine to form the military power of a national revolutionary war. There can be no doubt that the ultimate result of this will be victory.

Both in its development and in its method of application, guerrilla warfare has certain distinctive characteristics. We first will discuss the relationship of guerrilla warfare to national policy. Because ours is the resistance of a semi colonial country against an imperialism, our hostilities must have a clearly defined political goal and firmly established political responsibilities. Our basic policy is the creation of a national united anti-Japanese front. This policy we pursue in order to gain our political goal, which is the complete emancipation of the Chinese people. There are certain fundamental steps necessary in the realization of this policy, to wit:

1. Arousing and organizing the people.
2. Achieving internal unification politically.
3. Establishing bases.
4. Equipping forces.
5. Recovering national strength.
6. Destroying enemy's national strength.
7. Regaining lost territories.

There is no reason to consider guerrilla warfare separately from national policy. On the contrary, it must be organized and conducted in complete accord with national anti-Japanese policy. It is only who misinterpret guerrilla action who say, as does Jen Ch'i Shan, "The question of guerrilla hostilities is purely a military matter and not a political one." Those who maintain this simple point of view have lost sight of the political goal and the political effects of guerrilla action. Such a simple point of view will cause the people to lose confidence and will result in our defeat.

What is the relationship of guerrilla warfare to the people? Without a political goal, guerrilla warfare must fail, as it must, if its political objectives do not coincide with the aspirations of the people and their sympathy, co-operation, and assistance cannot be gained. The essence of guerrilla warfare is thus revolutionary in character. On the other hand, in a war of counter-revolutionary nature, there is no place for guerrilla hostilities. Because guerrilla warfare basically derives from the masses and is supported by them, it can neither exist nor flourish if it separates itself from their sympathies and co-operation. There are those who do not comprehend guerrilla action, and who therefore do not understand the distinguishing qualities of a people's guerrilla war, who say: 'Only regular troops can carry on guerrilla operations.' There are others who, because they do not believe in the ultimate success of guerilla action, mistakenly say: 'Guerrilla warfare is an insignificant and highly specialized type of operation in which there is no place for the masses of the people' (Jen Ch'i Shan). Then there are those who ridicule the masses and undermine resistance by wildly asserting that the people have no understanding of the war of resistance (Yeh Ch'ing, for one). The moment that this war of resistance dissociates itself from the masses of the people is the precise moment that it dissociates itself from hope of ultimate victory over the Japanese.

What is the organization for guerrilla warfare? Though all guerrilla bands that spring from the masses of the people suffer from lack of organization at the time of their formation, they all have in common a basic quality that makes organization possible. All guerrilla units must have political and military leadership. This is true regardless of the source or size of such units. Such units may originate locally, in the masses of the people; they may be formed from an admixture of regular troops with groups of the people, or they may consist of regular army units intact. And mere quantity does not affect this matter. Such units may consist of a squad of a few men, a battalion of several hundred men, or a regiment of several thousand men.

All these must have leaders who are unyielding in their policies—resolute, loyal, sincere, and robust. These men must be well-educated in revolutionary technique, self confident, able to establish severe discipline, and able to cope with counter-propaganda. In short, these leaders must be models for the people. As the war progresses, such leaders lack of discipline which at first will gradually overcome the lack of discipline which at first prevails; they will establish discipline in their forces, strengthening them and increasing their combat efficiency. Thus eventual victory will be attained.

Unorganized guerrilla warfare cannot contribute to victory and those who attack the movement as a combination of banditry and anarchism do not understand the nature of guerrilla action. They say, 'This movement is a haven for disappointed militarists, vagabonds, and bandits' (Jen Ch'i Shan), hoping thus to bring the movement into disrepute. We do not deny that there are corrupt guerrillas, nor that there are people who under the guise of guerrillas indulge in unlawful activities. Neither do we deny that the movement has at the present time symptoms of a lack of organization, symptoms that might indeed be serious were we to judge guerrilla warfare solely by the corrupt and temporary phenomena we have mentioned. We should study the corrupt phenomena and attempt to eradicate them in order to encourage guerilla warfare, and to increase its military efficiency. 'This is hard work, there is no help for it, and the problem cannot be solved immediately. The whole people must try to reform themselves during the course of the war. We must educate them and reform them in the light of past experience. Evil does not exist in guerrilla warfare but only in the unorganized and undisciplined activities that are anarchism,' said Lenin, in On Guerrilla Warfare.[B]

What is basic guerrilla strategy? Guerrilla strategy must be based primarily on alertness, mobility, and attack. It must be adjusted to the enemy situation, the terrain, the existing lines of communication, the relative strengths, the weather and the situation of the people.

In guerrilla warfare, select the tactic of seeming to come from the east and attacking from the west; avoid the solid, attack the hollow; attack; withdraw; deliver a lightning blow, seek a lightning decision. When guerrillas engage a stronger enemy, they withdraw when he advances; harass him when he stops; strike him when he is weary; pursue him when he withdraws. In guerilla strategy, the enemy's rear, flanks, and other vulnerable spots are his vital points, and there he must be harassed, attacked, dispersed, exhausted and annihilated. Only in this way can guerrillas carry out their mission of independent guerrilla action and coordination with the effort of the regular armies. But, in spite of the most complete preparation, there can be no victory if mistakes are made in the matter of command. Guerilla warfare based on the principles we have mentioned and carried out over a vast extent of territory in which communications are inconvenient will contribute tremendously towards ultimate defeat of the Japanese and consequent emancipation of the Chinese people.

A careful distinction must be made between two types of guerrilla warfare. The fact that revolutionary guerrilla warfare is based on the masses of the people does not in itself mean that the organization of guerrilla units is impossible in a war of counter-revolutionary character. As examples of the former type we may cite Red guerilla hostilities during the Russian Revolution; those of the Reds China; of the Abyssinians against the Italians for the past three years; those of the last seven years in Manchuria, and the vast anti-Japanese guerrilla war that is carried on in China today. All these struggles have been carried on in the interest of the whole people or the greater part of them; all had a broad basis in the national manpower and all have been in accord with the laws of historical development. They have existed and will continue to exist, flourish, and develop as long as they are not contrary to national policy.

The second type of guerrilla warfare directly contradicts the law of historical development. Of this type, we may cite the examples furnished by the White Russian guerrilla units organized by Denikin and Kolchak; those organized by the Japanese; those organized by the Italians in Abyssinia; those supported by the puppet governments in Manchuria and Mongolia, and those that will be organized here by Chinese traitors. All such have oppressed the masses and have been contrary to the true interests of the people. They must be firmly opposed. They are easy to destroy because they lack a broad foundation in the people.

If we fail to differentiate between the two types of guerrilla hostilities mentioned, it is likely that we will exaggerate their effect when applied by an invader. We might arrive at the conclusion that 'the invader can organize guerrilla units from among the people'. Such a conclusion might well diminish our confidence in guerrilla warfare. As far as this matter is concerned, we have but to remember the historical experience of revolutionary struggles.

Further, we must distinguish general revolutionary wars from those of a purely 'class' type. In the former case, the whole people of a nation, without regard to class or party, carry on a guerrilla struggle that is an instrument of the national policy. Its basis is, therefore, much broader than is the basis of a struggle of class type. Of a general guerrilla war, it has been said: 'When a nation is invaded, the people become sympathetic to one another and all aid in organizing guerrilla units. In civil war, no matter to what extent guerrillas are developed, they do not produce the same results as when they are formed to resist an invasion by foreigners' (Civil War in Russia). The one strong feature of guerrilla warfare in a civil struggle is its quality of internal purity. One class may be easily united and perhaps fight with great effect, whereas in a national revolutionary war, guerrilla units are faced with the problem of internal unification of different class groups. This necessitates the use of propaganda. Both types of guerrilla war are, however, similar in that they both employ the same military methods.

National guerrilla warfare, though historically of the same consistency, has employed varying implements as times, peoples, and conditions differ. The guerrilla aspects of the Opium War, those of the fighting in Manchuria since the Mukden incident, and those employed in China today are all slightly different. The guerrilla warfare conducted by the Moroccans against the French and the Spanish was not exactly similar to that which we conduct today in China. These differences express the characteristics of different peoples in different periods. Although there is a general similarity in the quality of all these struggles, there are dissimilarities in form. This fact we must recognize. Clausewitz wrote, in On War: 'Wars in every period have independent forms and independent conditions, and, therefore, every period must have its independent theory of war.' Lenin, in On Guerrilla Warfare said: 'As regards the form of fighting, it is unconditionally requisite that history be investigated in order to discover the conditions of environment, the state of economic progress and the political ideas that obtained, the national characteristics, customs, and degree of civilization.' Again: 'It is necessary to be completely unsympathetic to abstract formulas and rules and to study with sympathy the conditions of the actual fighting, for these will change in accordance with the political and economic situations and the realization of the people's aspirations. These progressive changes in conditions create new methods.'

If, in today's struggle, we fail to apply the historical truths of revolutionary guerrilla war, we will fall into the error of believing with T'ou Hsi Sheng that under the impact of Japan's mechanized army, 'the guerrilla unit has lost its historical function'. Jen Ch'i Shan writes: 'In olden days guerrilla warfare was part of regular strategy but there is almost no chance that it can be applied today.' These opinions are harmful. If we do not make an estimate of the characteristics peculiar to our anti-Japanese guerrilla war, but insist on applying to it mechanical formulas derived from past history, we are making the mistake of placing our hostilities in the same category as all other national guerrilla struggles. If we hold this view, we will simply be beating our heads against a stone wall and we will be unable to profit from guerrilla hostilities.

To summarize: What is the guerrilla war of resistance against Japan? It is one aspect of the entire war, which, although alone incapable of producing the decision, attacks the enemy in every quarter, diminishes the extent of area under his control, increases our national strength, and assists our regular armies. It is one of the strategic instruments used to inflict defeat on our enemy. It is the one pure expression of anti-Japanese policy, that is to say, it is military strength organized by the active people and inseparable from them. It is a powerful special weapon with which we resist the Japanese and without which we cannot defeat them.

2. The Relation Of Guerrilla Hostilitiesto Regular Operations

The general features of orthodox hostilities, that is, the war of position and the war of movement, differ fundamentally from guerrilla warfare. There are other readily apparent differences such as those in organization, armament, equipment supply, tactics, command; in conception of the terms 'front' and 'rear'; in the matter of military responsibilities.

When considered from the point of view of total numbers, guerrilla units are many, as individual combat units, they may vary in size from the smallest, of several score or several hundred men, to the battalion or the regiment, of several thousand. This is not the case in regularly organized units. A primary feature of guerrilla operations is their dependence upon the people themselves to organize battalions and other units. As a result of this, organization depends largely upon local circumstances. In the case of guerrilla groups, the standard of equipment is of a low order and they must depend for their sustenance primarily upon what the locality affords.

The strategy of guerrilla warfare is manifestly unlike that employed in orthodox operations, as the basic tactic of the former is constant activity and movement. There is in guerrilla warfare no such thing as a decisive battle; there is nothing comparable to the fixed, passive defence that characterizes orthodox war. In guerrilla warfare, the transformation of a moving situation into a positional defensive situation never arises. The general features of reconnaissance, partial deployment, general deployment, and development of the attack that are usual in mobile warfare are not common in guerrilla war.

There are differences also in the matter of leadership and command. In guerrilla warfare, small units acting independently play the principal role and there must be no excessive interference with their activities. In orthodox warfare particularly in a moving situation, a certain degree of initiative is accorded subordinates, but in principle, command is centralized. This is done because all units and all supporting arms in all districts must co-ordinate to the highest degree. In the case of guerrilla warfare, this is not only undesirable but impossible. Only adjacent guerrilla units can coordinate their activities to any degree. Strategically, their activities can be roughly correlated with those of the regular forces, and tactically, they must co-operate with adjacent units of the regular army. But there are no strictures on the extent of guerrilla activity nor is it primarily characterized by the quality of co-operation of many units.

When we discuss the terms 'front' and 'rear' it must be remembered, that while guerrillas do have bases, their primary field of activity is in the enemy's rear areas. They themselves have no rear. Because an orthodox army has rear installations (except in some special cases as during the 10,000-mile Long march of the Red Army or as in the case of certain units operating in Shansi Province), it cannot operate as guerrillas can.

As to the matter of military responsibilities, those of the guerrillas are to exterminate small forces of the enemy; to harass and weaken large forces; to attack enemy lines of communications; to establish bases capable of supporting independent operations in the enemy's rear, to force the enemy to disperse his strength; and to co-ordinate all these activities with those of the regular armies on distant battle fronts.

From the foregoing summary of differences that exist between guerrilla warfare and orthodox warfare, it can be seen that it is improper to compare the two. Further distinction must be made in order to clarify this matter. While the Eighth Route Army is a regular army, its North China campaign is essentially guerrilla in nature, for it operates in enemy's rear. On occasion, however, Eighth Route Army commanders have concentrated powerful forces to strike an enemy in motion and the characteristics of orthodox mobile warfare were evident in the battle at P'ing Hsing Kuan and in other engagements.

On the other hand, after the fall of Feng Ling Tu, the operations of Central Shansi, and Suiyuan, troops were more guerrilla than orthodox in nature. In this connection the precise character of Generalissimo Chiang's instructions to the effect that independent brigades would carry out guerrilla operations should be recalled. In spite of such temporary activities these orthodox units retained their identity and after the fall of Feng Line Tu, they were not only able to fight along orthodox lines but often found it necessary to do so. This is an example of the fact that orthodox armies may, due to changes in the situation, temporarily function as guerrillas.

Likewise, guerrilla units formed from the people may gradually develop into regular units and, when operating as such, employ the tactics of orthodox mobile war. While these units function as guerrillas, they may be compared to innumerable gnats, which, by biting a giant both in front and in rear, ultimately exhaust him. They make themselves as unendurable as a group of cruel and hateful devils, and as they grow and attain gigantic proportions, they will find that their victim is not only exhausted but practically perishing. It is for this very reason that our guerrilla activities are a source of constant mental worry to Imperial Japan.

While it is improper to confuse orthodox with guerrilla operations, it is equally improper to consider that there is a chasm between the two. While differences do exist, similarities appear under certain conditions and this fact must be appreciated if we wish to establish clearly the relationship between the two. If we consider both types of warfare as a single subject, or if we confuse guerrilla warfare with the mobile operations of orthodox war, we fall into this error : We exaggerate the function of guerrillas and minimize that of the regular armies. If we agree with Chang Tso Hua, who says - 'Guerrilla warfare is the primary war strategy of a people seeking to emancipate itself,' or with Kao Kang, who believes that 'Guerrilla strategy is the only strategy possible for oppressed people', we are exaggerating the importance of guerrilla hostilities. What these zealous friends I have just quoted do not realize is this: If we do not fit guerrilla operations into their proper niche, we cannot promote them realistically. Then, not only would those who oppose take advantage of our varying opinions to turn them to the own uses to undermine us, but guerrillas would be led assume responsibilities they could not successfully discharge and that should properly be carried out by orthodox force. In the meantime, the important guerrilla function of co-ordinating activities with the regular forces would be neglected.

Furthermore, if the theory that guerrilla warfare is our only strategy were actually applied, the regular forces would be weakened, we would be divided in purpose, and guerrilla hostilities would decline. If we say, ' Let us transform the regular forces into guerrillas', and do not place our first reliance on a victory to be gained by the regular armies over the enemy, we may certainly expect to see as a result the failure of the anti-Japanese war of resistance. The concept that guerrilla warfare is an end in itself and that guerrilla activities can be divorced from those of the regular forces is incorrect. If we assume that guerrilla warfare does not progress from beginning to end beyond its elementary forms, we have failed to recognize the fact that guerrilla hostilities can, under specific conditions, develop and assume orthodox characteristics. An opinion that admits the existence of guerrilla war, but isolates it, is one that does not properly estimate the potentialities of such war.

Equally dangerous is the concept that condemns guerrilla war on the ground that war has no other aspects than the purely orthodox. This opinion is often expressed by those who have seen the corrupt phenomena of some guerrilla regimes, observed their lack of discipline, and have seen them used as a screen behind which certain persons have indulged in bribery and other corrupt practices. These people will not admit the fundamental necessity for guerrilla bands that spring from the armed people. They say, 'Only the regular forces are capable of conducting guerrilla operations.' This theory is a mistaken one and would lead to the abolition of the people's guerrilla war.

A proper conception of the relationship that exists between guerrilla effort and that of the regular forces is essential. We believe it can be stated this way: 'Guerrilla operations during the anti-Japanese war may for certain time and temporarily become its paramount feature, particularly insofar as the enemy's rear is concerned. However, if we view the war as a whole, there can be no doubt that our regular forces are of primary importance, because it is they who are alone capable of producing the decision. Guerrilla warfare assists them in producing this favourable decision. Orthodox forces may under certain conditions operate as guerrillas, and the latter may, under certain conditions, develop to the status of the former. However, both guerrilla forces and regular forces have their own respective development and their proper combinations.'

To clarify the relationship between the mobile aspect of orthodox war and guerrilla war, we may say that general agreement exists that the principal element of our strategy must be mobility. With the war of movement, we may at times combine the war of position. Both of these are assisted by general guerrilla hostilities. It is true that on the battlefield mobile war often becomes positional; it is true that this situation may be reversed; it is equally true that each form may combine with the other. The possibility of such combination will become more evident after the prevailing standards of equipment have been raised. For example, in a general strategical counter-attack to recapture key cities and lines of communication, it would be normal to use both mobile and positional methods. However, the point must again be made that our fundamental strategical form must be the war of movement. If we deny this, we cannot arrive at the victorious solution of the war. In sum, while we must promote guerrilla warfare as a necessary strategical auxiliary to orthodox operations, we must neither assign it the primary position in our war strategy nor substitute it for mobile and positional warfare as conducted by orthodox forces.

3. Guerrilla Warfare In History

Guerrilla warfare is neither a product of China nor peculiar to the present day. From the earliest historical days, it has been a feature of wars fought by every class of men against invaders and oppressors. Under suitable conditions, it has great possibilities. The many guerrilla wars in history have their points of difference, their peculiar characteristics, their varying processes and conclusions, and we must respect and profit by the experience of those whose blood was shed in them. What a pity it is that the priceless experience gained during the several hundred wars waged by the peasants of China cannot be marshaled today to guide us. Our only experience in guerrilla hostilities has been that gained from the several conflicts that have been carried on against us by foreign imperialists. But that experience should help the fighting Chinese recognize the necessity for guerrilla warfare and should confirm them in confidence of ultimate victory.

In September 1812, Napoleon, in the course of swallowing all of Europe, invaded Russia at the head of a great army totaling several hundred thousand infantry, cavalry, and artillery. At that time, Russia was weak and her ill-prepared army was not concentrated. The most important phase of her strategy was the use made of Cossack cavalry and detachments of peasants to carry on guerrilla operations. After giving up Moscow, the Russians formed nine guerrilla divisions of about five hundred men each. These, and vast groups of organized peasants, carried on partisan warfare and continually harassed the French Army. When the French Army was withdrawing, cold and starving, Russian guerrillas blocked the way and, in combination with regular troops, carried out counterattacks on the French rear, pursuing and defeating them. The army of the heroic Napoleon was almost entirely annihilated, and the guerrillas captured many officers, men, cannon, and rifles. Though the victory was the result of various factors and depended largely on the activities of the regular army the function of the partisan groups was extremely important. The corrupt and poorly organized country that was Russia defeated and destroyed an army led by the most famous soldier of Europe and won the war in spite of the fact that her ability to organize guerrilla regimes was not fully developed. At times, guerrilla groups were hindered in their operations and the supply of equipment and arms was insufficient. If we use the Russian saying, it was a case of a battle between "the fist and the axe" [Ivanov ].

From 1918 to 1920, the Russian Soviets, because of the opposition and intervention of foreign imperialists and the internal disturbances of White Russian groups, were forced to organize themselves in occupied territories and fight a real war. In Siberia and Alashan, in the rear of the army of the traitor Denikin and in the rear of the Poles, there were many Red Russian guerrillas. These not only disrupted and destroyed the communications in the enemy's rear but also frequently prevented his advance. On one occasion, the guerrillas completely destroyed a retreating White Army that had previously been defeated by regular Red forces. Kolchak, Denikin, the Japanese, and the Poles, owing to the necessity of staving off the attacks of guerrillas, were forced to withdraw regular troops from the front. 'Thus not only was the enemy's manpower impoverished but he found himself unable to cope with the ever-moving guerrilla' [The Nature of Guerrilla Action].

The development of guerrillas at that time had only reached the stage where there were detached groups of several thousands in strength, old, middle-aged, and young. The old men organized themselves into propaganda groups known as 'silver-haired units'; there was a suitable guerrilla activity for the middle-aged; the young men formed combat units, and there were even groups for the children. Among the leaders were determined Communists who carried on general political work among the people. These, although they opposed the doctrine of extreme guerrilla warfare, were quick to oppose those who condemned it. Experience tells us that 'Orthodox armies are the fundamental and principal power, guerrilla units are secondary to them and assist in the accomplishment of the mission assigned the regular forces [Gusev, Lessons of Civil War.]. Many of the guerrilla regimes in Russia gradually developed until in battle they were able to discharge functions of organized regulars. The army of the famous General Galen was entirely derived from guerrillas.

During seven months in 1935 and 1936, the Abyssinians lost their war against Italy. The cause of defeat — aside from the most important political reasons that there were dissentient political groups, no strong government party, and unstable policy—was the failure to adopt a positive policy of mobile warfare. There was never a combination of the war of movement with large-scale guerrilla operations. Ultimately, the Abyssinians adopted a purely passive defence, with the result that they were unable to defeat the Italians. In addition to this, the fact that Abyssinia is a relatively small and sparsely populated country was contributory. Even in spite of the fact that the Abyssinian Army and its equipment were not modern, she was able to withstand a mechanized Italian force of 400,000 for seven months. During that period, there were several occasions when a war of movement was combined with large-scale guerrilla operations to strike the Italians heavy blows. Moreover, several cities were retaken and casualties totaling 140,000 were inflicted. Had this policy been steadfastly continued, it would have been difficult to have named the ultimate winner. At the present time, guerrilla activities continue in Abyssinia, and if the internal political questions can be solved, an extension of such activities is probable.

In 1841 and 1842, when brave people from San Yuan Li fought the English; again from 1850 to 1864, during the Taiping War, and for a third time in 1899 in the Boxer Uprising, guerrilla tactics were employed to a remarkable degree. Particularly was this so during the Taiping War, when guerrilla operations were most extensive and the Ch'ing troops were often completely exhausted and forced to flee for their lives.

In these wars, there were no guiding principles of guerrilla action. Perhaps these guerrilla hostilities were not carried out in conjunction with regular operations, or perhaps there was a lack of co-ordination. But the fact that victory was not gained was not because of any lack in guerrilla activity but rather because of the interference of politics in military affairs. Experience shows that if precedence is not given to the question of conquering the enemy in both political and military affairs, and if regular hostilities are not conducted with tenacity, guerrilla operations alone cannot produce final victory.

