Employment Discrimination Lawyers and Labor Law Lawyers

E-books download?

Please tell me the name of any site from where i can dowmload e-books for free or copy the books available on those sites for free. I m specifially looking for books on topics like

Download a bit torrent file before you download off of these sites. (found at download.com)

1. http://www.torrent-finder.com
1. http://www.torrentspy.com

Search through those sites.

Fazio DiSalvo Cannon Abers Podrecca Fazio & Carroll FL

employment law question?

religious practices such as wearing certain clothing:
a.) need not be accommodated by the employer.
b.) must be allowed only if the position does not involve interaction with the public.
c.) need not be accommodated if other employees object.
d.) must be accommodated y the employer unless it would cause undue hardship.

Must be accommodated.

Some examples for clothing might be jobs that require specific uniforms.

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how many employment law cases happed in the united states in 2006?

how many employment law cases happed in the united states in 2006?

There's no way to tell. the first problem is the use of "happened" - what does that mean? Cases that resulted in demands? Cases that resulted in actual lawsuits being filed?

The easiest, indeed, probably the only statistic, you could find would be the number of lawsuits. You'd have to go state by state to see if the court systems track them by category... then get federal statistics, and do the math.

The problem is that here the category would most likely be contract - and few systems probably track by the word employment.

It's Your Law, Mike Kuborn

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Can my employer reduce my pay?

I work at a resort in the state of Florida. I am a supervisor of a bar at a restaurant. When I received the promotion to bartender supervisor, I was told I would receive $8.50 an hour plus service charge/tip. Also, any other time when I was not working as a bartender, but as the Manager On Duty (MOD) only, I would make $12.50 an hour only. Recently, I was told that the "supervisors" at only our restaurant would receive a $4 an hour pay cut, therefore, making only $8.50 an hour at all times, even when only having an MOD shift. Is it legal for them to do this? I have done some reading about state of Florida employment laws and almost all employees in Florida are considered at-will correct? Does this mean my boss can do whatever he wants? If further clarification is needed, please let me know.
And what are the elements of a written contract?

Unless you have a written contract, there is nothing preventing an employer from cutting your pay.

16 most common Lawn Care Business Insurance questions - GopherHaul Podcast

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Question about Minnesota Labor laws?

I am an hourly manager at a restaurant and last week, I was put in the position of firing an employee. He had been repeatedly warned, written up, and spoken to for his conduct and non-performance. The firing came after he had been given (verbally & in written form) his last chance to improve. Backing me, the Kitchen Manager signed off on his termination.

He was fired...letting him come back to work constitutes a rehiring...meaning...you can refire him, but only if you have cause (Minnesota is the only state in the country that requires this). The cause will have to be based on conduct AFTER the most recent hiring...by hiring him back, you've waived the right to fire him for anything he did before that point.

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Can I purchase a firearm in PA?

I was a born resident of PA and I moved to NY state for employment. I recently moved back to PA to my parents house but I still have a NY id. I plan on changing it back to PA eventually but I want to buy a firearm now before Obama modifies the laws. I also have a passport stating I was born in PA. Could I use the passport as an ID for purchasing a firearm in PA?

It doesn't matter where you were born, it matters where you are considered a legal resident right now. You have to be living in a state for at least one year before you can be considered a resident. That doesn't really matter though, because NY state residents can buy firearms in PA.

If there's some sort of special restriction on it because it's considered an assault weapon in NY then I would just say have your parents (or someone else you know) buy it and then once you become a PA resident you can buy it from them (they'll be grandfathered in and private sales can't be restricted).

Moving Forward on a New Foundation

I was fired for refusing work 'til sevrl mnths of unpd. ovrtime was reslvd. How do I handle this in an interv.

I worked for a Pennsylvaniia company in California and they refused to pay me for my overtime and travel pay. I won a settlement before the State of California Employment Commission. The company has since gone out of business and the President convicted of EPA violations and export law violations for dealings with Iran. How do I address this period of employment with this company in an interview coming up.

your explanation sounds fine to me
tell the truth

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What do you know about labor and employment law in the public sector?

What are job conditions like? pay? benefits? social life? hours? I've only been able to find a minimal amount of information online. Links to any websites (besides Vault.com) with this kind of information would be much appreciated. Personal experiences much desired. (Particularly in the Washington D.C. metro area)

One of the biggest public section organizations is CSEA in Albany, NY. Over the years they have won excellent pay, benefits, and job protection for their members. Look them up.

NRTW Urges Obama Administration Uphold Ethics Pledges

Debate on state's climate change law hits home
AZUSA - Automotive engineer and hot rod aficionado Gale Banks pointed to various engines and cars in his shop last week and criticized state regulations for "bogging down" his ability to advance the clean, efficient diesel technology that won those engines awards.
Rahul Gandhi in Wardha (Maharashtra),31-03-2009

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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.
SCOPE: "Together Our Voice Can Change The World"

I am seeking employment w/the UN or WTO. I need help getting in, help me with suggestions????

I am interested in an entry level position w/the UN or WTO as an Legal Officer/Compliance, Patent & IP/Advisor, International Trade Regulation Compliance or Human Rights Officer. As a former U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer and graduate of Law School. I would love an entry level position in Switzerland. I need help getting in, do you know of a career counselor that specializes in this area that is located in Seattle or Tacoma Washington? I need help getting in these organizations!

Apply directly to any of the office attached to the United Nations in order that you will not be victimized by fixers.

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Do I Need An Attorney To Fight A Traffic Ticket?

Like clockwork I'm asked at least once a week whether I would suggest a potential client retain my services to fight a traffic violation in court. Like everything else in life, there are no cut and dry answers to this question. However, there are some general rules of thumb as to when it's in your interest to have a criminal defense lawyer or DUI lawyer by your side in court and when it might not be the wisest financial choice.

1.) If charged with a criminal traffic offense such as Operating a Motor Vehicle While Intoxicated, Driving While Suspended, Reckless Driving, etc., it is almost always in one's interest to have a criminal attorney by your side.   Any traffic offense that can land you in jail and/or with a suspended license is one that should be handled by a criminal attorney. Depending upon the jurisdiction, too many good people make the critical mistake of thinking that a court appearance is not a big deal if it is heard in traffic court. After all, "I'm not a criminal" such people say to themselves, why do I need to retain a criminal defense lawyer? Whether one likes it or not, drunk driving, driving while suspended , reckless driving etc. are considered criminal offenses in nearly all American courtrooms.

Unfortunately, one always has to keep in mind that a traffic law prosecutor often gets promoted on the severity of the criminal sentence imposed and NOT in looking out for one accused of a driving offenses best interests. As a result, it is often imperative that one accused of such a criminal offense in traffic court not leave potential criminal penalty and/or license suspension in the hands of one assigned to prosecute you for a criminal offense.  By sending a message to a prosecutor that you will not be taken advantage of, it is often only the services of a criminal attorney that can eliminate the prospect of jail and/or probation with costly impediments to your liberty and livelihood.

By finding ways to reduce criminal charges that may otherwise prevent license suspensions with costly increases in high risk insurance rates or by impressing upon a prosecutor that it will require more effort than a prosecution is worth not to resolve the case in a prompt and fair manner, an effective criminal attorney is often well worth the financial investment.  Depending upon the state, it is always advisable to consult with a criminal lawyer for free as to the criminal offense charged in traffic court and a winning strategy to employ within the particular courtroom one finds themselves in.

2.) One does not need to employ a criminal defense lawyer or DUI attorney if charged with a traffic "infraction" that may not result in possible jail time or possible driver's license suspension.  In most American courtrooms a traffic infraction is a traffic violation that is punishable by monetary fine and/or adverse points to your driving record.

Unless  circumstances exist where too many traffic infractions accumulated may result in a license suspension by your state's department of motor vehicles, it is usually a wiser financial move to save whatever monies would be payable to a criminal attorney and use it to pay for any potential traffic fine for the violation. Yes, a defense attorney may be willing to fight an infraction for you in court at trial. However, in good conscience there are many criminal attorneys such as myself who take the position that such actions usually do more to benefit the financial interests of the trial attorney as opposed to the client paying them.

"But the police officer was wrong to ticket me, do I not have the right to go to trial?" Yes, you have the right to trial. However, unlike a criminal case standard whereby a prosecutor must find a criminal defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to sustain a criminal conviction, a traffic infraction is far different. To sustain a conviction for a traffic infraction, a prosecutor need only prove evidence of a driving offense by a "preponderance of the evidence," or in plain English, "more likely than not."

In the real world "in my opinion" too many judges are constrained in siding for those challenging traffic infractions, for to side with one challenging a ticket is to rebuke a police officer who will undoubtedly come before that same judge on a regular basis. Are there courageous and principled jurists in infraction trials, undoubtedly yes. However, weighed against the significant financial resources one must pay a criminal attorney or DUI lawyer to fight such an infraction and the steep odds against the average person's word against a police officer's, one may find it far less costly to pay the ticket at an early stage in the proceedings without being victimized further at a later date.  

Alternatively, if one's driving record is good, it is always wise to inquire whether  the local prosecutor and/or court has a traffic deferral program, safe driver program or some other program with a name touting the virtues of safe driving.  Often for less than the price of paying a ticket, one with a good driving record can have their case dismissed upon payment of fine and no further traffic violation within a prescribed period of time.

About the Author

For a Top Indiana Criminal Defense Lawyer serving Indiana. Stark Law Offices, 201 N. Illinois, Indianapolis, IN (317) 273-8888, 450 E. 96th St., Ste. 500 Indianapolis, IN (317) 818-6035, 450 E. 96th St., Ste. 500 Indianapolis, IN 46240 (317) 818-6035 Indiana traffic tickets.

Blood In The Water: Law 101 with Manfred Von Karma

Border Patrol Fitness Standards? Any current or former CBP Agents out there?

Hi. I just recently passed my pre-employment fitness test for CBP, but I had a question about the Physical Efficiency Battery one has to pass to graduate from the Border Patrol Academy.

The PEB is NOT averaged into your Academy score nor is it a pass or fail test. It is administered to gauge your level of fitness at the beginning and end of the program. You take it twice and hopefully improve the second time. The confidence course is not part of the PEB.

There are three parts to the PT final that you have to pass in order to graduate and keep your job. They are - and in this order with little rest in-between:

-1.5 mile in under 13 minutes.

-The Confidence Course in under 2.5 minutes,

-Sprint 2/3 of the track in under somewhere around 40 seconds. No one ever fails this part.

The PT final is administered toward the end of the academy but also at the midterm. You don't have to pass the midterm but it can be an insurance policy should you get injured at some point and be unable to do the final.

There is also a swimming portion you must pass. It involves doing a dead man's float for 20 minutes and climbing then free-falling from a very high rope ladder. Students with a fear of heights have struggled mightily with this. Not everyone passes.

Someone from BORTAC and SRT will explain their standards when you get to the academy, but you're a long way from there and the other special details my friend! Good luck with everything and feel free to e-mail me with any questions having anything to do with the Border Patrol.

Affirmative Action is Racist !! (New Edition)

California Hispanic Discrimination Lawyer And Latino Civil Rights Attorney Discusses Discrimination Against Hispanics, Latinos And Mexican-Americans

As the economic downturn worsens and unemployment rises in America, civil rights advocates and lawyers and Hispanic, Latino and Mexican-American discrimination attorneys in California fear the result may be an increase in discrimination toward Hispanics, Latinos and Mexican-Americans in the U.S.

If you have been the victim of discrimination toward Hispanics, Latinos or Mexican-Americans, visit our website at http://www.CaliforniaAttorneysLawyers.com and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website.

While America has always stood for being a country with diverse ethnic cultures that make us great, the fear is that those who have the least, may suffer the most in this economic downturn as unemployment rises and jobs, even those that were previously unwanted, now become a precious commodity.

At the Law Firm of R. Sebastian Gibson, California Hispanic, Latino and Mexican-American Discrimination Lawyer, Sebastian Gibson has always stood for the protection of the civil rights of everyone living in the U.S. We fight for the rights of Hispanics, Latinos and Mexican-Americans to be treated with the same respect and the protections afforded to them under the law as every one else should be in America. And we are concerned that in these uncertain times, Hispanic, Latino and Mexican-American families do not become the object of discrimination when we should all be pulling together to help each other in times of need.

While African-Americans in this country have for many decades, always suffered the most unemployment, Hispanics and Latinos are not far behind. And while African-Americans can now look to President Obama as an inspiration to what a person can do of any race, Hispanics, Latinos and Mexican-Americans as well as other minorities, still suffer from discrimination in the work place and in daily life.

Instead of becoming a society where the rich cultures of Hispanics and Latinos are shared with other cultures in America, too much of the country remains segregated where Hispanics, Latinos and Mexican-Americans either choose to live or can only afford to live where the majority of their citizens are concentrated in parts of cities away from where Caucasians, African-Americans or other minorities live. There are many causes of discrimination, all of which are idiotic, but the less interaction different cultures have, the more likely it is there will be discrimination by those who do not relate to each other.

Studies have found that nearly three in every ten Hispanic workers feel they have been discriminated against in their employment. Some report being referred to with racial slurs at work while one in four feel they are paid less and have reduced career advancement prospects than their Caucasian counterparts. In many organizations, there is a scarcity of Hispanics, Latinos and Mexican-Americans in management positions.

FBI statistics show a dramatic increase in anti-Hispanic hate crimes. And sadly, hate groups are increasing due to anti-illegal immigration concerns.

One would have thought that as a result of this situation, that there would be a flood of civil rights advocates and anti-discrimination lawyers fighting for the rights of Hispanics, Latinos and Mexican-Americans. Yet, that is not the case.

A symbol of discrimination to many Hispanics, Latinos and Mexican-Americans is the construction of the U.S.-Mexico border fence which is actually several separation barriers designed to prevent illegal movement of goods and people across the U.S. and Mexico border.

The U.S.- Mexico border fence is reportedly nearing completion as this article is being written in March 2009. While much of the purported reasoning for the multi-billion dollar fence was based on preventing the entry of terrorists into the country, many feel that reasoning is flawed while our border with Canada remains open. While the efforts have also been aimed at stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S. a secondary effort is to prevent the flow of weapons bought in the U.S. and smuggled into Mexico.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said that even the fence will not stop illegal immigration along the border with Mexico, although it may help prevent those who are crossing illegally from blending immediately into some town populations. However, the fence is not continuous and where there are gaps, surveillance technology must be utilized. And then, there remains the fear that tunnels will be used even more extensively than in the past.

Over forty tunnels have been found since 2001 and some have been extremely sophisticated. One such tunnel from Tijuana to San Diego was half a mile long, sixty to eighty feet deep, and eight feet tall. It had drainage, electricity and a concrete floor, and its entrance from the California side was in a modern warehouse. The entrance to the tunnel in Mexico was in another building.

It should be noted that the border with Mexico is 1,951 miles in length. The fence that is reportedly nearing completion was only completed for approximately 600 miles in February 2009, when news reports came out that the fence was nearly finished.

As a result of the construction of the barrier, there has now been an increase in the number of people trying to cross in such areas as the Sonoran Desert and over the Baboquivari Mountain in Arizona where no fence exists. This requires crossing 50 miles of inhospitable terrain to reach the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation, which many fear may lead to an increase in migrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border if the smugglers try these more difficult routes.

In the last thirteen years, there have been around five thousand migrant deaths along the border. The U.S. Border Patrol Tucson Sector reported on October 15, 2008 that its agents saved 443 illegal aliens from almost certain death after being abandoned by their smugglers. Without the efforts of these border patrol agents, many more deaths would have occurred and may occur in the future.

The U.S.-Mexico border fence has been controversial, to say the least, since its inception. It has been condemned by the government of Mexico and opposed by many in the U.S. as well. Tribal lands of three American Indian Nations will be divided by the border fence and the campus of the University of Texas at Brownville will be divided into two parts according to a vice president of the university. A section of the barrier was even mistakenly built inside Mexican territory requiring its removal and rebuilding at a cost of over three million dollars.

Visit our website at http://www.CaliforniaAttorneysLawyers.com and call us if you have been the victim of discrimination toward Hispanics, Latinos or Mexican-Americans.

There is no excuse for discrimination in America. If you have been the victim of discrimination against Hispanics, Latinos or Mexican-Americans, call California Civil Rights Lawyer Sebastian Gibson for a consultation.

About the Author

Visit our website at http://www.CaliforniaAttorneysLawyers.com if you have been the victim of discrimination toward Hispanics, Latinos or Mexican-Americans. We have the knowledge and resources to be your California Civil Rights Lawyer and California Civil Rights Attorney anywhere in Southern California from San Diego to Orange County, and Santa Barbara to Palm Springs and all points in between.

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A total of 14 candidates—from seasoned political veterans to first-timers—are on the ballot as voters begin selecting their choice to fill the vacancy in Hawaii's 1st Congressional District.
Legal Questions : What Is an Employment Background Check?

HIPPA/Employment law violation. Where do I report it to?

My coworker was recently let go from the medical group she worked for. Her supervisor had on numerous occasions looked into her medical records to see if she had infact gone to the doctor and looked at what she was seen for( we work for a large medical group she also doctors at). The supervisor got a 3 day with out pay slap on the wrist. I am wondering who she can report this to outside the company. I feel this medical info was used against her and got her fired. How would she get someone to investigate this?

If SHE, not you, wants to contact an attorney she can. A true violation could net her ALOT of money, and would more than likely be settled out of court since the supervisor already got hit for it.

The Law Offices of Harry Waddell - Medical Malpractice

Do i have a case against my new employers?

I was offered a job with my local council working with vulnerable children aged 14-19 on condition of an enhanced disclosure. the disclosure came back clear except the additional comments box which stated i was due at court to answer allegation of theft from my previous employer. i kept my new empolyer aware of this but they have since removed the offer of employment to me because of this. Do i have any reason to challange this...ie do i have a leg to stand on as i have no convictions and i do not pose a threat to the clients id be working with

Unforunately I don't think you do.

My bf was in the same situation he made his new employer aware that he had a previous convinction of driving with an out of date MOT. They let him start the job then when his disclosure came back with the conviction on it 4 weeks later they retracted the offer of employment and this was just a job working in sales but you had to go into people's home.

However, saying that you do not actually have a convinction however they do have the right to retract the offer of employment for anything that shows on your disclosure that may pose as a threat to the people you will be working with whether it is a criminal convinction or a pending court case.

Although most company's or places will not even offer you the job never mind put you through a disclosure if you have pending court cases and convinctions some still do.

They have to be stricter on these things now a days since all the scandals with the people who have slipped through the net or who were still offered a job and subsequently used the postion to harm others.

An employer, in some circumstances, can retract the offer of employment within the first 3 months for any reason the means you are no longer suitable for the job.

However, you don't need to take my word for it lol.

No seriously if you think you were wrong done by take it further and just see's what happens the worst they can say is they were within there rights.

online employment jobs for kids age 14 online work for teens

The employment at will states that any employer can fire an employee without reason. On the other hand, it?

also allows the employee the free will to quit at any time. However, I think this law sucks, especially given this tough economic times. The reason being, is because the employer can always look and get your replacement before he fires you unexpectantly. Meanwhile, you, the employee, is left without a job and is forced to find something quickly. Also if you quit without notice, then it is a sure bet that you will not get a reference from them, and no future employer would take a risk on hiring you. My question is, do you agree we need to get rid of this law? and what can be done to change it in your state.
Good Point Teekno....For some reason I didn't think about that. The moral of the story is that if you do plan to quit, then you better have another job lined up to replace it. In other words, it's always a bad idea to throw out the baby with the bathtub.

Well, you can also look for a new job before quitting your old one. It works both ways.

The only economic model that absolutely guarantees continued employment was outlawed by the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution.

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UK Employment Law. Holidays & Sickness. Redundancy

Redundancy Payments

You may recall that in the budget earlier this year, Alistair Darling declared that to assist people being made redundant, the maximum week’s pay for the purposes of the statutory redundancy payment would be increased from £350 to £380.  However employees made redundant in the meantime will not be able to benefit from this largesse as it will only come into force on the 1st October 2009. There will then be no further increases till February 2011. In other words, the budget announcement may have looked good, but will not make a great deal of difference in practice.

Just as a reminder, employees with over two years service who are made redundant are entitled to receive a statutory redundancy payment of a weeks pay to a maximum (of currently £350) x full years worked x 1.5 for years worked over the age of 41. This can be easily calculated by visiting http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/employment/employment-legislation/employment-guidance/page33157.html.

Employees are also entitled to contractual or stautory notice (whichever is greater), or payment in lieu. Statutory  notice is 1 week for each full year worked to a maximum of 12 weeks.

The same method is also used to calculate ‘basic’ awards in unfair dismissal cases (‘compensatory’ awards in unfair dismissal being for the loss of earnings etc until the employee finds suitable alternative employment)

Accruing Holiday When Off Sick

Do employees on long term sick leave continue to accrue paid holiday under the Working Time Regulations? Back in January we reported the European Court of Justice decision in Stringer v HMRC which ruled that:

 A worker who is on sick-leave for the whole of an annual leave year is entitled to a period of four weeks' paid annual leave, despite the fact they are not actually at work. In other words the right to paid holiday accrues even for employees on long term sick leave.

 The ECJ sent this back to the House of Lords to decide how this works in UK law which this week has held that this right can be enforced under the Employment Rights Act. What does that mean in practice? It means that the limitation period for bringing a claim is three months from the date of the last ‘deduction’ complained of (rather than three months for each deduction). Still not clear? Well, it means a lot more employees on long term sick leave will be able to sue if they don’t get paid holiday. Good news for employees; not such good news for employees.

In January, the ECJ suggested that that annual leave accrued by a sick worker must be carried over (rather than being forfeit if unused at the end of the particular holiday year). This however is something that the UK Regulations do not provide for, and which the House of Lords do not appear to have cleared up either. The best thing employers can do in the meantime is to address sickness absence issues before they become long term.

www.reculversolicitors.co.uk  

About the Author

James Carmody is lawyer advising on UK employment law in Central London. Please let me know if there are any issues arising in this article that you would like to discuss by contacting jrc@reculversolicitors.co.uk . (http://www.reculversolicitors.co.uk)

Dianne Quinn on BLR's 2008 National Employment Law Update

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Can someone explain this to me please realating to LAPD Citizenship?

i want to join the lapd but i don't understand on joinlapd website

Before you (a non-citizen) apply at the lapd you have to have a green card and have the receipt notice that you filed your N-400 (naturalization application) with USCIS. They will take you with a pending citizenship application, but they will fire you if you haven't received your citizenship within 3 years of hire.

Jack on the 2009 ERI California Employment Law Update

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Tackling Employment Issues in California

California ranks among the ten largest economies in the world. Expectedly, with the rise of its economy comes the increase in its employment opportunities.

In a place where employment opportunities are vast, it is inevitable that employment disputes or suits will ensue. When this happens, there are California employment lawyers who are competent and expert in handling employment claims or cases.

Significance of Hiring an Employment Lawyer

The complexities of employment and labor laws are indisputable. Several laws including state statutes, administrative regulations and judicial decisions make up these laws.

Almost all these laws including minimum wage regulations have been enacted to protect the labor force. Other employment laws, such as unemployment compensation, take the form of public insurance.

These and more are difficult for an ordinary person to understand. It will take an employment lawyer to enlighten him/her of what the law means.

How to Select an Employment Lawyer

Choosing a lawyer whom to employ is not easy as choosing your food in the menu. It involves difficult and strategic process.

You can determine by consulting a lawyer alone if he or she suits your legal needs. You can search the web, ask for referrals or consult friends or family to find one whose skills are already tested by experience.