From 1927 to 1936, the Chinese Red Army fought almost continually and employed guerrilla tactics contently. At the very beginning, a positive policy was adopted. Many bases were established, and from guerrilla bands, the Reds were able to develop into regular armies. As these armies fought, new guerrilla regimes were developed over a wide area. These regimes co-ordinated their efforts with those of the regular forces This policy accounted for the many victories gained by the guerrilla troops relatively few in number, who were armed with weapons inferior to those of their opponents. The leaders of that period properly combined guerrilla operations with a war of movement both strategically and tactically. They depended primarily upon alertness. They stressed the correct basis for both political affaires and military operations. They developed their guerrilla bands into trained units. They then determined upon a ten year period of resistance during which time they overcame innumerable difficulties and have only lately reached their goal of direct participation in the anti-Japanese war. There is no doubt that the internal unification of China is now a permanent and definite fact, and that the experience gained during our internal struggles has proved to be both necessary and advantageous to us in the struggle against Japanese imperialism. There are many valuable lessons we can learn from the experience of those years. Principle among them is the fact that guerrilla success largely depend upon powerful political leaders who work unceasingly to bring about internal unification. Such leaders must work with the people; they must have a correct conception of the policy to be adopted as regards both the people and the enemy.

After 18 September 1931, strong anti-Japanese guerrilla campaigns were opened in each of the three north-east provinces. Guerrilla activity persists there in spite of the cruelties and deceits practiced by the Japanese at the expense of the people, and in spite of the fact that her armies have occupied the land and oppressed the people for the last seven years. The struggle can be divided into two periods . During the first, which extended from 18 September 1931 to January 1933, anti-Japanese guerrilla activity exploded constantly in all three provinces. Ma Chan Shan and Su Ping Wei established an anti-Japanese regime in Heilungkiang. In Chi Lin. the National Salvation Army and the Self-Defence Army were led by Wang Te Lin and Li Tu respectively. In Feng T'ien, Chu Lu and others commanded guerrilla units The influence of these forces was great. They harassed the Japanese unceasingly, but because there was an indefinite political goal, improper leadership, failure to co ordinate military command and operations and to work with the people, and, finally, failure to delegate proper political functions to the army, the whole organization was feeble, and its strength was not unified. As a direct result of these conditions, the campaigns failed and the troops were finally defeated by our enemy.

During the second period, which has extended from January 1933 to the present time, the situation has greatly improved, This has come about because great numbers of people who have been oppressed by the enemy have decided to resist him, because of the participation of the Chinese Communists in the anti-Japanese warm and because of the fine work of the volunteer units. The guerrillas have finally educated the people to the meaning of guerrilla warfare, and in the north-east, it has again become an important and powerful influence. Already seven or eight guerrilla regiments and a number of independent platoons have been formed, and their activities make it necessary for the Japanese to send troops after them month after month. These units hamper the Japanese and undermine their control in the north-east, while, at the same time they inspire a Nationalist revolution in Korea. Such activities are not merely of transient and local importance but directly contribute to our ultimate victory.

However, there are still some weak points. For instance: National defence policy has not been sufficiently developed; participation of the people is not general; internal political organization is still in its primary stages, and the force used to attack the Japanese and the puppet governments is not yet sufficient. But if present policy is continued tenaciously, all these weaknesses will be overcome. Experience proves that guerrilla war will develop to even greater proportions and that, in spite of the cruelty o the Japanese and the many methods they have device to cheat the people, they cannot extinguish guerrilla activities extinguish guerrilla activities in the three north-eastern provinces.

The guerrilla experiences of China and of other countries that have been outlined; prove that in a war of revolutionary nature such hostilities are possible, natural and necessary. They prove that if the present anti-Japanese war for the emancipation of the masses of the Chinese people is to gain ultimate victory, such hostilities must expand tremendously.

Historical experience is written in iron and blood. We must point out that the guerrilla campaigns being waged in China today are a page in history that has no precedent. Their influence will not be confined solely to China in her present anti-Japanese war but will be world-wide.

4. Can Victory Be Attained By Guerrilla Operations?

Guerrilla hostilities are but one phase of the war of resistance against Japan and the answer to the question of whether or not they can produce ultimate victory can be given only after investigation and comparison of all elements of our own strength with those of the enemy. The particulars of such a comparison are several. First, the strong Japanese bandit nation is an absolute monarchy. During the course of her invasion of China, she had made comparative progress in the techniques of industrial production and in the development of excellence and skill in her army, navy, and airforce. But in spite of this industrial progress, she remains an absolute monarchy of inferior physical endowments. Her manpower, her raw materials, and her financial resources are all inadequate and insufficient to maintain her in protracted warfare or to meet the situation presented by a war prosecuted over a vast area. Added to this is the anti-war feeling now manifested by the Japanese people, a feeling that is shared by the junior officers and, more extensively, by the soldiers of the invading army. Furthermore, China is not Japan's only enemy. Japan is unable to employ her entire strength in the attack on China; she cannot, at most, spare more than a million men for this purpose, as she must hold any in excess of that number for use against other possible opponents. Because of these important primary considerations, the invading Japanese bandits can hope neither to be victorious in a protracted struggle nor to conquer a vast area. Their strategy must be one of lightning war and speedy decision. If we can hold out for three or more years, it will be most difficult for Japan to bear up under the strain.

In the war, the Japanese brigands must depend upon lines of communication linking the principal cities as routes for the transport of war materials. The most important considerations for her are that her rear be stable and peaceful and that her lines of communication be intact. It is not to her an advantage to wage war over a vast area with disrupted lines of communication. She cannot disperse her strength and fight in a number of places, and her greatest fears are these eruptions in her rear and disruption of her lines of communication. If she can maintain communications, she will be able at will to concentrate powerful forces speedily at strategic points to engage our organized units in decisive battle. Another important Japanese objective is to profit from the industries, finances, and manpower in captured areas and with them to augment her own insufficient strength. Certainly, it is not to her advantage to forgo these benefits, not to be forced to dissipate her energies in a type of warfare in which the gains will not compensate for the losses. It is for these reasons that guerrilla warfare conducted in each bit of conquered territory over a wide area will be a heavy blow struck at the Japanese bandits. Experience in the five northern provinces as well as in Kiangsu, Chekiang and Anhwei has absolutely established the truth of this assertion.

China is a country half colonial and half feudal; it is a country that is politically, militarily, and economically backward. This is an inescapable conclusion. It is a vast country with great resources and tremendous population, a country in which the terrain is complicated and the facilities for communication are poor. All theses factors favour a protracted war, they all favour the application of mobile warfare and guerilla operations. The establishment of innumerable anti-Japanese bases behind the enemy's lines will force him to fight unceasingly in many places at once, both to his front and his rear. He thus endlessly expends his resources.

We must unite the strength of the army with that of the people, we must strike the weak spots in the enemy's flanks, in his front, in his rear. We must make war everywhere and cause dispersal of his forces and dissipation of his strength. Thus the time will come when a gradual change will become evident in the relative position of ourselves and our enemy, and when that day comes, it will be the beginning of our ultimate victory over the Japanese.

Although China's population is great, it is unorganized. This is a weakness which must be then into account.

The Japanese bandits have merely to conquer territory but rapacious, and murderous policy of the extinction of the Chinese race. We must unite the nation without regard to parties and follow our policy of resistance to the end. China today is not the China of old. It is not like Abyssinia. China today is at the point of her greatest historical progress. The standards of literacy among the masses have been raised; the rapprochement of Communists and Nationalists has laid the foundation for an anti-Japanese war front that is constantly being strengthened and expanded; government, army and people are all working with great energy; the raw material resources and the economic strength of the nation are waiting to be used; the unorganized people are becoming an organized nation.

These energies must be directed toward the goal of protracted war so that should the Japanese occupy much of our territory or even most of it, we shall still gain final victory. Not only must those behind our lines organize for resistance but also those who live in Japanese-occupied territory in every part of the country. The traitors who accept the Japanese as fathers are few in number, and those who have taken oath that they would prefer death to abject slavery are many. If we resist with this spirit, what enemy can we not conquer and who can say that ultimate victory will not be ours?

The Japanese are waging a barbaric war along uncivilized lines. For that reason, Japanese of all classes oppose the policies of their government, as do vast international groups. On the other hand, because China's cause is righteous, our countrymen of all classes and parties are united to oppose the invader; we have sympathy in many foreign countries including even Japan itself. This is perhaps the most important reason why Japan will lose and China will win.

The progress of the war for the emancipation of the Chinese people will be in accord with these facts. The guerrilla war of resistance will be in accord with these facts, and that guerrilla operations correlated with those of our regular forces will produce victory is the conviction of the many patriots who devote their entire strength to guerrilla hostilities.

5. Organization For Guerilla Warfare

Four points must be considered under this subject. These are:

How are guerrilla bands formed?
How are guerrilla bands organized?
What are the methods of arming guerrilla bands?
What elements constitute a guerrilla band?

These are all questions pertaining to the organization armed guerrilla units; they are questions which those who had no experience in guerilla hostilities do not understand and on which they can arrive at no sound decisions; indeed, they would not know in what manner to begin.

How Guerrilla Units Are Originally Formed
The unit may originate in any one of the following ways:

a) From the masses of the people.
b) From regular army units temporarily detailed for the purpose.
c) From regular army units permanently detailed.
d) From the combination of a regular army unit and a unit recruited from the people.
e) From the local militia.
f) From deserters from the ranks of the enemy.
g) From former bandits and bandit groups.

In the present hostilities, no doubt, all these sources will be employed.

In the first case above, the guerrilla unit is formed from the people. This is the fundamental type. Upon the arrival of the enemy army to oppress and slaughter the people, their leaders call upon them to resist. They assemble the most valorous elements, arm them with old rifles or whatever firearms they can, and thus a guerrilla unit begins. Orders have already been issued throughout the nation that call upon the people to form guerrilla units both for local defense and for other combat. If the local governments approve and aid such movements, they cannot fail to prosper. In some places, where the local government is not determined or where its officers have all fled, the leaders among the masses (relying on the sympathy of the people and their sincere desire to resist Japan and succor the country ) call upon the people to resist, and they respond. Thus, many guerrilla units are organized. In circumstances of this kind, the duties of leadership usually fall upon the shoulders of young students, teachers, professors, other educators, local soldiery, professional men, artisans, and those without a fixed profession, who are willing to exert themselves to the last drop of their blood. Recently, in Shansi, Hopeh, Chahar, Suiyuan, Shantung, Chekiang, Anhwei, Kiangsu, and other provinces, extensive guerrilla hostilities have broken out. All these are organized and led by patriots. The amount of such activity is the best proof of the foregoing statement. The more such bands there are, the better will the situation be. Each district, each county, should be able to organize a great number of guerrilla squads, which, when assembled, form a guerrilla company.

There are those who say: 'I am a farmer', or, 'I am a student'; 'I can discuss literature but not military arts.' This is incorrect. There is no profound difference between the farmer and the soldier. You must have courage. You simply leave your farms and become soldiers. That you are farmers is of no difference, and if you have education, that is so much the better. When you take your arms in hand, you become soldiers; when you are organized, you become military units.

Guerrilla hostilities are the university of war, and after you have fought several times valiantly and aggressively, you may become a leader of troops and there will be many well-known regular soldiers who will not be your peers. Without question, the fountainhead of guerrilla warfare is in the masses of the people, who organize guerrilla units directly from themselves.

The second type of guerrilla unit is that which is organized from small units of the regular forces temporarily detached for the purpose. For example, since hostilities commenced, many groups have been temporarily detached from armies, divisions, and brigades and have been assigned guerrilla duties. A regiment of the regular army may, if circumstances warrant, be dispersed into groups for the purpose of carrying on guerrilla operations. As an example of this, there is the Eighth Route Army, in North China. Excluding the periods when it carries on mobile operations as an army, it is divided into its elements and these carry on guerrilla hostilities. This type of guerrilla unit is essential for two reasons. First, in mobile-warfare situations, the co-ordination of guerrilla activities with regular operations is necessary. Second, until guerrilla hostilities can be developed on a grand scale, there is no one to carry out guerrilla missions but regulars. Historical experience shows us that regular army units are not able to undergo the hardships of guerrilla campaigning over long periods. The leaders of regular units engaged in guerrilla operations must be extremely adaptable. They must study the methods of guerrilla war. They must understand that initiative, discipline, and the employment of stratagems are all of the utmost importance. As the guerrilla status of regular units is but temporary, their leaders must lend all possible support to the organization of guerrilla units from among the people. These units must be so disciplined that they hold together after the departure of the regulars.

The third type of unit consists of a detachment of regulars who are permanently assigned guerrilla duties. This type of small detachment does not have to be prepared to rejoin the regular forces. Its post is somewhere in the rear of the enemy, and there it becomes the backbone of guerrilla organization. As an example of this type of organization we may take the Wu Tat Shan district in the heart of the Hopeh-Chahar-Shansi area. Along the borders of these provinces, units from the Eighth Route Army have established a framework or guerrilla operations. Around these small cores, many detachments have been organized and the area of guerrilla activity greatly expanded. In areas in which there is a possibility of cutting the enemy's lines of supply, this system should be used. Severing enemy, supply routes destroys his lifeline; this is one feature that cannot be neglected. If, at the time the regular forces withdraw from a certain area, some units left behind, these should conduct guerrilla operations in the enemy's rear. As an example of this, we have the guerrilla bands now continuing their independent operations in the Shanghai- Woosung area in spite of the withdrawal of regular forces.

The fourth type of organization is the result of a merger between small regular detachments and local guerrilla units. The regular forces may dispatch a squad, a platoon, or a company, which is placed at the disposal of the local guerrilla commander. If a small group experienced in military and political affairs is sent, it becomes the core of the local guerrilla unit. These several methods are all excellent, and if properly applied, the intensity of guerilla warfare can be extended. In the Wu Tat Shan area, each of these methods has been used.

The fifth type mentioned above is from the local militia, from police and home guards. In every North China province, there are now many of these groups, and they should be formed in every locality. The government has issued mandate to the effect that the people are not to depart from war areas. The officer in command of the county, the commander of the peace-preservation unit, the chief of police are all required to obey this mandate. They cannot retreat with their forces but must remain at their stations and resist.

The sixth type of unit is that organized from troops that come over from the enemy—the Chinese 'traitor' troops employed by the Japanese. It is always possible to produce disaffection in their ranks, and we must increase our propaganda efforts and foment mutinies among such troops. Immediately after mutinying, they must be received into our ranks and organized. The concord of the leaders and the assent of the men must be gained, and the units rebuilt politically and reorganized militarily. Once this has been accomplished, they become successful guerrilla units. In regard to this type of unit, it may be said that political work among them is of utmost importance.

The seventh type of guerrilla organization is that formed from bands of bandits and brigands. This, although difficult, must be carried out with utmost vigour lest the enemy use such bands to his own advantages. Many bandit groups pose as anti-Japanese guerrillas, and it is only necessary to correct their political beliefs to convert them.

In spite of inescapable differences in the fundamental types of guerrilla bands, it is possible to unite them to form a vast sea of guerrillas. The ancients said, 'Tai Shan is a great mountain because it does not scorn the merest handful of dirt; the rivers and seas are deep because they absorb the waters of small streams.' Attention paid to the enlistment and organization of guerrillas of every type and from every source will increase the potentialities of guerrilla action in the anti-Japanese war. This is something that patriots will not neglect.

THE METHOD OF ORGANIZING GUERRILLA REGIMES
Many of those who decide to participate in guerrilla activities do not know the methods of organization. For such people, as well as for students who have no knowledge of military affairs, the matter of organization is a problem that requires solution. Even among those who have military knowledge, there are some who know nothing of guerrilla regimes use they are lacking in that particular type of experience. The subject of the organization of such regimes is not confined to the organization of specific units but includes all guerrilla activities within the area where the regime functions.

As an example of such organization, we may take a geographical area in the enemy's rear. This area may comprise many counties. It must be sub-divided and individual companies or battalions formed to accord with the sub-divisions. To this 'military area', a military commander and political commissioners are appointed. Under these, the necessary officers both military and political, are appointed. In the military headquarters, there will be the staff, the aides, the supply officers, and the medical personnel. These are controlled by the chief of staff, who acts in accordance with orders from the commander. In the political headquarters, there are bureaus of propaganda organization, people's mass movements, and miscellaneous affairs. Control of these is vested in the political chairman.

The military areas are sub-divided into smaller districts in accordance with local geography, the enemy situation locally, and the state of guerrilla development. Each of these smaller divisions within the area is a district, each of which may consist of from two to six counties. To each district, a military commander and several political commissioners are appointed. Under their direction, military and political headquarters are organized. Tasks are assigned in accordance with the number of guerrilla troops available. Although the names of the officers in the 'district' correspond to those in the larger 'area', the number of the functionaries assigned in the former case should be reduced to the least possible. In order to unify control, to handle guerrilla troops that come from different sources, and to harmonize military operations and local political affairs, a committee of from seven to nine members should be organized in each area and district. This committee, the members of which are selected by the troops and the local political officers, should function as a forum for the discussion of both military and political matters.

All the people in an area should arm themselves and be organized into two groups. One of these groups is a combat group, the other a self-defence unit with but limited military quality. Regular combatant guerrillas are organized into one of three general types of units. The first of these is the small unit, the platoon or company. In each county, three to six units may be organized. The second type is the battalion of from two to four companies. One such unit should be organized in each county. While the unit fundamentally belongs to the county in it was organized, it may operate in other counties. While in areas other than its own, it must operate in conjunction with local units in order to take advantage of their manpower, their knowledge of local terrain and local customs, and their information of the enemy.

The third type is the guerrilla regiment, which consists of from two to four of the above-mentioned battalion units. If sufficient manpower is available, a guerrilla a brigade of from two to four regiments may be formed.

Each of the units has its own peculiarities of organization. A squad, the smallest unit, has a strength of from nine to eleven men, including the leader and the assistant leader. Its arms may be from two to five Western-style rifles, with the remaining men armed with rifles of local manufacture, fowling-pieces, etc., spears, or big swords. Two to four such squads form a platoon. This too has a leader and an assistant leader, and when acting independently, it is assigned a political officer to carry on political propaganda work. The platoon may have about ten rifles, with the remainder of its four of such units from a company, which, like the platoon, has a leader, an assistant leader, and a political officer. All these units are under the direct supervision of the military commanders of the areas in which they operate.

The battalion unit must be more thoroughly organized and better equipped than the smaller units. Its discipline and its personnel should be superior. If a battalion is formed from company units, it should not deprive subordinate units entirely of their manpower and their arms. If in a small area, there is a peace-preservation corps, a branch of the militia, or police, regular guerrilla units should not be dispersed over it.

The guerrilla unit next in size to the battalion is the regiment. This must be under more severe discipline than the battalion. In an independent guerrilla regiment, there may be ten men per squad, three squad per platoon, three platoons per company, three companies per battalion, and three battalions to the regiment. Two of such regiments form a brigade. Each of these units has a commander, a vice-commander, and a political officer.

In North China, guerrilla cavalry units should be established. These may be regiments of from two to four companies, or battalions.

All these units from the lowest to the highest are combatant guerrilla units and receive their supplies from the central government. Details of their organization are shown in the tables.

All the people of both sexes from the ages of sixteen to forty-five must be organized into anti-Japanese self-defence units, the basis of which is voluntary service. As a first step, they must procure arms, then they must be given both military and political training. Their responsibilities are : local sentry duties, securing information of the enemy, arresting traitors, and preventing the dissemination of enemy propaganda. When the enemy launches a guerrilla-suppression drive, these units, armed with what weapons there are, are assigned to certain areas to deceive, hinder, and harass him. Thus, the defence units assist the combatant guerrillas. They have other functions. They furnish stretcher-bearers to transport the wounded , carriers to take food to the troops, and comfort missions to provide the troops with tea and rice. If a locality can organize such a self-defence unit as we have described, the traitors cannot hide nor can bandits and robbers disturb the peace of the people. Thus the people will continue to assist the guerrilla and supply manpower to our regular armies. 'The organization of self-defence units is a transitional step in the development of universal conscription. Such units are reservoirs of manpower for the orthodox forces.'

There have been such organizations for some time in Shansi, Shensi, Honan, and Suiyuan. The youth organizations in different provinces were formed for the purpose of educating the young. They have been of some help. However, they were not voluntary, and confidence of the people was thus not gained. These organizations were not widespread, and their effect was almost negligible. This system was, therefore, supplanted by the new-type organizations,. Which are organized on the principles of voluntary co-operation and non-separation of the members from their native localities. When the members of these organizations are in their native towns, they support themselves . Only in case of military necessity are they ordered to remote places, and when this is done, the government must support them. Each member of these groups must have a weapon even if the weapon is only a knife, a pistol, a lance, or a spear.

In all places where the enemy operates, these self-defence units should organize within themselves a small guerrilla group of perhaps from three to ten men armed with pistols or revolvers. This group is not required to leave its native locality.

The organization of these self-defence units is mentioned in this book because such units are useful for the purposes of inculcating the people with military and political knowledge, keeping order in the rear, and replenishing the ranks of the regulars. These groups should be organized not only in the active war zones but in every province in China. 'The people must be inspired to co-operate voluntarily. We must not force them, for if we do, it will be ineffectual.' This is extremely important.

In order to control anti-Japanese military organization as a whole, it is necessary to establish a system of military areas and districts along the lines we have indicated.

EQUIPMENT OF GUERRILLAS
In regard to the problem of guerrilla equipment, it must be understood that guerrillas are lightly-armed attack groups, which require simple equipment. The standard of equipment is based upon the nature of duties assigned; the equipment of low-class guerrilla units is not as good as that of higher-class units. For example, those who are assigned the task of destroying rail communications are better equipped than those who do not have that task. The equipment of guerrillas cannot be based on what the guerrillas want, to even what they need, but must be based on what is available for their use. Equipment cannot be furnished immediately but must be acquired gradually. These are points to be kept in mind .

The question of equipment includes the collection, supply, distribution, and replacement of weapons, ammunition, blankets, communication materials, transport, and facilities for propaganda work. The supply of weapons and ammunition is most difficult, particularly at the time the unit is established, but this problem can always be solved eventually. Guerrilla bands that originate in the people are furnished with revolvers, pistols, rifles, spears, big swords, and land mines and mortars of local manufacture. Other elementary weapons are added and as many new-type rifles as are available are distributed. After a period of resistance, it is possible to increase the supply of equipment by capturing it from the enemy. In this respect, the transport companies are the easiest to equip, for in any successful attack, we will capture the enemy's transport.

An armory sh

About the Author

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Executive Protection 10 Secrets For Gaining Bodyguard Jobs

Executive Protection 10 Secrets For Gaining Bodyguard Jobs provides inside secrets on how to find well paid executive protection bodyguard jobs.

Globally business security is a huge growth industry, and the sector of providing VIP executive protection for business executives is one of the fastest growing sectors of the security industry.

People are flocking to the executive protection industry searching for lucrative bodyguard jobs.

Professional bodyguards have never been in greater demand as businesses trade more freely overseas in joint venture business partnerships. Sadly this leaves many businesses vulnerable to attack from organised crime gangs and terrorist organisations.

Business executives and company directors are being specifically targeted for kidnap for ransom. Company freight and other valuable assets are being frequently hijacked. Marine transported freight; cargo and crew are under constant attack from modern day pirates.

This increase in attacks against businesses dictates a need for professionally trained bodyguards. Key emphasis on professionally trained.

Unfortunately the interpretation of a professionally trained bodyguard is wide open to interpretation and is often different between all the bodyguard training companies.

In my 20 plus years of close protection bodyguard industry experience the highest majority of bodyguards I've trained joined the close protection industry because they wanted a career change which offered them a sense of excitement but also paid well.

Hence lucrative openings for close protection jobs and the rush to join the executive protection sector providing close protection for business executives.