Bear in mind that while all lawyers are licensed to practice law in California, not all of them focus in the field of employment law. They too like doctors tend to specialize.

Having that in mind, choose someone who has gained the knowledge and experience in handling labor cases. Usually, those who are good have established good reputation in the community.

Below are areas of employment which non-employment lawyers may not have enough expertise on:

• Employment Discrimination




• Unemployment Compensation




• Pensions




• Worker's Compensation




• Collective Bargaining Agreement




• Workplace Safety

How to Handle Employment Disputes

Employment disputes may not always resort to lawsuits. One way of preventing it is by way of alternate dispute resolution.

Dispute resolution includes a variety of procedures in settling a legal issue in employment. The parties may resort to arbitration, mediation, or conciliation. All of which are reasonable means of resolving a dispute. In fact, they are widely recommended under the Americans with Disabilities Act in resolving conflicts.

At this stage, it is essential that you have the best bargaining representative to give you the maximum employment settlement. That is why, it is best to hire a California employment lawyer.

Only when the above processes failed that the aggrieved party may want to pursue a case in court. At this point, the case is tried on the merits. Going to court without a lawyer is stupidity! 

How to Deal with Employment Suits

When a dispute is brought to court, the case is tried on the merits. The first issue that will be resolved is whether an individual is an employee or not.

Determination of such issue alone entails a lot of work. Just imagine the work load if the issue involves complicated areas of employment law such as wrongful termination, whistle blowing, discrimination, workers compensation, harassment,  and other unfair practices by the employer.

Our California employment lawyers can help you settle any of your legal problems regarding your work. Just log on to our website and learn more of our areas of expertise.

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.

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In Australia, Is it legal to quit before the commencement day of a job after signing the employment contract?

It is not an AWA. It is a common law employment contract which includes a three-month probation period and the employment can only be terminated by either party given one month notice after the probation period. The contract is silent on the termination conditions required during the probation period and the period between signing the contract and prior to the commencement date. If you have the legal expertise or opinion please help me, the company is threatening to sue me for walking away one day prior to the start date saying my notice was too short and has caused detrimental effect to the business of the company. Do they have a case? Am I breaching the contract? Thank you heaps for your opinions

just call in every day sick (or say you dont feel like working today)they will give up & let you go or sack you

Pendlebury Workplace Law - employment law legal practice

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What does the law say about employment history checks?

Can my former employer disclose why I left my job or can they only disclose start and end dates? I also omitted 2 former employers from my resume because I was only there for less than a month. Can new employers somehow find about these former employers if I omit them from my resume? If so, how? Through public records? My social security number? Do new employers have to inform me in writing if they will be doing an employment history check?

Can new employers somehow find about these former employers if I omit them from my resume? If so, how?

Yes unfortunatly they can, and one place I am applying for now uses theworknumber.com and they show your past ten years of employment history, and there are MANY agencies that do the same thing as well.

Non-Competition Agreements: History

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Summerville considers illegal immigrant ban
SUMMERVILLE -- Councilman Walter Bailey said he wants to make a statement about the federal government's lack of action on illegal immigration.
Constitutional Homeland Security part 2.wmv

Can you be Refused a Job or a curriculum because you have an STD?

Alright well i have this friend who is attending a program called Job Corps. and hes telling me that they test everyone there for STDs and if they find one then you are not allowed to attend. Now i can understand wanting to keep that out of your living quarters, but isn't it illegal to refuse someone employment on the fact they have a disease? I think that would be a form of discrimination of some kind and if so i would love if someone could show proof that this is in fact against the law if not then I'd love for someone to show me proof that it is in fact legal.
Please and thank you in advance
you are a huge help!

I am a current Job Corps student. They do test you for STDs, but if you have one, they don't send you home for good. If it's something they feel that your home doctor should deal with, they will send you on medical leave but you are welcome back to the program as soon as your doctor gives it an ok.

Thomas Sowell talks about his new book Economic Facts and Fallacies

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Protesters storm cordons at National Party conference
Protesters broke through security and police cordons at the SkyCity Grand Hotel, while next-door John Key announced sweeping changes to employment law at
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Legal Knowledge?

Please tell me name of sites from where i can download books on the following topics or can gain knowledge on them for free:

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MoreCriminal Defensequestions please visit : LawyerFreeFAQ.com

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The United States Constitutional Requirements Of Due Process Applied To The Public Employment Relationship Of School Personnel In Texas

The United States Constitutional Requirements of Due Process Applied to the Public Employment Relationship of School Personnel in Texas

Barbara A. Thompson, M.S.

PhD Student in Educational Leadership

College of Education

Prairie View A&M University

Administrative Assistant

College of Engineering Graduate Affairs and Research

William Allan Kritsonis, Ph.D.

Professor and Faculty Mentor

PhD Program in Educational Leadership

Prairie View A&M University

Member of the Texas A&M University System

Visiting Lecturer (2005)

Oxford Round Table

University of Oxford, Oxford England

Distinguished Alumnus (2004)

Central Washington University

College of Education and Professional 

ABSTRACT

 Most of the legal disputes arise out of the employment of public school personnel.  Laws that affect the employment relationship, the constitutional concept of due process of law, different employment arrangements available to public schools in Texas, the hiring and firing process, and the legal issues that arise in these contexts are examined.

Introduction

The United States (U.S.) Constitution applies to the public employment relationship (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2005).  This fact distinguishes public employment from private employment.  The due process of the Fourteenth Amendment is not invoked in the private sector and it is not a guarantee against incorrect or poor advisement.  According to the U.S. Constitutional requirement of the due process clause, states must afford certain procedures before depriving individuals of certain interests.   Laws and legal proceedings must be fair.  When a person is treated unfairly by the government, including the courts, he is said to have been deprived of or denied due process.  (The Lectric Law Library's Lexicon on Due Process, n.d.).  The focus is on deprivation of liberty or property.  Certain procedures are considered due process and certain interests are life, liberty, or property.  The Supreme Court requires individuals to show that the interest in question is either their life, their liberty, or their property.  If the interests are not in either of these categories, life, liberty or property, no matter how important it is, it doesn't qualify for constitutional protection.  The U.S. Constitution only restricts governmental action.

Rights can be regulated or taken away altogether if due process of law is provided (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2005).  The due process clause serves to the use of fair procedures, more accurate results that would prevent the wrongful deprivation of interests.  Due process provides individuals the opportunity to be heard from their point of view.  This allows the individual to feel that the government has treated them fairly.  The due process clause is essentially a guarantee of basic fairness by giving proper notice, providing an opportunity to be heard at a meaningful time in a meaningful way or a decision supported by substantial evidence.  The more important the individual right in question is, the more process that must be afforded (Exploring Constitutional Conflicts, 2009).

The Purpose of the Article

The purpose of this article is to focus on the constitutional concept of due process of law, different employment arrangements available to public schools in Texas, the hiring and firing process and the legal issues that arise in these areas.

The Constitutional Concept of Due Process

            In any personnel decision, the question is whether the employee was deprived of any property or liberty with the constitutional guarantee of due process of law.  The 1972 U.S. Supreme Court case of Board of Regents v. Roth, ruled that teachers are protected under the 14th amendment property right of continued employment if the state law gives them a legitimate claim of entitlement to it (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2005).  Before any process is due, there must be state action and a significant, more sudden and dramatic deprivation of life, liberty or property.  For example,

            The federal court is not the appropriate forum in which to review the multitude of

personnel decisions that are made daily by public agencies.  We must accept the harsh fact that numerous individual mistakes are inevitable in the day to day administration of our affairs.  The United States Constitution cannot feasibly be construed to require federal judicial review for every such error.  In the absence of any claim that the public employer was motivated by a desire to curtail or to penalize the exercise of an employee's constitutionally protected rights we presume that official action was regular and, if erroneous, can best be corrected in other ways.  The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is not a guarantee against incorrect or ill-advised personnel decisions.  (Russell v. El Paso I.S.D., 1976, p. 565.)

When the government deprives an individual of life, liberty or property, the due process clause is invoked.  A property right protected by the Fourteenth Amendment may not be taken away without providing a person with due process (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2005).  Governmental action is restricted by the U.S. Constitution.  In the private section, the due process clause is not invoked.  Due process is not an absolute.  It varies according to the deprivation of property.

            When a person accepts a position with a school district on an at-will basis, he or she has no property right in the job (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2005).  There is an at-will employee contract that incorporates an at-will relationship.  If the at-will employee points to the employee's policies and procedures manual as reasons not to be fired, no process is due.  The at-will employee has a contact where the at-will relationship is stated and each party is free to end the employment relationship without notice, hearing or good cause (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2005).  There is no property right in the job, therefore no process is due.  If the employee's contract is not renewed and the contract has run its full course, there is no process due.  If the contract is not renewed and there is another year on the contract, then due process is invoked.  The employee who has a contract is entitled to due process.  

Due process for a terminated employee includes giving timely notice of why the termination is occurring, a fair hearing so that the employee can defend himself, names and the nature of the testimony of witnesses against the employee must be available, and sufficient evidence to establish a good cause for dismissal must be presented (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2005).  The employee can be on the job for thirty years or the employee can be a one year probationary teacher.  If the contract was terminated before the stated expiration date, the property right of the individual is in question and due process is invoked.  Texas employees are allowed an independent hearing.  Any decision to terminate a contract comes back to the school Board before it is final.  The employee must produce clear evidence if they charge the Board with partiality.

            The liberty right of the individual addressed in the Fourteenth Amendment suggests that the parent has a right to select a non-public school, the right to privacy and the right to a good reputation.  In the 1972 Supreme Court case Wisconsin v. Constantineau (p.437), the employee stated the government put his name, honor and reputation at state, therefore a notice and an opportunity to be heard was essential.  Stigmatizing statements create a right to a name clearing hearing only if they arise in conjunction with termination or non-renewal of employment as in the Siegert v. Gilley, 1991 court case.  If the employee publicized the defamatory remarks, due process is not invoked.  There is no right to a name clearing hearing.  In Burris v. Willis I.S.D., 1983, a teacher claimed that when a board official read a letter about him at an open board meeting and in so doing, it violated his constitutional rights by depriving him of a liberty right to a good reputation.  The teacher's claim was rejected because the file was kept confidential. 

Employment Arrangements, Contracts and Legal Recourse

            There are six types of employees within the public school (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2005).  They are at-will employees, non-chapter 21 contract employees, probationary contract employees, term contract employees, continuing contract employees and third-party independent contract employees.  Legal issues arise within each area when the relationship is ended. 

At Will Contracts

The at-will employee has a contact where the at-will relationship is stated and each party is free to end the employment relationship without notice, hearing or good cause.  This employee can be terminated for good reasons, bad reasons, or ‘no reason at all'.  ‘No reason at all' refers to a reason based on a bad reason that violates state or federal law.  If the decision is a wrongful discharge and the employer violated state or federal law, the employee can sue (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2005).  The at-will relationship is the norm in the private sector.  For example, an employee in at at-will relationship in the private sector can be described as an employee working for 30 years and quit his or her job tomorrow.  Also, an employee can go into work the next day and be fired (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2005).   The terminated at-will employee can file suit alleging his discharge was due to retaliation for his exercise of his constitutional rights when he or she blew the whistle on wrongdoing.  The terminated employee can also file discrimination based on race, sex, religion, age, national origin, or disability if it can be proven.

Chapter 21 and Non Chapter 21 Contracts

Teachers certified under chapter 21 of the Education code must have a contract.  Chapter 21 employees include the classroom teacher, librarian, nurse or counselor, which means a probationary, term or continuing contract.  Section 21:201 describes a teacher under term contract law as a supervisor, classroom teacher, counselor or other full-time professional who must be certified under Subchapter B or a nurse.  Non-chapter 21 employees do not need a contract and do not require certification.  They are not subject to an independent hearing system or statutory non-renewal process.  Positions such as business manager, director of transportation, director of construction and facilities or director of maintenance do not require certification.   If there is a written employment contract, and the employee alleges the district violated the contract and meant him monetary harm, the employee can appeal to the commissioner pursuant to TEC § 7.107.

Probationary Contracts

            Probationary contracts are for those teachers who have never taught before or who have not been employed for two consecutive years subsequent to August 28, 1967. (TEC § 21.102.  The probationary period can be as long as 3 years except for experienced educators with previous employment in public school for 5 of the 8 preceding years.  The probationary teacher will serve under a 3 consecutive one-year probationary contracts.  Probationary periods can be for a semester when the school year falls in the middle of the year.  A probationary teacher can resign without penalty up to forty-five days before the first day of instruction.  If school starts in mid-August, the teacher must resign before July 1 or suffer sanctions imposed by the State Board of Educator Certification.  A probationary contract can be non-renewed by the board even if the superintendent recommended that it be renewed (Berry v. Kemp I.S.D.).

Term Contracts

            After the probationary period, the teacher must receive either a continuing or a term contract (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2005).  The length of the contract and the process for renewal, nonrenewal, or termination determines which contract to offer.   A classroom teacher, superintendent, principal, supervisor, counselor or other full-time professional employee who holds a certification or a nurse may be offered a term contract.  A term contract has a beginning date and an end date and is any probationary Chapter 21 contract for a fixed term that can be as long as 5 school years.  As the end date approaches, some action must be taken.  The resignation date for a term employee is 45 days prior to the first day of instruction which is the same for probationary employees (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2005).  A term teacher contract can be renewed by the school, non-renewed or terminated.  Termination refers to the action of the district to end the contract prior to its normal expiration date.  The teacher is deprived of property interest and good cause, thus due process is required. 

A non-renewal of contract refers to the school district letting the contract expire.  The employee is permitted to fulfill the terms of the contract and no new contract is offered.  If there is a multi-year contract, the district extends the contract each year or if the contract is not extended in the 2nd year, it is still valid for that year.  The contract is non-renewed.  A term contract teacher is entitled to a hearing prior to nonrenewal.  Once the teacher receives notice, a hearing can be scheduled within 15 days with the board or an independent hearing system that is closed to the public, unless the teacher requests an open hearing.  A term contract teacher can be suspended, but not beyond the school year, without pay for good cause as determined by the school board.  The teacher is entitled to request an independent hearing or the district can suspend the teacher with pay and non-renew the contract at the end of its term.  The district must give notice of a proposed non-renewal to the teacher 45 calendar days before the last day of instruction.  If the 45 days are not adhered to, the contract is automatically renewed.  Complaints of procedural irregularities in the appraisal process cannot be resurrected at the contract non-renewal process (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2005).

When the superintendent contract is up for non-renewal, reasonable notice of the reason for the proposed non-renewal must be given before the 30th day of the last day of the contract term.   In contrast, the teacher term contract does not require reasonable notice of the reason for the proposed non-renewal.

Continuing Contracts

            A continuing contract is issued to a classroom teacher, superintendent, principal, supervisor, counselor or other full-time professional employee who was eligible for a continuing contract.  The contract rolls over form one year to the next year without the necessity of board action.  Non-renewal does not apply to continuing contracts.  A former administrator, who moves into a teaching position and teaches children, can be issued a continuing contract.  There is no specific length of time for continuing contract.  The contract remains in effect until the teacher resigns, retires, is terminated, or is returned to probationary status.   The continuing contract teacher can be terminated according to the independent hearing system, at any time for good cause (failure to meet the standards of conduct for the profession as generally recognized and applied in similarly situated school districts in the state) as determined by the board of trustees (TEC §21.156).   Instead of discharge, a school can suspend a continuing teacher contract with notice, entitlement to an independent hearing, and without pay for a period of time not to exceed the current school year.  The continuing teacher contract can return to a probationary status, provided the teacher consents to the move (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2005).

Third-Party Independent Contracts

            Full vested educators in the Texas Teacher Retirement system (TRS) could retire, begin drawing benefits, and them go to work at a salary equivalent to or better than what they had been making.  School Boards could begin hiring teachers and not be burdened with having to treat them as employees.   The teachers would keep their benefits under TRS (Att'y Gen. Op. GA-0018, 2003).  If a school principal was dissatisfied with a teacher, he would call and ask for a different teacher.  The school district did not employ the teacher and there was no contract and no legal requirements to end the relationship.

The Hiring and Firing Process

            In 1992, the legislature created State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC), a 14 member board, as the key entity to oversee and regulate all aspects of the certification, continuing education, and standards of conduct of public school educators.   SBEC has power to adopt rules for out of state educators, certification, requirements for renewal of certificates, and disciplinary procedures for suspension and revoking a certificate as well as approval and continuing accountability of such programs (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2005).  The board must annually review the accreditation status of each educator preparation program.  An advisory committee has to be appointed by SBEC for each class of educator certificates.  These rules must be submitted and reviewed by the State Board of Education and can be rejected by SBOE by a 2/3 vote.  A public school district can hire certified and licensed employees.  Certified employees are teachers, teacher interns, teacher trainees, librarians, educational aids, administrators, and counselors.  Licensed employees are audiologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, physicians, nurses, school psychologists, associate school psychologists, social workers, and speech pathologists (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2005).

            Texas public school districts are governed by the same laws that prohibit discrimination laws based on race, sex, religion, age, national origin, sexual harassment, and disabilities.  Nondiscrimination laws apply to all employees regardless of the contract and have implications for the hiring process.  Those involved in the hiring process need specific training (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2005). 

            School districts are not required to advertise or post vacancies in their school.  Advertising is a choice the school makes so that they can defend themselves against discrimination.  The school board adopts policies regarding the employment and duties of personnel.  The superintendent has sole authority to make recommendations to the board regarding the selection of all personnel and must be in the loop in hiring people.  The principal does not hire staff, but must approve each teacher, reassignment, or staff appointment to the principal's campus except for necessary teacher transfers due to enrollment shifts (11.202; Att'y Gen. Op. DM-27, 1991).  In this regard, the superintendent has final placement authority for a teacher.   SBEC must obtain criminal history on all certified educators.  Background checks are not required by each school district except on contracted bus drivers of transportation services.  If the bus driver has been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, the bus drive may drive the bus only with the school's permission.  If an applicant lies on an application about the felony or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, the applicant must be terminated (TEC 22.085).  "Moral turpitude is a legal concept in the United States that refers to "conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty or good morals" (Moral turpitude, 2009).  If an applicant has a clean record when hired, and is convicted of an offense while working for the district, a report must be made within seven calendar days by the superintendent or chief executive (19 TAC 249.14)

Concluding Remarks

In conclusion, school districts employ many people and must comply with many federal and state mandates.  The relationship between employees in the public schools is determined by constitutional restrictions and statutory provisions in the Education Code and other legislation.  Regardless of the type of contract used by a school district, contract with teachers must be in writing.  Verbal commitments from school administrators may not be legally binding.  Terms of the contract must be approved by the school board.  According to Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis (2008), the knowledge of the basics of the law should move from the central office to each campus.   The director of personnel for the district should be an expert and have full of the United States constitutional requirements of due process applied to the public employment relationship of school personnel in Texas.

References

Att'y Gen Op DM-27, 1991

Berry v Kemp I.S.D., Dkt. No. 103-R10-600 Comm'r Educ. 2001):  158-159

Burris v Willis I.S.D., 713 F.2d 1087 (5th Cir. 1983):  131, 236

Linder, D. (2009).  Exploring constitutional conflicts.  Retrieved November 1, 2009 from

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/home.html

19 TAC 249.14

Russell v El Pas I.S.D., 539 F.2d 563 (5th Cir. 1976):  128

Siegert v Gilley, 500 U.S. 226 (1991):  131

TEC 21:201

TEC 7.107

TEC 21.102

TEC 11.202

TEC 22.085

The Letric Law (2009).  Moral turpitude.  Retrieved November 18, 2009 from

http://www.lectlaw.com/def/d080.htm

Walsh, J, Kemerer, F., & Maniotis, L. (2008).  The educator's guide to Texas school law. 

6th ed.  University of Texas Press:  Austin, Texas.

Wisconsin v Constantineau, 400 U.S. 433 (1971):  130, 327

About the Author

Dr. Kritsonis Recognized as Distinguished Alumnus In 2004, Dr. William Allan Kritsonis was recognized as the Central Washington University Alumni Association Distinguished Alumnus for the College of Education and Professional Studies. Dr. Kritsonis was nominated by alumni, former students, friends, faculty, and staff. Final selection was made by the Alumni Association Board of Directors. Recipients are CWU graduates of 20 years or more and are recognized for achievement in their professional field and have made a positive contribution to society. For the second consecutive year, U.S. News and World Report placed Central Washington University among the top elite public institutions in the west. CWU was 12th on the list in the 2006 On-Line Education of "America's Best Colleges."

Albany Law School, Law School Albany NY - Launch Your Law Career

Leaders shocked at vet aid gap
When a veteran acquaintance showed up at his front door on Christmas Day, threatening to end his life, Allan Morrison said he saw a seriously broken safety net in Wasco County and surroundings for gorge-area veterans.
vzume.com - Sean McMahan Employment Interview (law,sf,ca)

Is there any program for free immigration lawyer in Canada?

My friend is a Canadian citizen, however has problem bringing his wife to Canada. They have been waiting for over 2 yrs now. He had to travel so many times and his wife is pregnant now and needs him besides her. Similar cases usually takes 3 to 6 months. They had to go through a very long & stressful period, got sick mentaly and physicaly, naturaly got employment difficalty and........ My friend thinks it is discrimination that some of his friend passed the same proccess in 3 months and wants to take it to federal court but the expese is high. I thought there might be some program for free ....... Also wonder where can I see & review the Canadian family re-union law or rules.

Your friend's best bet is to contact the Canadian Bar Association and ask to speak to someone on their pro bono committee. See the link to the pertinent CBA page below.

Alternatively, the CBA could put him in contact with a local law faculty that may have a pro bono program in place.

Chances are not particularly good, but his chances will be commensurate with the effort he is willing to make.

Good luck.

Canadian mining firm flouts Mexican law - 12 Nov 09

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Business Studies- Homework Help?

“The workplace in Australia in the last decade has undergone a process of dramatic change. These changes are due to a combination of economic, social, environmental, political and technological factors. Work patterns are changing and Human Resource Management issues are becoming increasingly important”
•Changes in employment patterns and opportunities (e.g. Job sharing
Increased part-time/casual employment, outsourcing/working from home)
•Globalisation
•OHS&W / Risk management standards
•Training and Development
•Technology
•Youth employment
•An aging population and a declining birth rate
•Social justice issues
•Reform of the Australian Industrial Relations laws
•The role of unions

here are three to get you started:

AGING POPULATION AND BIRTH RATE

An ageing population puts enormous pressure on the economy. The older the population, the fewer the people to support older Australians in retirement.

Elderly and retired Australians receive benefits from the Government in the form of pensions and other financial concessions. These benefits are funded from the money the Government collects in tax, some of it income tax from working Australians. In an ageing population, the number of people retiring and claiming benefits is increasing, and the number of new workers entering the workforce will eventually decline. So there are fewer people to support more retirees.

The Government hopes to reduce the impact of the ageing population by encouraging workers to retire later and women to have more children. An increase in the birthrate would help decrease the median age and the stresses an ageing population place on the economy. If the downward trend continues, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has projected average births per woman could fall from 1.75 to as low as 1.4 by 2011.
Will financial incentives boost the birth rate?
In the federal budget handed down two weeks ago, Treasurer Peter Costello included some financial incentives for Australians to have more children. The Government has increased the family tax benefit, and introduced a $3000 maternity payment for new mothers. It will rise to $5000 by 2008. The Government hopes these financial bonuses will help boost the birth rate by making it easier for people to afford a family.

Some population experts are doubtful. They say similar pro-baby policies overseas have failed to result in more children.

Others say the reasons for the low birth rate are complex and cannot be dealt with by money alone. For good or bad, society has changed. More women are in the workforce, and it can be difficult for people to balance work and families. Australians are marrying later in life. As a result, those who do decide to start a family are having their first child later, and having fewer offspring. Some even say the reduced birth rate is the result of social anxiety.

Others have suggested the answer to our ageing population is increased immigration, rather than expensive and possibly fruitless attempts to increase birth rates.

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) was created on 3 December 2007, bringing together elements of the former Departments of Education, Science and Training, Employment and Workplace Relations and the Youth and Early Childhood functions from the Department of Family, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

The department implements government policies and programs to provide education and training opportunities for all Australians, to increase employment participation and to ensure fair and productive workplaces. Education, training and workforce participation are central to our goal of building a productive and socially inclusive nation, one which values diversity and provides opportunities for all Australians to build rewarding social and economic lives.

http://www.dest.gov.au/ (for more information).

YOUTH EMPLOYMENT

A $24 million four-year program is helping to create short-term employment opportunities and establish vocational education and training benefiting up to 70,000 young people.

Australia will also develop a youth employment policy that will assist the country's youth transition from school to work.

Speaking from East Timor, Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Bob McMullan, said greater social and economic stability were two of the expected benefits of the initiative.

'The unemployment rate among young urban males is currently 43 per cent. By enhancing education and skills training and supporting labour intensive employment programs we aim to get more young people into jobs and contribute to the long-term social and economic stability of East Timor', Mr McMullan said.

Mr McMullan also launched the implementation of Australia's five year $28 million justice program to build more effective, accountable justice institutions and improve access for the most vulnerable and marginalised groups.

The funds are being used to develop effective management and administration systems in key justice agencies. Activities include a juvenile justice initiative, improved support for victims of domestic violence, district justice initiatives and support to traditional systems for resolving disputes.

Australia is also providing $23 million over four years to help East Timor to implement its national health plan and improve basic health and hospital services across the country.

The project is a partnership with the World Bank and East Timor's Ministry of Health. Australia is also supporting an $850,000 study to identify barriers to health care services and inform appropriate policy responses.

The national health plan focuses on improving basic health and hospital services and aims to build capacity across the health sector to help East Timor achieve its Millennium Development Goals for health.

IBAT - Institute of Business & Technology

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The danger of managed investment schemes
In a speech addressing the Agribusiness Association of Australia, David Bryant explains why tax-effective managed investment funds are fundamentally flawed and pose a significant risk to consumers.

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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

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Can anyone give me a review of the Resume Place resume writing services?

I am seeking to find a federal resume writing service to help with my employment application for a program analyst position. I have used a few other services and was disappointed. Curious if anyone has used the Resume Place and would or would not recommend them? Is it worth the money or should I just buckle down with the Federal Resume Guidebook and write my own?

I actually use Pongo Resume services on the web. Thay are GREAT!!

Dean McAdams - Intro to Law Office Applications

Corporate/Company Law
The Rudd Government recently issued its response to the Productivity Commission's ( Commission ) final report on Australia's director and executive remuneration framework, which was commissioned amid the market turmoil caused by the global financial crisis in March 2009 and released on 4 January 2010.
Employment Law: 2009, 2010 and Beyond! (Part 4: Labor Law)

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What Economic Recovery? What Economic Recession?

In early November the talking heads were breathlessly reporting the economy “grew” by 3.5% in the third quarter...that the economy was now recovering.  The end of economic contraction also signaled the end of the recession that began in the fourth quarter of 2007.  And they attributed much of this growth to the pick up in auto sales. To read the full government report, go to www.bea.gov.

The index of leading economic indicators, which has been positive for seven months now, is also suggesting the economy is in recovery.

So, is it true? Are we on a sustainable growth path now? Does this latest government release about the economy mean the worst is behind us? Does the Index of Leading Economic Indicators tell us the same thing?

Well, let’s look at the reports and see where the growth came from. Maybe that will give us some answers.

To start, the 3rd quarter’s growth rate has since been revised downward to 2.8%. And the following schedule shows the contribution to growth from the various sources in our economy.

The contributions to growth were as follows:

I appreciate this data table is a little busy, but it is important in order to understand the real nature of what some are calling a recovery. You will note the single largest contribution to the third quarter economic growth was inventory restocking. In my mind, putting stuff back on empty shelves is not growth. It is simply the reverse of the massive and aggressive destocking we saw in the fourth quarter of 2008.

So, if we take out restocking, the growth rate slips to 1.9%. Let’s also remove defense spending and healthcare, which are not growth items. After all, supporting our troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world should not be considered economic growth. And more healthcare for an aging population should not be considered new growth.

If we eliminate defense and healthcare, growth is now reduced down to just 1.1%. But a major contributor to this remaining growth is vehicle sales. Now let’s look a little deeper into this item.

Month to month auto sales are highly volatile and seasonal. So while we did have the idiotic “Cash for Clunkers” government giveaway program that kick started some sales in the third quarter, there are two other factors that are more significant. Pent up demand has been growing and the Cash for Clunkers was just the catalyst.

Pent up demand is from the increasing average age of cars on the road, now over 9 years old. In addition, interest rates on car loans are near half of what they were in early 2007. The average car now has over 100,000 miles on it and interest rates on new car loans are low. Underwriting standards, at 10% down payment, have not changed over the past several years and average prices have not changed much and are at just under $30,000.

Most of us are accustomed to seeing the total numbers of cars purchased, illustrated by the following chart. But remember, many of the cars we buy are imported and do not add to America’s economic growth. This chart gives us a full picture of consumer’s car purchases over the past decade.

As you can see, auto sales plateaued long ago at around 16 million a year. As car buyers went on strike last fall, auto sales plunged to less than 10 million a year, a sales level not seen since the early eighties.

But pent up demand from aging vehicle fleet and low borrowing rates will increase car demand from its current levels.

There is another factor that will give us insight into future auto sales. There are now 1.2 vehicles for every licensed driver. This means only 83% of the cars we buy are needed for transportation. The remaining 17% are discretionary and are purchased to support our lifestyles. So, anytime we are in a pinch and must cut back, like recessions, we can easily cut back on cars purchased.

Clearly, that is what we saw last fall and during the first half of 2009. We can delay our car purchases, and have. Eliminating this discretionary demand, car sales will stabilize at around 13 million a year.

Now let’s look at the car sales that affect our economic growth. The following chart shows the cars sold every month that were manufactured in the United States.

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce

The pink shaded areas of the chart are periods of recession. You will note car sales have been in a steady decline over the past ten years, recession or not. We did see a dramatic falloff earlier this year, and sales have partially recovered in the third quarter. However, this recovery is really very much part of the longer term pattern and not unique to this recession.

The result of pent up demand and low borrowing costs means auto sales will be higher than the low monthly sales of earlier this year. I expect auto sales will resume their long established pattern of seasonality and volatility.

Now, let’s go back to our “growth” story. As we have seen, the only significant contributor to 3rd quarter growth was auto sales. And many commentators attribute this to the government’s stimulus program. This is nonsense.

Ageing, high mileage vehicles, and low interest rates are more lasting and powerful influences on car sales that any government giveaway can be. Offsetting these two positives elements is a negative; discretionary car buying decisions equal to 17% of total demand. Car purchases can easily be delayed or even canceled…at least for a while.

Trade Imbalance=Oil

And before we all get too excited about this runaway growth we need to remind ourselves of the negative influence on growth from trade of a minus 0.8%. This is due primarily to our import of oil. More growth will make this trade imbalance worse as we import more oil to accommodate more economic activity.

The Congressional Research Service, the research arm of Congress recently issued a report on America’s hydrocarbon reserves showing the US to have the world’s largest reserves of fossil fuels, more than even Russia. The report is titled “U.S Fossil Fuel Resources: Terminology, Reporting, and Summary” and was released October 28, 2009. Go to www.opencrs.com to download this report.

We have the greatest endowment of fossil fuels of any country and we are importing huge amounts of oil. This is the result of poor policy and political and environmental pressures. Unfortunately not exploiting our own resources reduces our economic growth and puts continuing downward pressure on the dollar.

Leading Economic Indicators

The Conference Board’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators has been telling us since April that the economy is in recovery. The index has been positive every month since then. But let’s look a little closer at the components of this index. The big contributors to the positive performance have been vendor performance (restocking of shelves) and the stock and bond markets. As I said before putting stuff back on the empty shelves should not be viewed as sustainable growth.

The stock and bond markets have zoomed higher. The stock market is up 62% since its low in March. Corporate bond prices have increased as well, especially the high yield market up 56% since it low in March. These price increases have come without the benefit of increased earnings, stretching valuations to nose bleed levels.

Other components, such as consumer expectations (low and getting lower), jobless claims (bad, but stabilizing), average workweek (stable, at a 45 year low), and building permits (increasing from an extremely low base and still unsustainably low) tell a very different story. So it appears to me the index of leading economic indicators is leading us astray, with the only indicator of growth being an unjustified increase in capital market prices.

Some “growth” story, huh? Prudent investors should be extremely careful in this environment.

What About Next Quarter?

I believe it is important to view this highly touted “growth” story of the third quarter’s economic performance as a singular event.

After all, where is this quarter’s and next quarter’s growth going to come from…more war? More bandages and bedpans? More cars we don’t really need? I don’t think so.

Long term sustainable economic growth comes from new business formations that provide goods and services demanded by consumers. These businesses hire more workers and expand because their products are sold at a profit. The drive for self interest by each of us insures this will happen….UNLESS our government obstructs and frustrates this natural growth phenomenon with high taxes and burdensome and costly regulations.

And that is where we are. No entrepreneur, in his right mind, is going to start a business today. The obstacles to success and growth are just too great, making entrepreneurial activity too risky. The outlook for strong and sustainable economic growth is not good until the government removes these obstacles.

What are the chances our radical Muslim socialist President and a like minded Congress understand the true sources of growth? The actions taken by this administration and Congress to date guarantee a limited and short-lived economic recovery.  The economy will significantly underperform its potential.

What Recession?

Now that we determined there is very little growth in the 3rd quarter’s growth number and the prospect for growth in coming quarters is not good, let’s have a look at the recession and see how bad it is.

Was there a recession? Of course there was. But we need to examine it a little closer to look for insights about its severity, dispersion, and duration. Simply accepting the government’s revelation that real GDP declined for two consecutive quarters is not very useful to investors.

We need to understand the parts of the economy that are solid and secure, and those parts that are extended and vulnerable. Actually, I find it useful to think of recent economic events in terms of 2 economies.

Two Economies

Is there one recession or two economies? I think recent economic events are better explained by considering not one monolithic economy that goes up or down in concert and unity, but rather by considering 2 economies operating somewhat independently of each other.

One economy is stable and healthy, and another is false, sick and had no business existing in the first place. But they are interrelated …so the good or bad performance of one can show up in the performance of the other.

The first one relates to providing goods and services that all of us need, such as shelter, food, clothing, and other normal needs of America’s families. This includes education, entertainment, and lifestyles. As you will see, this economy is vital, important, healthy and functioning.

The second economy is one that should have never existed in the first place. It is an economy based on liars and losers buying houses that were not homes. This economy is sick and dying and at some point will no longer exist.

Examining the never ending stream of economic data in the context of two economies will give us insights into investing opportunities and dangers.

The Real Economy

The headline numbers are often about unemployment. And it is true; unemployment now exceeds 10% and shows little signs of abating. Underemployment is 18%. There seems to be lots of political pressure to do something about the high and rising unemployment and the government will undoubtedly try. But like always, they will be too late and follow the wrong actions. The recent Jobs Summit is a giant Joke.

The following chart compares total payroll employment (not unemployment) with total income and personal consumption expenditures. Payroll employment includes most of us. It does not include self employed and farm workers.

Normally, unemployment is the commonly reported figure, but it is a confusing number. It contains unemployed people who report every week but not those who don’t report, or whose benefits have expired, or those who have given up looking for employment. There are millions of these people and the unemployment number ignores them entirely. I find it more relevant to examine how many of us are employed and how it has changed. That is why I use employment instead of unemployment.

Payroll employment (blue line) has dropped precipitously since the end of 2007. Nearly 8 million people have lost their jobs in the past two years. Both economies have been affected. For example, 1.6 million construction workers have been laid off because of no construction work. But the real economy has also shed jobs. Manufacturing employment decreased by 2.1 million people. This reflects both the long term trend of less manufacturing in the US and the sharp cutbacks related to the panic stop in the supply chain last fall.

Payroll employment is behaving as it has in past recessions. In the 2001-2002 recession, employment declined and kept declining after the recession was over. We should expect the same from this recession…a continuing drop in employment.

The chart also shows personal income (green line) and personal consumption expenditures (red line). Even though employment has fallen off a cliff, both income and personal consumption has remained flat. In the prior recession income and consumption continued to rise as employment fell.

Income has declined slightly and personal consumption has not declined at all during this recession. Average compensation has actually increased. The same thing happened in the last recession. Income leveled off and personal consumption kept increasing.

There are several parts to personal income. It includes employee compensation, the largest part, income from investments, and income from the government in the form of transfer payments. Examples of government payments are social security, welfare and Medicare payments.

There is no recession in personal consumption. 70% of personal consumption is services and this sector has increased every quarter. In fact, service expenditures have never declined in any quarter, recession or not.

This next chart compares total income, which has not dropped in this recession to salaried compensation which has. In fact, you will note a widening t of the two lines especially since 2005. Salaried income is important as it is the primary driver of total income. And it is the source of the government payments through taxes.

Given the massive number of unemployed we would expect salaried income to decline, and it has, but not significantly. In fact, income per employee has risen in this recession.

Service employment is virtually unchanged. Declines in retail employment have been offset by increases in healthcare employment and federal worker employment.

Healthcare and federal government workers are asking “What recession?”

Source: St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank

Even though income levels have remained essentially flat during this recession, the troubling point in this graph is salaried income is declining. If salaried income continues to decline, our economic “recovery” will be short-lived.

Let’s look at some anecdotal indicators to examine the recession from a different perspective than just the government’s indicators. We will look at entertainment, charitable giving, lifestyle expenses, and others to get a better understanding of this “recession”.

America’s Pets

Consider America’s love affair with our pets. According to the National Pet Owners Survey, 62% of US households own a pet. The ownership has increased over time, up from 56% of household when the first survey was taken in 1988.

The following schedule illustrates the total cost of pet ownership over the decade.

Annual Pet Expenditures

($ Billions)

As you can see, our pampering of pets increased in both the past two recessions. Both ownership and amount has expanded. New products, such as hospice care and an airline that transports nothing but pets are just two examples of how we dote on our pets, recession of not.

Our pets are asking “What Recession?”

Garbage

Next let’s consider our production of garbage. In particular, the amount of food scraps produced by America’s households and restaurants.

America’s Food Scraps

Source: Environmental Protection Agency

Tonnage produced declined slightly in the last recession in 2001, but increased again the following year. Even with this 2% decline, the percentage of food scraps to total solid waste increased to 11.4%. In 2008, a recession year, both the amount and percentage increased. America produced a record 32 million tons of food scraps during the deepest recession since the early seventies.

The trash haulers are asking, “What Recession?”

College Football

Let’s ask America’s college football fans. We will check their response to this recession by looking at National College Athletic Association Football Division I attendance records for the past six years. This does not include all college football game attendance, but Division I is top level of competition in college football and has the widest following. The following schedule shows the annual attendance records at the 119 schools included in Division I.

Source: National College Athletic Assoc.

As you can see, attendance increases every year, recession or not. In the deepest recession since at least the mid 70’s, college football attendance keeps climbing.

College football fans are asking, “What recession?”

New Businesses

As we all know, small businesses are a vital and significant contributor to our economy and overall employment. There are some 6 million businesses in America that employee people. The difference between small and large businesses is the number of employees. Large businesses are defined as those with 500 or more employees. There are only 18,000 large businesses in the United States. Small businesses, those with less than 500 employees, accounted for 64% or 14.5 million of the 22.5 million new jobs added to the economy from 1993 to 2008. One third of these new jobs came from new firms.

The following chart shows the total new businesses started versus the number of businesses closed, and the ratio of starts to closures. About one percent of new businesses are added each year to the 6 million existing businesses. The failure rate of new businesses within the first five years of existence has always been high, around 80%. The chart below does not track that, it just shows the number of businesses opened and closed each year, not their longevity.

As you can see, closures amounted to about 85% of new business formations from 2004 to 2007. But the ratio shot up to 95% in 2008, clearly reflecting the difficult business climate.

Business Formations and Failures

Source: Small Business Administration

New business formation is a key element in employment and economic growth. While new starts have remained essentially flat, failures have increased dramatically. The recession is just one reason. Federal regulation is another. Here is the cost of federal regulation on businesses each year.

Annual Cost of Federal Regulations

(Cost Per Employee)

Source: Small Business Administration

As you can see, the economy’s best growth engine, small business, bears the greatest regulatory burden. Federal regulatory costs for small business are 45% higher than the costs for large business. This will tend to discourage strong economic growth and make small business failures more likely. High taxes and punishing regulations insure economic growth in coming quarters will be tepid and vulnerable.

Charitable Giving

You would expect charitable giving to decline when times are tough. And it did decline in 2008, but not significantly. Interestingly, contributions to churches and domestic and international charities actually went up. The big decline was to human service organizations and education.

The following schedule outlines charitable giving during this recession, showing the source, which is primary individuals, and the recipients, which are primarily churches.

Charitable Giving

Source: Giving USA 2008 Report

Most givers are saying “We don’t care if there is a recession.” And many Churches and charities are saying, “Thank God for the generosity of the American people even in hard times.

Cutbacks

Is everything going up? No, of course not. Discretionary spending has declined. We are buying fewer cars, as we already discussed, and our vacations are less expensive and extravagant. We have cut back on eating out, especially in upscale restaurants. The days of the $50,000 ice sculpture business luncheons are over…at least for now. And no one will miss them except the ice sculptor.

For the most part, families go about their lives as they always have. But fifteen million unemployed people are going to have some impact on all of us. You and I may have a job, but a family member, friend or someone we know is probably out of work.

Recession and unemployment cause economic hardship. But we must remember recessions are a natural and necessary part of the economic cycle. That is why we call it a cycle… it has both up and down phases. Economic cycles are healthy. The up cycle goes too far. At its peak, it encourages marginal investments that fail. These failures cause economic dislocations, including unemployment, but also prepare the way for the next up cycle to begin.

Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, assures us there will always be cycles and they will exist as long as the earth exists. So, instead of trying to banish them, as governments desperately try to do, so we should include them in our investment planning, as a normal and recurring event.

The False Economy

This is an economy that should never have existed in the first place. It could not exist without liars and losers. I am talking about millions of houses we built that were not homes. Liars and losers bought them at ever higher prices, all facilitated by government requirements for banks to make loans to unworthy and unqualified borrowers. This was the triumph of hope over experience and was inevitably going to end badly. Liars are not worthy of loans and losers can’t afford them.

The housing bubble that resulted took time to form as the following chart illustrates.

Source: U.S Census Bureau

The blue line shows the steady rise in America’s total housing units. The sharp dip in 2002 is only a change in the way the Census Bureau tracks this information and not an actual decline.

From 2002 until 2008 America added to its inventory of houses. In 2002 our housing inventory was 117 million houses; in 2008 our housing inventory was 130 million houses. As of the end of the 3rd quarter of 2009 we had 130,302,000 housing units. This includes both single family and multiple family dwellings. The number of households has remained flat for the past 6 years at around 110 million. The current number is 111,612,000.

About one million new households are formed each year. And they need housing. A good rule of thumb is America needs to build new houses equal to the new household formations every year.

The number of houses and the number of households should track closely together. In the past, these two lines (blue and red lines) were very close together. In 2002 the blue line and red line started to diverge. From 2002 until 2008 we built 13 million houses we did not need and were not occupied. That’s a bubble!

The chart also shows the median house price in green (right scale), which started rising sharply coming out of the 2001-2002 recession.

As house prices rose, we built even more houses. The difference between houses and households is empty houses, which keeps rising even as we build more houses.

This reinforcing pattern of higher prices and more empty houses just kept getting worse, creating a massive housing bubble. This of course was all enabled by the idiots in Washington, who wanted every voter to be a homeowner even if it was temporary and foolhardy.

The music stopped when house prices could rise no further and began to fall in mid 2007. After a lag, new housing starts began to decline from the unsustainable rate of 2.2 million a year.

As you can see from the chart below, starts climbed rapidly after the 2001-202 recession, despite no increase in households. And currently, new housing starts have plunged to way below the level of new household formations. As the excess inventory gets absorbed, new housing starts will resume a more normal and sustainable level at around 1 million a year.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Let’s add one more dimension to this sorry picture; the financing. If all of these houses had been built with 100% equity they would not have been built. The reason they were built was because 100% or near 100% financing was available to unworthy borrowers. Congress passed laws requiring banks to lend to liars and losers. This created a recipe for mischief that built the bubble larger than market forces would have allowed.

The following chart illustrates the total outstanding debt of all US households (blue line). This is primarily mortgage debt, but also includes $2.5 trillion in consumer debt such as car loans and credit cards. I have also included two of the funding sources for mortgage financing that made the housing bubble much worse than it needed to be.

The first source was mortgage pools (red line) organized by hundreds of small mortgage originators and sold to investors by Wall Street firms. The second was government backed agency pools, such as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (green line).

Source: Federal Reserve

After rising rapidly from 2002 to 2008, total household debt has leveled off and is starting to decline. Mortgage pools have declined drastically. Essentially, no new pools have been formed and the existing pools are being paid off or charged off. The sad part of this is that government sponsored loans are still increasing. Everyone, it seems, understands a housing bubble except the government.

Building houses we did not need financed with loans we could not pay employed millions of people. Many are now unemployed.

The following chart shows the employment levels of both the construction and financial services industries. As you would expect, construction is a more volatile industry than banking. Even so, both industries have shed millions of employees in the past two years.

Source: St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank

One million six hundred thousand construction workers and nearly 500,000 financial service workers have been laid off since the recession began.

According to the American Bankers Association, 14.1% of single family houses were in either delinquent or foreclosure status. This is an all time high since the American Bankers Assoc. has been gathering data in 1972. This amounts to just over 4 million homes.

As the largest mortgage lenders, banks are suffering massive write offs and losses. So far this year, 129 banks failed and were closed by the FDIC. This compares with 26 bank failures in 2008 and just three in 2007.

Unfortunately, the real economy and many normal and prudent banks and borrowers got caught in this housing bubble. Rising house prices affected any family that relocated for business or career reasons. They had to pay more and borrow more for their new house. And the bursting bubble has left them with less equity than when they purchased the home. In effect, they are stuck, at least for the next few years, in homes with loans larger than the value of the house.

Limited Loans

Banks have become much more conservative in their lending since the housing meltdown and the freezing of the credit markets. The following chart shows where they are investing now. It is certainly not in loans to businesses and consumers.

As you can see, business loans (called C&I loans) have fallen by $250 billion in the past year. And consumer loans have declined slightly. The real eye opener is the excess deposits banks must maintain with the Federal Reserve Bank.

All banks are required to maintain a minimum amount of reserves kept on deposit with the Fed. The minimum is shown in the green line from 2000 until October 2008. Much of the $700 billion in government bailout money that went to prop up the major banks last fall was immediately redeposited with the Federal Reserve. As you can see, excess reserves zoomed from near zero to $1 trillion in the past year.

Conclusion

The declining availability of credit from banks, declining employment, declining house prices, bank failures, housing foreclosures, and very low new housing starts are all clear evidence this false economy is disappearing.

The false economy is not very big, relative to our national economic engine, but nevertheless it is causing lots of pain. Unfortunately, that is how bubbles end…in pain and loss.