This is one of the sectors that many new close protection recruits leave their training programme seeking bodyguard jobs in Iraq, or bodyguard jobs in Afghanistan. In reality these close protection jobs are not for the feint hearted or fresh recruits.

Ideally you should begin by searching for a bodyguard job in the UK, or a bodyguard job in some other low to medium risk theatre so that you can learn your trade before seeking bodyguard jobs in any of the high to extremely high risk theatres of operation.

Cutting your teeth on a low risk close protection operation in the UK is often a great foundation to build your body guard jobs search campaign.

VIP Protection 10 Secrets #1

Bodyguard Job Research

Contrary to what many close protection companies may tell you when they attempt to extract your money for training body guard jobs are difficult to come by.

In-depth research into identifying recruitment agents and agencies offering bodyguard jobs in any of the security sectors is essential. The British American Security Expert is a good first port of call.

VIP Protection 10 Secrets #2

Close Protection Basic Training

Before you even begin to think about finding a bodyguard job in any of the security and close protection sectors you need to have completed your close protection basic training.

Complete your due diligence to identify that the company taking your money for training is recognised Internationally. If they are not then you will struggle to find any body guard jobs.

VIP Protection 10 Secrets #3

Close Protection Membership

It is always a huge help when seeking a bodyguard job in any of the close protection sectors to have a close protection membership in an internationally recognised bodyguard association.

Many past students found their first bodyguard job in the security industry by being a member of the LEBAI Law Enforcement & Bodyguard Association International.

VIP Protection 10 Secrets #4

Bodyguard Employment Mentoring

Well paid body guard jobs rarely present to fresh close protection recruits.

If you are serious about long term sustainable bodyguard job in the close protection sector then you need to retain the professional services of a globally recognised British American Security Expert to provide you with close protection mentoring.

VIP Protection 10 Secrets #5

Bodyguard Employment Identify Your Niche

Before you begin to search for close protection jobs, you need to identify your niche or your USP Unique Selling Point.

i.e. What particular skill set do you possess that sets you apart from every other recruit seeking well paid body guard jobs. Identify your niche & USP and better paid body guard jobs will come your way.

VIP Protection 10 Secrets #6

Bodyguard Job Advanced Training

The British American Security Expert recommends if you are looking for a bodyguard job in Iraq or Afghanistan than it's essential to have graduated from advance close protection training that prepares you for high to extremely high risk close protection jobs.

Executive Protection 10 Secrets #7

Bodyguard Job Specialist Training

Many new recruits to the close protection industry view body guard jobs Iraq and Afghanistan as the route to instant riches.

Many enter this close protection jobs sector ill-equipped and ill-prepared. The key to obtaining close protection jobs in any high risk theatre of operation is graduation from close protection specialist training.

VIP Protection 10 Secrets #8

Bodyguard Employment Overseas Networking

Lots of recruits enter the close protection jobs market seeking bodyguard employment overseas. However it is worth noting that overseas bodyguard employment is generally found by registering with one or more of the agency recruitment companies.

VIP Protection 10 Secrets #9

Body Guard Jobs Marketing Yourself

The British American Security Expert has written extensively for the need for new bodyguard recruits to understand the need for marketing yourself.

The highest percentage of bodyguards seeking a bodyguard job in the security industry fail because they never address marketing themselves.

VIP Protection 10 Secrets #10

Body Guard Jobs Promoting Your Business

You may be a highly trained bodyguard seeking close protection jobs in the security industry but you are more than likely one of the 90% plus close protection officers working for themselves.

This means when considering any kind of bodyguard job in the security industry you have to promote your business.

Until you accept that you are first and foremost a business person and second a close protection officer you will struggle to find any close protection jobs.

About the Author

Dr. Mark D. Yates The British American Security Expert provides high risk close protection, counter terrorism & SWAT training & consultancy in 42 countries. He's one of the world's top 5 executive protection specialists hired by government, military special forces, security agencies & corporates for his security expertise. Claim his FREE 52 security tips & visit him at => http://www.closeprotectiongz.com or e-mail him at drmarkdyates@aol.com

[mage lang="" source="flickr"]paralegal employment law firms[/mage]
I have just graduated from paralegal school and I am having trouble finding employment can anyone help?

Help me with some leads or maybe some Law Firms that is willing to hire a Paralegal/Legal Secretary with just only my certificate or an Attorney thats needs some help receptionist,legal secretary,paralegal something remeber I only have my certificate I'm in the Detroit area also Thank you for your help and support.

Start with entry level positions like any open receptionist or even file clerk or mailroom in a huge firm. Depending on your school you might be able to get placement assistance. If you lived in a few other places, entry level level jobs can be easy to find if you have a very professional appearance and demeanor, even with zero training. You need national certification to get a very good job, not just educational certification....They are 2 different things....

Good luck!

Firm Tackles Tough Labor & Employment Litigation with TERIS

HAWAII EMPLOYMENT LAW AND LITIGATION BASICS: HOW DO I DRAFT A LITIGATION HOLD POLICY AND IMPLEMENT A PLAN FOR ELECTRONIC DISCOVERY?

HAWAII EMPLOYMENT LAW AND LITIGATION BASICS: HOW DO I DRAFT A LITIGATION HOLD POLICY AND IMPLEMENT A PLAN FOR ELECTRONIC DISCOVERY?

Electronic evidence is quickly evolving into one of the most difficult areas of litigation to navigate.  Hawaii businesses, especially human resource managers in employment disputes, must understand that it is extremely important to work closely with counsel to determine the extent of their discovery obligations.  Once the preservation requirement arises, Hawaii businesses must map out a sensible data gathering plan to minimize business disruptions and to avoid possible sanctions.

1.       Ensure the Company Buys Into What is Needed to Comply With the New Discovery Rules and Allocate Sufficient Resources.

Convince other managers/decisionmakers to make retention policies/electronic discovery planning a key initiative.  Those employees need to understand and appreciate the risks of court-ordered sanctions for the improper destruction of documents or electronically stored information.

2.       Understand Basic Retention/Hold Issues.

Understand that a litigation hold is required when: (1) The Company receives a demand to preserve the record(s); (2) the Company is aware that a lawsuit or administrative action has been filed; (3) the Company receives a preservation order from the Court, OR; (4) litigation is reasonably foreseeable.  Understand that a record is stale and therefore subject to destruction where the record no longer has any operational, business or legal value to the Company, any applicable retention period(s) has expired AND the record is not subject to a litigation hold.

3.       Draft and Review Policies on a Regular Basis.

Draft appropriate policies, such as retention and computer usage policies, and communicate with and train employees on them.

Understand that a retention policy should limit how long information is kept and that "business related" documents generally should be retained at least for the amount of time established by statute.  A document is "business related" when it documents a specific business related event or activity, it demonstrates a specific business transaction, supports facts of a particular business related event, activity or transaction, or it relates to specific legal, accounting, business or compliance issues.

4.       Have a Plan to Preserve Documents.

Understand when preservation obligations are triggered and work with your IT department, Administrative and Executive personnel to formulate a plan. The goal should be to incorporate necessary retention requirements with organizational needs to establish not only a retention policy, but also a policy regarding the manner in which documents will be stored or organized when the hold arises.

Ideally, the Company should have a response team in place when preservation obligations are triggered comprised of individuals from various departments within the organization such as Human Resources, Information and Technology and Administrative.

Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1)(B) and 26(f)(3) now require parties early on in a case to disclose the category and location of electronically stored information and the forms in which they would be produced as part of the mandatory disclosure process.  Accordingly, it is important to be prepared early on in a case to specifically discuss with your attorney preservation issues, network systems, procedures, storage, and locations of potentially relevant electronically stored information.

5.       Understand that "Electronic Evidence" May Reside Not Only on Computers, But on Other Electronic Devices.

Information Technology (“IT”) professionals need to understand more than the technical side of computer network and Human Resource managers need to know more about the technical side of the computers/devices used by employees. IT should be able to help you determine to what extent "Instant messaging," home computers, laptops, PDA's, flashdrives, floppy disks, CD ROM's, voice mail and similar devices both retain and communicate electronic/digital information.

On the other hand, understand that the IT department might not be aware of every server, hard drive, and file location and the impact the discovery rules may have on IT-driven policies/procedures.

 6.       Have a Response Team Prepared at all Times.

A response team should be comprised of individuals from various departments within the organization.  The team should also communicate early and often with legal counsel.

7.       Educate/Train Employees on the Importance of E mail.

Electronic mail essentially launched litigation into unknown territory that many employers have still not addressed with policies and/or training.  One of the best steps you can take is to educate and train your employees on the potential that e-mail will be the "smoking gun" or at the very least used against them. 

Employees think that when they delete an e-mail from their computers, it is gone and erased for good.  Of course, that is an incorrect assumption.  Employees need to understand that e-mail is not private, and that the employer reserves the right to inspect and view employees’ e-mail and on-line activities at work.

8.       Understand the Impact Metadata will have on the Production Process.

Fed. Rule Civ. P. 34(b) permits the requesting party to specify the production format for electronic documents. When the production format isn't specified or if the responding party objects to the requested format, the responding party must state how the information will be produced.  The default production format may be a form (or forms) in which the information is "ordinarily maintained" or in a "reasonably usable" form. 

The federal discovery rule changes may not promote self-regulation.  Courts will likely get involved very quickly in discovery disputes involving electronically stored information.  The issue whether the producing party must allow metadata to be viewed by the requesting party may have to be decided by the Court since the issue is relatively unchartered area.

Roman Amaguin, Esq; romanamaguin@yahoo.com; www.amaguinlaw.com

Roman Amaguin, Esq. is a Hawaii attorney specializing in employment law, labor law, and civil litigation.  His philosophy is to provide practical solutions to both complex and common workplace, employer/employee, and civil disputes.  As a Hawaii attorney, Mr. Amaguin regularly appears before all federal and state courts in Hawaii, as well as state and federal administrative agencies such as the U.S. EEOC and Hawaii Civil Rights Commission.

About the Author

Roman Amaguin, Esq; romanamaguin@yahoo.com; www.amaguinlaw.com

Roman Amaguin, Esq. is a Hawaii attorney specializing in employment law, labor law, and civil litigation. His philosophy is to provide practical solutions to both complex and common workplace, employer/employee, and civil disputes. As a Hawaii attorney, Mr. Amaguin regularly appears before all federal and state courts in Hawaii, as well as state and federal administrative agencies such as the U.S. EEOC and Hawaii Civil Rights Commission.

Made in Hawaii Festival

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Texas Invests In Its Future: The Young See Hope For Retirement

No wonder so many of us run from discussions on financial matters, ignore our bills, and spend too much money, as if in rebellion. It's scary out there.


Last year, the Employee Benefits Research Institute released the results of a study concluding that the majority of Americans are unprepared for retirement, are not saving enough for it, and have unrealistic expectations about how much they will need to live comfortably in their golden years. Texas is no exception. With its high poverty rate, and even higher rate of those going without health insurance, it's lucky many can get through day-to-day life.


Being one of the millions in debt myself, I can understand this. The rising cost of housing, food

-- even clean drinking water -- can drive anyone with a limited income to distraction. I decided to stop changing the television channel with every new disastrous financial report, and to start researching, when an investment counselor said to me with matter-of-fact conviction, "You know, young adults now just may need a million to retire." After the initial (and expected) incredulous gasp, I decided gulping air wasn't going to do me much good. As usual, knowledge and simple planning gave me hope. Here are a few tips on digging yourself out of the panic.


Checking and Savings Accounts:


The first step in building a sound financial future is practicing money management skills with both checking and savings accounts. Most of us have at least one of them; keeping track of their balances is an entirely different matter.


Free checking accounts are fairly easy to procure. At one point, it was common for financial institutions to charge monthly fees for the privilege of stashing money with them, but the banking industry rakes in so much profit from successfully luring their customers into other investments that it's just not necessary anymore.


The theory is that if one has a free account with a particular financial institution, there's a good chance that person will return to that institution for other investments as his or her income grows -- investments that will make both the customer and the bank happy.


By all means, take advantage of this. Texas abounds with students -- students needing any freebies they can get -- so it shouldn't be difficult to find a bank offering free checking and savings accounts, especially in cities like Dallas, Houston, and Austin. Look for a checking account without a minimum balance requirement, and one that doesn't, of course, charge monthly fees.


Free checking accounts are not usually interest-bearing, so put only enough money in it every month to cover your monthly bills, plus a little padding. Keep track of your balance; the greatest risk with these accounts is the astronomical overdraft fees most of them charge. Once all of your bills are paid at the end of each month, stash extra income in an interest-bearing savings account. The average APY (Annual Percentage Yield) on low-balance savings accounts hovers somewhere just around 0.5%, but at least it's something.


Short to Middle-Term Investments:


Once you feel you've established a healthy pattern of money management -- no overdrafts, a properly balanced ledger, and all bills paid in full -- start looking into other investments. Most of the time, you'll need at least $500.00 to invest in other types of accounts, and, at least initially, look for those with better APYs than your current savings account, but will not inflict penalties for withdrawing funds whenever you need them.


Money Market Accounts:


Money market accounts are great investments at any age, but they're particularly advantageous for beginning investors simply because there are no penalties for withdrawing any amount at any time, no waiting period to continue investing (you can, likewise, deposit money at any time), and the funding is usually only a check away. There are several types of money market accounts, so be sure to investigate the minimum investment required, interest rates, and restrictions on each before making any commitments.


Money markets work by pooling investments from thousands of contributors into an assortment of (usually short-term) funds from municipal bonds, to stocks. The result is a fluctuating interest rate that is almost always at least a few percentage points higher than that of a standard, low-balance savings account. According to USA Today, non-bank money market funds are currently at about 5% APY.


Certificate of Deposit:


Certificates of Deposit, or "CDs" have been around longer than the replacement for the tape cassette. Interest rates are fixed, rather than fluctuating, are usually comparable to money market accounts and can be purchased at a bank or other financial institution, including many sites online, for terms as short as three months. Of course, the longer the term you lock in, the higher the rate you will obtain under most market conditions In other words, whatever interest rate you lock in at the beginning will remain the same throughout the course of the investment. Once you've invested in a CD, however, you cannot continue adding to the same one during the life of that investment, until renewal -- which is one reason you may want to go with a shorter term.


The primary disadvantage of CDs lies in the substantial penalties inflicted if the investor withdraws his or her money before the allotted time. The average APY for a six-month CD is currently 3.59%; for a one-year CD, 3.77%; for a five-year CD, 3.96%, although some banks may offer better deals. CDs are a good idea if their current APYs are higher than contemporary money market accounts, and you don't expect to -- or perhaps don't trust yourself to -- handle the money for a while.


Health Savings Account:


Health Savings Accounts, or HSAs were created by a 2003 Medicare bill, and are, without a doubt, worthy of consideration for many individuals and families. HSAs strive to address the growing problem of underinsured Americans (Texas knows this well, with over 25% of its population going without any insurance) by allowing investors to save for qualified medical expenses and future retirement health expenses, on a tax-free basis.


These accounts are only made available to those with qualifying high-deductible health insurance policies, and are a great choice for many young, middle-class Americans. HSAs provide incentives for saving towards healthcare, and a bit of financial padding in case of disaster. The major disadvantage is that penalties are inflicted if the money is withdrawn for unqualified expenses prior to the age of 65.


Retirement Accounts:


The types of retirement accounts available to Americans are too numerous to mention, and are highly dependent on employers in most cases. Entire sections of libraries and many websites are dedicated to this subject. The first, and most important thing to do, is to check with your employer to see if, or what, retirement plans are offered. Some companies offer employee benefits, including flexible 401(k) plans and matching funds. Look seriously into these options.


However, rather than briefly attempting to delve into the plethora of accounts that may, possibly, be available to you, this article will focus on an account available to all, regardless of employer


-- the Roth IRA account - which has become increasingly popular since becoming law in 1997


Now, IRAs have been around for some time, but traditional IRA accounts require funds going in, and coming out, to be taxed. This means that whatever dividends or proceeds an investor earns over the years will be taxed upon withdrawal. Considering that IRA interest rates are compounded, this could (and is intended to) add up to quite a bit over several decades


Roth IRA accounts, on the other hand, do not tax funds upon withdrawal. Funds invested into the account are considered taxable income going in, but the compounded interest or proceeds can accumulate tax free, until the age of 59 1/2, at which point they can be withdrawn without penalty or taxes. A Traditional IRA, on the other hand, is not taxed going in, but is subject to tax coming out, at whatever rate of income will apply to you at that time -- the assumption being that you will withdraw most of this money during retirement, when you will not have other earned income driving up your tax rate,. This means that whatever your Roth IRA account balance statement is, is the amount you have for retirement, free and clear. No more taxes.


If an investor begins an IRA account in his or her twenties, and contributes a modest amount every month (possibly matched by an employer), principle and compounded interest could conceivably yield a million or more dollars over four decades. The way to think of a Roth IRA, as opposed to a Traditional IRA, is that you are paying taxes on the seeds instead of on the crop.


Now, that's something to think about. Maybe retirement is possible...


See, that wasn't so hard. Respect yourself (and your anxiety levels) enough to seriously investigate financial opportunities. There's a good chance you're missing something you have the funding for -- right now, sitting in a no-, or low-, interest-bearing account. If you have any kind of steady income, financial security should be within your grasp. A comfortable retirement is in your future. Just take a deep breath, open your bills, and start acting like the adult you always dreaded you'd have to be someday.


Taking care of your financial responsibilities can have a positive effect on your anxiety levels, sense of security, and overall health. Being aware of your health, and what you can do to safeguard it, will certainly affect you as you age, and eventually your wallet as well.

About the Author

Pat Carpenter writes for Precedent Insurance Company. Precedent puts a new spin on health insurance. Learn more at Precedent.com

Immigration Attorney Helps Others Realize The American Dream

Employer Use of Polygraph (lie Detector) Exams

The Employee Polygraph Protection Act limits employer use of lie detector tests.

The Act limits the use of polygraph tests by most private employers. Federal, State and local government employers are exempt from the Act. Private employers in the security business and employers authorized to manufacture, distribute or dispense controlled substances are also exempt.

In general, an employer cannot require or even suggest that an employee or prospective employee take a polygraph test. The only exception is for investigations involving economic loss or injury to the employer’s business. This includes theft, embezzlement, misappropriation, or an act of unlawful industrial espionage or sabotage. The employer must also have a reasonable suspicion that the employee was involved in the incident that is being investigated and the employee must have had access to the property that is the subject of the investigation. If an employer requests that an employee submit to a polygraph test as part of an ongoing investigation, strict requirements must be adhered to regarding notice to the employee, administration of the test, and use of the results. The employer must provide the employee with a statement that provides the basis for requesting the examination that is signed by an authorized representative of the company. The employer must also provide the employee with information about his or her rights and remedies under the Act.

The employee has the right to terminate the test at any time. The employee cannot be asked questions that are degrading or that ask about the employee’s political or religious beliefs, sexual behavior, or legal activities involving unions or labor organizations. Furthermore, the person who administers the test must be a qualified and licensed polygraph examiner who is bonded or carries sufficient liability insurance. The Act also limits the disclosure of the results of the test and the employer’s use of the results. An employer who violates the Act could be subject to a civil penalty of up to $10,000. In addition, an employee or prospective employee who is affected by the employer’s violation of the act can maintain a private civil action for employment, reinstatement, promotion and the payment of lost wages. For more information on the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, consult with an attorney who practices in the areas of Employment Law or Labor Law. Every polygraph examination is administered in a discreet and professional manner.

We have administered thousands of polygraph tests and have more than 20 years of lie detection experience.

We are highly respected and nationally accepted as a polygraph expert.

A detailed written report is provided for every polygraph test and if desired, compelling expert testimony is available for each examination administered.

EPL follows federally approved standards and utilizes state-of-the-art computerized polygraph systems.

Also available are independent assessments of polygraph examinations administered by other polygraphists. This service is to ensure that polygraph examinations are prepared, conducted and documented according to professional standards. Do you have a problem where you need to prove the truth to someone? Maybe you have a situation where you need to learn the truth about someone else. When the need for the truth is important

Forensic Psycho physiologist

Polygraph Services for Attorneys,

Businesses, Government Agencies

and Private Individuals.

These are just some areas in which the use of the polygraph has been proven valuable

• Criminal Defense

• Identify the Guilty

• Clear the Wrongfully Accused

• Verify Information & Statements

• Violent Crimes

• Property Crimes

• Sex Crimes & Allegations of Sexual Misconduct

• Sexual Harassment

• Narcotic Investigations

• Hidden Assets

• Domestic Disputes

• Infidelity Issues

• Insurance Fraud

• Allegations of Child Abuse

• Civil Rights Matters

• Allegations of Official Misconduct

• Allegations of Public Corruption

• Equal Employment Opportunity Matters

• White Collar Crimes

• Missing Persons

• Law Enforcement, Government & Security Screening

• Any Time the Need for the Truth is Important

NOTE: For suspected employee thefts, see the requirements of the Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) of 1988 - click link below

Link - EMPLOYEE POLYGRAPH PROTECTION ACT

BASIC QUESTIONS ABOUT POLYGRAPH ANSWERED

Polygraph Examiner Credentials

Before hiring a polygraph examiner, always find out about their credentials and experience. Ask how long they have been a polygraph examiner. - Ask how many polygraph examinations they have administered. - Find out how many professional polygraph associations they belong to. - Ask if they are qualified as an expert polygraph witness. - Find out how often they attend continuing education courses and find out if they are licensed. If they are experienced and truly professional, they will want you to know about their qualifications and will gladly provide you with this information on their web site or in writing. If this information is not readily available – Ask! The last thing you need is to spend your money on an inaccurate polygraph test. Test results that are inaccurate can cost you a lot more than your money. It can cost you your job, your relationship, your reputation, or in criminal matters.... harm your defense! Always ask for examiner credentials and experiences. DJI

What is a Polygraph?

The term "polygraph" means "many writings." The name refers to the manner in which selected physiological activities are simultaneously collected and recorded.

There are two basic types of polygraph instruments in use today. There is the analog instrument (the kind where you can see the pens moving over the chart paper) and the more advanced computerized polygraph instruments.

A polygraph instrument will collect physiological data from at least three systems in the human body. Convoluted rubber tubes placed over the examinee's upper chest and abdominal area will record respiratory activity. Two small metal plates attached to the fingers, will record electro-dermal (sweat gland) activity. A blood pressure cuff or similar device will record cardiovascular activity (blood pressure and pulse).

A polygraph examination will involve three phases. They are the pretest interview phase, the in-test phase and the post-test interview phase. A typical polygraph examination will last two to three hours, sometimes longer.

In the pretest phase, the polygraph examiner will complete required paperwork and talk with the examinee about the test. During this period, the examiner will discuss and review the questions to be asked, discuss the issue being tested on, and familiarize the examinee with the testing procedure and the polygraph instrument.

During the chart collection phase, the examiner will administer the polygraph examination and collect a number of polygraph charts. Following this, the examiner will analyze the charts and render an opinion as to the truthfulness of the person taking the test. The opinion rendered will be one of the following: No Deception Indicated (truthful), Deception Indicated (not truthful), Inconclusive (the examiner is unable to determine truthfulness or deception), or No Opinion (the examination had to be stopped before completion or some abnormality was noted).

In the post-test phase, the examiner will offer the examinee an opportunity to explain physiological responses in relation to one or more questions asked during the test.

NOTE: It is important to state that a polygraph does not include the analysis of physiology associated with the voice. Instruments that claim to record voice stress are not polygraphs and have not been shown to have scientific support.