Ok, so let’s add this up:

-Most of our economy is solid, functioning and healthy.

-The outlook is for slow growth until risk/return is in better balance

-The housing bubble is deflating and the false economy is disappearing

Portfolio Strategy

My analysis is that there was no recession in much of our economy, and there certainly was no recovery.

The outlook is for us to sputter along, dragged down by excessive regulations, confiscatory taxes, and the slow abandonment of the economic principals that made us the most powerful economy on earth.

In this environment it becomes essential to adhere strictly to our investing disciplines of high and sustainable income. We will continue to avoid any investments related to the False Economy, such as residential housing and finance.

May you live long and prosper,

Mike Williams, CFA

About the Author

Mike Williams is a professional money manager and Chief Investment Officer for Panhandle Portfolios, Inc. He has a BBA from the University of Massachusetts, an MBA from Southern Illinois University, and has held the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification since 1990, Certificate #13376.

He has been a credit analyst, a foreign exchange exposure analyst, an international pension expert, an international equity portfolio manager, a Japanese stock analyst, and the founder and chief executive officer of several companies engaged in a variety of business ranging from commercial real estate in New England to recycling electronics in China.

Yes we can! (kill the arabs) How Livni win the Israeli elections

Amendments To The Ohio Employment Law - Filling The Gaps

The Ohio Employment Law does not appear have definitive parameters. The voters approved an increase in the minimum wage rate to $6.85 per hour by amending the constitution. Under this law, all employers have to maintain and set up payroll records for every employee. This rule did not go down very well with the business community. They felt that the law was highly inconvenient and rigid. The politicians tried to amend it, and in the bargain managed to make it even more vague than it was earlier. This will definitely prove to be a constitutional challenge.


A tricky area in the Ohio Employment Law is the definition of the term 'employee' and who is deemed to be an employee under Ohio Wage and Hour Law. This is a relevant point because there are workers under the age of 16 in Ohio. As per the Law, all the employees must be paid the minimum wage of $6.85 per hour. There are exemptions for this rule and the minimum wage rate need not be paid to workers under the age of 16, workers that are earning tips and family members working for the family business.


The bill amended by the politicians added to the confusion more than ever before; the amendment narrowed down the definition of employee even further, to exclude some more types of employees from the purview of the minimum wage. These were outdoor sales personnel, live in companions, camp counselors and newspaper delivery persons. This further messed up things for Ohio Employment Law.


Few other changes were made to the law. It was mandatory for the employers to give details like name, address, telephone number, email, website address and fax number to the employees. This information had to be given to the employee on his first day at work. If the company decides to shift operations, all employees have to be informed within 60 days of making the change. This could be done by pasting a notice on the bulletin board or giving individual notes to employees. Complete payroll records must be maintained in a prominent place and all workers should have free access to it. The Ohio Employment Law does not put limitations on the request for records; theoretically, any worker can see the records of other employees, including that of the boss.


A small concession that the amendments introduced by the politicians managed to make was that, they limited the amount of information that could be requested and who could request for it.

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.

Inside THe World of FELA & the $48 Million Jury Verdict

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Need to know about Illinois Labor laws. My company makes us work 12 days straight. No Overtime. Is This legal?

I work for a Tradeshow company that makes us work weekends for tradeshows. We are salary employees that work 40 hours per week Monday thru Friday. When shows are scheduled we work an additonal 8 hours per day on Saturday and Sunday. We are then required to work the following week as normal. We don't get paid overtime, and we don't get any additional time off unless we use our vacation time. Is this legal. Can our company force us to work 12 straight days with out time off. All days are at least 8 hour days. I can't see how they can allow us to do that. Management said they can do that because we are salary employees. How can't seem to find the answer on the Illinois state web site for employment issues.

Here are some helpful web sites...I am also from Illinois and there are laws and restrictions. Just because you are salaried does not always mean you are exempt from over...
www.state.il.us/agency/idol/laws/laws.HTM
IDOL is Illinois Department Of Labor
www.dol.gov
DOL is Department of Labor
Hope these help you on your way....also just a short note, Illinois does have a One Day Rest In Seven Act ODRISA

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The new Australian resource rent tax
LET me first declare two poignant interests, and on one matter make it clear that I have no interest to declare.
Constitutional Homeland Security part 1.wmv

Case law questions and answers

What is the difference between common law rights and statutory rights?
Common law rights are found in past case decisions..i.e. where a judge decided on a case and at the same time set a legal precedent, this is commonly known as case law or stare decisis. Statutory rights are found in legislative statutes written by local, county, state,.

Why is it when people ask legal questions, they don't mention what state they are talking about?
Different states have different statutes and case law. Often, people don't realize the laws vary from state to state. Other things askers often don't know: the difference between civil and criminal proceedings, that laws of the federal government and laws of the.

Any case law relevant to a student getting contributions to student fees from an absent father?
my son is ready to start university and my peppercorn maintenance is due to end. Is my son legally entitled to a contribution towards university fees and lodging? He has applied for loans for fees and accomodation and I am going to help.

Are there statues of limitations on Arbitrator misconduct?
Thirty days in my state, but an arbitrator's decision can only be overturned for fraud. This piqued my interest, so I checked NY case law. In Liebowitz v. City of New York, a 2000 case, the time limit was 30 days. However, there were statements in that opinion that make.

Does case law work if the case law I find is for a different state?
Let's say there is no case law in Wisconsin regarding the use of Laser (in regards to the police using it to determine your speed); however, there is case law on this topic in a different state. Case I use case law from another.

How can I locate a case law that is currently being use in the state for Georgia?
I have a friend who claims he won a million dollars law against a company he worked for. The case was on discrimation. He says it is now being refer as a case law in Gerogia. I don't have any other information.

Employment Law?
My company is in the process of disciplining (formally) one of our staff for various braches of policy?? and procedures, this under normal circumstances would be reasonable however this person is suffering from some from of mental illness, is their any case law or statue to prevent them taking this action Thanks Employment law varies tremendously from.

In a civil equity case involving a noncompete, why do judges ask for memorandum of law and case law?
Is this how they make their decisions and see who proved their case. It makes their job easier. If they have memoranda of law from both parties, it means that their law clerks do not have to do as much.

Is it possible to beat Governmental Immunity in Michigan with the Attractive Nuisance law?
I agree that you need to check with a Michigan attorney. I checked Michigan case law on Lexis-Nexis and it appears that the local governments are immune from suit on attractive nuisance. There seems to be some undefined 'special circumstances' in the most recent.

Is there an index of case law which lists the lawyers in the cases?
Where can you go to find out which lawyers have expertise in a special area of law and look up the cases they won? Martindale-Hubbell, http://www.martindale.com/case law is a good place to start. Looking up cases that a lawyer has won may not.

federal case law?
I need to find this case citation; 549 F.2nd 97, 105 it's a 1976 case I need the case summary and findings Ramirez, Leal & Co. v. City Demonstration Agency 549 F.2nd 97 (9th Cir.1976). The plaintiffs in Ramirez were a Latino accounting firm that was overlooked in its bid to obtain a contract through a.

Do you need to be a lawyer to file a motion to suppress evidence?
No, but you better be very well versed and reseached on case law. - No, in much the same way that you don't need a surgeon to remove your appendix. You can do it yourself, it's just likely to be very messy, and you.

How do I find housing case law?
I am writing a report about housing issues (ie, homelessness, right to repair, ending a tenancy) and I need to back up my report with the appropriate case law. Please can anyone advise me of any website I can use for help? The Shelter site is a good resource, but not sure.

Lawyers Dishonest?
I'm interested in the law. I'm in college and I'm interested in becoming a lawyer, but everyone tells me its only a profession for liars. Is lawyering really a dishonest profession? I agree, there is no more dishonesty in the profession of law than in any other field. (Read case law and jury verdicts.) The study and.

Should the British Judiciary be made accountable for their actions?
Should Judges be named and shamed For wrong Decisions? Much depends on what is accepted as a 'wrong decision'. There are all sorts of legal, philosophical, economic and sociological arguments in favour of and against decisions. You can say a decision is descriptively contrary to case law or normatively.

How the lawyers prepare their cases?
what documents,speech or whatver they use to be ready at the court. Their paralegals prepare their cases, they just give them the go ahead and the paralegals do all of the research for the case law and then the attorney gets it and makes the questions up that they will need to have.

I want to emigrate but need childs fathers consent, show me case law where this has been approaved?
Has anyone had this problem, are there cases that have gone to court that i can study? Where's your manners?? Say please! - This sort of issue is most likely covered by statute rather than case law. - I hate to.

Is it a federal or state offense when someone makes phone threats across state lines?
and what is the federal or state statutes that covers this if someone phones another person across state lines and threatens them? where do you find more legal case law on this and statutes No, it is not federal at all. it is a.

Is there a lawsuit relating to someone being injured in a public park?
Yes, there are. If you amend your question to list the name of your state, I may be able to give a case. We have plenty of public park cases in my state's case law and you probably do, too. EDIT: Grace, go to my.

Is there any website throug which we can refer to cases of courts?
Access to SCC AIR HC Check this website http://judis.nic.in/scwelcome.htm.case law - i think ,just click district high court - Potentially, yes. But it depends on what you are looking for. Are you looking for case law or just trying to figure out what happened.

Whats the case law for the defence of parking on yellow lines that have no end lines?
Am appealing against a parking ticket issued by my local council. My car was parked on a road that had double yellow lines which just stopped(no end line at 45 degree angle to double lines). I remember a case in the papers.

i need to find using current law a recent case on formation of a contract.?
the case has to be as recent as possible and must be based on the offer and acceptance thus making the formation of a contract. offer and acceptance are pretty loose terms, so I'm guessing you're looking for case law that defines what an.

I need to look up case law,but A dont know the term for the situation(help)?
I was involved in A civil suit with the local prosicuters office.I was recently charged with A minor crime,which the charges should have been droped, instead, they not only prosicuted,I was tardy for my pre-trial confrence,so she added bail jumping. Your question needs clarification..

Is there case law about winning a motion to undo a late filing of court documents?
I presented with timely documents, but 2 of the 4 Filing Clerks argued that I needed to accompany my Fee Waiver(s) to random Courts. that the hours for Courts to have fee waivers submitted had expired.that the Courts had gone home for the.

legal basis to use the Conners Rating Scales?
information collected by public schools using tests to evaluate mental and or phycial status of students. Legal Authority statue or case law permitting use and or collection evaluation. confidentiality and defintion of personal authorized to administer and view test and results The Conners??ating Scales are a result of 30 years.

My employer penalizes employees for the use of sick leave by including it in annual evaluations,is this legal?
I'm looking for case law, etc. to prove this isn't legal. Sick leave is one of 16 'must rate' categories on our annual evaluations and scoring low in this category can preclude you from attaining pay raises and promotions or special.

Need a LAW STUDENT in Tennessee?
Don't have access to law library. Can you do a little research for me? Need some case law/precidents regarding slander. Will pay for verifiable info. please contact snoweagleltd@yahoo. Any law students thinking to take you up on your offer should check the state's Unauthorized Practice of Law (UPL) statutes first. Laws vary by.

Or maybe this is more beautiful?
'After a searching review of the record and applicable case law, we find that while ID arguments may be true, a proposition on which the court takes no position, ID is not science. We find that ID fails on three different levels, any one of which is sufficient to preclude a determination that.

Trying to repossess property from evidence room which belongs rightfully to me.Need specific case law to help.
A year ago I was assaulted by two blacks w/ baseball bats.In defence I pulled a knife and stabbed them back.I was booked on charges of 1st degree assault.I represented myself in court & was proudly vindicated by a verdict of NOT.

U.S. Supreme Court?
Can somebody explain to me how a U.S. Supreme Court decision may affect both state and trial court cases? Lawyers and judges rely an current case law. They closely monitor Supreme Court rulings because the rulings are 'supreme law of the land.' For example, the Supreme Court has recently heard a case concerning legal search and.

what are some examples of case law where courts may deviate from the doctrine of precedents strict limitations
Precedent requires applying previous higher-court case law where the fact pattern is the same as the earlier holding. If the facts in the new case are distinguished, so that the are different than the facts supporting the previous holding, then.

More Case law questions please visit : LawFreeFAQ.com

About the Author

LawFreeFAQ.com

News Update: Jim Bunning Blocks Unemployment Benefits from Clearing Senate

Local news in brief May 11, 2010
Get FREE Daily Headlines by email! A Florida couple told police that they were walking in downtown Santa Fe on Saturday when someone in a passing car shot them with a BB gun.
HD-Obama State Of The Union-Full Speech

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Can Employers Increase Productivity and Reduce Healthcare Costs at the Same Time?

Employers can and should encourage healthy lifestyles from their employees. It not only improves their productivity which is good for the company, it DIRECTLY saves health care costs!


Duke University just came out with a very interesting study. The study looked at workers' compensation data for 11,728 Duke University employees who received health-risk appraisals over a seven-year period.


What were the results for obese employees (compared to those who are not obese) as published in the Journal of Internal Medicine?


* Obese employees filed twice the number of workers' compensation claims


* Obese employees' medical costs from those claims were seven times higher


* Obese employees stayed out of work 13 times longer after a work-related injury or illness


* Obese employees medical claims cost per 100 employees per year was 51,019 USD compared to $7,503 USD for non-obese workers


* Obese employees lost 183 days of work per 100 employees as compared to 14 days for non-obese workers (thats 13 times more!)


Yeah but those guys were OBESE. Well it doesn't look good for the overweight/mildly obese either...


* Overweight employees took four times the number of days off after being injured or getting sick at work.


* Mildly obese employees took five times as many days off after being injured or getting sick at work.


And what are employers doing? The study reveals that...


"As many as 40 percent of employers are giving workers products, cash or health insurance discounts to lose weight," said Laura Linnan, the study's principal investigator and a professor at the University of North Carolina's School of Public Health.


Employers are getting scared off as well. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, assistant professor of medicine and health economist at Stanford University co-authored a 2005 study that showed employers compensate for anticipated higher medical costs of obese workers by paying them less than slimmer employees and passing them over for promotions.


What are we gathering from this?


Being obese or overweight is bad enough for the person who it affects... but it is also bad for employers because health care costs eat into profits.


The problem is quite basic, but the solution may not be as easy. We need to approach this troubling issue with a corporate fitness solution. 3 actions that employers must take...


1. Adopt a fitness culture starting from the CEO knowing that it is best for the company


"We all know obesity is bad for the individual, but it isn't solely a personal medical problem -- it spills over into the workplace and has concrete economic costs," Dr. Truls Ostbye -author and professor of community and family medicine


Well, if its not a personal or private medical problem then it becomes a community problem. The means that the problem is really big, but once it is solved, the solution is more lasting. Solutions that involve the community simply work better. This works for problems like gang violence or addiction to other vices as well. From my experiences as a fitness professional, community solutions work for health goals as well. Kickboxing, pilates, yoga, aerobics and other fitness classes or group activities have a higher penetration rate (about 12-15% in most health clubs) than personal training (2-3%). groups classes encourage people to stay on longer as well.


A community solution to corporate fitness has to be built into the company culture. Usually this is dictated by a CEO or a board of directors. If they spend time reading articles such as this one, they are probably knowledgeable about the problems facing corporations in today's world. They are also probably aware that companies which have an adaptive culture that is able to handle changing circumstances tend to do really really well. 2-3 times as well profit-wise according to some studies. In addition, setting a fitness culture shows concern for employees (and allows them to be more productive) and in the long run costs less than paying for medical bills. As a minor side note, your employees will look healthy too and that in itself has its own host of benefits.


Once the CEO has decided that a fitness culture is needed and is in fact the course that the company needs to take, he can implement it in the same way he makes most culture changes


* Align your company culture with your strategic goals (being fit saves money, makes your employees more productive and more attractive to customers, and increases profit)


* Develop a specific action plan that can leverage the good things in your current culture and correct the unaligned areas. (free employee breakfasts on Fridays may be good, but making it doughnuts and pancakes is BAD)


* Brainstorm improvements in your formal policies and daily practices. (allocate some work time to fitness and health education and activities, ensure managers lead by example, bringing healthy food into the cafeteria, allow 15 min breaks during work for healthy snacks)


* Develop models of the desired actions and behaviors. (how many hours a week minimum that an employee must exercise, social support and encouragement to make healthy eating not just acceptable but preferable, all management staff must enthusiastically take part)


* Communicate the new corporate fitness culture to all employees (tell everybody about it)


* Over-communicate the new corporate fitness culture and its actions to everyone. (tell everybody about it again and again, with checks to ensure that the new culture is followed)


Remember, often people don't do what you EXPECT. They do what you INSPECT.


2. Look for a professional you can trust


A respected fitness professional is a real asset to a corporation. Think about it. Companies get accounting firms to do their accounts and taxes, they get law firms to do their legal documents, and they get business consultants to check their business processes. Shouldn't they get a fitness professional to handle corporate health and fitness?


Not at all. The best fitness pros will know how to approach corporate fitness. A fitness professional will be able to help you set up and run a health facility, fitness classes, provide talks to encourage employees to live healthy, design individualized training for those who need it, and provide good care for those with extreme obesity or past injuries and medical conditions.


3. Only accept success


No CEO would accept sub-standard work by an employee, neither would they accept failure on important projects, they wouldn't accept a lack of integrity with regard to finance either. Shouldn't this be the case with the company fitness program?


Like point 1 mentioned, this brand new program has to be enforced. It's a kind of "tough love" that needs to happen. Hey Mr. CEO...take attendance at fitness classes, walk around the cafeteria at lunch to see what people are eating, do your managers speak as positively and motivationally about the fitness program as they do about meeting project deadlines?


There are only good things that can come out of a corporation that has a fitness focus. Corporate fitness has come a long way. I do know of companies that have gyms and health facilities for their staff.


But as usual we need to look for the person before we provide the place and the program. In this case there are 2 people. The CEO who is willing to implement change, and the fitness professional who knows how to get results.

About the Author

Coach Jonathan Wong is Singapore's Top Personal Trainer and Fitness Expert. He is a sought after author on corporate fitness and is a member of Men's Health Advisory Panel. Organizations come to him to help them boost staff productivity and health. He has helped hundreds of Singapore residents achieve their fitness goals. Get a free 1500 page e-book and constant newsletter and blog updates at http://www.coachjon.com

Rev. William Barber on NC Public Employee Collective Bargaining

What criminal history information is available if the Target Corporation ran a background employment check?

I know there are federal and state laws governing this issue. I'm wondering exactly what information is disclosed during a background check. I'm asking because I was a former police officer who got charged with two felonies and two misdemeanors (domestic incident) a month ago. The charges are false and are being fought with an attorney. Don't wanna go into too many details, but all charges will be dropped in the end. The victim doesn't want to testify, and never did. No victim, no case. Anyways, I know that if I applied to be another police officer or work for a Police Agency, they can run a special background check that will show the arrest, but if a private corporation say Walmart, or Target were to run my background for an employment check, only Felony Convictions would show up right? Or would the arrest show up as well? I know the application only says to list convictions, so im not listing anything. I just really want this job!! Pays very well with good benefits! Anyone?

If you were charged but the case was not pursued due to no witness/victim testimony then you are just waiting to get the charges dropped. I would have to say that when the charges are dropped you won't have anything to worry about.

The background checks that a good amount of large corporations have access to are pretty in depth. The background company I use at work on a daily basis is able to pick up cases previous applicants were charged with 10 years ago but again they were charged.
I can't say for sure not knowing what district/state/county your issue happened in but knowing first hand that background screen companies have gotten better in obtaining their information especially since 9/11.

STATELESS DAVE -- THE INTRODUCTION

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The Oil Jobs Guide

The oil production industry right now is about as major as any other industry on planet earth if not even greater. There is a high demand for skilled tradesmen including petroleum engineering experts or geoscientific specialists. There is a real deficiency of skilled oil production workers in various departments. But, there’re extra vacancies becoming available for untrained workers or learn on site types of vacancies.

As a result of the deficiency of skilled tradesmen in the oil production industry the salary and benefits offered tend to be brilliant. Regularly, workers work just 6 months a year and the remainder of the year they get to relax at home with their family. As many sites are secluded and difficult to travel from and to, employees are generally offered free accommodation and dining arrangements. Most employers offer brilliant benefits which include life insurance, medical/dental insurance, disability insurance and excellent vacations etc. Anyone who has the qualifications will get brilliant income, quite often in excess of $60,000 per annum plus bonuses.

Accommodation on oil rigs can seem confined and you will not get much time alone. Its comparable though to the conditions met when living in college accommodation but without homework. Food tends to be good quality and cooked by skilled cooks and kitchen aids. All workers are given sleeping/reading areas and will also be offered shore time as part of their working weeks. Most oil rigs operate seven days per week for 365 days of the year. 3 to 4 teams take turns on shifts to continue the site operating. Shifts last from 8 to 12 hours typically. A lot of workers work for 8 hours then have 12 hours rest time.

Oil is produced in large amounts all around the planet. The main producers are Canada, Saudi Arabia, Russia, United States, Iran and China. The bulk of the oil extracted in the U.S.A. comes from Texas, Alaska, New Mexico, California plus Louisiana. Prudhoe Bay in Alaska produces 10 % of all oil produced in the U.S.A.. They extract the oil in Alaska’s far north then transport it to refineries and tanker ports through a pipeline between the U.S. mainland and Alaska. The majority of the higher rank positions for oil companies are based in Canada, Texas and Alaska among other parts of the country.

Oil production and exploration is conducted worldwide. Labour laws and visa rules differ in different countries. In the U.S.A. laws are tougher than most places for foreign workers. Better positions like managers are usually reserved for locals in Canada but foreign workers take up highly skilled positions in scientific roles and engineering. Generally, most countries adopt comparable employment laws to the Canadians.

The oil industry in short, is full of opportunities, prospects and most importantly, its a gold mine with loads of money to share between all involved.

About the Author

If you are looking for further details concerning oil rig jobs or oil industry jobs look at this site.

Where to Study Law In Australia?

I have been looking to study Law in Australia... I keep hearing ANU is the best. What about the University of Sydney? Any other recommendations would be welcome, but keep in mind I enjoy the City life! I will also need to make new friends as I have no one in Australia now, and want to study where the best employment opportunities are so i can begin networking.

G'day,

As you can see, every ppl will have different answers to your questions. The alumni and current students will definitely choose their own uni/almamater

Some may argue that the university belongs to The Group of 8 (www.go8.edu.au) are the 'famous' one. However they group was formed just to unify the promotional effort. The members cannot claim that they are the best at everything that they offers. There are plenty of organisations trying to create the ranks for Australian universities, but none of them are recognised by the government and all of them has their own share of criticisms.

There are only 42 (soon to be 43) universities in Australia, all of them are fully accredited and they are tightly regulated, therefore the quality and recognition of their graduates are equal from wherever university you are studying from. The most important thing is you have to READ the course information carefully, since some courses may have the same name but different content.

There are quite alot of Australian universities offering Law courses to international students. To find out the course and where it is offered, I suggest you to go to Dept of Education, Science and Technology (http://cricos.dest.gov.au) and IDP Education Australia website (www.idp.edu.au) online databases. The information abt fees & requirements can be found in the university's website. Please make sure that you access the information for internationals students, since some requirements, application form and fees are different than Australians'.

Once decided on the uni, fill in the application form and send it together with certified copy of your academic qualification. Depending on your country of origin, you may also need to submit an IELTS test results for proof of your English proficiency (www.ielts.org)

Living cost... Sydney and Canberra have the highest living cost, followed by Melbourne & Brisbane, then Perth, Darwin, Adelaide & Tasmania the lowest. I am attaching a weblink from one of the uni in Melbourne as an indication.