Why Critics Figures Vary

One of the problems in discussing accuracy figures and the differences between the statistics quoted by proponents and opponents of the polygraph technique is the way that the statistical figures are calculated.

Critics, who often do not understand polygraph testing, classify inconclusive test results as errors.

In the real life setting, an inconclusive test result simply means that the examiner is unable to render a definite opinion. In such cases, a second examination is usually conducted at a later time.

To demonstrate how the inclusion of inconclusive test results can distort accuracy figures, consider the following example:

If 10 polygraph examinations are administered and the examiner is correct in 7 decisions, wrong in 1 and has 2 inconclusive test results, we calculate the accuracy rate as 87.5% (8 definitive results, 7 of which were correct.)

Critics of the polygraph technique would calculate the accuracy rate in this example as 70% (10 examinations with 7 correct decisions.)

Since those who use polygraph testing do not consider inconclusive test results as negative and do not hold them against the examinee, to consider them as errors is clearly misleading and certainly skews polygraph statistics.

Errors in Polygraph Examinations:

The False Positive & the False Negative

While the polygraph technique is highly accurate, errors can occur. Polygraph errors may be caused by the examiner's failure to properly prepare the examinee for the examination or by a misinterpreting, the physiological data collected during the polygraph examination.

Errors are usually referred to as either false positives or false negatives. A false positive occurs when a truthful examinee is reported as being deceptive. A false negative occurs when a deceptive examinee is reported as truthful.

Since it is recognized that any error is damaging, examiners utilize a variety of procedures to identify the presence of factors, which may cause false responses, and to insure an unbiased review of the polygraph records. These include:

• An assessment of the examinee's emotional state.

• Medical information about the examinee's physical condition.

• Specialized tests to identify the overly responsive examinee and to calm the overly nervous.

• Utilizing only validated testing formats and protocol.

• Factual analysis of the case information.

• A thorough pretest interview and a detailed review of the questions.

• Quality control reviews.

Who Gets Results?

According to various state licensing laws and the American Polygraph Association's Standards and Principles of Practice, polygraph results can be released only to authorized persons. Generally, the individuals who can receive test results are the examinee and anyone specifically designated in writing by the examinee. Such as the person, firm, corporation or governmental agency, which requested the examination and others as, may be required by due process of law.

Admissibility in Court

It is largely the public's general opinion that polygraph testing results are not allowed in court.

The fact is that polygraph results are admissible in most courts across the country. The Supreme Court has yet to rule on the issue of admissibility so it has been up to individual jurisdictions to allow or disallow them. There are some jurisdictions that have absolute bans on admitting polygraph results, but most will allow them.

Why is this public opinion so widespread? The simple fact is that both the plaintiff and the defendant have to agree on having the results of the test are admissible prior to the examination being conducted.

Since the results of the test are likely to benefit one party and not the other, the likelihood that both parties will agree to admissibility before knowing how it will affect their case is small. Because of this, results of polygraph testing are rarely admitted as evidence.

Information Source: The American Polygraph Association

Integrity - Discreet - Quality - Professionalism

Terminology: Polygraphs, lie detectors, polygraph test, lie detection, polygraph examiners, polygraphist, lie detection service, polygraph testing, polygraph exams, lie detector companies, polygraph agencies, polygraph tests, polygraph examinations, polygraph services.

www.marvinbadler.com

About the Author

Former: Chief Investigator - NYC Department of Correction

Former: Chief of Security – USA El Al Israel Airlines

President & Director International Security Group - NY/FL/Israel

Investigative & Security Expert with over 35 years of experience

Marvin Badler, Security & Investigative expert has appeared on CBS - 60 Minutes, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, FOX NEWS, CNBC, Germany TV, and many more local, national and international TV and radio stations

Tom Gegax keynote (Pt 1 of 7)

Government/Regulations: Related News
5/12/2010 - FMCSA Opens Pre-Employment Screening Program The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is now offering trucking companies access to a safety database they can use to screen applicants for driver jobs....
Cross-Border Business Immigration

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The Agency Workers Directive (AWD): Your questions answered

The Agency Workers' Directive (AWD) has been on the horizon for a long time. On 21 January this year, following two rounds of public consultation in 2009 and an intensive eight-year lobbying campaign, the final regulations for the AWD were put before Parliament and published the next day. The regulations confirm that the AWD will not become law until October 2011.

PCG (formerly Professional Freelancers Group) has recently been lobbying the Government to recognise the value of freelancers in the labour market and when the AWD does become law, it is bound to revolutionise the freelance workforce.

Here at JSA, we recognise that the AWD will have both advantages and disadvantages for contractors and that the issues surrounding it can be very confusing. Below, we answer queries contractors may have about how it will affect them and what can be done in advance to prepare for it.

Why was the AWD created?

The reasoning behind the Directive (which was originally created by the European Community (EC) in Brussels), was to protect low-paid agency workers from employers taking advantage of their vulnerable status.

Who will be protected by AWD?

PAYE temps, workers supplying their services through umbrella companies and any other type of temporary worker who supplies their services via an employment business to work under the supervision and direction of a user organisation.

Who won't be protected?

The regulations are not intended to extend rights to workers who are genuinely in business on their own account i.e. limited company contractors.

How will AWD benefit temporary workers?

Under the new AWD legislation, for the first time, agency workers will be entitled to equal treatment on basic working and employment conditions after 12 weeks in a given job, including pay and holidays, as if they had been recruited directly by the hirer. The rights on pay will apply not just to the basic hourly rate, but to all pay for work done, including bonuses that are directly related to the performance of the agency worker personally.

Other benefits that agency workers will gain from the first day of their assignment include information about internal vacancies to give them the same opportunity as other workers to find permanent employment and equal access to on-site facilities such as child care and transport services.

What happens if employers don't comply?

The regulations include provisions that will deal with repeat assignments designed to prevent workers getting equal treatment rights. Agencies will be liable for claims if an agency worker has not received equal treatment. However, liability could move to the end user if it has not supplied the agency information about the relevant working and employment conditions.

What will the disadvantages be?

The equal rights for temporary workers will not extend to some of the wider benefits that permanent staff can enjoy in their longer-term relationships with their employer, such as occupational pensions and sick pay.

There are also fears that the extra bureaucracy involved will only discourage companies from taking on temporary workers when they are unable to create permanent jobs.

APSCo (the Association of Professional Staffing Companies) has said that the rules on implementing the AWD in the UK were ‘riddled with inconsistencies' as limited company contractors are unlikely to be affected by AWD, yet temporary workers on similar pay operating through umbrella companies will be. There is also a risk that the estimated £1bn annual cost for employers to comply may become the responsibility of contractors who usually earn more than permanent staff but may now receive lower pay rates.

Will limited company contractors benefit more than those using umbrella companies?

It is generally thought that the exclusion of limited company contractors is a victory for the professional recruitment sector, specifically relating to the exclusion for the ‘genuinely' self-employed. Ann Swain, APSCo Chief Executive, has commented that ‘determining whether limited company contractors are genuinely self-employed or not is hugely complicated and is not something recruiters will be able to do reliably without detailed guidance.'

However, there are opportunities to explore for exemption from the AWD for workers who are operating under a contract of employment, subject to meeting certain criteria. This is an avenue that may well prove of interest to umbrella companies and could provide a framework for the benefit of working through an umbrella company in the future.

What is the situation regarding temp to perm fees?

The other major development is that the REC's (Recruitment and Employment Confederation) campaign to protect current temp to perm fees has succeeded, with the Government agreeing not to impose potentially damaging restrictions by bringing in a ‘reasonableness' test on the fees charged by agencies.

Why has the AWD been delayed until 2011?

The trade unions have been pushing hard for AWD to be implemented earlier than 2011 but the Government seems to have been persuaded by business and recruitment sector warnings that if it becomes law this year, it might be damaging to the economy which is still a long way off from recovery.

What happens if a Tory government comes into power in the election?

If a Tory government comes into power, they have already given verbal assurances that they would review and reconsider elements of the AWD, although amending this legislation is not likely to be a major priority for any new government, bearing in mind the current challenges facing the UK.

What can be done to prepare for AWD now?

Although it is a long while until the AWD is implemented, it is worthwhile for employers who use temporary workers regularly to start to assess their staffing needs. It may be best to wait until the general election is over first, though, to see whether any potential new government does decide to make changes to the legislation.

Wise employers who plan ahead should take advantage of this long lead time (post election) to think carefully about and plan their resourcing needs since the government estimates that introducing the AWD legislation will cost the private sector an extra £1.4bn and the public sector an extra £337m.

The delay is a crucial opportunity as it allows a range of counter-measures to be considered. Inevitably, agencies will try to maintain their margins and employers will need to work with their existing agencies and perhaps test the market to work out if better value providers can be negotiated. Employers should consider conducting a workforce planning review now and examine what staffing leads and skills they will need to resource for their business in the medium term.

In summary, employers need to analyse their use of agency temps and assess what effects compliance with the legislation will have in terms of costs and practices. Some employers won't change their practices. However, for many employers in both public and private sectors, these changes offer an opportunity to look at how its flexibility needs are met and at what cost and whether there are any better value ways of meeting those needs. Employers can also look at what steps will be needed to comply with the 'day one' rights of access to employment information and facilities such as leisure/refreshment, transport facilities and crèches.

What should contractors be doing now?

At JSA we will continue to monitor the development of the AWD as it moves through Parliament and ensure that all of our contractors are fully briefed and updated through each stage right through to October 2011. We will be supporting our contractors every step of the way, explaining how they will be affected by any new developments, answering any questions they may have and available for advice at any time, should they need it.

For further information, go to JSA's website: http://www.jsagroup.co.uk.

About the Author

Andy Yates is the Finance Director at JSA, one of the leading accountancy based providers of umbrella and limited company services to the global freelance market. For more information, go to JSA's website: http://www.jsagroup.co.uk.

Iowa Workers' Compensation- Questions and Answers

Here are some general answers to often-asked questions about workers' compensation benefits. It is important to note that the outcome for each case is determined on its specific facts and circumstances.


Q: Is my employer responsible for the medical expenses caused by my work injury?

A: Yes, but usually your employer and/or their insurance company will decide which medical providers you see. In exchange for this, they are responsible for paying for all medical care necessary to treat your work injury. This includes all forms of care and treatment, whether hospital, medical, therapy, nursing, diagnostic testing, surgery, physical rehabilitation or pain management. Also, you are entitled to be reimbursed at the rate of $.505 per mile effective July 1, 2008, for all mileage you incur going to and from doctors' appointments, physical therapy visits, etc.


Q: If the company doctor recommends surgery, do I have to have it?

A: No, You have the right to refuse any medical procedures or care that you do not want. For However, please keep in mind that not proceeding with surgery may have an impact upon your case.


Q: Does my medical care end when the doctor releases me from treatment?

A: No, your employer and/or their insurance company are responsible for paying for all medical care necessary to treat your work related injury, however as stated above they will choose your medical providers. This includes all forms of care and treatment, whether hospital, medical, therapy, nursing, diagnostic testing, surgery, physical rehabilitation or pain management. The right to medical care and treatment may continue for the rest of your life for conditions related to your work injury or occupational disease.


Q: Am I entitled to cash payments if I am unable to work?

A: Yes. While you are healing and unable to work, you will receive cash payments to replace your usual earnings. The amount of your payment is based upon your earnings prior to your work injury.


Q: Do I have the right to a 2nd opinion?

A: Yes. Under Iowa law once the company doctors have said that you are as good as you will get, you have reached MMI, you have the right to have an independent medical examination performed by a doctor of your own choosing for an impairment rating and permanent restrictions. There are many doctors who specialize in giving second opinions in workers' compensation cases.


Q: Once I am done treating, if I don't make a full recovery does my case end?

A: No. If your work injury causes a permanent injury, then you should receive compensation for your disability. The amount owed is determined by the nature of your injury (ie. hand, back, neck, shoulder, etc.), your earnings prior to your work injury, your impairment rating, and other factors.


Q: Can my employer fire me after a work injury?
A: Under Iowa law your employer is not supposed to fire you for filing a workers' compensation claim. However, you can be terminated for other reasons such as absences, work problems, etc. Also, subject to some exceptions (for example if you are a union member) generally your employer does not have to find you work if you are unable to return to your old job because of restrictions.


Q: What if I leave the job where I was hurt?

A: Leaving your job where you were hurt does not end your workers' compensation claim. Just because you may be receiving workers' compensation benefits, does not mean that you have to remain employed with the same employer. However, leaving your job while you are still being treated may impact your case and the compensation that you receive.

About the Author

I offer a FREE Book entitled "Iowa Workers' Compensation- An Insider's Guide to Work Injuries". Why offer a Free Book? Over the past 11 years I have represented hundreds of Iowans hurt at work and too many have made mistakes before they had the "right" information costing them thousands of dollars. Quantities are limited so go to http://www.IowaWorkInjury.com .

The "Up Close and Personnel" Tour Comes to Iowa

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How long do I have to keep personal documents such as old bank statements and expired insurance certificates?

Is there UK law that states these documents should be kept for a specific amount of time? I have a whole heap of old paperwork including cheque stubs, bank statements, old employment contracts, P60s etc. - -what should I do with them?

Revenues and Customs can ask you to prove your income for any tax year in the last seven years, so after seven years you can shread them.

You can put shreaded paper into a recyle box or composter.

Do not just put them in the bin or recycle box as Identity fraud is at an all time high.

Contractor Insurance cover, complete cover offered by Tarpon

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Do I have a case for employment law/workplace bullying?

My supervisor has been intimidating and condescending for the last 3 years. He has now told me that I am not qualified for my job that I have been doing for the past 5 years. He has told me that I need to find another job but did not fire me (yet). He does not speak to me. When he does, it is negative. He constantly gives me negative feedback and evaluations. I am now seeing a therapist and psychiatrist that agree he is the cause of my major depression and I have been put on multiple medications. It is affecting my quality of life and emotional well being and has become physically damaging to my health. Would this fall under "intentional/negligent infliction of emotional distress"? Or do I have a case under some employment law/workplace bullying? I live in Virginia. Thank you in advance for your help.

It could be IIED, but quite frankly, you should just get another job. If you sue, you will make yourself a target at your job, and I guarantee it will get worse. Also, because your evaluations have been so bad, you'll probably lose your case due to a lack of credibility. I suggest you get another job and end the stress. It'll take a LOT less time to find a new job than it will to sue for IIED (which will take no less than 18 months).

Workplace Discrimination - 12 Danger Zones

Is it really smart to ban employment based on criminal record?

I mean, sure, obviously don't let a serial killer be a cop. But why would someone who got caught with a little pot be banned from stocking shelves at Kohls for a lousy 8 bucks an hour? What do we want these people to do, go back to the street? I thought that once you served your time, you were free, now you can;t get a job, you can't get financial aid, you can't get any public assistance... Why not just give everyone the death penalty, because you're not giving them a chance to live, Oh, and I don't want to hear about the "risk" to employers. LOADS of people shoplift, and usually people on parole or with records who go and get jobs are gonna be on their best behavior. Its the ones who DON'T get caught that will rob you blind. If you catch someone breaking a law, fire them and press charges, but how dare these people assume that anyone who made a mistake deserves to starve to death? In this country, we put property in front of people. I would love for a cop to explain this sick crap.

I am a cop and I would like to "explain this sick crap."
It's crazy. You are 100% right. You sentence people to a life of repeat offenses because they can't get a job to straighten thier life out. So they go back to crime to make ends meet and get through life. PLEASE DON'T FORGET that PRIVATE BUSINESSES are responsible for this, NOT POLICE. It is our job to arrest people who commit crimes, but we have no say over whether or not Kohl's hires them afterwards. I WISH that Kohl's WOULD hire them and give them an opportunity to turn things around. The crazy thing is that people are starting to lose thier jobs for all kinds of offenses including DUI's. Its crazy- but they are private businesses and no one can tell them who to hire or not to hire.

For-Profit Colleges in US May Face Tests on Federal Student Aid

Law Firms - Providing Support Services Across The World

The Intercontinental Group of Accountants and Lawyers (IGAL) serves as a confluence of ideas and promotes business opportunities among its members who provide the necessary support services to their clients.

An International Network of Law Firms is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service provided by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent their clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions and other matters, in which legal assistance is needed.

In today's fast growing economy where the competition is really high, whether it is national or international every organization faces a great amount of challenges when working with clients. This challenge goes on increasing on international standards. To cope up with these challenges, IGAL provides consultations to clients to set up new business standards.

The member of International group of lawyers helps their clients in overcoming any obstacles in doing business in foreign environment, where a great emphasis has to be made in communication, quality and collaboration.

This international network of law firms provides consultations in the field of-

1. Company law,

2. Finance law,

3. IP-law, competition law,

4. Employment law, litigation,

5. Mergers and acquisitions and tax law and many more diverse areas

6. Legal assistance in project financing.

7. Advice on labor law, employment contracts, remuneration and severance packages

One of the biggest advantages of IGAL is that its law firms have highly qualified professionals and support staff, fluent in several languages – English, the common language of the network.

The members of Law firms take time to understand the business problem of the client, and then, identify various potential opportunities and obstacles. After thorough evaluation; they finally work with the client to create solutions in a timely and highly effective manner.

The network of law firms has an expansion all over the world. Some of its members are from the countries like-USA, India, Brazil, Switzerland, Chile, Singapore and many more.

IGAL as in "International Network of law firms" was formed in October 2005 and since then it has been giving an exceptional services to its clients through its member firms located in diverse countries.

About the Author

For more information about International network of law firms, International group of accounting firms and International group of lawyers visit http://www.igal-network.com/

Employment Law Project with bloopers 0001

Recession Causes Bankruptcy Boom

According to a report released by the National Bankruptcy Research Center, personal bankruptcy filings are up 34 percent in January 2009 as compared to January 2008. Compared to the previous month, December 2008, filings were up 4.5%.

These increases are no doubt a consequence of the current economic crisis. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) reports that the United States' economy entered recession in December of 2007.

Traditionally, recession has been defined as two quarterly declines in gross domestic product, but the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the NBER has taken a more comprehensive approach to defining recession. "A recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in production, employment, real income, and other indicators."[i]

Justin Berton, San Francisco Chronicle staff writer, wrote an article titled "Economic Woes Lead to Bankruptcy Boom," in the January 13, 2009 edition. He reports that membership in NACBA, the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, has increased by one third in 2008 to 3,200 practicing attorneys.

In 2005 bankruptcy filings skyrocked to over two million non-business filings, due mostly to anticipation of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005, which took effect on October 17, 2005, making filing bankruptcy much more difficult.

Those who were in poor financial shape had a strong motivation to file bankruptcy before the new law went into effect, rather than to try to work their way out of debt, since they would no longer have the insurance policy of bankruptcy after October 2005.

The Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005 increased the amount of work it takes to file and decreased eligibility. Filers are also now required to take credit counseling and debtor education classes. Filings in 2004 had actually decreased to 1.56 million filings from the 1.625 million filings in 2003.

In 2006, predictably, bankruptcy filings crashed. Two effects were causing downward pressure on filings. First, filing demand had been cannibalized because many of those who would have, in the absence of the reform act, waited to file in 2006 were motivated to file in 2005 to avoid the restrictive new laws. Second, the restrictive new laws simply made many who previously were eligible to file ineligible.

What the credit card lobby took away through the Bankruptcy Reform Act, the tanking economy has given back. Many more United States citizens are now eligible to file bankruptcy, though no doubt, they're not happy about it.

[i] NBER, Determination of the December 2007 Peak in Economic Activity, December 11, 2008

About the Author

David Zwiefelhofer provides bankruptcy attorney marketing services across the United States. If you’re in need of assistance to file bankruptcy in Arizona, contact a Phoenix Bankruptcy Lawyer. In Milwaukee try Wisconsin Bankruptcy.

Views from AWE - In Berkeley, Enabled

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The Bureau Of Prisons' Failure To Properly Implement The Second Chance Act Of 2007

Have They Become Too Autonomous?  

A Position Paper from The MPM Group, Inc.

As of this writing, there are approximately 200,000 people being confined by the United States Bureau of Prisons (BOP), a component of the Department of Justice (DoJ). Their offenses span the spectrum from high treason, terrorism, or murder - to the more mundane like poaching deer on federal land. Interestingly, official government records will confirm that a majority of federal inmates are non-violent and non-weapon offenders that are incarcerated for comparatively low security violations, minor drug offenses, or white-collar related offenses. Nonetheless, the debate rages on how to reduce the federal prison population and, in turn, reduce the $5.53 billion (yes, that's a "B") BOP budget that was approved for fiscal year (FY) 2009.

In an effort to facilitate a federal inmate's return to society, reduce inmate recidivism, and bring the federal prison population to manageable levels, U.S. Congressman Danny Davis (D-IL) introduced House Resolution 1593 (H.R. 1593) in 2007. It was signed by President Bush, became Public Law 110-199 on April 9, 2008, and it became known as The 2nd Chance Act of 2007. In addition to its many Sections offering funding mechanisms for inmate re-entry programs, The 2nd Chance Act also increased a federal inmate's previous 6-month maximum allowed in a Residential Re-entry Center (RRC), commonly referred to as a Halfway House, to a maximum of 12-months. The thought of course being, it would immediately reduce federal prison levels by allowing worthy non-violent offenders an opportunity to return to society, become gainfully employed, start paying income taxes, begin paying restitution to any victims, and most importantly, start supporting their own families. However, despite the intent of The 2nd Chance Act of 2007, and the logic that accompanied it, the BOP has again apparently decided to "implement" this very worthwhile Congressional mandate in the same cavalier manner that they handle most of the other ineffectual political or judicial attempts to "dictate policy" to BOP upper management - they simply ignore it. Consequently, prison populations are still increasing and American taxpayers continue to fund the $25,000 to $35,000 annual fee it reportedly requires to house each federal inmate.

How did we get to where we are today? Arguably, it was precipitated by the knee-jerk reaction of a few elected officials in their politically motivated, albeit failed, attempt to address the rise in violent drug related crimes that were proliferating our city streets during an election year. (Why does the rush to pass The Patriot Act come to mind?) As a direct result, The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 and The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 (the Acts) overhauled the federal sentencing system and revised bail and forfeiture procedures along with other federal practices. They also abolished federal parole and mandated minimum-mandatory sentences for any federal offense. Consequently, this political faux pas took all sentencing discretion away from federal judges and began filling our federal prison system with a majority of non-violent offenders with no possible way for them to be prematurely released. Indeed, federal defendants could (and still can) be assured that they would serve at least 85% of any sentence they received - no matter how innocuous their offense might have been. Furthermore, should one consider that more than 94% of all infrastructure labor support (repair, landscaping, maintenance, kitchen, etc.) at BOP facilities is conducted by federal inmates, why would the BOP be in any hurry to release their 12-cents an hour labor force or tamper with their revenue generating UNICOR business interests? It might also explain why they refuse to honor the Congressionally mandated "good-time" provision for federal inmates and continue to drag that issue through the federal courts. We would suggest that you don't have to be a Wharton School graduate to conclude that the BOP currently enjoys the luxury of having a very large number of " not-so-bad" bad guys doing the lion's share of the work required to incarcerate a much smaller number of "truly-bad" bad guys.

From 1984 until today, the BOP has been demonstrating what can only be described as a consistent and conscious attempt to move farther and farther away from any accountability to Congress, federal judges, or anyone else for that matter. Initially supported by elected officials (who always seem to be working on their re-election), coupled with the oft-times well-deserved national hysteria of crime victims, the BOP has been allowed to create their own little fiefdom within the DoJ and now appear to be enjoying unprecedented powers and an autonomy or an "institutional arrogance," if you will, that has heretofore been reserved for the likes of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who coincidentally, also happen to be a component of the DoJ.