So with many options for your to choose, this is my suggestion to narrow down your choice:
1. Choose the city you want to study in. The consideration maybe the lifestyle, living cost and weather. For a city with good public transport, Melbourne will be the best choice. With one ticket, you can hops between trains, trams and buses all day long. It does not always come on time but it is improving. There are plenty of students in Melbourne who never bought a car b'cos they can use the public transport easily. I was one of them I do agree that car is expensive by the time you calculate the service, registration, insurance, park etc.
2. Find the area of law that you want to work/career in. This may be family/commercial/internationa... etc. Check if the uni's are offering the area.

Hope this helps. Good luck for your study and welcome to Australia

Fragomen Del Rey lays off 8 associates

9th Circuit: No Choice of Law on Independent Contractor Status
In a case involving the red-hot issue of employee classification, the 9th Circuit on Tuesday held that employers cannot use choice-of-law contracts to avoid California labor regulations. While workplace contracts may be subject to out-of-state law, actual workplace terms and conditions affecting workers in the Golden State are governed by California statutes, Senior District Judge Edward Korman ...
Nov 10 - Stuebener Airline US Border Watch Houston Texas

Question for accountants and people who have studied accounting.....?

I am going into my second year at uni studying accounting and I have to chose a module out of these choices. Could you tell me something about them please.
1 – Management Science for Accounting

Look for description in course catalog
Cirriculum varies by school
Which school?

xPresso Ed - Module 4 - Protected Classes and Employment - CA.wmv

The Importance of Employment Law in Hr Training

One of the most important human resources issues for employers and managers to be aware of is the current employment law. It is important for managers to receive HR training on employment laws because they have to relay the information to their employees about what their rights are. Information about workers compensation, EEO compliance, FMLA law and other employment laws should be made clearly available in the office.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Act is one of the biggest human resources issues today. The law requires EEO compliance of all employers in the United States. EEO compliance prohibits discrimination against minorities based on poor credit ratings and other such factors. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act is another HR training issue, which prohibits discrimination against individuals who are older than 40. The Americans with Disabilities Act, as the name implies, prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities.

One of the employment laws that people are still struggling with is FMLA law. HR training is often required for employers to understand that they must give employees medical leave when they OR their family members are very ill, or when they are pregnant. The termination of women’s employment when they become pregnant, for example, has been one of the biggest human resources issues of our time.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act provides specific regulations regarding the safety and health conditions of employers and employees, which spawned laws such as workers compensation. The reason that workers compensation is important is because it gives employees compensation when they are injured on the job and are left unable to work.

Most HR training will include information about the basic employment laws, the first of which is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This employment law prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin and sex. In addition, sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy and sexual harassment is also prohibited under this employment law. This was one of the first human resources issues to really be settled and clearly defined in the United States. The Civil Rights Act of 1966 and the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which prohibits employers from paying different wages to men and women that perform the same work, are also big human resources issues.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, the Bankruptcy Act, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act Labor Law and the Fair Labor Standards Act are also important issues in any HR training program. It is vital that employers tackle issues such as workers compensation, EEO compliance and FMLA law to provide a safe and respectful workplace for all their employees.

For more resources about human resources training or about human resources issues or even about human resources development please review these pages.

About the Author

For more resources about human resources training or about human resources issues or even about human resources development please review these pages.

Law Videos - Employment Law - Chapter 16

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The Who, What, Why, When and How of Medical Malpractice Cases in Virginia

You can define “Medical Malpractice,” can’t you? You may know what it means, but I would be surprised if you have actually considered how to file a med mal claim. This article briefly outlines what Medical Malpractice means in Virginia, from the letter of the law, to the process families undergo when filing a Medical Malpractice Claim. Please note, the laws are often being changed, so always consult an attorney about your specific case, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Definition

Under Virginia law, Medical Malpractice means “any tort action or breach of contract action for personal injuries or wrongful death, based on health care or professional services rendered, or which should have been rendered, by a health care provider, to a patient. Put simply, medical malpractice claims arise from health care worker / patient relationships, where the patient experiences damages (physical and/or financial), as a result of the health care provider’s negligence.

Clearly, you know who your doctor is, but who is included in the legal definition of “health care provider?” Virginia case law has frequently defined who is, and who is not a health care provider. For example, a physician with an expired license is not a health care provider and is therefore not covered by the laws in the Virginia Medical Malpractice Act. A laboratory is not likely considered a health care provider. A nurse however, is a health care provider. A nursing home is also a health care provider. Tell your attorneys who you believe was involved, and allow them to do the research to determine whether or not your case is technically a medical malpractice claim.

Statute of Limitations

Claim for an Adult

In Virginia, most personal injury actions against health care providers must be filed with the Court within two years of the date of the negligence.

In a case involving a foreign object (surgical sponges, needles, etc.), you have the two-year limitations from the date of negligence, or “a period of one year from the date the object is discovered or reasonably should have been discovered” – whichever period of time is longer.

In Virginia, under limited circumstances, you may be able to file a medical malpractice claim after the two year statute of limitations under what is called the continuing treatment doctrine. This rule is very complicated, and not a sure bet – so as previously stated, speak with an attorney as soon as possible to allow sufficient time to investigate and possibly file your claim.

Claim for a Minor

The rules for children are different. If you are under the age of 18, you are deemed to be a minor in Virginia. If the parent or guardian of a minor wants to file a claim for damage to property (their child being the property), the parent or guardian has five years after the damage, to bring the suit. You will not be able to recover anything but the actual damages or medical bills.

To bring a medical malpractice claim for damage sustained by a minor, it gets even more confusing. Virginia law provides that if the child is less than 8 years old at the time of the injury, they have until their 10th birthday to bring the claim. If the child was older than ten at the time of the negligence, they have two years from that date to file the action.

Virginia Code §8.01-229 states that if one is under a disability (which includes under the age of 18), they have until they are 18 to bring the claim. Please note, the Virginia Supreme Court recently held in medical malpractice cases, it is not until you are 18, plus two years – it is until they are 18 and then the statute expires.

The moral of the story is – with a possible malpractice claim involving a child – call an attorney immediately to find out when your cause of action must be filed.

Wrongful Death Claim

If the negligence of the health care provider caused the death of your loved one and you want to file suit, the claim is called a wrongful death claim. Virginia Code §8.01-244 states that such “action shall be brought by the personal representative of the decedent within two years after the death of the injured person.”

What is the process of filing a malpractice claim?

Investigating / Reviewing Records

Every attorney who is approached about a medical malpractice case will first need to review the relevant medical records. In our office, we prefer the family request these records so the facility or doctor is not made aware of attorney involvement. Once the records are requested, a doctor or hospital has 3 days to produce the records to the family. Under federal law, a nursing home must produce requested records within 2 business days. The hospital, doctor, or nursing home is allowed to charge a reasonable copying fee.

Once you get the records, the attorney, staff or a third party will review the records for the attorney. The purpose of the review is to make sure all the records are present and that the records reflect the events as told to the family, etc. It will take most law offices 2-4 weeks to review the records and decide whether it is a case worth investigating.

Expert Review

If your attorneys believe the case is worthy of further investigation, after reviewing the medical records, they will seek an expert review of the case. An expert is basically a licensed physician who practices medicine in the same field, or specialty, as the health care provider you believe acted negligently.

In Virginia, an expert is required in almost all cases to establish what the health care provider did wrong or should have done. A second expert may be necessary to establish that the defendant health care provider’s negligence caused the damages suffered by you or your loved one. And you just can’t hire any doctor – your expert must meet a certain set of standards established by Virginia Courts, which includes an understanding of the state wide standard of care, in addition to sufficient knowledge skill and experience. Typically, your attorney will find the experts for you.

Experts are not cheap! Typically an expert will charge $300-$400 an hour to review a case. They may increase their fees for court time and depositions. Experts will be the largest cost in any malpractice case. Paying the experts falls upon the family. Because attorneys are prohibited from forwarding money to their clients in Virginia, law firms will require families to pay a cash retainer to the law firm, so the firm can pay the experts for their review and time.

Certification

If the expert believes malpractice occurred, they will have to certify their opinion in writing. This is a new requirement in Virginia. Virginia Code § 8.01-20.1 and Virginia Code §8.01-50.1 require in all medical malpractice and wrongful death actions a written opinion signed by the expert, that the defendant has deviated from the applicable standard of care and the deviation was a proximate cause of the injuries/death.

Filing Suit/Arbitration

From start to end, a lawsuit in Virginia State Courts could take 1-2 years.

If your expert has certified the case, the next step is filing the lawsuit. Now, a medical malpractice case in Virginia is called a COMPLAINT. The Complaint will be drafted by your attorney and will include a list of the relevant facts and allegations of negligence. It will be filed in the City or County Court where the negligent treatment occurred, or where the patient lived at the time of the treatment. After it is filed, it will be served on the defendants. This usually means a Sheriff will deliver the document and the defendant then has less than 1 month to respond to the lawsuit.

Please note – not everyone will have the opportunity to have a jury hear their claim in Court. Many health care contracts ask patients to waive their rights to a jury trial and agree to submit all disputes to arbitration. WE STRONGLY ADVISE AGAINST ALL ABRITRATION AGREEMENTS FOR MANY REASONS. See March / August 2006 articles on http://legalmedicine.blogspot.com/

If, however, you have signed an Arbitration Agreement, you have at least sixty days after the termination of health care to revoke the agreement. If such termination is by death or if death occurs within sixty days after termination, you will have a period of at least sixty days after the appointment and qualification of the guardian, conservator or committee or personal representative to revoke the arbitration agreement.

Written Discovery

After the lawsuit is filed, both sides will issue what is called written discovery.

Written discovery is where lawyers on both sides request documents and answers to questions under oath. These questions and answers become the building blocks of the case and will often consume many months of the case.

Depositions

In addition to written discovery, both sides are given the opportunity to question their opponents’ witnesses and clients under oath. Plaintiffs will almost always be deposed, as well as various employees of the defendant, other treating physicians, and experts. Depositions are usually held in an attorney’s office, with both attorneys, a court reporter, and other witnesses present.

Settlement

If the clients agree, the attorneys on both sides can enter into settlement negotiations in an attempt to resolve the case before it goes to trial. With trial, there is always a chance that the jury will rule against you even with the best evidence and experts, so many clients seek settlement where there is a guarantee for both sides.

Trial

You’ve seen My Cousin Vinny? Well, trial is not too far different from that movie. Its emotional, and it can be a long – and often a very draining experience, but at the end of the day, you are trusting a jury of your peers to determine whether your health care provider was negligent, and if so, what damages his/her negligence caused.

Parties

Well, now that your attorney has decided you have a malpractice claim, and you know that it is a long and detailed process; you must decide who will be named as defendants. Often it will be the doctor or nurse who failed to provide care, and their employer.

Please note that there are many healthcare providers in Virginia that you cannot sue for malpractice as they are considered employees of the state, and thus entitled to sovereign immunity.

Burden of Proof

You cannot just tell the jury that you think the doctor or health care provider messed up. In Virginia, you must prove the following:

1. That the health care provider failed to provide care in accordance with “the degree of skill and diligence practiced by a reasonably prudent practitioner in the field of practice or specialty in this Commonwealth”

2. That the health care provider’s negligence was the cause of your damages.

This is a very high standard to meet – what if your physician could have been the cause of your injury, but you have similar health problems which also could have caused your injury and pain. NO MALPRACTICE CLAIM.

Limitations

Ever read about big huge verdicts in the paper?

Well, they are not likely Virginia cases. The General Assembly has established

a “cap” on what you can recover in any medical malpractice action (no matter how many defendants are involved or how large your damages), which is based on the year the negligent care occurred as follows:

2000 - $1,550,000.00

2001 - $1,600,000.00

2002 - $1,650,000.00

2003 - $1,700,000.00

2004 - $1,750,000.00

2005 - $1,800,000.00

2006 - $1,850,000.00

2007 - $1,925,000.00

2008 - $2,000,000.00

Cost

Filing a medical malpractice claim is not cheap. While most malpractice attorneys

will accept your case on a contingency basis (meaning they don’t charge you an hourly rate for their time) – families, and not attorneys, must be responsible for the costs of litigation.

The costs of litigation are:

Expert hourly fees

Copying costs

Long distance phone calls

Mileage for travel

Court costs

Court reporters

When potential clients come into our office inquiring about a potential medical malpractice lawsuit, we advise them that the Expert Fees alone may exceed $25,000. Certainly something to think about if your only damages as a result of the doctor’s negligence is around $10,000.

Outcome

If you take a case to trial – there is no guarantee you will win. Virginians are

wonderful people, but as everyone has a different opinion on politics, faith and justice – you cannot guarantee a Judge or Jury will rule in your favor, even with the best possible medical malpractice case.

Filing a malpractice case will not bring back your loved one, or take away your pain. So each and every family must consider all of the factors before they pursue a claim.

Conclusion

If I can leave you with one piece of advice – it would be to:

FIND AN ATTORNEY YOU TRUST – AND EVALUATE YOUR OPTIONS!!!

About the Author

Lauren Ellerman is an attorney with Frith Law Firm in Roanoke, Virginia. She concentrates her practice on medical malpractice, nursing home abuse, nursing home neglect, lead paint poisoning, and business torts. You may view her complete profile at http://www.frithlawfirm.com/lauren.htm and the firm’s home page http://www.frithlawfirm.com

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15 local people tied to national mortgage fraud scheme
Local law enforcement agencies have announced several developments that have occurred in the Southern District of Ohio between March 1 and June 17, 2010 as part of the national Operation Stolen Dreams initiative by the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF) to combat mortgage fraud.
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If the Truth upsets you Dont read this article, Internet Madness

If the Truth upsets you Don’t read this Article. Internet Madness

 My last article entitled The Scandal of the Internet Exposed was my first attempt to bring into general appreciation by the internet community the frauds and misrepresentations made by unscrupulous people selling in the section of Work at Home or earn money a home. I am sad to say it feel on deaf ears it seemed nobody wanted to read such truths and were more inclined to read such things as How to Impress your Girl Friend or the latest recipe for raspberry jam

 However ,regardless of this disappointment my research continues and is investigating the wider aspect of INTERNET  FRAUD.

There are a number of websites that you can click into and find out about people. subject and country all concerned with terrible accounts of fraud perpetrated by individuals against both young and old educated and not so educated and for those searching for such information these websites are faily good as informers . Theses site of course are sometimes misused by individuals who use these sites to cause trouble for innocent parties and sometimes with devasting results to the point of causing heart attacks, suicide and disappearance of some individuals.

 My research is now investigating the fraud being carried out by syndicates of people who actually employ laptop clickers to work at sending out by the internet promises of such things as lottery winnings, fictitious promises of payments to people who have been fraudulently used  and a whole encyclopedia of frauds on a theme. This group of fraudsters work mainly from underdeveloped countries were law enforcement is mainly non existent

 Certain criminals actually use such organizations as The United Nations to give their fraudulent activities some form of credibility,

The most recent episode was the use of the American FBI by these low lives to try and give their activities a sense of high powered acceptance this was followed by them using so called collabatory evidence of their truthfulness by using the British Metropolitan Police Fraud Division.  Yes indeed these people have balls that there is no doubt. and the losers are the unsuspecting members of the general public.

 This avenue of research led me into the area of Sea Cruises now I asked myself where can there be fraud in this area when such people as Disney are in the business surly Mickey Mouse has not turned into a masked gunman, welding his pen of course not a gun,

But OH boy did I get an education in this field of extracting money by either misrepresentation or not clearly telling people the high risked they take in going on these sea cruises and Mickey mouse is one of the small fries in this misleading business

 The more I delve into the use of the internet the more it becomes blatantly obvious that some form of legislation to control the internet needs to be implemented globally.

 When such organizations as the United Nations, the Federal Bureau Of Investigating and the British Fraud Division can be used by these criminals to enhance their fraudulent operations it must be time to say  ‘enough ‘

 My research continues and I am amazed everyday what I uncover it is better than reading any novel

 William Gow

About the Author

Eric Schmidt, Princeton Colloquium on Public & Int'l Affairs

Ive read that when you try to get a loan to buy a house you must show two years of W2s and employment history,

I graduated from law school in May 2006 and have only been working since August 2006. My husband just graduated from med school and just started his residency this summer. Would lack of employment history stop us from obtaining a mortgage?

Not necessarily. What I suggest is to visit with several different lenders in your area and see what programs they have and what might fit your financial situation best.

A New Paradigm for Capital and Labor? Pt. 3

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Making Sense of Raw Data: A Labor of Love - Beth Noveck

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HUFFPOST HILL - JULY 12TH, 2010
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Law schoo Q&A

How do I decide if I should go to law school?
I think I want to be an attorney. A lot of people in my family have been and I'm interested in intellectual property but I dont know if I should go to law school. Its a big commitment. I might fail. How do I decide? the most definitive.

How much do a lawyer make?
what are the differ kinds Different kinds of lawyers make very different salaries. For example, an assistant district attorney may make $30,000 when they are just starting out. A first-year associate at a large firm may make up to $140,000. But most students graduating from law school don't get that kind of job..

I made law review?
Am I justified in doing the following: Gloating to everyone I see? Calling people from law school to gloat? Going to the top of my apartment building and yelling about how great I am to people walking down below? Putting out an ad in the paper saying how much I rock? Legally changing my middle.

How would you rate Cooley Law Scool in Lansing, Michigan? How tough is it to succeed at this school?
Overall, I think Cooley is a good law school. The obvious draw back is that it doesn't have much national recognition or prestige, which translates to difficulty in obtaining certain types of legal employment (by which I mean the.

I am a mother of three wanting to go to law school. What kind of advice can you give me. Have you went?
I am in school, and have a job. I need a part time program so I can keep my day job. I am a single mother of two and I went back to school 1 1/2.

Is it hard to get a job in a major law firm right out of college?
I know that most of the lawyers in the big NYC firms are from Ivy League schools, but in firms in other major cities, can you just be at the top of your class in the local law school, and still get hired.

Is this a good idea for a major?
I am starting back school in the fall and I am majoring in psychology and my minor is going to be in buisness if I wanted to continue to law school would that be a good idea or would it be better for my minor to be in criminal justice or.

Judge Judy Is A.!?
i think judge judy is a total bi i mean seriously! im 13 and i wanna go 2 law school and i think shes a bad example she never lets anyone talk or get out there sentences! how can u solve a case without hearing the full story! i watched her 2day and she was.

Misdemeanor & Law School?
Hello, I was wondering if it was possible to get into law schools with a Misdemeanor Class B (Texas). I have turned in all the police reports and a statement about the incident to the law school. The incident happened 5 years ago. I plead guilty and recieved probation. I owned up to the mistake.

Need help legal filing a complaint in california?
I'm about to start my second year in law school and i'm helping my dad's attorney to help my dad bring some of his costs down. his attorney isn't really helping me out much and i've never seen or done one. please help. You can go to http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms.law school .

I am looking for a sample personal statement for a law school application.?
I'm having a difficult time trying to compose a personal statement for an application, and I was wondering if anyone can assist me in finding sample personal statements. I would like to observe other personal statement to find trends, themes, etc. Thanks. I don't have a.

I am thinking about going to law school. What is the most difficult part about law school?
and are the extra years of schooling worth it? Getting into a good school and then actually getting good grades. There are some students who just 'get it' and are able to write like they want you to, then there are people.

i graduated from law school in 2004. i have not taken the bar? can i still find work in my field?
i can only seem to find admin or customer service work since i have not taken the bar exam. i am starting to really worry. what should i do to get legal employers to take me into serious.

I have always been interested in real estate and law. How does one prepare to become a real estate lawyer?
would like to know the path to become a real estate closing attorney? I have a B.S. in Information System but ready to switch gears. Thats easy, Tale the LSAT ( law school admissions test) Go to Law School.

Prestigious law school?
Hey. I need some suggestions for law schools. I have a 3.7 gpa or something like that. I want something that will wow my future employers. Hartfords a no-brainer, but what are some others? thx Remember that a law degree (J.D.) is a graduate degree. As you mentioned that you are now in the 10th.

What are the difficulties involved with starting my own small-town legal practice after law school?
Any suggestions/ideas/concerns? Have you been down this road/opened your own practice? Success? Failure. please elaborate. only the fact that you cant shake a tree with out half a dozen other lawyers falling out of it. but good luck on the business effort and law.

What do i have to major in to be a malprac. attorney?
im in high school and i was wondering what i have to major in before law school to be a malprac. attorney. thanks You can enter law school with a degree in just about anything. Pre-law, Criminal Justice, Political Science and even English. Go to college, take.

What is the best field of law?
I am thinking of law school and was wondering if anyone had opinions on which was the best field of law. For money? For fun daily work? For time with family? For most overall fullfillment? For travel? My husband is an attorney and he has friends in all areas of law. Most.

I love him, but he graduated and wants to leave?
My fiancee has recently graduated from college and has a good opportunity in a different state with his family. His uncle will give him a job, plus he can go to law school there. The thing is, he can't take me with him. He won't make enough money to.

i need to talk to some 1 who knows about the legal system?
I'm a law student and know quite a bit about the legal system. Or you can contact your local Bar Association. Or you could go to inquire at a local law school. Or find your own attorney. - good question - I'm an atty. What.

Where can I get a copy of shepard's citator system and west federal practice digest system 4th edition?
I need them for school, and I'd rather buy them cheap somewhere, quickly.or if there is a link to either or both online, so I don't have to go to the law library,,,,that'd be great. thx. Any law school library or.

Where I can find a free copy or online version of the California Style Manual (on legal citations)?
I am a recent law school grad who went to law school outside of California. While I am familiar with using the Bluebook and ALWD citation manuals, I know that the California Supreme Court has adopted the California Style Manual as.

Which is more taboo, being caught with alcohol underage or being caught with pot?
Which is seen as worse if you're applying for law school, having a count of underage drinking on your record or having a count of possession of marijuana? Which looks worse? Or is one worse than the other? Both are bad, but 'pot' is worse..

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have to continue going to school and getting education after they graduate from law school, and who enforces the law that makes them go back to school. Also if you know what website can i find ethics a lawyer must abide by online, and who also enforces good ethics with the lawyers? Any information.

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I was looking at NYU, Michigin and Chichgo. I want to dubble mager in law and business management. First try a spelling school:) - the best one you can afford. im using that same principle for searching for a film school. - I've.

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I want to go to law school 14 years after I graduated college with a BA in history. Is it too late?
This is a question on behalf of a friend. He wants to go back to school. I know there is a 10 year limit if you want to go back and get another bachelor's degree with the.

I want to go to law school, but I see that people go to college first. what is the best way for me to do this?
what are the best ways to go to law school. is it necessary to go to college first and what are admissions lookin for Almost every law school requires a bachelors degree before.

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I was just excepted to law school, any suggestions on how to prepare, being that I dont have a law background?
I have no legal background, I have a Masters in Social Work, looking for preparation suggestions other people found helpful relating to advancing in course work. Thanks Honestly, Read no less than 100 pages per day, every day..

More Law school questions please visit : LawFreeFAQ.com

About the Author

LawFreeFAQ.com

Is it illegal to have mandatory vaccination at a medical facility in California if it’s against one’s religion

If a person has been granted a job at a “California” medical institution with an offer in writing, but later the offer is pulled because he refuse the MMR vaccination due to religious reasons, would it be illegal since he/she has been discriminated based on “religion?”

If you are so religious you don't want the necessary vaccines nobody wants you near their body so find another line of work. They are not discriminating. Your refusal to comply with the job requirements is enough to disqualify you. Your reasons are your own and no body's business.

I would not want you near me.