Although pretty much "neutered" in sentencing matters by the Acts of 1984, some federal judges mistakenly believed that they remained sacrosanct in their own courtrooms. In fact, some even had the temerity to suggest that judicial recommendations to the BOP on defendant designations, rehabilitation treatments, and other issues delineated within the court's Judgment & Commitment Orders should be honored. Several subsequent cases to include the First Circuit case, United States v. Dennis Guerette (District of Maine Docket CR-03-95-B-W) nipped that presumptuous thought in the bud,

 ".....[d]ecisions to place a convicted defendant within a particular treatment program or a particular facility are decisions within the sole discretion of the Bureau of Prisons. United States v. Melendez, 279 F.3d 16, 18 (1st Cir. 2002) (per curiam), cert. denied, 535 U.S. 1120 (2002) (quoting Thye v. United States, 109 F.3d 127, 130 (2d Cir. 1997)). A sentencing court's recommendation to the BOP is both "non-binding" and "non-reviewable and its failure to recommend is similarly 'non-appealable.' Id"

In these days of economic uncertainty and Congressional oversight into anything with a financial pulse, one can only imagine how far "below-the-radar" the BOP must be operating - or are they? Notwithstanding various credible and well-publicized allegations, multiple state/federal investigations, and subsequent contracting fraud indictments targeting various business associates, Keefe Group of St. Louis has consistently been awarded the extremely lucrative contract within the BOP to supply food stuffs to all the BOP prison commissaries throughout the United States. Contracts that stand to earn several million dollars in annual profits, yet when questioned about these well-documented contracting improprieties or, at the minimum, the appearance of an egregious conflict-of-interest, the consistently unflappable BOP continues business as usual. Interestingly, the same reaction they have when asked to explain why they charge indigent federal inmates and/or their families more than seven times the average cost of a telephone call from a federal penal facility. A long distance telephone service contract that is being awarded with about the same transparency as the Keefe Group contract. Little wonder why BOP Correctional Officers can find more cell phones in a minimum-security federal prison camp than a college sorority house.

Speaking of bidding on contracts, how about the even more lucrative BOP medications contracts that have been consistently awarded to McKesson Corporation. A company that has been investigated by both the Department of Justice (various U.S. Attorneys Offices) as well as the Drug Enforcement Administration, eventually leading to some high-ranking executives being federally indicted. In fact, one May 2008, incident in the District of Maryland required McKesson to pay the government a $13-million dollar fine for among other things, "...allegations that it violated federal reporting provisions relating to the sale of certain prescription medications." Sounds suspiciously like an articulate way of saying they were "selling dope." In any event, such minor indiscretions never dissuaded the BOP contracting officers from continuing to award extremely lucrative contracts for McKesson to provide "generic" medications for federal inmates and do so even while these various federal investigations were still being conducted. Due to limited space here, we won't even open the "Pandora's Box" of BOP Government Purchase Orders (GPO) - Duraskin Gloves from Indonesia, T-shirts from Pakistan, Hypard products from China, Gildan merchandise from Honduras, cloth and other products from Vietnam and Mexico. Are we, as American taxpayers, to understand that our American factory workers are incapable of manufacturing a single item that the BOP can use or does the BOP simply not have any credible government contract oversight? Indeed, any oversight at all?

In addition to these head-scratchers, should the opportunity ever present itself, we would certainly make ourselves available to discuss the mass removal of heretofore well-qualified contract medical officers from the BOP, many of whom were replaced by much lower paid graduates from "lesser known" medical schools and, in some cases, even replaced by Physician's Assistants (PA) and/or Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT). The recent and arbitrary discontinuation of any kind of medically acceptable and/or effective pain medication from the BOP Formulary - replacing them exclusively with Gabapentin (Neurotin). The infamous and well-traveled BOP "spider" that has apparently bit every BOP inmate that has ever contracted MRSA inside a BOP facility, the recent unexplained deaths of incarcerated inmates in West Virginia and Texas from something other than prison violence, the recent riots in Texas BOP facilities. Lastly, of specific interest to us would be a detailed BOP senior management accountability of revenues generated by the BOP from reduced/unpaid inmate salaries, inmate TRULINC and copier fees, re-cycling contracts, UNICOR profits, inmate commissary and long distance telephone profits, monies saved from "low-bid" food purchases - all the while failing to backfill several vacant positions causing the understaffing of the more violent BOP facilities thus, exposing the remaining overworked and underpaid Correctional Officers to more than usual violence that is usually encountered in those specific facilities. The list of "Talking Points" could go on and on, but we have limited time/space and we digress. Therefore, back to The 2nd Chance Act of 2007.

In order to comply with implementation requirements set forth in The 2nd Chance Act language, Federal Register, Volume 73, No. 204, pp. 62440-62443, the BOP set forth their policy to implement The 2nd Chance Act of 2007. Of specific interest was Section 570.21, wherein the BOP delineated the maximum of 12-months of RRC time a federal inmate was permitted under the Act. However, even a cursory review of the policy will confirm the BOP's usual practice of leaving enough policy "wiggle room" that the benefits afforded by the Act can neither be implemented uniformly throughout the BOP nor can the BOP ever be held legally accountable for their failure to do so. Indeed, as one Washington insider once opined about a similar situation, "It was one of those Washington assertions that is simultaneously accurate and deceptive and just confusing enough to defy opposition." Resultantly, every Warden and/or every Regional Director within the BOP would now appear to have the unilateral authority to dictate how much Halfway House time an inmate in their facility should receive. Consequently, you have inmates receiving 10-months in one facility and another more deserving candidate receiving less than 3-months in another. We would respectfully suggest that this type of "selective" policy implementation was not what Congressman Davis intended when he drafted the Act in 2007.

That said, nobody can argue that the BOP rank and file do an outstanding job in a dangerous and thankless job. Indeed, given the nature of the mission and the type of dangerous individuals involved, the federal penal system is unquestionably one of the best in the world. Best selling author John Grisham confirmed as much when he suggested in his best selling novel The Brethren, "If you have to do time - do federal time." However, notwithstanding our admiration for the work of the BOP correctional cadre, we will continue to encourage debate about the wisdom of our elected officials passing laws or policies and then delegating the authority to implement (and adhere to) that policy to the very agency management officials that the policies are designed to govern. Indeed, after The Patriot Act was passed, FBI agents, as well as other government entities, were admittedly monitoring privileged electronic communications and throwing around National Security Letters and Administrative Subpoenas with little (actually, none whatsoever) regard for the "spirit-of-the-Act" or individual civil rights. Today, with the BOP and The Second Chance Act of 2007, "It's Déjà Vu all over again." Even last ditch Congressional inquiries from family members, friends, or lawyers are usually being handled by the lowest ranking aide in the Congressman's office and done so usually as a vexatious collateral duty. This 20-something intern will no doubt get a response back from a well-versed and politically savvy BOP Congressional liaison who appeases them (and their inexperience) with a some type of in-the-can generic form letter or email response marked "High Priority," "Sensitive," or some other impressive heading, yet lacks any semblance of a meaningful response to the initial question.

Should we point fingers, the BOP's ability to develop such unprecedented (and apparently unchecked) power can partially fall directly on the shoulders of certain federal inmates who were "amused to abuse" the legal process by filing repeated and frivolous complaints and/or torts claims. Conduct that eventually facilitated the strict implementation of both the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) and the Federal Tort Claim Act (FTCA). As a result, every inmate is now relegated to filing everything through the labor intensive and intentionally time consuming BOP Administrative Remedy Process. Unfortunately, despite the purpose of this Process, it would appear that BOP management has now, yet not surprisingly, developed the Administrative Remedy Process into their own self-managed and personally supervised shell game to hide and delay formal responses to inmates - or any other outside inquiries for that matter. In fact, they have turned it into an art form and, wait for it, there is no appeal, other than filing another tort claim. We know, George Orwell couldn't make this stuff up.

In conclusion, how do we properly and uniformly implement The 2nd Chance Act of 2007, and do so in the spirit for which it was developed? Actually, it's relatively simple, we need to develop an outside oversight committee for the BOP. A group of individuals that are tasked and empowered with the authority to ensure that BOP senior management properly runs this massive government "cash cow" and does so in full and transparent compliance with Congressional and judicial mandates. Has anyone on Capitol Hill ever read Lord Acton?

However, as comedian Dennis Miller would say, "This is just our opinion, we may be wrong."

About the Author


The MPM Group, Inc. are nationally recognized and court adjudicated experts in complex litigation support, sentence mitigation issues, and federal prison advocacy isues. They can be reached at www.TheMPMGroup.com

I need to know if I should take action... Man with child abuse conviction working in nursing home.?

I know a man that went to prison for three years after choking a three year old girl so hard that he left bruises around her neck. He's out of prison now, and somehow he has found employment in a nursing home as a nursing assistant. I am very much wanting to report this fact to the nursing home (and really am curious if they just completely failed to do a background check on him. I wonder if I could get into any legal trouble for reporting this, because if not you'd better believe I'm about to.

Yes, you should do something. Check and see if your state has something called Adult Protective Services. If they do, contact them and tell them what you know, including what prison he was sent to. Ask to stay anonymous. If there isn't an APS where you live, ask Child Protective Services who you should report this to. And thank you for caring. Good luck!

Los Angeles Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Employment Attorney

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Western Concern Over Security Of Pakistan's Nuclear Arsenal

Western Concern over Security of Pakistan's Nuclear Arsenal

By Mamnoon Ahmad Khan

mamnoonak@gmail.com

Ever since Pakistan has acquired its nuclear capability, the only question that has been asked repeatedly by United States and the West is "Whether Pakistan would be able to secure her nuclear arsenal or not"?

During times of relative political and social normalcy, the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is probably adequate and could be expected to improve consistent with other nuclear programs worldwide. However, fallout from Pakistan's decision to cooperate with the United States following the September 11th terrorist attacks may severely test Pakistan's security system throughout its nuclear weapons complex. Instability in Pakistan could make its nuclear weapons and stocks of nuclear explosive material dangerously vulnerable to theft. If domestic instability leads to the downfall of the current Pakistani government, nuclear weapons and the means to make them could fall into the hands of a government hostile to the United States and its allies.

Pakistan's nuclear arsenal consists of approximately 60 nuclear warheads, although it could be

larger. Islamabad is producing fissile material, adding to related production facilities, and

deploying additional delivery vehicles. These steps will enable Pakistan to undertake both

quantitative and qualitative improvements to its nuclear arsenal. Whether and to what extent

Pakistan's current expansion of its nuclear weapons-related facilities is a response to the 2008

U.S.-India nuclear cooperation agreement is unclear. Islamabad does not have a public, detailed

nuclear doctrine, but its "minimum credible deterrent" is widely regarded as primarily a deterrent

to Indian military action.

Pakistan has in recent years taken a number of steps to increase international confidence in the

security of its nuclear arsenal. In addition to dramatically overhauling nuclear command and

control structures since September 11, 2001, Islamabad has implemented new personnel security

programs. Moreover, Pakistani and some U.S. officials argue that, since the 2004 revelations

about a procurement network run by former Pakistani nuclear official A.Q. Khan, Islamabad has

taken a number of steps to improve its nuclear security and to prevent further proliferation of

nuclear-related technologies and materials. A number of important initiatives, such as

strengthened export control laws, improved personnel security, and international nuclear security

cooperation programs have improved Pakistan's security situation in recent years.

Instability in Pakistan has called the extent and durability of these reforms into question. Some

observers fear radical takeover of a government that possesses a nuclear bomb, or proliferation by radical sympathizers within Pakistan's nuclear complex in case of a breakdown of controls. While U.S. and Pakistani officials continue to express confidence in controls over Pakistan's nuclear weapons, continued instability in the country could impact these safeguards. For a broader discussion, see CRS Report RL33498, Pakistan-U.S. Relations, by K. Alan Kronstadt. This report will be updated.

Western Worries

Chronic political instability in Pakistan and the current offensive against the Taliban in the

northwest of the country have called attention to the issue of the security of the country's nuclear

weapons. Some Western observers fear that Pakistan's strategic nuclear assets could be obtained by terrorists, or used by elements in the Pakistani government. Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Admiral Michael Mullen described U.S. concern about the matter during a September 22, 2008,

speech: To the best of my ability to understand it—and that is with some ability—the weapons there are secure. And that even in the change of government, the controls of those weapons haven't changed. That said, they are their weapons. They're not my weapons. And there are limits to what I know. Certainly at a worst-case scenario with respect to Pakistan, I worry a great deal

about those weapons falling into the hands of terrorists and either being proliferated or

potentially used. And so, control of those, stability, stable control of those weapons is a key

concern. And I think certainly the Pakistani leadership that I've spoken with on both the

military and civilian side understand that.

U.S. officials continue to be concerned about the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons in a

destabilized Pakistan. General David H. Petraeus, Commander, U.S. Central Command, testified

March 31, 2009, that "Pakistani state failure would provide transnational terrorist groups and

other extremist organizations an opportunity to acquire nuclear weapons and a safe haven from

which to plan and launch attacks."

Nevertheless, U.S. officials have generally expressed confidence in the security of Pakistan's

nuclear weapons. President Obama addressed this issue in an April 29, 2009, press conference,

stating, "I'm confident that we can make sure that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is secure, primarily,

initially, because the Pakistani army, I think, recognizes the hazards of those weapons falling into the wrong hands. We've got strong military-to-military consultation and cooperation." He also recognized the sensitivity of the issue for Pakistan, saying, "We want to respect their sovereignty, but we also recognize that we have huge strategic interests, huge national security interests in making sure that Pakistan is stable and that you don't end up having a nuclear-armed militant state."1 Declining to engage in "hypotheticals" when asked if the United States is ready to secure the nuclear arsenal if the Pakistani government could not do so, President Obama said he felt "confident that that nuclear arsenal will remain out of militant hands."

General Petraeus reaffirmed this confidence on May 10: "With respect to the—the nuclear

weapons and—and sites that are controlled by Pakistan … we have confidence in their security

procedures and elements and believe that the security of those sites is adequate."2Admiral Mullen echoed this assessment during a May 14, 2009, hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf told a journalist that Islamabad has "given State Department nonproliferation experts insight into the command and control of the Pakistani arsenal and its on-site safety and security procedures,"3 but U.S. knowledge of Pakistan's arsenal remains limited, according to U.S. officials. Mullen stated that "we're limited in what we actually know" about Islamabad's nuclear arsenal. Leon Panetta, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, similarly acknowledged in a May 18 speech that the United States does not possess the intelligence to locate all of Pakistan's nuclear weapons-related sites. Pakistani efforts to improve the security of its nuclear weapons have been on-going and include some cooperation with the United States. Since the 1998 Pakistani and Indian nuclear tests, the international community has increased attention to reducing the risk of nuclear war in South Asia.

The two countries most recently came to the brink of full-scale war in 1999 and 2002, and,

realizing the dangers, have developed some risk reduction measures to prevent accidental nuclear

war. Islamabad has also developed its command and control systems and improved security of

military and civilian nuclear facilities. Since the 2004 revelations of an extensive international

nuclear proliferation network run by Pakistani nuclear Scientist Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan,  Islamabad has made additional efforts to improve export controls and monitor nuclear personnel. The main security challenges for Pakistan's nuclear arsenal are keeping the integrity of the command structure, ensuring physical security, and preventing illicit proliferation from insiders.

Pakistan continues to produce fissile material for weapons and appears to be augmenting its

weapons production facilities, as well as deploying additional delivery vehicles—steps that will

enable both quantitative and qualitative improvements in Islamabad's nuclear arsenal.

Nuclear Weapons

Pakistan's nuclear energy program dates back to the 1950s, but it was the loss of East Pakistan

(now Bangladesh) in a bloody war with India that probably triggered a political decision in

January 1972 (just one month later) to begin a secret nuclear weapons program.4 Deterring India's

nuclear weapons and augmenting Pakistan's inferior conventional forces are widely believed to

be the primary missions for Islamabad's nuclear arsenal. Observers point to India's 1974

"peaceful" nuclear explosion as the pivotal moment that gave additional urgency to the program.

Pakistan produced fissile material for its nuclear weapons using gas-centrifuge-based uranium

enrichment technology, which it mastered by the mid-1980s. Highly-enriched uranium (HEU) is

one of two types of fissile material used in nuclear weapons; the other is plutonium. The

country's main enrichment facility is a centrifuge plant located at Kahuta; Pakistan may have

other enrichment sites.5

Islamabad gained technology from many sources. This extensive assistance is reported to have

included uranium enrichment technology from Europe, blueprints for a small nuclear weapon

from China, and missile technology from China.

The United States had information during the 1970s and early 1980s that Pakistan was pursuing

nuclear weapons designs,6 but exactly when Pakistan produced a workable nuclear explosive

device is unclear. A 1985 National Intelligence Council report stated that Pakistan "probably has a workable design for a nuclear explosive device" and was "probably ... a year or two away from a capacity to produce enough" highly enriched uranium for such a device. A 1993 National Security Council report to Congress stated that Islamabad's nuclear weapons efforts "culminated with the capability to rapidly assemble a nuclear device if necessary by the end of the 1980s."7A.Q. Khan stated in an interview published in May 1998 that Islamabad "attained" the capability to detonate such a device "at the end of 1984."8 In any case, President Bush's failure to certify in 1990 that Pakistan did not "possess a nuclear explosive device" led to a cut-off in military and financial aid under the Pressler Amendment.9 When India conducted nuclear weapon  tests on May 12, 1998, Pakistan's government responded two weeks later on May 28 and May 30 with six tests in western Pakistan. Test yields were about

10 kilotons and 5 kilotons, according to seismic analysis.10 The United States imposed additional

sanctions after the tests, but these were lifted after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. According to most public estimates, Pakistan has about 60 nuclear weapons,

though it could have more;11 a recent public estimate from two prominent experts on the subject

stated that the country has between 70 and 90 nuclear weapons.12Pakistan's nuclear warheads use

an implosion design with a solid core of approximately 15-20 kilograms of HEU.13 Islamabad

reportedly continues to produce HEU for weapons at a rate of at least 100 kilograms per year.14

Pakistan has also pursued plutonium-based warheads and continues to produce plutonium for

weapons. Islamabad has received Chinese and European assistance for at least some of its

plutonium program. The 40-50 megawatt heavy-water Khushab plutonium production reactor has been operating since 1998.15It appears that Islamabad  is constructing two additional heavy-water reactors, which will expand considerably Pakistan's plutonium production capacity, at the same site.16 Additionally, Pakistan has a reprocessing facility17 at the Pakistan Institute of Science and Technology (PINSTECH) and is apparently constructing other such facilities. Nuclear Fuel reported in 2000 that, according to "senior U.S. government officials," Islamabad had begun operating a "pilot-scale" reprocessing facility at the New Laboratories facility at PINSTECH.18 Pakistan also appears to be constructing a second reprocessing facility at the site 19 and may be completing a reprocessing facility located at Chasma.20 Islamabad's construction of additional nuclear reactors and expansion of its reprocessing capabilities could indicate plans to increase and improve Pakistan's nuclear weapons arsenal in the near future. Indeed, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Michael Maples told the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 10, 2009, that "Pakistan continues to develop its nuclear infrastructure, expand nuclear weapon stockpiles and seek more advanced warheads and delivery systems."21Similarly, Admiral Mullen confirmed during the May 14 hearing that the United States has "evidence" that Pakistan is expanding its nuclear arsenal. In reality Pakistan is striving hard to get rid from its acute power shortage by using its nuclear program for electricity generation.

Responding to India?

Pakistani officials have indicated that they have already determined the arsenal size needed for a

minimum nuclear deterrent and that they will not engage in an arms race with India.

Nevertheless, Pakistan appears to be increasing its fissile production capability and improving its

delivery vehicles in order to hedge against possible increases in India's nuclear arsenal. Islamabad may also accelerate its current nuclear weapons efforts. India has stated that it needs only a "credible minimum deterrent," but New Delhi has never defined what it means by such a deterrent and has refused to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Furthermore, both the agreement and associated 2008 decision by the Nuclear Suppliers Group to exempt India from some of its export guidelines will renew New Delhi's access to the international uranium market. This access will result in more indigenous Indian uranium available for weapons because it will not be consumed by India's newly safeguarded reactors.22 Pakistani officials have stated that the government may need to increase significantly its nuclear arsenal in response to possible Indian plans to do the same. According to an April 2006 television broadcast, Pakistani officials from the government's National Command Authority expressed "concern" that the 2008 U.S.-India nuclear cooperation agreement could tilt the strategic balance between India and Pakistan in favor of the former. The officials suggested that Islamabad may need to increase or improve its nuclear arsenal in order to "to meet all requirements of minimum credible defence deterrence."23 (See the "Nuclear Doctrine" section for more on Pakistan's deterrence concept.) Similarly, Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) wrote in July 2008 that the agreement could cause a nuclear arms race between Pakistan and India.24 Moreover, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson indicated during a May 21, 2009, press briefing that, despite the government's continued opposition to a "nuclear or conventional arms race in South Asia," Pakistan may need to increase its nuclear arsenal in response to Indian conventional and nuclear arms expansion.

Illustrating this point, a Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson reacted to India's July 26, 2009,

launch of its first indigenously built nuclear-powered submarine by asserting that "continued

induction of new lethal weapon systems by India is detrimental to regional peace and stability,"

adding that "[w]ithout entering into an arms race with India, Pakistan will take all appropriate

steps to safeguard its security and maintain strategic balance in South Asia." The submarine,

which has not yet been deployed, will reportedly be capable of carrying nuclear-armed ballistic

missiles.25

Whether and to what extent Pakistan's current expansion of its nuclear weapons-related facilities

is a response to the U.S.-India agreement is unclear, partly because the government's decisions

regarding those facilities are not publicly available.

In addition to making qualitative and quantitative improvements to its nuclear arsenal, Pakistan

could increase the number of circumstances under which it would be willing to use nuclear

weapons. For example, Peter Lavoy has argued that India's efforts to improve its conventional

military capabilities could enable New Delhi to achieve "technical superiority" in intelligence,

surveillance, and reconnaissance, as well as precision targeting, providing India with "the

capability to effectively locate and efficiently destroy strategically important targets in

Pakistan."26 Islamabad could respond by lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons,

according to Lavoy. Indeed, a Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson warned in May 2009 that

Islamabad could take this step. (See the "Nuclear Doctrine" section.)

Nevertheless, Islamabad's nuclear weapons program apparently faces some budget constraints.