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Why I Write Michigan Bar Appeals

The simple answer as to why I write Michigan Bar Appeals is for the fame and fortune associated with it. But since this area of law offers neither, I have to fall back to my real reason.

A good part of my practice focuses on counseling legal professionals in transition. This includes writing Michigan Bar Appeals, teaching bar examination prep classes, tutoring students, counseling applicants delayed in their application process because of Character & Fitness issues and helping young lawyers make the adjustment from law student to lawyer. I am writing a book to help law students prepare for the examination and am getting ready to write another book on how to open a solo practice. My own experience becoming a lawyer pointed up the lack of assistance during this transaction and the great need for guidance and advice. Over the years, I have encountered so many people who needed advice about Character & Fitness, how to reapply for the Bar Examination or simply finding the motivation to retake the Exam.

At first, I began to offer advice to these new lawyers informally. I mentored as I was mentored. Generally speaking, this has been how the practice has been taught and handed down - a combination of mumbled advice and presumed osmosis from which we are supposed to base our career. It was not very satisfying nor helpful. As our practice grows, there are fewer of the familiar relationships in place that promote open dialogue and sharing. Toughen up and put your shoulder into it. Everyone else is fine . . . what is your hang up? Ah, but I digress.

The thing is that the transition from law student to lawyer is difficult. The dizzying mix of personal and professional demands is, at best, challenging and causes no small measure of stress that can cause other problems. Even worse, some people discover that the practice of law is not like the brochures or Boston Legal. Again, I digress.

No matter what, if you have taken the Michigan Bar Examination and not passed, you may be looking for help and advice. I fully understand that feeling. Back in November 1993, I waited for my bar results anxiously as my new job (and my government career) depended upon them. On November 2, 1993, the carpet was pulled out from under me. I missed by two points (actually 1.667 points but the Board of Law Examiners rounds up). No, that was not the news I expected. I worked hard on studying, sacrificed my summer and put all my chips on the fact I would pass.

I was stunned. I did not know what to do. I did not know who to tell. I did tell my boss who was, at first, kind and understanding, but then told me the position held for me had to be filled by someone else. I told my family and friends. I heard all my friends passed and were making arrangements for get sworn in. I felt like a total loser whose winter months were going to be devoted to studying for the Bar Examination once again.

I spoke to my professors and my sister-in-law who told me to appeal my score. Appeal? Appeal what? I did not even know that was an option. I assumed it was a test and a test is a test. Well, it's right in the Michigan Court Rules and tersely explained in the 'failure packet'. OK, now what? How do I do it? Can I do my own? Pen or pencil? does neatness count?

Thank God for the good advice I received. With the help of Megan and Prof. Jack, I put my nose to the grindstone and knocked out my own Michigan Bar Appeal. To say I obsessed over it would be an understatement. I analyzed, reviewed, read and reread the materials: my answer, the Model Answer, the directions from the Michigan Board of Law Examiners. Draft upon draft until I had it just right. Conservatively, I spent about 70 hours on the whole project. I developed the basics for the same approach that I use today in writing appeals. Of course I did not believe I was going to ever do it again. I thought I would succeed, but after failing the Bar Exam and losing my job, betting against the house did not seem real smart.

The good news came to me two months into my new job driving a cab at the airport. On a clear February 3, 1994, I received a call from my dispatcher telling me to call home. As it was the day before cell phone prominence, I pulled over and called from a nearby medical clinic. My wife answered with the kids screaming in the back ground, "Honey, you passed!"" I told all the strangers in the lobby who smiled and wished me well; a great moment on a great day. Another bonus was that my new clerking job became an associate's position that same week. Not only did I get enough points to pass, I actually received three points more. I guess I would have preferred to have passed in the first place, but I savored the win.

I shared this little victory with a few others and helped some buddies write their appeals. My first fee was two cases of Labatt's Blue beer. Ah, the sweet taste of success! About six months later, I was hired to write a Bar Appeal for real money. I was paid and won it. A practice was born.

I have to admit that winning feels good. I wish I could win all of my cases but I simply cannot (nor does any honest lawyer). Writing Bar Appeals gave me an opportunity to employ and hone my writing skills. It let me relive the experience of winning again. Over the years, I learned how to better analyze results and the model answers to tell my potential clients whether they have a chance or not. More times than not, people who want an appeal will not qualify for a number of reasons. It is important to know what chances you have going into the process before investing your time and/or money on a bar appeal. I am just as proud of the fact I can make that call as a trusted resource as I am of the fact I can effectively write Bar Appeals.

Ever since I began looking at bar results, I have never charged for a review. That's my way of paying back all of those people who helped me. It is my recognition of your hard work to enter our trade. It's my way of helping people genuinely in crisis (or at least having a bad hair day).

The reason I write Appeals of the Michigan Bar Examination? Simple. I sympathize and empathize. I have a narrow expertise to share and have helped hundreds make the important decision to write or not write an appeal. I have written over 100 appeals with success on many of them. I feel good as a person and a lawyer to combine my passion with my success. It is rare and wonderful to combine the two. I am at my best doing what I love doing: helping my fellow lawyer get to where he or she wants to be.

About the Author

If you need help with any of your Michigan Bar Exam Appeal, just visit http://www.timdinan.com

Case Study: Michigans Regional Skill Alliances [Randall Eberts]

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Kenya : Pay Raise for Workers
Nairobi — Kenyan workers have a reason to smile after the government announced a 10 per cent increase on the basic minimum wage.
Michelle Obama: Barack's Home Country Is Kenya

[mage lang="" source="flickr"]labor and employment law book[/mage]

What’s New With India’s Employment?

Employment in India is at an all-time high despite the dullness of the global market as a whole and the employment opportunities are expect to only grow from here with companies in the south creating a number of jobs.

The IT and ITES boom has not gone out of style, and are still growing steadily. They in fact, are the primary hirers right now. Other hot hirers are those with telecommunication jobs, healthcare jobs, etc. Those in the retail industry are relatively safe as well thanks to the many middle class folks who give they power as a result of their purchases.

Another quickly growing field is that of medical tourism. Many come from abroad to get their medical treatment done here as cost for medicines and treatment in other countries is easily several times the cost here.

I have even heard from some friends that booking the round trip ticket, plus booking a hotel and paying for all hospital treatment and bills still works out to be cheaper than driving down to your local doctor in places like the States, Europe, etc. Another reason this happens is possibly due to the fact that Indian doctors are held in high regard. It is perhaps because this is a quickly growing trend that the tourism industry is promoting is along with their other endeavors.

Employment services tell us that the entertaining jobs, publishing jobs, media jobs, etc have a very fast growth in salaries and rumor has it that the Indian textile industry will be creating nearly 5 million jobs by 2010!

The goal to attain to in all of this is to register you with a good employment site. Why, you may ask? Because even as the market is currently going down, what goes down must sooner or later come up! And you want to be in on the action when it happens. It’s not only India that is doing well. Employment overseas is also on the rise.

If you are one of those that are looking to get into a good job and are not exactly sure of what you want to do, you may want to explore various possibilities such as legal employment, part time employment, etc.

But most importantly, do NOT forget to read up on the employment laws of the country in which you live. Many layoffs are happening now and that too to people who are largely unaware of what their rights are as employed laborers. Every country has a law of the land, and you would do well to read it. Did you know they cannot fire you on the spot, unless there is a breach of policy, misconduct or unless your contract specifically states otherwise?

And, did you know that under the Payment of Gratuity Act which was created in 1972, all workers are entitled to 350,000 gratuities after 5 years of continuous service? Ipto.co.uk further added to this: The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 requires employers to pay a gratuity to workers earning less than a certain limit upon termination of service. Well! If more people would have known about even just these laws, it may have made their work easier.

About the Author

SC Mishra is offering job advice for quite some time. He is a writer with an enthusiasm for writing about anything. If you would like get more information about Employment, employment in Gulf and Jobs blog.

Gordon Jackson: Intro

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Corporate Social Responsibility

Meaning of CSR: - Social responsibility is fundamentally a philosophy or a vision about the relationship of business and society. It is treated as an investment and not a cost. It is a process of continuous improvement, not a fad, which begins small & grows and expands overtime. It is inextricably linked to profitability, as there can be no social responsibility without profits.

Importance of CSR: - This is a time of more Turbulence for a business & accelerating change. The challenges faced by today’s business include the following.

• Globalization of markets, consumer preferences, financial flows. Globalization is having momentous effects on the economies of all countries and on corporation in most sectors.
• Increasing intensity of competition: - The Global completion today has created more challenges and instability
• Technology: - Rapid technological changes are transferring the markets, enabling greater customization of production, & contributing to high labor displacement.
• Shift from Industrial Economy to a knowledge & information based economy. Human capital has become more important resource.
• Environmental challenges caused by pollution & resources depletion, Business are called upon to play an important role in meeting these challenges.
• Life style changes, expectation on the part of employees, customers and communication as a whole changing

Hence as the world business environment changes, so do the requirements for success & complititiveness. Because of the forces at work, building deeper and more strategic relationship with customers, supplies, employees, communities and other stakeholders can become central to competitiveness & survival. Building these relationships can form the foundation of new, progressive & people centered corporate strategy. This brings us to the increased importance of CSR.

Now having understood the meaning & importance of CSR let us understand the responsibility of corporations towards its stakeholders. Hence CSR is all about how to manage these responsibilities.

Stakeholders

     Internal                                                                                                      External

- Shareholders                                                                                               - Consumers

- Employees                                                                                                   - Suppliers

- Management                                                                                                - Creditors

                                                                                                                       - Competitors

                                                                                                                       - Environment

INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS:

(i) Shareholders: - Share holders are the members of the company who help to achieve the company’s goals by investing in the business. They are entitled to the share in the profits of the company. This share of the profits is given to the shareholders in return for their investments in the form of shares. Hence the organization must honor the trust of the shareholders, therefore the responsibilities of the organization towards shareholders are:-

1. Managing company effectively in order to secure fair & competitive return on the owners’ investment.
2. Disclosing relevant information to shareholders.
3. Conserving, Protecting & increasing the shareholders asset.
4. Respecting the shareholders requests, suggestion, complaints & formal resolution.

Also, shareholders, also have certain obligation towards the organization which include.

1. Maintaining good relationship with management.
2. Exercising their voting rights.

(ii) Employees: - The relationship between employee and organization is considered to be important by society, because employees contribute their efforts and time towards the development of organization, which in turn improver society. In return of their work employees’ not only expect wages, but also security. Most Japanese firms provide security to their employees by offering lifetime employment.

Both business & employees have certain responsibilities towards each other. To foster a sense of belonging among all employees, organization should maintain a healthy work environment, where the employees & employee fulfill their responsibilities.

Some specific responsibilities of organization toward their employees are

1. To provide adequate compensation
2. To provide working conditions, that respect each employee’s health & dignity.
3. Open & honest communication with employees.
4. Listen & act to employees’ requests, suggestion, ideas & complaints wherever possible.
5. Generate equal treatment & opportunity regardless of gender, age, race & religion.
6. Encourage & assist employees in developing skills & knowledge that are required for accomplishing the task.

(ii) Management: - Any decision taken by the management has an impact on the stakeholders. On the one hand, management’s stakes are like that of employees, with some explicit & implicit employment contract. But, on the other hand, management are entrusted with the duty of safeguarding the welfare of the corporation. In short, the role of the management involves in balancing the multiple claims of different stakeholders.

EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS:

(i) Consumers: - Consumers / customers exchange resources for the products of the firm and in return receive the benefits of the products. Customers help in survival of the company. By paying attention to the customers needs, management automatically addresses the needs of suppliers & owners.

            The responsibilities of corporations towards their consumers are supplying right quality, right quantity product / service at right time, at right place and at right price.

Few responsibilities of organizations towards the consumers are

1. Producing goods / service according the needs.
2. Improving standard of living by producing goods & services of high quality.
3. Treating customers fairly in all aspect of business transactions.
4. Customers’ satisfaction in essential for the success of a corporation. Customers increase sales of a product by spreading positive “word of mouth” about the company product or brand.

(ii) Suppliers: - Often, suppliers are not included in the list of a firm’s stakeholders. But suppliers play a pivotal role in the success of any business since raw material they supply will determine the final products quality & price.

In this era of global competition, ability to control costs rather than the ability to increase sales in the key to profitability. Good relationship with suppliers can reduce costs.

In many instances, major companies have refused to use certain suppliers because of unethical act. Levi Strauss, the famous clothing firm refused to use suppliers from china because of allegations covering the use of forced child labor by Chinese suppliers.

A company’s relationship with suppliers and subcontractors must be based on mutual respect. When dealing with suppliers, organization must.

1. Seek fairness & truthfulness in all activities, including pricing & licensing.
2. Ensure that business & activities are free from coercion & unnecessary litigation.
3. Foster long-term stability in the suppliers’ relationship in return for value, quality, competition & reliability.
4. Share information with suppliers & integrate them in the planning processes.
5. Pay suppliers on time & in accordance with agreed terms & trade.
6. Seek, encourage & prefer suppliers & subcontractors whosr employment practices respect human dignity.

(iii) Creditors: - Creditors play an important role in organization. Usually organization buy goods on credit from suppliers, organization often delay in repaying credit to the creditors. The late payment of creditors has become a common problem all over the world. In Aug 1992, trade indemnity conducted a quarterly survey of 700 UK firms. The survey revealed that large firms with a turnover of 50 million pounds were paid on an average, 15 days late, while small business firms with a turnover under 25 million pounds were paid, on an average, 29 days late. It is the responsibility of the organization to make timely payment for goods that have already been delivered.

(iv) Competitors: - Business Corporations are equally obliged to other business firms as they are towards stakeholders. In this era of competition the firms compete with each other to grab a major share on all possible fronts. In this connection, the competitive practices adopted by firms can sometimes be questionable.

Therefore the responsibilities of the organization towards the competition are

1. Refrain from either seeking or participating in questionable payments or favors to secure competitive advantage.
2. Respect both tangible & intellectual property right.
3. Refuse to acquire commercial information by dishonest & unethical means.

(iv) Community: - The community gives the business the right to build or rent facilities, benefit from the tax revenues raised in the form of local services; infrastructure etc. In return for these services, the firm should act in a responsible way. The firm can’t expose the community to unreasonable hazards in the form of pollution and toxic waste.  A firm’s responsibility towards the society includes.

1. Respecting human rights.
2. Supporting public policies and practices that promote human development through harmonious relation between businesses.
3. Collaborating with such activities that aim at improving the standard of health, education, workplace safety and economic well being.
4. Promoting and stimulating sustainable development and playing a leading role in preserving and enhancing the physical environment and conserving the earth’s resources.
5. Encouraging charitable donations, educational and cultural contribution and employee participation in community & civic affairs.

Role of Business in society:

Critics of the role of business in society argue that,

1. Corporation care little for the welfare of the workers, and given the opportunity will move production to sweatshops in less regulated countries.
2. Unchecked, companies will squander scarce resources.
3. Companies don’t pay the full cost of their impact. For example, cost of cleaning pollution often fall on society in general. As a result profits of the corporations are enhanced at the expense of social or ecological welfare.
4. Regulations in the best way to ensure that companies remain socially responsible.

Present day businesses are expected to shoulder much more social responsibility. The effectiveness of the organization now a day depends on its ability to develop itself into a social organization. Corporate responsibility is considered the building block for any organization. As a result, organizations are evolved overtime to perform no of tasks in society. These are

(i) Financial tasks: - Corporations are required to assure shareholders that they are acting in their interest. Thus the organizations need to be transparent in their financial matters, so that investors can invest with confidence.

(ii) Economic & Production tasks: - The tasks related to the creation & maintenance of wealth are referred to as economic & production tasks. All businesses that make up commercial world are associated with economic & production tasks. Companies in trying to maximize returns for shareholders may monopolize markets by buyouts, mergers, & unfair practices like market manipulations. Economically responsible corporations will always refrain from monopolizing the market.

 (iii) Maintenance tasks: - The examples of such activities are educational, religious & health welfare services. These are helpful in transmitting information to society, communicating knowledge & shaping the culture of the society. For example Microsoft Corporation announces donation of more than $1.7 million to software to ten national non profit organizations.

(iv) Adaptive tasks: - It means how organization adopts to the changes in the society. Organizations create products that are useful for society and these products are designed in accordance with changes in consumer preferences.

(v) Management tasks: - Corporations are expected to support and promote human rights, not to suppress basic freedom of speech, association etc. In some countries, businesses encounter problems because of the violation of human right. Since the primary responsibility of any organization is to operate efficiently, respecting the interest of the stakeholders. Companies can achieve this by upholding local laws in which they operate & must frame policies that are towards corporate social responsibility and should be available to all the stakeholders.

(vi) Environmental tasks: - Environmental tasks are necessary to curb certain unethical practices. Most companies have none established regulations to limit pollution by their factories. These all essential to prove a company’s commitment to CSR. Most of the industry associations have also established environmental codes of conduct. Companies have to develop detailed guidelines, policies to govern their activities and behaviors. These standards have to become part of the company’s everyday practice.

The Social Challenge:

            A business is viewed as a profitable process of production, distribution & sale of goods & services. The idea of business having certain responsibilities beyond profit making gained importance in 19th century.

            Private sector organizations can’t perform effectively in all the corporate responsibility activities like social tasks, economic tasks that include creation of job etc. Not all the organizations can perform effectively in fulfilling their tasks to the community. There are shortages in certain areas & limitations on application elsewhere, but their scope can be expanded by mutually beneficial partnership between companies & non profit organization for improving the community. In fulfilling these social responsibilities companies must select projects carefully & then ensure that sustained involvement & quality management backs them.

            Clutterbuck has proposed a systematic approach for managing such activities as follows.

            A company should first audit its resources and capacity so that it can add real value to its activities. It means,

1. Set practical, clear & achievable goals.
2. Identify primary aim of the program
3. Clearly identify what not to support.
4. Have fixed budget for specific program.
5. Appoint specialist and other staff for organizing and delivering the support.
6. Install system for report evaluation, feedback & change.
7. Processed information obtained from these activities have to be updated on a regular basis.

Besides taking up specific projects for fulfilling their social responsibilities, the corporate sector is also expected to create wealth & jobs. Different stakeholders of the company have different expectations of the company.

Table shows the expectation of the major stakeholders of a company.

Stake holders

Expectations

Primary

Secondary

Owners

Financial returns

Added value

Employees

Pay

Work satisfaction

Customers

Supply of goods & services

Quality

Creditors

Credit worthiness

Security

Suppliers

Payment

Long-term relationship

Community

Safety & Security

Contribution to community

Government

Compliance

Improved competitiveness

Fulfilling these expectations is a challenge for the organization. In Britain the success of the organization is based on how well it is accepted by the local community. Sometimes aim of the industry and community doesn’t match. This can result in hostility from the local community. To avoid hostility and to gain the support of the local groups companies can undertake activities that promote the welfare of the local community. The body shop owned by Anita Roddick won the goodwill of customers around the world by convincing them that the products were natural & that no animals have been used for testing their products.

Enterprises also have to face political pressure. Today there are many consumers groups that all building awareness among the general public about the responsibilities of corporation.

Standards & Values:

            Business operating with social responsibility should have standard rules & regulations for efficient functioning. There are various examples where organization have undergone ethical dilemmas for e.g. When CFC was introduced for the usage in refrigeration, it had no knowledge of the long-term environmental impact.

            Another example is in recent days the coca-cola has been criticised for having pesticides in the bottles, & also it was criticized for on other two major courts, the use of environmentally harmful hydroflurocarbons (HFCS) in Coca-Cola refrigerator & the one of environmentally harm caused by discarded coke bottles. In response to these, Coca-Cola announced it was committed to phasing out HFC refrigerators by 2004. These examples illustrator that, organization may not always be aware of the consequences of using a particular component in manufacturing a product. As implications and consequences of this decision become more evident manager are faced with challenge of ethical dilemmas. By establishing clear value systems organization can internalize responsibility.

To avoid ethical dilemmas manager can follow the approaches and mentioned:

1. Set a clear example
2. Publish code of ethics
3. Use reward and punishment mechanism
4. Include thick in all activities.
5. Reinforce policies through training & development
6. Establish openness & transparency into decision making process

To become a sum full with this, organizations have to liberalize behavior and at the same time ensure that employees behave responsibility

Through leadership at all levels, sustain a culture where ethical conduct is recognized valued and exemplified by all employees.

Example:

GE code of conduct  

1. Obey the applicable law and regulations governing our business conduct worldwide.
2. Be honest, fair and trustworthy in all yours GE activities and relationships.
3. Avoid all conflicts of interest between work and personal affairs.
4. Foster an atmosphere in which fair employment practices extend to every member of the diverse GE community
5. Strive to create a safe work place and to protect the environment.

The Accountable business: The later 1990s have seen a massive growth of interest in corporate responsibility both among major corporations and across society. Concern about the social and ethical implications of organizations perceived as performing unusually well or badly.

Corporate performance on social and ethical, as well as financial, accounts can’t be hidden at least the large corporations. Demands for transparency, accountability & public reporting are steady increasing.  As royal Dutch/ Shell have recognized, business has moved from a “trust me” world to “tell me” and increasingly “show me” world.

For the poor performers, especially the big ones, there is no place to hide, hence accountability looks at how business develop a corporate strategy that responds to stakeholders expectation, while ensuring long term profitability.

A process model for managing corporate responsibility and accountability

1. Identity company values & aspirations : This involves understanding what the company’s foundation values and missions are, understanding how the vision differs from the current reality, and making top level commitment and leadership visible throughout  the organizations
2. Identifying shareholders & issues on which to focus : There are clearly far too many stakeholders and far too many issues to handle in detail. Hence it is necessary to identify the key stakeholders & the most important issues so that attention can be focused on these. This selection process be clearly identified & it should be documented for selecting a particular issue.
3. Select indicator & targets: This means select what to measure. Clearly it is also important to select targets so that performance can be measured & improved with time.
4. Data collections & analysis: For the purpose of an external report, it is helpful to balance quantitative data and stakeholder’s testimony. Existing information can be combined into a suitable audit framework & methods from other fields, such as environmental assessment, can be used to gather information on social issues.
5. Disclosure, performance appraisal & reporting: If a report is to make impact, it is important to be prepared to address controversial topics and to discuss the “undiscussable” – It is possible to take outside stakeholder by surprise by the honesty & openness of the published report.
6. Verification & review : External verification adds considerable value to a request & ultimately might be combined with a verification of financial environmental report. It provides and opportunity for comparison with external good practice and helps to give assurance to stakeholders that consultation procedures & other process are reliable. In addition to enhancing external credibility it allows recommendation on strength and weakness and areas for management action to be identified and appropriate changes put in place so that performance can be improved next time around.

Examples:

CSR initiative at INTEL

Overview: - Intel, challenge the status quo in everything they do. Over the past years Intel has worked to be more clear about what corporate responsibility means to them, By being clear about their priorities and the way they communicate them.

2005 highlights

Towards Education

1. Trained more than 800,000 teachers as part of INTEL teach to the future development program - for a total of more than 3 million trained worldwide since 2000.
2. Strengthened professional developments with several new Intel teach to the future program offerings.
3. Reached 1, 35,000 learners through Intel learn program.  Intel’s after school program in government funded community technology centers.
4. Opened the 100th Intel computer clubhouse in Washington DC
5. Celebrated achievement of more than 1,400 young scientists from record 45 countries the ninth annual Intel International Science engineering fair.

Towards Environment:

1. Began to publish quarterly environmental health & safety (EHS) performance indicator
2. Announced that, energy efficiency will be key focus in product development. For Ex. The INTEL core Due processor is 35% more energy efficient that Pentium M Processor
3. Worked with industry peers to reduce energy consumption of note book LCD screens by approx 40%.
4. Reduced energy consumptions by 15% per production unit from 2004.
5. Further reduced hazardous materials such as lead in products, and recycled 57% of chemical waste & 75% of solid waste.