Maples testified that "the economic decline will likely slow" the government's progress in

improving its nuclear and conventional military forces. Furthermore, Pakistan's nuclear weapons

program is reportedly facing "severe financial cuts."27

Delivery Vehicles

Pakistan has two types of delivery vehicles for nuclear weapons: aircraft controlled by the

Pakistan Air Force and surface-to-surface missiles controlled by the Pakistan Army. Pakistan

could deliver its nuclear weapons using F-16s purchased from the United States, provided that

modifications are made. It is widely believed that Islamabad has made modifications to the F-16s

previously sold to them.28Although concerns have been raised about the impact of these sales on

the strategic balance in South Asia,29 the U.S. government maintains that the sale of additional F-

16s to Pakistan will not alter the regional balance of power.30 The contract for provision of an

additional 36 aircraft was signed on September 30, 2006, as was the contract for the weapons for

those aircraft and a contract to perform the mid-life upgrade on Pakistan's F-16A/B model

aircraft. Pakistan's F-16 fleet will therefore be expanded, but it is unclear what portion of the fleet will be capable of a nuclear mission. Mirage III and V aircraft could also be used, although would have limited range. A-5's may have been modified to carry a nuclear payload.31

After India's first test of its Prithvi ballistic missile in 1988, Pakistan jump-started its own missile program and has three types of ballistic missiles thought to be nuclear-capable: the solid-fuel Hatf-III (Ghaznavi), with a range of about 400 kilometers; the solid-fuel Hatf-IV (Shaheen), with a range of over 450 kilometers32 ; and the liquid-fuel Hatf-V (Ghauri), with an approximate range of almost 1,300 kilometers.33 34The solid-fuel Hatf-VI (Shaheen-2) missile, when deployed, will be "capable of reaching targets out to 2,000 kilometers," Maples stated March 10,35 adding that Islamabad has made "significant progress" on the missile. A 2009 National Air and Space Intelligence Center report appears to support this conclusion, stating that the missile "probably

will soon be deployed." Islamabad continues to carry out ballistic missile tests, but notifies India

in advance in accordance with an October 2005 bilateral missile pre-notification pact.36 Maples

also indicated that Pakistan is developing nuclear-capable cruise missiles; the Babur (groundlaunched) and the Ra'ad (air-launched), both of which will have estimated ranges of 320

kilometers.37

Nuclear Doctrine

Pakistan's Nuclear Doctrine would therefore essentially revolve around the first-strike option. In other words Pakistan will use nuclear weapons if attacked by India even if the attack is with conventional weapons. With his American experience of a graduated nuclear response Professor Stephen P. Cohen feels that Pakistan would use what he calls an 'option-enhancing policy' for a possible use of nuclear weapons. This would entail a stage-by-stage approach in which the nuclear threat is increased at each step to deter India from attack. The first step could be a public or private warning, the second a demonstration explosion of a small nuclear weapon on its own soil, the third step would be the use of a few nuclear weapons on its own soil against Indian attacking forces. The fourth stage would be used against critical but purely military targets in India across the border from Pakistan. Probably in thinly populated areas in the desert or semi-desert, causing least collateral damage. this may prevent Indian retaliation against cities in Pakistan. Some weapon systems would be in reserve for the counter-value role. These weapons would be safe from Indian attack as some would be airborne while the ground based ones are mobile and could be moved around the country.

With some experience and the passage of time a degree of sophistication will certainly be introduced in Pakistan's nuclear doctrine of the first-use of nuclear weapons to provide the government more options in the use of nuclear weapons. This would also avoid unessential collateral damage to cities and other population centres in both countries. The object would be to employ nuclear weapons if attacked yet cause the least civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure.

It must be appreciated that a nuclear device is not just another weapon with increased firepower. It is in fact a weapon of mass destruction and a whole new system, requiring new rules of command, control, communications, deployment and engagement. It is obvious that the control of this devastating weapon must rest firmly in the hands of the highest political authority in the country. In our case the Prime Minister. It is envisaged that the Prime Minister's decision would be based on an earlier discussion in the Federal Cabinet, of the grave situation in the country pursuant to an armed conflict with India or danger of such a conflict. The matter would also have been discussed in the Defence Committee of the Cabinet which is responsible for defence and security of the country.

Although the decision to employ the nuclear option is that of the government. Yet it must be decided before hand as to when and to whom would the authority to use nuclear weapons be delegated in a crisis situation. India our potential enemy has numerical superiority in conventional forces and would have the advantage of initiative as an aggressor, time would therefore be of essence to the defender with numerical inferiority. Delegation of authority to use the nuclear option would therefore be essential. It may eventually be given to the commander of forces in the field under specified circumstances depending on the course and direction in which the battle unfolds to our eventual disadvantage.

Fast and secure communications is another essential factor in a nuclear environment. Communications from the Prime Minister and his security team through the shortest chain of command to the actual launch area of the nuclear weapon must be secure at all times.

As an ultimate precaution there must be presumed delegation of authority in cases where the seat of government has been wholly or partially destroyed and rendered ineffective by the enemy's nuclear strike. This would also be applicable when a higher military headquarters has been knocked out and ceases to function effectively, temporarily or permanently.

Intelligence gathering would gain added importance in a nuclear environment. It would be essential to have accurate, up to date and timely information about our potential enemy's additional troop, aircraft and ship deployments and their likely intentions. His preparations for a nuclear first strike must be known at the earliest.

For the daily conduct of the war it may well be appropriate to have a small committee under the Prime Minister with the ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs as members along with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. The Defence Secretary acting as secretary of the committee. In the final analysis it is possible that the Prime Minister representing the political will of the nation and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, representing the views and recommendations of the three services would be working together to provide the correct direction to the war effort.

It is suggested that Army's Air Defence commands on geographical basis suitably augmented should be responsible to trace, identify and destroy incoming enemy missiles and to launch our own nuclear weapons. Two Air Defence Commands should control nuclear weapons on our Eastern borders, with the dividing line at Bahawalpur. By designating one headquarters to control and launch nuclear weapons, unity of command and safety of launch is maintained. There would therefore be one officer of three-star rank taking his orders from General Headquarters (GHQ), unless it has been delegated to a threatened Corps in a crisis situation.

The government must decide before hand when and at what stage of a military conflict with India it would be forced to employ the nuclear option. The threshold must be clear and unambiguous. To use the modern Jargon, the bottom line needs to be clearly defined to avoid a miscalculation.

To prevent a nuclear war by mistake, a misadventure or a miscalculation, certain confidence building measures would have to be taken urgently.

Owing to a much smaller number of nuclear weapons that could be maintained in South Asia compared to the nuclear powers, an elaborate command and control structure would not be necessary. The cost would consequently be modest as well. It is estimated to be in the region of 150 to 200 million rupees per year, for the next five years at least.

As far as cost of the nuclear weapons and their delivery system, it would depend on each country's perception and requirement of a minimum nuclear deterrent. According to Amit Gupta in the Armed Forces Journal of September 1998, many analysts agree that India requires 100 to 150 nuclear weapons as a deterrent against China and Pakistan as a minimum. The estimated cost would be 714 million dollars a year for the next 10 years. In Pakistan a minimum deterrent could range between 30 to 50 nuclear weapons. Gen Mirza Aslam Beg calculates the cost to be in the range of 250 million dollars.

In a nuclear environment a Joint Staff HQ with added responsibility would be essential. Under it a new Nuclear Command could be created to control and co-ordinate all Nuclear effort in the country. Instructions to Service HQ would pass through this new command for clarity and security.

It is the opinion of some experts that having achieved nuclear status India and Pakistan should return to the pre-nuclear test era of ambiguity with regard to the nuclear response in an armed conflict. In other words the doctrine itself should provide some answers and leave others to the imagination creating some uncertainty and doubt in the aggressors' mind. This would force caution and some delay, probably second thoughts, resulting in a prevention of conflict.

When all is said and done it must be the concern of both India and Pakistan to avoid a future armed conflict. The possession of nuclear weapons should be used to prevent war and bring peace to the region. The Prime Minister of Pakistan is committed to reducing tension in Indo-Pak relations and solving all disputes with India by peaceful means. India has taken a step forward in the Bus diplomacy which must be reciprocated in full measure for the benefit of the people of South Asia.

Pakistan's strategic doctrine is undeclared, and will probably remain so, but prominent officials

and analysts have offered insights concerning its basic tenets.38 Describing the guiding principle

as minimum credible nuclear deterrence, high-level officials' statements point to four policy

objectives for Islamabad's nuclear weapons: deter all forms of external aggression; deter through

a combination of conventional and strategic forces; deter counterforce strategies by securing

strategic assets and threatening nuclear retaliation; and stabilize strategic deterrence in South

Asia.39 Pakistani officials have also indicated that this nuclear posture is designed to preserve

territorial integrity against Indian attack, prevent military escalation, and counter its main rival's

conventional superiority.40

Pakistan has pledged no-first-use against non-nuclear-weapon states, but has not ruled out firstuse

against a nuclear-armed aggressor, such as India.41 Some analysts say this ambiguity serves to

maintain deterrence against India's conventional superiority; the Foreign Ministry spokesperson

stated May 21 that "there are acquisitions of sophisticated weaponry by our neighbour which will

disturb the conventional balance between our two countries and hence, lower the nuclear

threshold." Other analysts argue that keeping the first-use option against New Delhi allows

Islamabad to conduct sub-conventional operations, such as support for low intensity conflict or

proxy war in Kashmir, while effectively deterring India at the strategic level.42 Pakistan has

reportedly addressed issues of survivability through pursuing a second strike capability, possibly

building hard and deeply buried storage and launch facilities, deploying road-mobile missiles,

deploying air defenses around strategic sites, and utilizing concealment measures.43

Command and Control

Pakistan's command and control over its nuclear weapons is compartmentalized and includes

strict operational security. The government's command and control system is based on "C4I2SR" (command, control, communication, computers, intelligence, information, surveillance and reconnaissance). Islamabad's Strategic Command Organization has a three-tiered structure, consisting of the National Command Authority (NCA), the Strategic Plans Division (SPD), and the Strategic Forces Commands.

The NCA, established in 2000, supervises the functions and administration of all of Pakistan's

organizations involved in nuclear weapons research, development, and employment, as well as

the military services that operate the strategic forces.44 The Prime Minister, as Head of

Government, is Chairperson of the NCA.45 The NCA also includes the chair of the joint chiefs of

staff, the Ministers of Defense, Interior, and Finance, the Director- General of the SPD, and the

Commanders of the Army, Air Force, and Navy. The final authority to launch a nuclear strike

requires consensus within the NCA; the Chairperson must cast the final vote. The NCA is

comprised of two committees, the Employment Control Committee (ECC) and the Development

Control Committee (DCC), each of which includes a mix of civilian and military officials. The

ECC's functions include establishing a command and control system over the use of nuclear

weapons. The DCC "exercises technical, financial and administrative control over all strategic

organisations, including national laboratories and research and development organisations

associated with the development and modernisation of nuclear weapons."46

The SPD is headed by a Director General from the Army and acts as the secretariat for the NCA.

The SPD's functions include formulating Islamabad's nuclear policy, strategy, and doctrine;

developing the nuclear chain of command; and formulating operational plans at the service level

for the movement, deployment, and use of nuclear weapons. The Army, Air Force, and Navy each have their own strategic force command, but operational planning and control remains with the NCA. The SPD coordinates operational plans with the strategic forces commands. According to current and former Pakistani officials, Islamabad employs a system which requires that at least

two, and perhaps three, people authenticate launch codes for nuclear weapons. 47

On December 13, 2007, then-President Musharraf formalized these authorities and structure in

the "National Command Authority Ordinance, 2007."48 The NCA was established by

administrative order, but now has a legal basis. Analysts point out that the timing of this

ordinance was meant to help the command and control system weather political transitions and

potentially preserve the military's strong control over the system. The ordinance also addresses

the problems of the proliferation of nuclear expertise and personnel reliability. It outlines

punishable offenses related to breach of confidentiality or leakage of "secured information," gives the SPD authority to investigate suspicious conduct, states that punishment for these offenses can be up to 25 years imprisonment, and applies to both serving and retired personnel, including military personnel, notwithstanding any other laws. As a result, Pakistani authorities say that the ordinance should strengthen their control over strategic organizations and their personnel.

Security Concerns

According to a 2001 Department of Defense report, Islamabad's nuclear weapons "are probably

stored in component form,"49 which suggests that the nuclear warheads are stored separately from delivery vehicles. According to some reports, the fissile cores of the weapons are separated from the non-nuclear explosives.50 But whether this is actually the case is unclear; one report states that the warheads and delivery vehicles are probably stored separately in facilities close to one another, but says nothing about the fissile cores.51 And, according to an account of a 2008 experts' group visit to Pakistan, Lt. Gen. Khalid Kidwai, the head of the SPD, suggested that the nuclear warheads (containing the fissile cores) may be mated with their delivery vehicles.52 According to Kidwai, the report says, the SPD's official position is that the weapons "will be ready when required, at the shortest notice; [but] the Pakistani doctrine is not endorsing a US-USSR model with weapons on hair trigger alert." The 2001 Defense Department report says that Pakistan can probably assemble its weapons fairly quickly.53

It warrants mention that, although separate storage may provide a layer of protection against

accidental launch or prevent theft of an assembled weapon, it may be easier for unauthorized

people to remove a weapon's fissile material core if it is not assembled. Dispersal of the assets

may also create more potential access points for acquisition and may increase the risk of

diversion.54

As the United States prepared to launch an attack on the Afghan Taliban after September 11,

2001, President Musharraf reportedly ordered that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal be redeployed to "at least six secret new locations."55 This action came at a time of uncertainly about the future of the region, including the direction of U.S.-Pakistan relations. Islamabad's leadership was uncertain whether the United States would decide to conduct military strikes against Pakistan's nuclear assets if the government did not assist the United States against the Taliban. Indeed, President Musharraf cited protection of Pakistan's nuclear and missile assets as one of the reasons for Islamabad's dramatic policy shift.56

These events, in combination with the 1999 Kargil crisis, the 2002 conflict with India at the Line

of Control, and revelations about the A.Q. Khan proliferation network, inspired a variety of

reforms to secure the nuclear complex. Risk of nuclear war in South Asia ran high in the 1999

Kargil crisis, when the Pakistani military is believed to have begun preparing nuclear-tipped

missiles.57It should be noted that, even at the high alert levels of 2001 and 2002, there were no

reports of Pakistan mating the warheads with delivery systems.58

In the fall of 2007 and early 2008, some observers expressed concern about the security of the

country's arsenal if political instability were to persist.59Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto

said in a November 5, 2007, interview that, although then-President Musharraf claimed to be in

firm control of the nuclear arsenal, she feared this control could weaken due to instability in the

country.60Similarly, Michael Krepon of the Henry L. Stimson Center has argued that "a

prolonged period of turbulence and infighting among the country's President, Prime Minister, and Army Chief" could jeopardize the army's unity of command, which "is essential for nuclear

security."61During that time, U.S. military officials also expressed concern about the security of

Pakistan's nuclear weapons.62 Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency

(IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, also has expressed fears that a radical regime could take power in

Pakistan, and thereby acquire nuclear weapons.63 Experts also worry that while nuclear weapons

are currently under firm control, with warheads disassembled, technology could be sold off by

insiders during a worsened crisis.64

However, U.S. intelligence officials have expressed greater confidence regarding the security of

Islamabad's nuclear weapons. Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte in testimony to

Congress on November 7, 2007 said he believed that there is "plenty of succession planning that's going on in the Pakistani military" and that Pakistan's nuclear weapons are under "effective technical control."65 Similarly, Donald Kerr, Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, told a Washington audience May 29, 2008, that the Pakistani military's control of the nuclear weapons is "a good thing because that's an institution in Pakistan that has, in fact, withstood many of the political changes over the years." A Department of Defense spokesperson told reporters December 9, 2008, that Washington has "no reason at this point to have any concern with regards to the security" of Islamabad's nuclear arsenal. More recently, Maples stated March 10, 2009, that Islamabad "has taken important steps to safeguard its nuclear weapons," although he pointed out that "vulnerabilities exist."

Other governments have also voiced opinions regarding the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.

For example, Indian National Security Adviser M. K. Narayanan said that the arsenal is safe and

has adequate checks and balances.66Similarly, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth

Affairs David Miliband told the Charlie Rose Show December 15, 2008, that Islamabad's nuclear weapons "are under pretty close lock and key." Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov,

however, sounded somewhat less optimistic in a March 24, 2009, television interview, stating that Moscow is "very much concerned" about the security of Pakistan's arsenal.67

Pakistani officials have consistently expressed confidence in the security of the country's nuclear

arsenal. Then-President Musharraf stated in November 2007 that Pakistan's nuclear weapons are

under "total custodial controls."68 More recently, President Asif Ali Zardari told CNN December

2, 2008, that the country's nuclear command and control system "is working well." Additionally,

a Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated May 21, 2009, that "there is simply no question

of our strategic assets falling into the wrong hands. We have full confidence in our procedures,

mechanisms and command and control systems."

In addition to the above scenarios, the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons could also be

jeopardized by another conflict between India and Pakistan, Michael Krepon argued, explaining

that an "escalating war with nuclear forces in the field would increase the probability of

accidents, miscalculations, and the use of nuclear weapons." This is because

[w]hen tensions rise precipitously with India, the readiness level of Pakistan's nuclear

deterrent also rises. Because the geographical coordinates of Pakistan's main nuclear weapon

storage sites, missile, and air bases can be readily identified from satellites—and therefore

targeted by opposing forces—the dictates of deterrence mandate some movement of

launchers and weapons from fixed locations during crises. Nuclear weapons on the move are

inherently less secure than nuclear weapons at heavily-guarded storage sites. Weapons and

launchers in motion are also more susceptible to "insider" threats and accidents.69

Such a war, Krepon added, would also place stress on the army's unity of command. Krepon has

also pointed out that Islamabad faces a dilemma, because less-dispersed nuclear weapons may be

more vulnerable to a disarming military strike from India.70

U.S. Assistance and Pakistani Nuclear Security

U.S. plans to secure Pakistani nuclear weapons in case of a loss of control by the Pakistani

government were famously addressed during Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's confirmation

hearing in January 2005. In response to a question from Senator John Kerry asking what would

happen to Pakistan's nuclear weapons in the event of a radical Islamic coup in Islamabad,

Secretary Rice answered, "We have noted this problem, and we are prepared to try to deal with

it."71 On November 12, 2007, responding to press reports about this contingency, a Pakistan

Foreign Office spokesperson said, "Pakistan possesses adequate retaliatory capacity to defend its

strategic assets and sovereignty," emphasizing that Islamabad's nuclear weapons have been under "strong multi-layered, institutionalized decision-making, organizational, administrative and command and control structures since 1998."72The issue of U.S. contingency plans to take over Pakistani strategic assets was raised again in the press following Benazir Bhutto's assassination, and was met with similar assurances by Pakistan's government.73

More recently, a Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson, responding to a report detailing alleged

U.S.-Pakistani discussions regarding contingency plans for U.S. forces to help secure Islamabad's nuclear weapons, stated November 8, 2009, that Pakistan "does not require any foreign assistance in this regard." Pakistan will never "allow any country to have direct or indirect access to its nuclear and strategic facilities," the spokesperson said, adding that "no talks have ever taken place on the issue of the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal with US officials."74 U.S.

Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson stated the same day that the United States "has no

intention to seize Pakistani nuclear weapons or material."

The United States reportedly offered Pakistan nuclear security assistance soon after September

11, 2001.75 U.S. assistance to Islamabad, which must comply with nonproliferation guidelines,

has reportedly included the sharing of best practices and technical measures to prevent

unauthorized or accidental use of nuclear weapons, as well as contribute to physical security of

storage facilities and personnel reliability.76 Some press reports say that the United States

provided Pakistan with Permissive Action Links (PALs) in 2003, although former Pakistani

military officials have said Pakistan has developed PALs for its warheads without assistance.77

PALs require a code to be entered before a weapon can be detonated. As noted above, Islamabad

employs a system requiring that at least two, and perhaps three, people authenticate launch codes

for nuclear weapons.78 Security at nuclear sites in Islamabad is the responsibility of a 10,000-

member security force, commanded by a two-star general.

Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage confirmed in a November 2007 interview

that there has been U.S. assistance in this area, explaining that the United States was unlikely to

intervene militarily in a crisis in Pakistan because "we have spent considerable time with the

Pakistani military, talking with them and working with them on the security of their nuclear

weapons. I think most observers would say that they are fairly secure. They have pretty

sophisticated mechanisms to guard the security of those."79 Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, former Director

of the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence at the U.S. Department of Energy, pointed

out in May 2009 that "there's not a lot of transparency into" how Islamabad spends the U.S.

funds, but he nevertheless characterized them as "money well spent."80 A Pakistani official said in November 2009 that Pakistan reserves the right to "pick and choose" the nuclear security

measures it will undertake, adding that Islamabad will only accept such measures that are "nonintrusive."81

The extent to which Pakistan has shared information about its nuclear arsenal with the United

States is unclear. Although, as noted, former President Musharraf has acknowledged Islamabad's

sharing of some information, General Tariq Majid, Chair of Pakistan's Joint Chiefs of Staff

Committee, stated November 9, 2009, that "there is absolutely no question of sharing or allowing

any foreign individual, entity or a state, any access to sensitive information about our nuclear

assets."82

The U.S. government has also reportedly offered assistance to secure or destroy radioactive

materials that could be used to make a radioactive dispersal device, and to ship highly enriched

uranium used in the Pakistani civilian nuclear sector out of the country.83 Pakistan's response to

these proposals is unclear.

It is worth noting that, according to some observers, spent fuel from Pakistan's Karachi and

Chasma nuclear power plants could be vulnerable to theft or attack.84 Pakistani officials have

expressed confidence in the security of its facilities, however.85

US and Western Concerns over Proliferation

Many observers are concerned that other states or terrorist organizations could obtain material or

expertise related to nuclear weapons from Pakistan.86 Beginning in the 1970s, Pakistan used

clandestine procurement networks to develop its nuclear weapons program. Former Pakistani

nuclear official A.Q. Khan subsequently used a similar network to supply Libya, North Korea,

and Iran with materials related to uranium enrichment.87

Al-Qaeda has also sought assistance from the Khan network. According to former Director of

Central Intelligence George Tenet, the United States "received fragmentary information from an

intelligence service" that in 1998 Osama bin Laden had "sent emissaries to establish contact"

with the network.88 Other Pakistani sources could also provide nuclear material to terrorist

organizations. According to a 2005 report by the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of

the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, al-Qaeda "had established contact

with Pakistani scientists who discussed development of nuclear devices that would require hardto-obtain materials like uranium to create a nuclear explosion."89 Tenet explains that these

scientists were affiliated with a different organization than the Khan network.

The current status of Pakistan's nuclear export network is unclear, although most official U.S.

reports indicate that, at the least, it has been damaged considerably. Director of National

Intelligence John D. Negroponte implied that the network had been dismantled when he asserted

in a January 11, 2007, statement to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that "Pakistan

had been a major source of nuclear proliferation until the disruption of the A.Q. Khan network."90

More recently, a January 12, 2009, State Department press release said that the network "is no

longer operating." For its part, Pakistan's Foreign Office stated February 7, 2009, that Pakistan

"has dismantled the nuclear black market network." Asked during a July 20, 2009, interview

whether North Korea was transferring "nuclear weapons" or related advice to North Korea,

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton replied that there is "no evidence" that Pakistan is doing so.

However, when asked about the network's current status during a July 25, 2007, Senate Foreign

Relations Committee hearing, Undersecretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns replied that:

I cannot assert that no part of that network exists, but it's my understanding based on our

conversations with the Pakistanis that the network has been fundamentally dismantled. But

to say that there are no elements in Pakistan, I'm not sure I could say that.

Similarly, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies found in a May 2007

report that "at least some of Khan's associates appear to have escaped law enforcement attention

and could ... resume their black-market business."91

Asked about Pakistan's cooperation in investigating the network, Burns acknowledged that the

United States has not had "personal, consistent access" to Khan, but added that he did not "have

all the details of everything we've done." Similarly, the IAEA has not yet been able to interview

Khan directly, according to an agency official. However, Islamabad has responded to written

questions from the IAEA and has been cooperative with the agency's investigation of Iran's

nuclear program.92 Khan himself told Dawn News TV May 29, 2008, that he would not cooperate with U.S. or IAEA investigators. A Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson told reporters in May 2006 that the government considered the Khan investigation "closed"—a position an Office spokesperson reiterated February 6, 2009.

The State Department announced January 12, 2009, that it was imposing sanctions on 13

individuals and three companies for their involvement in the Khan network. The sanctions were

imposed under the Export-Import Bank Act, the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act, and

Executive Orders 12938 and 13382.

Pakistan's Response over US and Western Concerns

Undersecretary Burns testified in July 2007 that the Bush administration has "told the Pakistani

government that it is its responsibility ... to make sure" that neither the Khan network nor a

"similar organization" resurfaces in the country. Since the revelations about the Khan network,

Pakistan appears to have increased its efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation. But whether and to

what extent these efforts have been successful is not yet clear. It is worth noting that, because

Khan conducted his proliferation activities as a government official, they do not necessarily

indicate a failure of Islamabad's export controls.

Pakistani officials argue that Islamabad has taken a number of steps to prevent further

proliferation of nuclear-related technologies and materials.93 For example, Islamabad adopted in

September 2004 new national export controls legislation which includes a requirement that the

government issue control lists for "goods, technologies, material, and equipment which may

contribute to designing, development, stockpiling, [and] use" of nuclear weapons and related

delivery systems. According to a February 2008 presentation by Zafar Ali, Director of Pakistan's

Strategic Export Controls Division (SECDIV),94 the lists, which were issued in October 2005 and are to be periodically updated, include items controlled by multilateral export control regimes, such as the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group, and the Missile Technology Control Regime.95 The export controls legislation also includes a catch-all clause, which requires exporters to notify the government if they are aware or suspect that goods or technology are intended by the end-user for use in nuclear or biological weapons, or missiles capable of

delivering such weapons.96

The legislation includes several other important elements, such as end-use and end-user

certification requirements and new penalties for violators. Since its adoption, Pakistan has

established the SECDIV and an associated Oversight Board. The SECDIV is responsible for

formulating rules and regulations for implementing the legislation. The board is comprised of

officials from multiple agencies and is headed by Pakistan's Foreign Secretary.

Islamabad says that it has also taken several other steps to improve its nuclear security. For

example, the government announced in June 2007 that it is "implementing a National Security

Action Plan with the [IAEA's] assistance." That same month, Pakistan also joined the U.S.- and

Russian-led Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. As noted above, the December 2007

National Command Authority Ordinance also includes measures to prevent the spread of nuclearrelated materials and expertise.

Pakistani officials participating in an April 2007 Partnership for Global Security workshop argued that Islamabad has improved the reliability of its nuclear personnel by, for example, making security clearance procedures more stringent. However, the officials also acknowledged that Islamabad still needs to do more to control its nuclear expertise.97 Similarly, Admiral Mullen stated May 14, 2009, that the country's personnel reliability system must "continue to improve."

The United States has also provided export control assistance to Pakistan. Burns described several such efforts in his July 2007 testimony.98 And according to an October 2007 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, Islamabad was during FY2003-FY2006 the second-largest recipient of bilateral U.S. assistance designed to improve target countries' export controls. Pakistan received such assistance from the Departments of State, Energy, and Homeland Security.99

Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security-Designate Ellen Tauscher

told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the Obama administration does not support

conditioning aid to Pakistan on permitting direct U.S. access to Khan, arguing, in part, that the

United States has "obtained a great deal of information about the Khan network without having

direct access to A.Q. Khan."100

According The BBC News,Wednesday, 23 January 2008, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has dismissed fears that his country's nuclear weapons could be acquired by Islamist militants.

A report last year recommended that the US send in special forces to help "secure the Pakistani nuclear arsenal".

Pakistan's foreign office dismissed the report as "outlandish musings", insisting there was no danger of the country's strategic assets falling into the wrong hands.

At the moment, few believe Islamists could take power in Pakistan. But there has been huge concern over Pakistan's nuclear facilities since 2004. That was when the "father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb", AQ Khan, confessed to leaking nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya. He received a presidential pardon and has since been under house arrest. Pakistan's government says he has revealed the full extent of his activities.

Estimates of the number of weapons Pakistan has vary from 40 to more than 100 warheads.

Once upon a time, the received wisdom was that Pakistan needed three bombs, to attack Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta in neighbouring nuclear rival, India.

Dr Hoodbhoy Pakistan's Nuclear Expert says more weapons means more people having access to the weapons facilities.

But he believes the actual weapons are safe.

"As far as the weapons themselves are concerned, I don't believe they can be obtained by fundamentalist groups like al-Qaeda.

"The days of smuggling centrifuges out of Kahuta [Pakistan's main nuclear research facility] ended with AQ Khan."

Another nuclear expert, Brig Shaukat Qadir, agrees on that point.

"Pakistan's nuclear weapons are only as much at risk as those of the US or India," he says.

"There are differing layers of security and everyone is checked and double checked while entering and leaving the facility."

US assistance

According to Brig Qadir, even highly trained troops would find it almost impossible to storm Pakistan's nuclear facilities.

President Musharraf pardoned AQ Khan

"In the first place there is the secrecy surrounding the actual weapons storage and development facilities," he says.

"For example, while everybody talks about Kahuta, it is no longer the main facility."

Then, he says, the way the nuclear facilities were built makes penetration nearly impossible. Facilities like Kahuta are built hundreds of feet underground.

Dr Hoodbhoy agrees that Pakistan has taken steps to increase the safety of its nuclear weapons. These include sending personnel who guard the facilities for training in the US.

He believes that even small amounts of enriched uranium or plutonium could not be smuggled out of Pakistan's nuclear facilities.

"You need about 25kg to make a device the size of [that used at] Hiroshima, "Acquiring so much quantity of fissile material is not easy".

Brig Qadir said: "Everybody understands the fissile material is the main component... do you really think it will be as readily available as that?

"Both the weapons and the fissile material are accorded the same level of security. The material, therefore has the same chance of being stolen as the weapons."

Issues for US Congress

Members of US Congress have also expressed concerns regarding the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons and related material. Senator Richard Lugar has spoken out in favor of using the cooperative threat reduction tools in Pakistan to help with the security of nuclear, biological, and chemical materials and weapons in the country.101

Additionally, a number of pieces of legislation appear designed to influence Islamabad's policies

regarding the Khan network. Section 2 of H.R. 1463, which was introduced March 12, 2009, and

referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee the same day, states that U.S. military assistance may be provided to Pakistan only if the President certifies that Islamabad is both making A.Q. Khan available to the United States for questioning and "providing adequate assurances to the United States Government that it will monitor Khan's movements and activities in such a manner as to prevent his participation in any efforts to disseminate nuclear technology or know-how."

This section allows the President to waive restrictions on U.S. assistance imposed pursuant to the

proposed legislation if the President "certifies to Congress that it is in the national interests of the

United States to do so."H.R. 2481, the United States-Pakistan Security and Stability Act, which was introduced May 19, 2009, and referred the same day to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the House Armed Services Committee, and the House Intelligence Committee, would require the President to "develop and transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a comprehensive interagency strategy and implementation plan for long-term security and stability in Pakistan." The strategy is to include a "description of how United States assistance" authorized by the bill "will be used to achieve the objectives of United States policy toward Pakistan," one of which is "to empower and enable" Islamabad to "maintain robust command and control over its nuclear weapons technology." The bill would authorize foreign assistance for Pakistan, including funds for improving the government's counter-insurgency capability.

H.R. 1886, the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2009, would

authorize U.S. assistance to Pakistan for a variety of purposes. These include strengthening

democratic institutions and law enforcement, as well as supporting economic development,

education, human rights, and heath care. The bill would also authorize additional U.S. security

assistance for Islamabad. However, Section 206 of the bill places conditions on some of this

assistance; it states that no U.S. military assistance shall be provided to Pakistan if the President

has not made a series of determinations, one of which is that the government "is continuing to

cooperate with the United States in efforts to dismantle supplier networks relating to the

acquisition of nuclear weapons related materials, including, as necessary, providing access to

Pakistani nationals associated with such networks." The section includes a national security

waiver. The bill also requires a report to Congress that includes a "description of Pakistan's

efforts to prevent proliferation of nuclear-related material and expertise" and an "assessment of

whether assistance provided to Pakistan pursuant to this Act has directly or indirectly aided the

expansion of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program." The committee report underlines continuing

concerns about getting full information about the activities of the Khan network and development of Pakistan's own nuclear arsenal:

Pakistan's history of nuclear development and Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan's establishment of a

nuclear proliferation network remain a source for concern to many in the United States,

particularly since the Committee understands that representatives of the United States have

not interviewed certain individuals involved in the network. The Committee believes the

United States should continue to engage the Government of Pakistan on the network, and

should, as necessary, obtain direct access to the individuals covered by this subsection,

including Dr. Khan. The Committee also maintains strong concerns regarding recent reports

of Pakistan expansion of its nuclear arsenal. Given the expanding threat of Pakistan's

domestic insurgency, the Government of Pakistan's further development of nuclear materials

appears inconsistent with its immediate security threats and is unhelpful in the context of

efforts to strengthen U.S.-Pakistani relations.

H.R. 1886 was introduced April 2, 2009, and referred the same day to both the House Foreign

Affairs Committee and Rules Committee. The Foreign Affairs Committee reported the bill May

22, and the Rules Committee discharged it the same day. The bill was referred to the House

Armed Services Committee May 22 and discharged June 2. On June 11, the House passed H.R.

1886, which was appended to H.R. 2410, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years

2010 and 2011. H.R. 2410 has been received by the Senate and referred to the Senate Foreign

Relations Committee.

The Senate passed the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009 (S. 962) unanimously on

June 24, 2009. This bill would provide aid to Pakistan but does not include conditions regarding

the nuclear nonproliferation or nuclear weapo

About the Author

[mage lang="" source="flickr"]cipd employment law certificate[/mage]

CV or not CV? That is the question

"Technical Skills and Hobbies:  Advanced knowledge of Java programming language, extensive use of MySQL and primary developer of the first commercial atomic clock. Atomichron.

BASE jumping, deep-sea diving and bullfighting; Indonesian Snake Charming apprentice during my spare time."

We sometimes hear of cases where employees have lied about particular aspects of their educational background and previous employment on their curriculum vitae. Take the (in)famous case back in 2007 of Patrick Imbardelli. After progressing rapidly through his career in the hotel industry, Mr Imbardelli became Chief Executive of the InterContinental Hotels Group's (IHG) Asia Pacific region. As well as an annual remuneration of £350,000, Mr Imbardelli was named ‘Asia Pacific Hotelier of the Year' and was highly regarded as one of the best in his industry. However, following a check on his acadmic background, IHG discovered a slight anomaly with the three degrees Mr Imbardelli claimed he had from the universities of Victoria and Cornell.  The anomally? He didn't actually graduate! (The Independent on Sunday, 2007). Perhaps it didn't matter so much in this case as he was clearly very good at his job! 

Deception is a concern though. You might think that such cases are few and far between, however, The 2008 Recruitment and Retention Survey performed by the CIPD found that each year, a quarter of UK employers found that applicants / employees had lied on their CV (CIPD, 2008). As an employer, this may seem like an awfully high – and somewhat worrying – figure.

Last year a senior NHS HR manager, Kerrie Devine, was given a six-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay £9,600 in compensation after claiming falsely she held a degree in HR Management and was part way through a CIPD course.

In March, a senior NHS manager was given a 12-month suspended prison sentence and told to carry out 200 hours of unpaid community work. Hasan Tahsin made fraudulent claims about his qualifications and memberships of professional bodies when he applied to several posts at five NHS trusts between March 2004 and March 2009. The skills required, including project management and estates management, were essential for each position.

Mr Tahsin was found out following an audit of senior managers' qualifications for the trust. He was arrested and interviewed by the NHS Counter-Fraud Service in May 2009 – when he admitted he had lied to get the jobs – which fraudulently earned him £245,246 during his time there.

That said, there are a number of steps that you can take throughout the application and employment process to help ensure that your employee is qualified for the job.

Finding the right applicant starts at the recruitment and screening stage. Firstly, you must decide whether you want your applicants to simply hand in an up-to-date CV, fill in an application form or both. Application forms can be designed and populated in such a way as to collect the exact data specific to the job role. It also makes the comparison of information submitted by a large number of applicants easier.

Next comes the interview stage. As the interviewer, you will need to gather as much information as possible relating to the applicant's skills and competences within a relatively short period of time. Prepare in advance questions that seek to explore your applicant's academic background and work experience. Use open questions to ensure that you give your applicant the chance to make the best of themselves during their interview and give you the satisfaction that you have formed a good and accurate impression of said applicant.

Ask applicants to bring in original certificates and qualifications and take a copy.

We always recommend some form of relevant testing to gather additional data. Any tests used must be relevant, non-discriminatory and consistently applied.

When you're at the stage of making an offer, do take up references. DO NOT trust your instincts! When contacting referees, you can request the following information:

• Start and end dates;
• job title and final salary;
• number of days absence due to sickness;
• any disciplinary sanction which is still live;
• whether the employee resigned or was dismissed;
• appraisal rating.

Finally, there is the probation period. This is normally a three month period at the beginning of employment where you (and your employee) have a right to terminate his/her contract of employment should you see fit. A probation period gives the chance for:

• you to assess an employee's skills and whether his/her experience can be shown in practical terms;
• you to see if the new employee works well with the rest of the team and see if the team are happy with his/her performance;
• your new employee to become comfortable with the day-to-day tasks and daily office routine within you company and raise any issues he-or-she may have.

Whatever your decision when considering your recruitment process, it is important to know how to manage the process efficiently and effectively. Russell HR Consulting provides expert knowledge in the practical application of employment law. Visit our website: http://www.russellhrconsulting.co.uk/ for further details.

About the Author

At will employment: Does this mean you have to tolerate excessive bullying and non-sexual harassment? ?

I work in North and South Carolina which are both At Will Employment States. There are no protections for employees who are being harassed and bullied by their employer because of outdated employment laws dating back to cotton picking workers. I have been harassed to the point of termination and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. The Human Resources Department could not do anything to help because that would be seen legally as admission of guilt on the part of the employer so I was not able to do anything. This group of managers has gotten away with this type of treatment for years and there seems to be no way of stopping them. Is Anyone in North Carolina or South Carolina ever going to stand up for the workers?

You need to get a lawyer asap. Tell them your problem and I am sure they will have some solutions for you. If what your saying can be proven then you have a lawsuit against these people. Also, at will employment just means they can fire you or get rid of you for any reason or no reason at all.

Mesriani Law Group: A Law Firm You Can Trust

Why is legislation / employment law important in upholding and protecting the rights of BOTH employer/employee

This is part of my "work within your business environment" study for a degree. I need some brainstorming ideas here...

Employment Law is a very complicated field of law. It is also very misunderstood.

Employment law in the United Kingdom
============================
During much of the Nineteenth century the employment contract was based on the Master and Servant Act of 1823, designed to discipline employees and repress the 'combination' of workers in Trade unions.

Employment Law in the United Kingdom has developed rapidly over the past forty years, due to a historically strong Trades Union movement and to the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union. In its current form, it is largely a creature of Statute, (Acts of the UK Parliament) rather than Common Law.

Leading Employment Law Statutes include the Employment Rights Act 1996, the Employment Act 2002 and various legislative provisions outlawing discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion and, from 2006, age.

Unusually for UK legislation, the operation of the Employment Law system is broadly similar across the whole of the UK. There are some differences in the common law between England & Wales and Scotland and, in addition, Northern Ireland has extra anti-discrimination legislation.

Summary of Internal Employer's Process
==============================
After the employer's own processes, such as disciplinary hearings and internal appeals, have been exhausted, employment law cases usually start by the aggrieved employee presenting a complaint to an Employment Tribunal (ET). These (as Industrial Tribunals) were set up under the 1964 Industrial Training Act, although they now have a substantially greater role and do count as courts. They have sometimes been referred to as industrial juries.

Northern Ireland offers a Fair Employment Tribunal and an Industrial Tribunal. These are administered by OITFET - the Office of the Industrial Tribunal and the Fair Employment Tribunal.

As from 1st October 2004, both employers and employees will be required to follow a statutory dispute resolution procedure when effecting dismissals or dealing with grievances. A failure by the employer to follow the procedure results in the dismissal being automatically unfair and an enhancement in any compensation payable to the employee. A failure by the employee in following the procedure results in a possible bar to bringing tribunal claims or a reduction in any compensation payable.

Summary of Tribunal Process
======================
Generally speaking a tribunal will hear specific complaints about an aggrieved party being deprived of their rights, including (but not limited to) unfair dismissal.

In short, a claim is submitted, a response is required by a certain deadline, any preliminary issues are dealt with at a case management conference or a pre-hearing review, a period of time is allowed for ACAS (UK) or the LRA (NI) to explore settlement options, and then the tribunal orders are sent out after the ACAS conciliation period has expired leading to a full merits hearing of one or more days. Complex cases that are not resolved in one day are carried over to a remedy hearing at a later date to discuss the award only. A judgment is then sent out with the parties given 14 days to ask for written reasons behind the decision (unless they ask on the day).

Complaints to Tribunal and Time Limits
============================
A complaint of unfair dismissal can only be made where there has been a dismissal, so that there is no general right to complain of unfair treatment. An employee may, however, complain at any time that they consider a statutory 'employment protection' right has been infringed. Where this takes place in connection with a dismissal an employee may combine this with their complaint against the dismissal.

Except where no qualifying time limit applies (as in the case of 'statutory rights') an employee needs to have worked for their employer for a least a year in order to make a complaint of unfair dismissal to an employment tribunal. In addition, a claimant may raise a complaint of discrimination without claiming dismissal or whilst also claiming dismissal but without one year of service. Claimant's with less than one year's service may find their unfair dismissal claim is brought to a pre-hearing review where they are asked to explain why they feel they can bring a claim without a year's service, i.e. dismissal due to a public interest disclosure or for being a trade union member. Most tribunal offices however write to the claimant upon receipt of their claim form telling them that they have 14 days to show why their claim should be heard, otherwise the chairman will strike out the claim.

In certain circumstances, an employer's conduct could be such that an employee is entitled to resign in response and to regard that as an unfair "constructive" dismissal. Failure by an employer to extend a fixed term contract can also be an instance where a claim for unfair dismissal may be made.

Employment regulations play a key role in the development of any business. Sometimes, building a team with complementary skills involves little more than a quick chat with someone who has been introduced to them by a business associate. No psychometric tests, references or formal contracts of employment here.

Often, employees or team members are taken on without sufficient protection in terms of valuable intellectual property or a means to prevent ´moonlighting´or unfair competition when they leave.

Emerging businesses and entrepreneurs can have the basis of a fantastic business, but, once they start employing people, things can go wrong.

Employees can rip companies off by stealing their ideas or passing them on to subsequent employers, who have not invested heavily in the underlying research and development.

Even if employees do not take ideas or indulge in unfair competition, poor performance can itself damage the business.

Not only that but any attempt to discipline or improve the errant employees can lead to employment tribunal claims, where, for example, unlimited damages can be awarded where discrimination is proved.

The year 2003/4 saw 115,000 employment tribunal claims in the UK, of which over 31,000 resulted in a hearing. Any trouble like this is inevitably a very disruptive and costly event for any business with limited management resources.

The stakes are high. Though the average settlement was £7,275, some race and sex discrimination claims resulted in awards against employers of around the £0.5m mark.

Traditionally, smaller and emerging businesses have adopted a reactive approach. Employment lawyers are called in when an errant employee claims the rights to technology developed in his or her employment or where a tribunal claim is threatened.

It is much better to make sure that he or she has the necessary employment contracts in place and the appropriate procedures.

Contracts should specifically address the issue of research and development and who owns the rights to such material etc. Normally, this will be the employer, but it is unwise to rely solely on this generalisation.

The procedures covered should include those for grievances and disciplinary matters. Commonly, equal opportunities, bullying, harassment and even the use of company emails are also covered.

From stealing ideas and information through to the incorrect use of emails, the risks are significant.

For further information please refer to the below Source List

How To Become a Paralegal or Legal Assistant

[mage lang="" source="flickr"]employment law verifying references[/mage]
I have an employment law question....?

I am asking for someone eles....
If you have been with the same employer
for over a year, is it legal for them to expect
you to go back to your References you listed
on your application and have them verify in
writing that THEIR ( the references ) degree or license is legal?
Isnt this something that should be done by
Human resources?

It's probably legal, but I cannot think for the life of me why would that matter to a company a year later.

Furthermore, a company listed as a reference doesn't have to give that information to anyone, and AS an employer, I would find that so odd, I would refuse to do it on principal.

Licenses are public information...that's another reason why it would be an odd request.

CareGivers America Non-Medical In-Home Health

[mage lang="" source="flickr"]llm employment law distance learning[/mage]

Study in Northumbria University

University of Northumbria is one of the Britain’s best modern universities, offers 200 undergraduate and 100 postgraduate courses.

University of Northumbria is known for its excellence of teaching. University of Northumbria has been awarded five National Teaching Fellowships for its excellent teaching facilities. Primary and secondary initial teacher education programmes of University of Northumbria are rated as outstanding by OFSTED.

Study in University of Northumbria is one of the fourth university of U.K to have both primary and secondary aspects of initial teacher education graded as “A”. At University of Northumbria quantity and quality goes hand in hand. University of Northumbria is rated excellent by Quality Assurance Agency in 17 subject areas.

Business School of Northumbria University is one of the longest business schools in U.K .School of Built Environment of University of Northumbria is a partner of Regional Centre for Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development. School of Built Environment of University of Northumbria is rated as best performer in research related to Architecture and Built Environment. University of Design has won MPA roses creativity award, three design directions awards and two prestigious yellow pencil awards. According to Research Assessment Exercise 50% of research in midwifery and nursing is assessed as internationally excellent.

University of Northumbria is ranked as top 10th university for sports in U.K. Psychology of Northumbria University is accredited by British Psychology Society.  Over 95% of graduates of University of Northumbria get employment within six months of graduation. LLM in Child Law provides opportunity to its students to work full time along with there studies. All English Language Programmes of University of Northumbria are accredited by British Council. University of Northumbria provides NORA to its students. NORA is a search engine which allows its students to access online library resources. University of Northumbria provides work based learning to its students. This programme helps students in gaining practical experience along with academic recognition. Career services of Northumbria are accredited by matrix quality standard.

University of Northumbria has award winning learning resource support service. Online library provision of University of Northumbria has won Web Feat Presidents Award .In 2006 University of Northumbria was named most IT Enabled Organization in the computing. University of Northumbria focuses on practical studies rather then research. University of Northumbria provides confidential counseling to its students. University of Northumbria also provides advice and support regarding mental health. University of Northumbria is a member of EUREC agency since 1991.School of Design of University of Northumbria is one of the leading fashion school of U.K. University of Northumbria seeks collaboration and partnership with reputable educational institutions throughout the world. University of Northumbria is a registered consultant with World Bank.

Study in UK University of Northumbria provides virtual learning environment to its student. Courses in University of Northumbria provides 25 distance learning courses. These courses are designed to offer real skills which are relevant in today’s global work place. University of Northumbria is ranked 4th in Art & Design and 3rd in history of art by Research Assessment Exercise. Business and Management education of University of Northumbria is rated among top universities of U.K. University of Northumbria also provides nationally recognized educational & training programmes .These programmes of University of Northumbria help its students to become qualified leaders & volunteers. University of Northumbria has recruitment team and this team provides link between universities, colleges and schools for higher education.