Towards Community:

          Set new records for employee volunteerism and coordinated more than 35 projects involving thousands of Intel employees to support global earth day at INTEL sites around the world.

1. Launched the Digital transformation initiative for the Middle East.  A comprehensive multi years  program expanding economic education & technology related support throughout  the region
2. Piloted the community PC & farmer PC, which are designed to meet the specific needs of rural remote & agrarian based communities in developing geographies.
3. Provides digital health care technology to village resource centers and mobile clinics  in India & china
4. Provided substantial financial,  employee & technology support for disaster  relief

Intel comments:

             As a part of our effort to be leader in corporate responsibilities, we believe in providing our stakeholders with accurate and thorough information regarding our performance on key social & environment issues. We are proud of the work we do in support of the environment, education & our communities. Our goal is to be an open & transparent company.

ITC’s  E-Choupal Initiative:

             ITC has come-up with a path breaking e-choupal intervention to provide information power to millions of farmer & rural folks in their vernacular languages. Information on weather forecasts, expert knowledge on best farming practices, agricultural input etc, are provided to the farmers. ITC’s e-choupal initiative has recently won the first world business award instituted by the international chamber of commerce at  UNDP & HRH prince of Wales international business leaders forum.

           ITC has also invested in rain water harvesting to bring the much required irrigation to the parched dry lands.

           ITC has been empowering rural women & helping them to evolve as entrepreneurs.

           ITC has also invested money for improving condition of village schools & make them more interesting for rural kids.

       Hence, ITC has been able to create a major impact in terms of its image among rural folks, which is slowly building the faith of rural consumers in its products & services.

 Conclusion:

           As the world business environment is changing, the requirement for staying & succeeding in business is also changing. As a result large corporations are emphasizing the maintenance of strategic relationship with different section of the society. Hence the corporate social responsibility embraces multiple stakeholders. In today’s world corporations can’t isolate themselves from society in which they are operating, rather they are linked to the social, ecological & human fabric & therefore they are responsible in varying degree to all stakeholders. Companies with good social & environmental records perform better in the long run than those that don’t behave responsibility.

            The article discussed about the various tasks of the organization. The social challenges of the organization have been discussed also the stanadard & values that an organization have to follow have been discussed.

            Finally it is discussed about how to measure the social responsibility. What are the different steps which can be used to measure performance.Lastly the paper discussed the 2 success stories.

About the Author

Anand D. Malaji
BE(Mech),MBA(operations)

A New Paradigm for Capital and Labor? Pt. 5

[mage lang="" source="flickr"]national employment law policy[/mage]

Employment Laws – An Overview of the Latest Trends and Rules

American workforce has increased greatly. After Second World War, labor force is diversified with the entry of women, African Americans, minorities, immigrants.

In order to meet the needs of the employees, government has revised and improved the employment policy in the 21 st century. New employment policies increased restrictions on the employers. As many of us are related to the American work force, there is a need to know about the policy.

Developments in the Employment Law

United State congress has provided many rights for the employees to advance equally. The laws provided by congress from 1967 are:

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 : Employer should not discriminate in hiring, promoting, dismissal, on the basis of: race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, provided the employer has a workforce of at least fifteen persons.

Equal Pay Act of 1963 : Male and female employees should be paid equally when they perform the same or substantially similar kinds of work.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 : Use age as a determining factor in hiring, promoting, or discharging employee age forty and over, where the employer employs more than twenty employees. Employer should not discriminate older employees. This act is to protect the aged people of 40 years and above. Age at which they can receive retirement benefits from social security is also increasing.

Americans with Disabilities Act : Discriminate against persons with disabilities who are otherwise qualified, with or without reasonable accommodation, to perform the essential functions of a job. According to this act employer should provide worksite accommodation for the disabled. This law applies to the mentally ill, AIDS patients and physically disabled. Employer and disabled person should engage in interactive process to encourage them to do their work perfectly.

Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act : Discriminate against Vietnam veterans if the employer is a contractor or sub-contractor of the federal government and its contracts equal or exceed $10,000.

Occupational Safety and Health Act : Discharge an employee for reporting health or safety violations on the employer's premises. This act is also applicable when the employee is to work in an unsafe or hazardous area without providing adequate safeguards.

Family and Medical Leave Act : Deny most employees the right to take leave to provide care for a child, spouse, or other close relative in a medical emergency or related to the birth or adoption of a child.

Affirmative Action or Reverse Discrimination : This act is to represent minorities while giving contracts. Certain percentage of contract is kept aside for minorities and women owned business.



Other Legal Rights of Employees

Employer will be held liable if any person is harassed sexually in the office premises and he doesn't take any action.

Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) provides for mandatory notice of employer plant closing and mass layoff.

Defamation: Employer cannot make negative comments about the present or past employee.

Employment at will: Employee or employer can terminate their relationship at any time.

About the Author

Studying the developments in employment law , Peter Salazar offers an overview of the different rights and duties of the average employee. This discussion deals with the career jobs and employment of smaller entities where the number of employees is less than 50.

Eric Schmidt on policy priorities for 2009

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Conquer Employment Law Violations

As a worker in San Fernando Valley, you should be aware of your employee rights and obligations. Otherwise, you may not know that your employer has been violating or has violated your rights in some way. A certain area of law protects employees from unlawful employment practices.

Labor and employment as crucial and significant foundations of every society is given prime importance and protection by the government. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) implements several federal laws in order to preserve the rights of workers and build a strong, dynamic relationship between employers and employees.

They aim to protect unprejudiced working environments so that workers will not have to worry about illicit and unjust practices. They attempt to provide fair opportunities to deserving workers who, although belonging to a certain classification, still have the capacity to contribute to society and endeavors to be independent.

Some of the U.S. Laws on Employment

Under the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is unlawful to discriminate on the basis of color, race, sex, religion, or national origin.

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) provides security for men and women who carry out considerable equal amount of work in the similar establishment from sex-based wage discrimination.

The law, that protects elderly workers, specifically those 40 years of age and older is the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA).

Additionally, it is the Title I and Title V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) that forbids employment discrimination against disabled qualified individuals who work in the private sector, and in local and state governments. What prohibits discrimination against qualified workers with disabilities in the federal government are the Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

It is the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which offer financial damages in cases of deliberate employment discrimination.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) order minimum wage and overtime pay standards; and recordkeeping and child labor standards for most private and public employment sectors, including work accomplished within the home. It is the Wage and Hour Division of the Employment Standards Administration (ESA), which oversees this act.

Rights of the Employees

• Right against discriminative performances based on your sexual orientation, national origin, race, gender, skin color, pregnancy, religious beliefs, age or disability

• The right to leave for reasons of illness, pregnancy, among others

• Right to fair pay: right against denial of at least the minimum wage or denial of unpaid wages

• The right to a safe workplace

• Right to a work environment free of harassment

• The right to privacy especially with personal matters

In asserting your legal rights, it is important that you discuss it with your employer. Settle out your differences and clarify what it was you found improper then seek resolution. It will benefit you greatly if you know your legal rights so that you can present your problems easily and confidently to your employer.

After talking with your employer, you should be able to come to an agreement, resolution or settlement. If your employer did not take your complaints seriously and took no steps regarding your problem, then it is highly advised that you take your issues to court. File a lawsuit with the help from a San Fernando Valley employment law attorney who can represent your case effectively.

As a worker, you should not disregard defending your rights. Taking legal action immediately will help you obtain justice and compensation for the damages you have suffered.

Our San Fernando Valley lawyers professionally take charge in defending the rights of workers who have been victims of employment discrimination. For more information, log on to our website and ask the assistance of our legal staff.

About the Author

Jinky once aspired to become an hotelier. Now, she hopes of becoming a successful doctor. She intends to pursue this dream in the near future. In the meantime, she’s glad for the opportunity to enhance her writing skills while working as a content writer.

Employment Law : How to Apply for an Import License

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Does Your Practice Qualify as a Group Practice Under Federal Stark Law

The Federal Stark law prohibits physicians from referring Medicare/Medicaid beneficiaries to an entity in which they (or an immediate family member) have a financial relationship for designated health services (“DHS”), unless an exception applies.  DHS include: clinical lab; physical therapy; occupational therapy; radiology (including, MRI, CAT scans, and ultrasounds); radiation therapy and supplies; DME and supplies; parenteral and enteral nutrients, equipment and supplies; prosthetics, orthotics, and prosthetic devices and supplies; home health services; outpatient prescription drugs; and inpatient and outpatient hospitalization services.   In addition, physicians should also be mindful that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a proposed rule to amend the Stark regulations effective January 1, 2006 to include diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine, including PET scans, to the list of DHS.

Physicians must keep in mind that they cannot ignore Stark, as nearly every financial relationship between physicians and entities that furnish designated health services (“DHS”) implicate the law.  Violations of the Stark law have substantial consequences for all parties involved, regardless of the intent of the parties.  Sanctions include denial of payment for DHS claims, civil monetary penalties ($15,000 for each claim submitted plus two times the reimbursement claimed), and exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid.  In addition, parties who enter into circumvention schemes are subject to a civil monetary penalty of up to $100,000 per scheme.

Group practices are well advised to document their compliance with Stark.  Documentation supporting compliance is particularly important in today’s health care environment, which has had an increase in Federal False Claims litigation and investigations stemming from Qui Tam whistleblowers utilizing technical violations of the Stark law as a predicate for False Claims Act violations.

Application of Stark in the Group Practice Setting

Many common financial relationships can trigger the need for a Stark analysis.  This article, however, will focus on Stark’s applicability in the group practice context as Stark applies to referrals of DHS within a group practice.  For example, if a physician practice provides services such as physical therapy, clinical lab, x-rays, and/or ultrasounds, within the practice, Stark will be implicated.  Once the prohibition is triggered, the relationship(s) must then fall within a Stark exception.

The in-office ancillary services exception has been arguably the single most important exception in the Stark law.  This exception is designed to protect the in-office provision of certain DHS that are genuinely ancillary to the medical services provided by the practice.  In order for a physician practice that provides DHS to protect its referrals under the in-office ancillary services exception, the physicians must first qualify for the group practice definition.  The group practice definition is not an exception to Stark in and of itself, but any “group” of physicians that want to take advantage of the in-office ancillary services exception must be structured to meet the group practice definition.

The Group Practice Definition

Under Stark, a group practice is a physician practice that meets the following conditions:

Single Legal Entity.

The group practice must consist of a single legal entity operating primarily for the purpose of being a physician group practice in any organizational form recognized by the State in which the group practice achieves its legal status.

Physicians.

The group practice must have at least two physicians who are members of the group (whether employees, or direct or indirect owners).  Stark defines a member of the group as a direct or indirect owner of a group practice (including a physician whose interest is held by his or her individual professional corporation or by another entity), a physician employee of the group practice, a locum tenens physician, or an on-call physician while the physician is providing on call services for members of the practice.  An independent contractor is not a member of the group.

Range of Care.

Each physician who is a member of the group, must furnish substantially the full range of patient care services that the physician routinely furnishes, including medical care, consultation, diagnosis, and treatment, through the joint use of shared office space, facilities, equipment, and personnel.

Services Furnished by Group Practice Members.

Substantially all of the patient care services of the physicians who are members of the group (that is, at least 75% of the total patient care services of the group practice members) must be furnished through the group and billed under a billing number assigned to the group, and the amounts received must be treated as receipts of the group.  Patient care services must be measured by one of the following:

• the total time each member spends on patient care services documented by any reasonable means (for example, time cards and appointment schedules.) 
• Any alternative measure that is reasonable, fixed in advance of the performance of the services being measured, uniformly applied over time, verifiable, and documented.

Distribution of Expenses and Income.

The overhead expenses of, and income from, the practice must be distributed according to methods that are determined before the receipt of payment for the services giving rise to the overhead expense or producing the income.

Unified Business.

The group practice must be a unified business having at least the following features:

Centralized decision making by a body representative of the group practice that maintains effective control over the group’s assets and liabilities; and

Consolidated billing, accounting, and financial reporting.

Volume or Value of Referrals.

No physician who is member of the group practice directly or indirectly receives compensation based on the volume or value of referrals except as provided under the specialty rules for productivity and profit shares.

Physician-Patient Encounters.

Members of the group must personally conduct no less than 75 percent of the physician-patient encounters of the group practice.

Special Rules for Productivity Bonuses and Profit Shares

The special rules for productivity bonuses and profit shares allow a physician who is in the group practice to be paid a share of overall profits of the group or a productivity bonus based on services that he/she has personally performed (including services “incident to” those personally performed services), provided that the share or bonus is not determined in any manner that is directly related to the volume or value of referrals of DHS by the physician.  CMS now takes the position that diagnostic-testing services cannot be billed as “incident to” but practices that provide physical therapy can, however, bill physical therapy services as “incident to” services (provided that all of the “incident to” requirements are met).

The Stark regulations specifically set forth examples of formulas that will be deemed not to relate directly to the volume or value of referrals.   For example, a group’s profits will be deemed not to relate directly to the volume or value of referrals if revenues derived from DHS are distributed based on the distribution of the group practice’s revenue attributed to services that are not DHS payable by any Federal health care program or private payer.

Documentation of Compliance

Group practices that choose to take advantage of the special treatment that the Stark law affords them must be prepared to demonstrate compliance with the regulations.  In this regard, if requested by the Secretary, group practices are required to provide documentation of the total time each member spends on patient care services, and to maintain documentation supporting compliance with the “substantially all” test.  The “substantially all” test is intended to guarantee that the group practice members are providing a substantial amount of their services through the group.  Groups can document compliance by any reasonable means, including without limitation, time cards, appointment schedules, personal diaries, or other reasonable means that are fixed in advance of the performance of the services being measured, uniformly applied over time, and verifiable.  Groups are also required to document, in writing, a new member’s employment with, or ownership or investment in, the group practice before the new relationship commences.

The In-Office Ancillary Services Exception

In order for a group of physicians to provide DHS within the practice, including without limitation, clinical laboratory, physical therapy, x-rays, and ultrasounds, the group must first meet all of the requirements of the group practice definition.  If the group practice definition is met, the group is then eligible to utilize the in-office ancillary services exception to protect its in-office DHS referrals.  The in-office ancillary exception exempts services personally provided by the referring physician, a physician who is a member of the same group practice as the referring physician, an individual that is supervised by the referring physician, or if the referring physician is in a group practice, by another physician in the group practice, provided that the supervision complies with all of the Medicare payment and coverage rules for the services.  In addition, the exception contains a location and a billing requirement.

Conclusion

This article is intended as only a brief summary of the Stark II Phase II Final Regulations in connection with the in-office provision of DHS within the group practice context.  Physicians and groups that provide DHS should also be mindful that many other common financial relationships may also trigger Stark, including, without limitation, (1) lease agreements for space and equipment; (2) medical director agreements; and (3) physician employment contracts with group practices and hospitals.

About the Author

The attorneys of Wachler & Associates, P.C., represent healthcare entities, providers and suppliers nationwide in all areas of healthcare law. Our healthcare attorneys and assistants have incomparable experience in the Recovery Audit Contractor (“RAC”) and Medicare audit appeals process. Our lawyers have successfully represented clients in thousands of Medicare appeals cases nationwide since 1980. http://www.racattorneys.com

HHC - Slaves and Salvation, SSSeries: 10-10

Employment Laws - Putting Them To Use

Back then employees were not protected as they would have preferred it to be. During the start of industrialization, many employees were mistreated even hurt. The workplace was not as regulated as it now. Fortunately for employees at present there are now employment laws that in some guarantees that a much safer and organized working environment. These developments are both beneficial to the employee and the employer. Employment laws cover the minimum amount a worker should be paid as well as their physical safety requirements. These employment laws demand very grave penalties when violated. The laws could be implemented on both state and federal laws.


Employment laws cover a whole lot of areas. There are employment laws that provide for persons with disabilities. Some tackle issues of discrimination over sex, race, age or religious affiliation and there are employment which cover issues for certain work environments like in the kitchens, factories or construction sites. Federal employment guidelines are guidelines that could be applied wherever the worker may reside in the country. However, there are also state guidelines that are being employed. These guidelines usually work in coordination with the federal guidelines. Although there are states guidelines that may be the same, one should always remember that they could be implemented in different manners. Thus when one transfers from one place to another it is important to note that the laws implemented before may not applicable in that area.


State and federal laws are both complex and are somewhat many in number. Although the basic phrasing of law could clearly state its meaning, there are many factors that come into play on how, where and when it could be implemented. Once a concerned individual feels that his or her rights were violated under any circumstance, they could seek the help of a lawyer/attorney to help them out on the case. The attorney should have an inclination towards these employment laws. These people would know what approach to take and what violations were actually incurred. There are cases which are simple others are not quite.


Employers are usually required by law to present the state and federal guidelines where employees would be able to see them. However, employment laws are from time to time changed especially when modifications to the work environment happen; laws are sometimes also changed with it. The changes correspond to the new needs that may arise together with the modifications. They are changed so as to address issues on keeping a safe and ethical work environment. As the working environment continually changes, new concerns and problems arises. With these comes the need to address such problems to continually cope up. Changes and modifications to the current guideline must be made in order to continually protect the rights of the workers.

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.

Speech: "The Federal Reserve System: Balancing Independence and Accountability" (1 of 4)

The State and Market – “a Theoretical Perspective”

THE STATE AND MARKET - A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE

A. Introduction

The 1960s marked an evolution of change in world politics where the concept of global diplomacy had become increasingly relevant. It seemed that the Euro-dollar system was the answer to many problems. The system constituted a great improvement on the international monetary mechanism, and for this reason alone it was “in keeping with the basic trend”. It represented a most important step in the progress towards overcoming national barriers that divide the international financial system into separate compartments. Thanks to the new device, those compartments were now much less isolated than they had over been before. What was strange was not that it arose and developed, but that it had not come into being many years earlier. The Euro-dollar system had become familiar and popular among Central Banks and Treasury officials, bankers, merchants, and investors all over the world and most of them were very keen on maintaining it. It led to an “international money market” with a structure of international interest rates. The difficulty had been to establish the system. Once it had come into existence, and had become a going concern, no extraordinary influences were needed for its maintenance in existence .

It can be reported that the international financial markets had borne witness to the largest concentration of economic resources in the world. The Euro-dollar market represents a modern world system where the prime candidates (the economic actors) are independent forces whose actors transcend the nation state. The Euro-dollar market being independent of specific national capital markets, is held together by a web of supra-national institutions and conventions (such as the IMF, BIS, inter-bank market discipline). As, since the market is not nationally based, no national regulators have been able to impose the same restrictions on off-shore operations, that they do on operations on home soil. Partly due to the fact that such action would only serve to shrink the market, and thus seriously harm international trade and payments. However, instead of disappearing, it had been going from strength to strength, throughout the 1960s. In fact, there was much more to the system than was assumed, especially by those who regarded it as being a purely temporary outcome of fortuitous circumstances. What they failed to realise is that it fulfils very important requirements, and that its development is in keeping with the trends of the market system. The international integration of the money markets, the elimination or reduction of rigidities in deposit rates and loan rates, the circumvention of artificial obstacles, the freeing of competition between lenders, and the improvement of the automatic functioning of market-mechanism, had long been overdue.

The relationship between “the state” and “the market” is fundamental to any understanding of the issues involved in economic and political change and the ordering of human relationships. The changes of the state in globalism brought with it a mix of values (wealth, freedom, and justice) within a market-authority relationship that affected the structures of power in the world economy. The purpose of this paper is to explore these very central concerns highlighting the impact of the world economy on the relations of states, and the ways in which states had sought to influence market forces for their own advantage. The theoretical theme of this thesis is that, traditional political science approaches to the economic policy of the “nation-state” are not enough in explaining the development of contemporary capitalism, and that, each state exists only as a political actor in the global flow of capital. In that sense the world market constitutes the existence of the reproduction of capital.

This paper will assess the nation-state and the concept of economic policy making in a globalised economy by using three theories, Liberalism, Marxism, and the Theory of Hegemonic Stability, which will analyse the nature of the state and market. The Marxism framework will be the chosen theoretical framework and will be referred upon throughout the thesis. However, all of the three theories investigate firstly, the economic interests of actors/groups and the ideas they espouse and secondly, the relationship between the political and economic domains in contemporary international society. Using this framework, this paper will have explored, whether the state was “captured” by particular interests, by examining the role of the state, by using the following argument:

The concept of the state and market - Who makes the rules for the market? Could it be that, it is industry itself, which makes the rules and the state that, legitimises the rules?

B. International Economic System

Realist theories of international relations start from the assumption that states are the fundamental units of the international political system, in which, states possess a “national interest” in maximising power, wealth or both. Taking this analysis into account, realist theorists are able to develop rigorous systemic explanations of how the international political system is ordered. Kenneth Waltz has used analytical tools grounded in neo-classical microeconomics to explore the underlying characteristics of the state system. Taking states as the functional equivalent of firms, Waltz develops a variety of insights about how, the number of states in the system affects the very configuration of their interaction - much as an oligopolistic market behaves differently than a perfectly competitive one.

One of the more provocative outgrowths of this Realist theorising is called the “Theory of Hegemonic Stability”. Reviewing specifically the international economic system, scholars such as Stephen Krasner and Robert Keohane , analyse the formation of stable economic relations among states as a classic collective-action problem. They conclude that international economic stability is best provided for in a system dominated by one actor capable of managing the system more or less unilaterally. Such generalisations are solidified by analysing the Pre-World War One “Pax-Britannica” and the Post-World War Two “Pax-Americana”, as exercises in the stabilising nature of hegemonic leadership. It is often argued that such hegemonic systems will tend towards liberalisation of trade and capital flows. However, even though Realists have clarified and illustrated many issues in international relations, one very serious problem arises in attempting to apply their insights to the analysis of the real world. If the states are the crucial actors in the system, then it is of fundamental importance, to understand the goals that they pursue – just as micro-economic analysis must understand the goals of all players in the market. Some realists simply assume state interests, usually as some variant of survival or power maximisation. Others believe state interests are derived from the relative position of the state in the international system: hegemonic states have one set of interests, weak states another.

For realists then, state interests are essentially static and exogenous, given by the very nature of the international system. Yet, even the most rigorous of Realists realise that this is only part of the story. Kenneth Waltz claims that, “each state arrives at policies and decides on actions according to its own internal processes, but its decisions are shaped by the very presence of other states as well as interactions with them”. Robert Gilpin, is even more explicit about domestic pressures on foreign policies. “The state … may be conceived as a coalition of coalitions whose objectives and interests result from the powers and bargaining among the several coalitions composing the larger society and political elite … The objectives and foreign policies of states are determined primarily by the interests of their dominant members or ruling coalitions” .

Another piece of work involves Cox’s study of critical analysis, which develops the understanding of state’s rational choice, and the decision-making process, in international and domestic affairs. The state emerges as the political focus for the process of adjustment and change. That, by understanding the state, by what it is, what it does, and where it fits in Robert Cox’s state-society complex, lies the theoretical issue. The notion of the state and market, is an important step to understand the broader context of thinking about order, addressing the basic underlying concern of the ways through which “governance without government ” can be achieved in order to avoid undesirable outcomes in international and transnational relations.