About the Author

Siddharth Gupta of Global Opportunities is a well known consultant for graduate and postgraduate study in UK. He has written several articles on topics like, Why Study in UK .His company provides active assistance for graduate and postgraduate Study in Northumbria University among others

Annual holiday..is this enough by law?

Hello,
Im just wondering if my husband is getting enough holiday in his employment.
He works a 60 hour week and gets 3 weeks paid leave a year plus all bank holidays.
Is this right?

The following is a cut & paste from the acas website.

Most workers - whether part-time or full-time - are legally entitled to 4.8 weeks' paid annual leave. Additional annual leave may be agreed as part of a worker's contract. A week's leave should allow workers to be away from work for a week – ie it should be the same amount of time as the working week. If a worker does a five-day week, he or she is entitled to 24 days leave. If he or she does a three-day week, the entitlement is 14.4 days leave. Employers can set the times that workers take their leave, for example for a Christmas shutdown. If a worker's employment ends, he or she has a right to be paid for the leave time due and not taken.

The Government plans to increase the annual leave entitlement from 4.8 weeks to 5.6 weeks from 1 April 2009. If you work a five-day week, your holiday entitlement will increase from 24 days to 28 days (pro rata for part-time staff). The Work and Families Act will not create a legal right to have a paid day off on Bank Holidays and this remains a contractual matter.

For further information see Holiday Entitlement (BERR) at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform website. (opens in a new window)

End of paste.
Bank Holidays are only given at employers discretion and are not a legal right. So if your husband is getting all 8 plus three weeks a year
15 & 8 is 23 so he is not getting his full entitlement.

6 Degrees : Nuevo HR : Standard Contract of Employment : Part 6/13

[mage lang="" source="flickr"]employment law bfoq[/mage]

Background Checks and Your Privacy

If you are faced with the possibility of having to undergo a background check as a prerequisite for obtaining a new job you may be wondering how your right to privacy conflicts with your employer's right to know more about you; especially with regard to any possible criminal history and past job performance. As a person whose company has performed tens of thousands of background checks I would like to present some facts of which you may not be aware.

Fact #1: Virtually all criminal records are public. If you commit a crime or even if you don't and you are charged with a crime, the record of that is available to the public. Courts have records of all crimes or suspected crimes that made it to court. Some police departments make their arrest logs available.

"What about the presumption of innocence?" you may ask. That is still in effect, but nevertheless the charges brought against you are public record. In fact, anyone can go down to the local courthouse and request to see your record, and they don't even have to be a citizen. About half of the country's criminal records are available online in some form or another, often on fee or subscription sites.

Juvenile records are the exception to this rule and are generally sealed unless the person was tried as an adult for a major crime.

If you have a minor crime in your past, try to get it expunged from the record. Technically an employer can't deny you employment if you had a minor criminal record in your past where you were found not guilty. Like the old saying, "You can't un-ring a bell." Once they see a criminal record it tends to stick in their minds. Getting a record expunged is relatively simple and usually doesn't require an attorney. There are internet companies that specialize in expungement.

Fact # 2: There is no magic government database that lists all of your previous employment and education. A surprising amount of otherwise smart people ask me, "Can you get a list of someone's previous employment and verify it?" The simple answer is No. There is no database with your employment listed. Remember, background checkers are verifiers. You have to give us the info, we then verify it.

Fact # 3: Employers can get credit info on you. Employers can order a Credit Report which is a specially designed credit report specifically for employment purposes. It is exactly the same as a regular credit report with two important exceptions; It doesn't show your credit account numbers and it doesn't tell your age or date of birth. The good news for you is that you are notified whenever one of these reports is ordered on you.

Most credit bureaus require a separate consent form signed by you to enable the employer to order a credit report. This is to prevent having the consent text buried in the fine print of and employee background check consent form and having the report ordered without your express permission.

Fact #4: Employers can ask your date of birth for the purpose of obtaining your criminal history, because criminal records are searched by name and date of birth. What they may not do is discriminate based on your age. There are still people out there that think that if a potential employer asks for their date of birth that they can automatically sue for age discrimination. No, you have to be discriminated against first. Most recent legislation has set the bar much higher for age discrimination lawsuits. You have to show a pattern of age discrimination by the employer, which is vastly more difficult to prove.

Throughout the 15+ years that I have been doing background checks I have had many, many arguments with people and attorneys (a little joke here) who say that an employer may not ask for age or date of birth. They are wrong, Period. Saying, "Show me the law." usually works against their argument, but for the really hard cases I always ask them if, at their business, the human resource people are blindfolded when they conduct an interview. "Why would they be?" they ask. To which I reply, "God forbid that they could tell the applicant's sex, race, religion, national origin, etc, all things that an employer may not discriminate against.

Another word about discrimination: While the above is true, some legal discrimination does occur. (How many old, fat lifeguards have you seen at the beach, for example?) The acronym is BFOQ which stands for Bona Fide Occupational Qualification which basically means that if a church wants to hire a pastor, they can require that he be of that faith or if a clothing designer wants to hire a model to model women's clothes he/she can hire a woman. Likewise there can be physical ability requirements.

Remember that an employer can legally not hire you because you smell bad or your mommy dresses you funny. My point is; don't give someone an excuse not to hire you. Be at your best and be well prepared.

Fact # 5: Employers have a right to see your SS#. Technically they are allowed to see it at the time of hiring, not necessarily when you are applying. It's a fine distinction, but an important one.

Fact # 6: You have the right to see the background check report especially if you were denied the job based on the results of the background check. If my company, BCI, did your report and an error was made, we would want to know about the errors and so should your employer. FYI; federal law requires background check companies like ours, to reinvestigate any claim (in writing) by you, the applicant, within five days of the report being issued. My company, BCI, has extended that guarantee to 30 days.

Fact # 7: Employers can ask previous employers anything they want. When verifying your previous employment the new employer can ask anything they want about your work habits, character, initiative, conduct or anything else thy want to know. The previous employer doesn't have to answer any of those questions of course, and in fact, most don't.

Mom and Pop employers are most often do this. When asking the questions they are not doing anything illegal, in fact, they are probably smart.

Conversely, when answering the questions, we recommend that previous employers stick to documentable facts and not express their opinion. Here is an example that really happened: We asked the previous employer what they could tell us about applicant's competency and character. The previous employer responded that the applicant was slothful and was always late for work and didn't care about his job. A better answer would have been, "We have a company rule that if you are late three times that you are written up. He was written up three times in one year. That can be documented and does not contain the respondent's opinion. You can't sue someone for telling the truth. Well, you can, but you won't win.

About the Author

Kit Fremin is the owner and founder of Background Check International. Since 1994 BCI has served clients as varied as: the LA Times, Department of Defense, Mars, Inc., the UN, the NTSB and Calvary Chapels nationwide. His website is: www.bcint.com and he can be e-mailed at kit@bcint.com.

GETTING PLAYED - Part 6 - BFOQ (subtitled in English)

Reporter shot dead in Phuket
Police found a slip in his wallet indicating Mr Somchai, a reporter at a local Korean language newspaper, was due to appear as a defendant in a robbery case later this month. He was also carrying a kn...
Haleigh Cummings: Family remains hopeful for the holidays

[mage lang="" source="flickr"]employment law statute of limitations[/mage]

Credit Repair: Statute of Limitation Tips

Statute of Limitation Violations

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) amendment to the FCRA of 2003, is the federal legislation that governs the credit reporting industry. Statutes of limitation for reporting time limits are provided by this legislation. Knowing how these time limits work is essential to any effective credit repair effort.

In Plain English

Let’s try to put some of this jargon into plain English. The term “statute of limitation” in the case of your credit reports, simply refers to the maximum amount of time that a derogatory item can continue to be reported. When the statute of limitation passes for any negative item on your credit report, that item should vanish. There are an amazing number of violations of these time limits that may appear on your report. Some violations are intentional as in the case of many of the collection accounts that we see, and others are due to a simple failure of the highly complex credit reporting system. A careful credit repair effort can eliminate these violations.

An Interesting Point

In a moment we will review statutes of limitation for the most common types of derogatory information. But you might find it interesting to know that the Federal Trade Commission permits the credit bureaus to delete information at any time at their discretion. There is no requirement that the bureaus wait until the passing of a statute of limitation date to stop reporting.

Collections and Charge Offs

Collections and charge offs must cease reporting seven years plus 180 days from the initial delinquency that led to the collection status or to the charge off. The initial delinquency is the date of the first 30 day late status that led to the collection or charge off. This period of time cannot be reset by any subsequent payment or for any other reason. The clock starts with the original creditor. Collectors such as assignees, attorneys, or collection agencies must abide by the same original statue of limitation expiration date. Neither the original creditor nor collectors can extend these reporting limits. Any attempt to do so is illegal. Unfortunately this law is often ignored. Effective credit repair efforts require a very exacting examination of these dates.

Bankruptcy

Chapter 7 bankruptcies can report for 10 years from the discharge date. Chapter 13 bankruptcies can report for 7 years from the filing date. But be aware that if the Chapter 13 is not completed the reporting limit is extended to 10 years. I mentioned above that the credit bureaus are allowed to delete information from your report prior to the expiration of statute of limitation. Any credit repair effort should take this flexibility into consideration. Bankruptcy is a case where we highly recommend requesting removal. If you are five or more years past discharge your request may be honored.

Tax Liens

Paid tax liens can report for 7 years from the date of payment. Unpaid tax liens can report for as long as they are in effect. Please be aware that most unpaid tax liens are released by the IRS after 10 years. The IRS will usually provide a lien release upon request after the 10 year limit has past. When you provide the release to the credit bureaus they will cease reporting. There are cases that allow the IRS to re-file. Please speak to your CPA or tax attorney for clarification before contacting the IRS!

Judgments

Generally, unpaid judgments will cease reporting 7 years after the filing date. However, unpaid judgments are a case where state statute of limitation will overrule federal statute. Your state may allow unpaid judgments to report for longer than 7 years. State statutes of limitation are easily found on the internet. Paid judgments may be reported for 7 years from the filing date. No state statutes may overrule federal limits for paid judgments.

Gone but Not Gone

Derogatory information that falls off of your credit report due to an expiration of the statutory time limit does not get deleted. This obsolescent information should not continue to appear on your credit report, but it is not gone. If you apply for a loan for over $150,000, life insurance with a death benefit over $150,000, or a job that pays over $75,000, your potential lender, insurer, or employer has the right to view your prior history. This fact adds some additional support to the case for credit report vigilance. If you are attempting credit repair and have erroneous info on your report it is best to dispute it now. Waiting for the statue of limitation to pass may not produce the clean result that you want. Disputed items that get deleted are literally removed from your credit report.

Copyright © 2007 James W. Kemish. All Content. All Rights Reserved.

About the Author

Jim Kemish is the president and founder of Power Mortgage, a Florida mortgage company based in Delray Beach, Florida. Power Mortgage Corp was established in 1989 and serves the states of Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Virginia. Jim is also the President of Sky Blue Credit, a national credit repair business.

Going To Court in South Carolina- Law Bytes

[mage lang="" source="flickr"]statistics on employment law violations[/mage]

Ohio Law Limits Teen Passengers

According to the Public Safety Department, 16-year-old drivers were at fault in 85 percent of the fatal crashes in which they were involved in 2006.

And, among 16- and 17-year-olds, one passenger in an automobile statistically doubled the risk of a crash occurring. Traffic crashes are the number one killer of teenagers.

Consider the following national statistics:

* Two of every five teens dying in America do so as the result of a traffic crash

* Total costs associated with traffic deaths for children 14 and younger amounts to $11,000,000,000 annually

* 60 percent of teen traffic crashes occur on roadways with posted speed limits of 40 miles per hour or less

* Three-fourths of all traffic crashes occur within 25 miles of the victim's home.

Provisions of the law include:

* Drivers under 17 may have only one non-family passenger, unless the driver is accompanied by their parent or guardian

* 17- and 18-year-olds are forbidden from driving between 1 and 5 a.m., unless they are accompanied by their parent or guardian (exceptions include travel to and from school activities or job, with documentation provided by employers)

* Probationary license holders 16 and younger may not drive between midnight and 6 a.m. unless they are accompanied by their parent or guardian (exceptions include travel to and from school activities or job, with documentation provided by employers)

* Temporary instruction permit holders 17 and younger may not drive between midnight and 6 a.m. unless they are accompanied by their parent or guardian who holds a valid license

* Passengers under the age of 15 must use approved restraint systems, such as a seat belt.

* If a driver 16 and younger is convicted of a moving violation within the first six months after receiving their license, they will be required to be accompanied by a parent or guardian when driving for six months after the conviction or until the driver turns 17. (daily-jeff.com/news/article/1816271)

Considering these statistics, parents need to be more vigilant in protect their teens. Always know where your teen is and what he or she is doing. With a GPS unit installed in the teen's vehicle, you can always check to be sure your teen is safe. This is not a violation of your teen's privacy, this is your responsibility as a parent. Ohio is doing its part as a state to try to save the lives of teens. As a parent, do all you can to protect your teen.

About the Author

Lillie Davis is an authorized distributor of the Millennium Plus GPS System. Protect your

family and your assets with GPS tracking.

For more information or to demo, go to:

http://www.falcongpstracking.com

http://www.falcongps.blogspot.com

3/4/10: White House Press Briefing

Canadian (ontario) employment law question?

Can you get fired for failing to take any shifts that you WERENT scheduled for, but they called you asking if you could come in?
Am i obligated to take a certain number of those shifts?
Or can I say NO every time and not be punished?

In Ontario, an employer can terminate an employee's job for any reason provided written notice or pay in lieu of notice is given.

In other words, you can say no to additional shifts and ultimately be fired (with written notice of pay in lieu) because of it.

As a manager, I have less value in an employee that never takes additional shifts compared to one that takes the shifts and helps me (and the business) out.

It may be a good idea to have a chat with your boss to explain why you can't take additional shifts, or to narrow what days they ask you to come in ("I'm usually free on Thursdays, if you need me to cover on that day let me know")

Firing - 12 Danger Zones

Law Degree?

I have recently been accepted at Cambridge - u.k. to study law.

Yes it is true you will probably find it easier to be employed by the top law firms than someone who went to Plymouth, but you have to rememeber that times are changing and alot of these law firms and chambers are actually now shying away from the elitist universities. It could sometimes depend on your background, race, and gender as the legal system is trying to make itself seem more equal. So you may find you have gone to Cambridge and still be unattractive to law firms.

Also your work experience and results matters equally as much as what university you have gone too. The elitism of law is dying. But with a degree from Cambridge, because it is so well renowned, whether you get a 2.1 or a 2.2 you will still be able to find a job out of law much easier. Mainly because you will have a degree from a prestigious university.

Law is law at all universities, it may be taught differently but it will not be any harder than at any other university in the UK. Although at Cambridge you are expected to dedicate alot of your time to your degree. In fact you are not even allowed to have a job, otherwise you will be kicked out of the university.

Philadelphia Employment Law Attorney Paoli Lawyer PA

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Florida Mortgage, $8000 Tax Credit

FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYER TAX CREDIT INFORMATION for Florida Mortgage applicants
 

Frequently Asked Questions
 In 2008, Congress enacted a $7500 tax credit designed to be an incentive for first-time homebuyers to purchase a home.  The credit was designed as a mechanism to decrease the over-supply of homes for sale. 
 
For 2009, Congress has increased the credit to $8000 and made several additional improvements.  This revised $8000 tax credit applies to purchases on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009. 
 
Tax Credits -- The Basics
 
1.       What’s this new homebuyer tax incentive for 2009?
 
The 2008 $7500, repayable credit is increased to $8000 and the repayment feature is eliminated for 2009 purchasers.  Any home that is purchased for $80,000 or more qualifies for the full $8000 amount.  If the house costs less than $80,000, the credit will be 10% of the cost.  Thus, if an individual purchased a home for $75,000, the credit would be $7500.    It is available for the purchase of a principal residence on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009. 
 
2.       Who is eligible?
 
Only first-time homebuyers are eligible.  A person is considered a first-time buyer if he/she has not had any ownership interest in a home in the three years previous to the day of the 2009 purchase.
 
3.       How does a tax credit work?
 
Every dollar of a tax credit reduces income taxes by a dollar.  Credits are claimed on an individual’s income tax return.  Thus, a qualified purchaser would figure out all the income items and exemptions and make all the calculations required to figure out his/her total tax due.  Then, once the total tax owed has been computed, tax credits are applied to reduce the total tax bill.  So, if before taking any credits on a tax return a person has total tax liability of $9500, an $8000 credit would wipe out all but $1500 of the tax due.    ($9,500 - $8000 = $1500)
 
4.       So what happens if the purchaser is eligible for an $8000 credit but their entire income tax liability for the year is only $6000?
 
This tax credit is what’s called “refundable” credit.  Thus, if the eligible purchaser’s total tax liability was $6000, the IRS would send the purchaser a check for $2000.  The refundable amount is the difference between $8000 credit amount and the amount of tax liability.  ($8000 - $6000 = $2000)  Most taxpayers determine their tax liability by referring to tables that the IRS prepares each year.  
 
5.       How does withholding affect my tax credit and my refund?
 
A few examples are provided at the end of this document.  There are several steps in this calculation, but most income tax software programs are equipped to make that determination.
 
 
 
6.      Is there an income restriction?
 
Yes.  The income restriction is based on the tax filing status the purchaser claims when filing his/her income tax return.  Individuals filing Form 1040 as Single (or Head of Household) are eligible for the credit if their income is no more than $75,000.  Married couples who file a Joint return may have income of no more than $150,000. 
 
7.       How is my “income” determined?
 
For most individuals, income is defined and calculated in the same manner as their Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) on their 1040 income tax return.  AGI includes items like wages, salaries, interest and dividends, pension and retirement earnings, rental income and a host of other elements.  AGI is the final number that appears on the bottom line of the front page of an IRS Form 1040.
 
8.       What if I worked abroad for part of the year?
 
Some individuals have earned income and/or receive housing allowances while working outside the US.  Their income will be adjusted to reflect those items to measure Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI).  Their eligibility for the credit will be based on their MAGI.
 
9.       Do individuals with incomes higher than the $75,000 or $150,000 limits lose all the benefit of the credit?
 
Not always.  The credit phases-out between $75,000 - $95,000 for singles  and $150,000 - $170,000 for married filing joint.  The closer a buyer comes to the maximum phase-out amount, the smaller the credit will be.  The law provides a formula to gradually withdraw the credit. Thus, the credit will disappear after an individual’s income reaches $95,000 (single return) or $170,000 (joint return). 
 
For example, if a married couple had income of $165,000, their credit would be reduced by 75% as shown:
 
 Couple’s income    $165,000
Income limit          150,000
 Excess income                     $15,000
 
The excess income amount ($15,000 in this example) is used to form a fraction.  The numerator of the fraction is the excess income amount ($15,000).   The denominator is $20,000 (specified by the statute).
 
In this example, the disallowed portion of the credit is 75% of $8000, or $6000
($15,000/$20,000 = 75% x $8000 = $6000) 
 
Stated another way, only 25% of the credit amount would be allowed.
 In this example, the allowable credit would be $2000 (25% x $8000 = $2000)
 
 
10.   What’s the definition of “principal residence?”
Generally, a principal residence is the home where an individual spends most of his/her time (generally defined as more than 50%).  It is also defined as “owner-occupied” housing.  The term includes single-family detached housing, condos or co-ops, townhouses or any similar type of new or existing dwelling.  Even some houseboats or manufactured homes count as principal residences. 
 
11.    Are there restrictions on the location of the property?
 
Yes.  The home must be located in the United States.   Property located outside the US is not eligible for the credit.
 
12.   Are there restrictions related to the financing for the mortgage on the property?
 
In 2009, most financing arrangements are acceptable and will not affect eligibility for the credit.  Congress eliminated the financing restriction that applied in 2008.  (In 2008, purchasers were ineligible for the $7500 credit if the financing was obtained by means of mortgage revenue bonds.)  Now, mortgage-revenue bond financing will not disqualify an otherwise-eligible purchaser.  (Mortgage revenue bonds are tax-exempt bonds issued by a state housing agency.  Proceeds from the bonds must be used for below market loans to qualified buyers.)
 
13.   Do I have to repay the 2009 tax credit? 
 
NO.   There is no repayment for 2009 tax credits. 
 
14.   Do 2008 purchasers still have to repay their tax credit?
 
YES.  The $7500 credit in 2008 was more like an interest-free loan.  All eligible purchasers who claimed the 2008 credit will still be required to repay it over 15 years, starting with their 2010 tax return. 
 
Some Practical Questions
 
15.   How do I apply for the credit?
 
There is no pre-purchase authorization, application or similar approval process.   All eligible purchasers simply claim the credit on their IRS Form 1040 tax return.  The credit will be reflected on a new Form 5405 that will be attached to the 1040.  Form 5405 can be found at www.irs.gov.
 
16.  So I can’t use the credit amount as part of my downpayment?
 
No.  Congress tried hard to devise a mechanism that would make the funds available for closing costs, but found that pre-funding would require cumbersome processes that would, in effect, bring the IRS into the purchase and settlement phase of the transaction. 
 
17.  So there’s no way to get any cash flow benefits before I file my tax return?
 
Yes, there is.  Any first-time homebuyers who believe they are eligible for all or part of the credit can modify their income tax withholding (through their employers) or adjust their quarterly estimated tax payments.  Individuals subject to income tax withholding would get an IRS Form W-4 from their employer, follow the instructions on the schedules provided and give the completed Form W-4 back to the employer.  In many cases their withholding would decrease and their take-home pay would increase.  Those who make estimated tax payments would make similar adjustments.
 
Some “Real World” Examples
 
18.  What if I purchase later this year but can’t get to settlement before December 1?
 
The credit is available for purchases before December 1, 2009.  A home is considered as “purchased” when all events have occurred that transfer the title from the seller to the new purchaser.  Thus, closings must occur before December 1, 2009 for purchases to be eligible for the credit.
 
19.   I haven’t even filed my 2008 tax return yet.  If I buy in 2009, do I have to wait until next year to get the benefit of the credit?
 
You’ll have a helpful choice that might speed up the process.  Eligible homebuyers who make their purchase between January 1, 2009 and December 1, 2009 can treat the purchase as if it had occurred on December 31, 2008.  Thus, they can claim the credit on their 2008 tax return that is due on April 15, 2009.  They actually have three filing options. 
 
·         If they purchase between January 1, 2009 and April 15, 2009, they can claim the $8000 credit on the 2008 return due on April 15.
·         They can extend their 2008 income-tax filing until as late as October 15, 2009.  (The IRS grants automatic extensions, but the taxpayer must file for the extension.  See www.irs.gov for instructions on how to obtain an extension.)
·          If they have filed their 2008 return before they purchase the home, they may file an amended 2008 tax return on Form 1040X.  (Form 1040X is available at www.irs.gov) 
 
Of course, 2009 purchasers will always have the option of claiming the credit for the 2009 purchase on their 2009 return.  Their 2009 tax return is due on April 15, 2010.
 
20.   I purchased my home in early 2009 before the stimulus bill was enacted.  I claimed a $7500 tax credit on my 2008 return as prior law had permitted.  Am I restricted to just a $7500 credit?
 
No, you would qualify for the $8000 credit.  Eligible purchasers who have already claimed the $7500 credit on a 2008 return for a 2009 purchase may file an a