One conclusion is that, financial market deregulation and re-regulation, in their various disguises, have come to constitute a major developmental trend, not only in the world economy, but also in world politics. Processes of regulatory arbitrage, market expansion and the development of the competition-state in a more open world have led to a range of structural changes which seems to be identifiable as an “integrated, 24-hour global financial market-place”. A series of changes has not only had an uneven impact upon different states (and different kinds of state and market structures), but has also constrained the actions of policy makers everywhere. In the context of political economy, much literature on international macro-economic questions has been built, around the “theory of hegemonic stability”. In the broadest terms, the theory of hegemony stability suggests that a necessary condition for international economic stability and fruitful international economic cooperation, especially in matters of money and finance, is the existence of a hegemonic state. The hegemon is able and willing to lead others in the system and to act, for example, as an international lender of last resort, and a lender of cooperation in the event of a financial crisis or panic.

The leadership of the hegemony is based on a general belief in its legitimacy at the same time that it is constrained by the need to maintain it; other states accept the rule of the hegemon because of its prestige and status in the international political system. A considerable degree of ideological consensus, or what Marxists following Antonio Gramsci would call “ideological hegemony”, is required if the hegemon is to have the necessary support of other states. If other states begin to regard the actions of the hegemon as self-serving and contrary to their own political and economic interests, the hegemonic system will be greatly weakened. It will deteriorate if the citizenry of the hegemonic power believes that other states are cheating, or if the costs of leadership begin to exceed the perceived benefits. In such situations, powerful groups become less and less willing to subordinate their interests to the continuation of the systems.

A number of realist ideas about power and liberal ideas about the advantages of the market co-exist, in the theory of hegemony. As it is a theory of international politics, based on a number of key realist assumptions, relating to the emergence of a liberal economy, to the configurations of power in international politics. The idea that a hegemon might provide some of the political re-conditions for a liberal economic order was originally put forward by Charles Kindleberger. Much of the literature on hegemonic stability has taken inspiration from the writings of Charles Kindleberger, and in particular his arguments that the great depression of the 1930s was in large part due to the absence of hegemonic leadership on the part of the United States . In the absence of leadership or hegemon, the liberal international economic order and its associated monetary arrangements may disintegrate, unless other leading capitalist nations are willing to share more of the burdens of its management and leadership.

Thus, after, US hegemony there may be more conflict and disorder in the international political economy. Robert Keohane , states that if there is a solution, to the problem, it lies in the flexible strengthening and extension of international collective goods, regimes and institutions. Regimes can provide a more favorable environment for cooperation through enhancing communication and altering perceived pay-off structures for different actors, and making them consider the longer-term repercussions of their actions by extending “the shadow of the future”. In this context, there has been a growth in the use of game theory as a means of understanding the conditions that best promote rational self-interested cooperation and a lengthening of political time horizons.

Present work by a range of scholars from different perspectives , indicates that hegemony defined in realist terms, as the “prevalent power of one state over others in the system”, is merely one variable in complex historical situations. A range of socio-historical forces need to be taken into account in any explanation.

However, to understand how states manage the constraints of the domestic and international domains, it is important to understand the politics of the individual state itself, situated as it is between domestic and international society. If the state is a prime decision-maker, this requires some notion of how the economic interests involved in the global market economy became articulated in the politics of the state. Nevertheless, the theory of hegemonic stability fails to comprehend the theoretical relationship between the political and economic domains. As it is important to understand the relationship of those with significant resources in the (domestic and international) market economy to political power. The hegemonic stability approach points to a political framework for the market provided by the hegemon. As in the liberal case, the market is a “natural” institution fundamental to human interaction.

The market is an institution, representing political and economic advantages for some social groups and economic actors, and relative costs to others. This is not always evident in the case of markets; their apparently self-regulating nature obscures the role of politics in their emergence and development. What is important is the interaction of domestic and international factors mediated through the politics of the state in an international system characterized by both anarchy and a global market economy. To understand international politics it is important to theorize these connections between markets and politics, domestic and international, through our understanding of the state. Interdependence emerges as a central feature of international politics.

C. Political Liberalism

The underlying assumption of political liberalism is the intrinsic value of individuals as the primary actors in the liberal system. Liberalism is thus embodied with a concern for enhancing the freedom and welfare of individuals. It proposes that human-kind can employ better reason to develop a sense of harmony of interest among individuals and groups within the wider community, domestic or international. Thus liberalism has, as a goal the harmonisation of conceptions of self-interest “through political action”. Progress towards this goal is “seen in terms of possibility rather than certainty” .

In the international sphere, these goals are realised through the promotion of liberal democracy, through international co-operation, law and institutions, and through social integration and technological development. It is fairly easy to see how the economic variant fits in the general picture. The maximisation of individual economic welfare is a very important aspect of the enhancement of individual freedoms. States can direct their policies towards this goal through co-operation to realise mutually beneficial economic gains for their peoples. However, how successful is the liberal approach at addressing the central theoretical question?

Firstly, the separation of markets from politics, from their political and institutional settings is confusing. This is to misunderstand what a market actually is. It is not a phenomenon resulting from spontaneous interactions among individuals; it is instead a complex political institution for producing and distributing material and political resources. As such, it is relatively advantageous for some, and rather bad news for others, depending on the historical circumstances of individuals in their socio-economic context. In addition, if markets are properly understood as political institutions, the assumption that they are automatic or “self-regulating” breaks down – it becomes clear that markets, like any other political arrangements, are contestable and open to manipulation by those who have the power to do so.

Secondly, it is difficult to understand the behaviour of economic agents, whether individuals or firms, outside their socio-political context. Economic agents do not just react to a series of market incentives: markets differ from sector to sector, or country to country. Socio-cultural institutions and political conflict shape the pattern of market institutions, and vice-versa; and economic issues are intimately interconnected with other aspects of human existence. In general, it is essentially a motto to assert that economic agents interact as members of a social whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

The third point involves the limitation of the liberal perspective itself, (the separation of markets from politics leads to this). There have always been markets in the sense of local exchanges of goods and services, but the market system or economy is a relatively recent development . Liberalism therefore fails to account for the history of political conflict that has altered the institutions of the market over time. The institutions of nineteenth-century laissez-faire contrast greatly with those of the post war mixed economy, and since the 1970s rapid changes have been under way. The changing patterns of market institutions have altered the distribution of gains and losses, the pattern of political resources, and the political preferences “of players in the game”.

Fourthly, the liberal perspective is an economic reductionist approach. Regarding this, the focus is that liberals ultimately focus on a feature of economic structure, the pattern of comparative advantage among economic agents, as a source of explanation. The complexity and political content of international economic relations are reduced to a reflection of the international division of labour, or market structure, as utility maximisers interact within its confines. Hence, by separating the understanding of the state from that of the economy, and of the individual from society, there can be no successful theory of politics or of the state.

However, it is precisely a political theory of the market that is required. In the absence of a theory of political conflict and the state, it is difficult to understand how the market structure might change over time. Liberalism’s basic assumptions, concerning the existence of rational economic actors, or a competitive market, are unrealistic. The structure of comparative advantage certainly does shape and constrain the interactions among actors, but the emergence and transformation of comparative advantage, the structure itself requires explanation. Change is an open-ended political process that takes place within a particular structural setting, but with the potential to alter structure itself.

To conclude, the main critiques that arises signify that, economics artificially separates the economy from other aspects of society, and accepts the existing socio-political framework as a “given”, including: the distribution of power and property rights; the resource and endowments of individuals, groups, and national societies; and the framework of social, political, and cultural institutions. The liberal world is viewed as one of homogeneous, rational, and equal individuals living in a world free from political boundaries and social constraints. Its “laws” prescribe a set of maximising rules for economic actors regardless of where and with what they start; yet in real life, one’s starting point, most frequently determines where one finishes .

Liberalism is also limited by its assumption that exchange is always free and occurs in a competitive market between equals who possess full information, and are thus enabled to gain mutually if they choose to exchange one value to another. However, exchange is seldom free and equal. Instead, the terms of an exchange can be profoundly affected by coercion, differences in bargaining power (monopoly), and other essentially political factors. In effect, because it neglects both the effects of non-economic factors on exchange and the effects of exchange on politics, liberalism lacks a true “political economy”.

Hence to conclude, the liberal perspective is committed to free markets and minimal state intervention, that trade and economic intercourse are a source of peaceful relations among nations, because the mutual benefits of trade and expanding interdependence among national economies will tend to foster co-operative relations. Whereas politics tends to divide, economics tends to unite peoples. A liberal international economy will have a moderating influence on international politics, as it creates bonds of mutual interests and a commitment to the “status quo”. However, it is important to emphasise that, although everyone will, or at least can, be better off in “absolute” terms under free exchange, the “relative” gains will differ. It is precisely this issue of relative gains and the distribution of wealth generated by the market system that has given rise to economic nationalism and Marxism as rival doctrines.

D. Marxism

Marx’s claimed that, “the abstraction of the state as such belongs only to modern times. The abstraction of the political state is a modern product” . The emergence of the capitalist state form was neither an automatic response to the development of the free world, nor a matter of the transfer of power from one class to another. The historic change in the form of the state occurred gradually as political revolutions overthrew sovereign power, and fundamental social struggles, which were both prompted by and were expressions of, changing social relations of production, “since they were all manifestations of the separation of the people from the community” . However, the “class” character of the capitalist state, was not determined by a dominance of capitalists or the primacy of the economy. Rather it is the separation of the state from civil society and thus the political regulation of class antagonism upon which the class character of the state rests.

However, from my readings from the theories introduced there seems to be a conflict of termination, surrounding the public use of the term “capitalism”, almost that it is faced by those who would defend capitalist institutions. When challenged, the terminology seemed to follow variations in economic performance. In periods of social stability and economic growth the limits of the possible under capitalism are rarely evident or tested, and few people need to use the term. It will be the argument of this thesis that the development of this “capitalist economy” requires a look at the writings of Karl Marx. The British government’s use of the Euro-dollar market in order to achieve its policy objectives flowed from its recognition that the world it faced in the 1960s was capitalist, in the sense that Marx used the term; and therefore in order to understand the world as it is today, it is essential to begin by discussing Marx’s characterisation of 19-Century capitalism.

The theory of the Modern World System (MWS) was strongly influenced by Marx, where the “world market” is essentially a mechanism for the economic exploitation of the less developed countries by the advanced capitalist economies. This Modern World System position is based upon the classical Marxist analysis that, both the nation-state of the nationalists and the market of the liberals are derivative from underlying and more fundamental social and economic forces. Rather than being independent actors or variables, they are consequences of a peculiar juncture of ideas, institutions, and material capabilities. The state and market are the products of a “historical epoch”, and are firmly embedded in a larger social matrix. The central argument that the “world market” contains a dominant core periphery and a dependent periphery that interact and function as an integrated whole. It is clear that the historical content of the MWS position is crucial to the insight of the state and market. As noted, the market system and the nation state are both products of modern society and of profound changes in human consciousness, productivity, and social forces. Using the analysis of the MWS theory, nation-states and the conflict among them are the foremost manifestation of man’s nature as a “political animal”. Taking the notion, that far from being mere creatures of economic and historical forces, states are independent actors in economic and political affairs. It should also be noted that the market and “economic man” have achieved an independent reality. Once having come into existence, the modern market cannot be reduced to sociological forces. The market, like the modern state, has come to exercise a powerful influence over historical developments.

Another factor worth noting is that, since Marxists hold that the state action can only be understood in terms of historical trends, any analysis must focus on the origins and basic motivations for state action over time. Another common element in all Marxist theories, which distinguishes them from all other theories, is the subservience of the state to the interests of capital. To Marx, capital meant a social process, which can include the hiring of labour, the construction of machinery, the exchange of products for money, and the re-investment of that money into another round of the profit-generating process. Capitalism is the all embracing term that includes each of these mechanisms. The British State viewed as a whole, can best be understood, according to Marxists, as defender of the capitalist system. It is argued that British live in a class society where the basic divisions are drawn according to ownership and control of the means of production. A minority capitalist class owns the means of production and exploits a wage-earning class. The state’s action in maintaining capitalism is an expression of the power of the dominant class. However, this does not imply that a tiny capitalist elite manipulates the state “behind the scenes”.

The principal strength of the Marxist analysis, and most other radical approaches to international politics is that they focus precisely on the connection between the social and economic structures of the capitalist economic system, and the exercise of political power in the international system, on the other. In the domestic political system, the capitalist system of production entrenches the dominance of one class over another: the state is the capitalist state. As the economy becomes internationalised, this class dominance projects itself into international politics. The political organisation of the international system reflects the power relations of the global market economy. This manifests itself both in competition among states in the international system, and in the co-operative processes represented by international economic regimes. In the perspective of some traditional Marxists, the spread of capitalism touches off a process of economic and political development in less developed parts of the globe as capitalist firms, often supported by their home states, seek profitable opportunities for investment abroad.

Dependency theorists saw the flaw of this approach and pointed instead to the likelihood of core and periphery areas of the global economy remaining distinct despite incorporation into the capitalist world economy. Johann Galtung developed a structural theory of imperialism, proposing that the mutually beneficial political and economic relationships between elites in core and periphery countries world maintain the structural pattern of dependency in the global economy.

It is however difficult to generalise about these diverse theories, but most do share some essential characteristics. The approaches tend to be based on analysis of the socio-political effects of economic structure. In this sense, most are reductionist like the liberal approach. This is not surprising; Marx regarded his work as a critique of the classical liberal political economists, and thus he focused on a similar set of intellectual problems. Politics in the domestic and international domains tends to be reduced to a function of the capitalist production structure and the division of society into classes, which is in turn a result of the individual’s relationship to the means of production.

However, the theories are weak in explaining just how this relationship between political power and economic structure is expressed. There is an essential, missing ingredient – a theory of how structures themselves originate, change, work, and reproduce themselves. Antonio Gramsci, (and other theorists who used the Gramscian method in international relations, such as Robert Cox , and Stephen Gill ), attempted to develop a more political explanation of the relationship between economic structure and political processes at domestic and international levels of analysis. They sought to avoid the problem of economic reductionism referred to above, drawing on Gramsci himself as well as Karl Polanyi , Fernand Braudel , and other social theorists, and in the process overcame many of the limitations of liberalism, Marxism and realism .

E. Theoretical Comparisons

Using the Euro-dollar market as an example, the market system has become a major factor in shaping modern society; market competition and the responsiveness of economic actors to relative price changes. These issues propel society in the direction of increased specialisation, greater efficiency, and (if liberal and Marxist predictions ultimately prove correct) the eventual economic unification of the globe. Marx observed that the market, or capitalist system, was a revolutionary departure in world history and also argued that traditional culture and political boundaries would crumble in its path as it moved inexorably toward the full development and integration of the globe’s productive capabilities .

Although, the market system is driven largely by its own internal dynamics, the pace and direction of its forward movement are profoundly affected by external factors. The interaction of the market and environmental conditions account for much of the economic and political history of the modern world. Among the so-called exogenous variables that affect the operation of markets are the structure of society, the political framework at the domestic and the international levels, and the existing state of scientific theory and technological development, all of which constitute constraints or opportunities affecting the functioning of economic actors. However, the market itself affects and transforms external factors in important ways: it dissolves social structures, alters political relations, and stimulates both scientific and technological advance. An understanding of the ways in which market forces and external factors affect one another is essential to comprehension of the dynamics of the international political economy.

On a general level, the “state” covers a heterogeneous group of institutions engaged in an active process of regulating and directing society. It is these institutions in which “state power” lies. The state also serves to give society some unity, integration and coherence. However, when one asks what the role of the state is, or what it should be, one if faced with a number of sharply contrasting views or theories.

As, for the market, historically, markets have always existed in one form or another as economic exchange relationships (such as trade) among individuals, enterprises or communities. The market system, has been characterised by industrial capitalists, and Marx, where owners of capital, workers, and intermediaries are all linked in social relationships via a complex pattern of political and market institutions. These facilitate the circulation of money for the production and purchase of commodities, services, land and labour. In the post-World War Two economic order, a market has been a political device used to achieve certain outcomes, conferring relative benefits on some, and costs on others in both political and economic terms. It is in essence, a political institution that plays a crucial role in structuring society and international politics. The changing market structure gives rise to new patterns of economic and political forces.

The Euro-dollar market was focused and developed in London at the initiative of the US-based banking industry. This development reflected the combination of the effects of former Eastern European bloc countries moving their US dollar balances out of the United States to Western Europe (mainly to London) during the beginning of the middle 1960s, and of Regulation Q, which put a ceiling on the interest rates that US banks could pay on deposits. It was also worth noting that while the effects of Regulation Q probably had the greatest effects, other countries through the 1960s (Canada, the Netherlands and Germany being the exceptions) had ceilings on both borrowing and lending rates. These controls distorted credit flows as well as well as the allocation process, which was determined not by the market mechanisms, but by bureaucratic hierarchies. Also, the industrial activities of multinational corporations increased demand for international banking services. At the same time, international banking was dominated by US based institutions that further stimulated the Euro-dollar market. Moreover, the Euro-dollar market was not subject to regulatory constraints on interest rates. This characteristics gave US banks an opportunity to “short-circuit” Regulation Q and institutions from other countries to undertake activities in London, which they were prohibited from undertaking in their indigenous markets.

However, each view will be found to rest on rather different assumptions about the nature of human beings and their interests. In the liberal view, a person’s interest is simply what a person says it is. To a reformist however, this is not realistic. People need help in identifying and articulating their interests. Also, liberalism, which emerged from the Enlightenment in the writings of Adam Smith and others, was a reaction to mercantilism and has become embodied in orthodox economics. It assumes that politics and economics exist, at least ideally, in separate spheres. It argues that markets, in the interest of efficiency, growth, and consumer choice, should be free from political interference.

The Marxist view is rather more complex, but argues what a person thinks - including how he perceives his interest, is determined by the particular society in which he lives. If the structure of the society works against a person’s real interest, then what he thinks is in his best interest may not be so after all. Also, Marxism holds that economics drives politics. Political conflict arises from struggle among classes over the distribution of wealth. Therefore, political conflict arises will cease with the elimination of the market and of society of classes.

The underlying assertion is that no state had a “grand plan” to reform the market, as for much of the period under consideration, states had provided the “regulatory needs” demanded by the industry. That, from time to time when there was sufficient autonomy between the state and the industry, the state could be seen to be acting contrary to the short-term interests of the industry and its long-term interests. However, the needs of the bureaucrats and elected officials were also a factor in the character of the policy implemented. In these latter situations it is argued that the state and its officials were acting in their own interests. That, they behaved in this fashion in order to preserve the indigenous financial regime and the positive economic externalities that go along with a rich financial infrastructure. Ignoring the global financial developments would risk erosion of the indigenous financial system and the loss of the positive economic externalities of this activity. It is this process that gave rise to the competitive deregulatory developments that was experienced in the development of the Euro-dollar market in London, and the industrial democracies.

This argument is the significant “base” of the thesis, as while some actors might have benefited from the tight restrictions of the US in the 1960s (such as Regulation Q, and the Interest Equalisation Tax), non-state actors had tended to argue for a relatively unregulated or liberal policy conditions, which allows a clear advantage to their market power. International finance, has been a major force in integrating the modern world economy, nourishing the international economy in the form of loans and portfolio investment (stock and bonds). In the contemporary period, foreign direct investment by multinational corporations has augmented these traditional means of capital flow.

Governments and non-state actors have become important sources of capital through the making of loans and the giving of official aid, particularly to less developed countries. Also, in the perspective of liberal economics, the primary function of international finance is to transfer accumulated capital to the location where its marginal rate of return is highest, and where it can therefore be employed most efficiently. The flow of capital internationally is a powerful “driving force” in the world economy, and the transfer of capital from regions with capital surplus, where the rate of return is relatively low, to potentially more productive regions is a major factor in the dynamics and expansion of the world system.

As international finance has significant political consequences theoretically, as it can also be the weakest link in the international economy: speculative and volatile flows of capital can be a major source of global economic instability. In the words of Charles Kindleberger , the international financial system is inherently prone to “manias, panics and crashes”. It is subject to periodic debt crises and destabilising international flows of investment, speculative, and flight capital in search of higher rates of return or safe havens.

In a world divided among competitive states, international finance and the exercise of influence by the hegemonic power over international economic and political affairs are closely related. The hegemon is both the manager and a primary beneficiary of the financial system. It is the primary source of capital for developing economies, and its currency is the basis of global financial relations. If a financial crisis occurs, the hegemon is the only actor that can play the role of what Charles Kindleberger has called the “lender of last resort”, and can take the necessary action to moderate the threat to the system. Finally, the questions are important as it investigates the “doctrine” of political conflict, over who gets what, where and when. Robert Cox has gone as far as the idea that: “Theory is always for someone, and always for some purpose” .

F. Conclusion – “national states, capitalism and the global economy”

One question that arises from this theoretical paper is; what is the relevance of all this, to the situation that was faced by the British government in the 1960s? As there is no way in which “Capital” can be taken as a total and unambiguous guide to the detail of social and political life a century after its publication. Whatever the status of Capital is, it proves to be useful to the specification of the relationship between theory and practice. After all, Marx’s writings contain a number of very serious errors; not least his underestimation of the degree of political stability which capitalism in Western Europe and the United States would experience through the incorporation of the working class into the ruling political structures. That, is the critical legacy with which present Marxists have come to terms, a legacy that Marx certainly did not expect and to whose prevention his whole life work was dedicated. Nor did he anticipate that a revolution would be made in his name in the most backward of the major capitalist nations in 1917, and that in its isolation, that revolution would degenerate into a political dictatorship which would use his writings to justify the consolidation of the very system of wage labour to whose transcendence he was so dedicated. Today, both within and beyond the Marxist tradition, unresolved debates continue on the status and adequacy of the labour theory of value, on the problem of translating Marx’s analysis of value formation under capitalism into an adequate theory of price determination, on the propensity of the rate of profit to fall, and on the epistemological status of Marx’s categories and their susceptibility to empirical refutation .

However, this “celebrated failure” of Marxism is a failure not of economic theory but rather of the social and political expectations based on it. In modern Western Europe, it was conventional among the vast majority of practising economists (outside the Communist parties), to dismiss Marx’s economic writings as anachronistic, rendering redundant at the level of micro-economics by the rise of marginalism, and at the level of the national economy by the writings of John Maynard Keynes. Also, these very developments, in the field of economic theory seemed to be matched by the very dynamism of capitalism to which Marx attached such importance.

One argument that had been identified in this paper in response towards the theory of the relationship between states and the global economy, is that the state form is a product of the struggles which eventually secured the dominance of capitalist social relations. Through history, capitalist states had developed on the basis of the principle of territoriality of jurisdiction. The fragmentation of the “political” into national states, which from their very roots comprise an international system, had developed alongside the internationalisation of capital. The transition from the personal sovereign to a sovereignty of public authorities over a defined territory was a key element in the development of the capitalist international system, as it provided a multi-purpose framework which permitted and facilitated the global circulation of commodities and capital.

The Euro-dollar market inherently being a new phenomenon proved some uncertainty to the British Labour government during the mid-1960s, which had to approach the new market through an analysis of the world in which the Labour Party sought to govern. Such an analysis posed questions as to why particular institutions and processes posed such a set of problems for the individual Labour governments? Why did particular issues come to preoccupy political debate in one period only to dwindle in importance in the next? Why particular patterns of political and social cleavage prove so tenacious? With such questions, and a new market developing, the British Labour Government had to respond with a set agenda in order to control specified targets including the sequence of booms and slumps, the differing strengths of the national economy, the rise and significance of multinational corporations, the role of international financial agencies, and the changing role of the government in economic and social life. Such a task seems a formidable one, but one that was not considered impossible. What holds the analysis together is the recognition that the world during the 1960s was “capitalist” to the sense that Marx used the term. The law of value still operated throughout the major economic and social processes. Due to this reason, the preceding outline of Marx’s analysis remains relevant, as it provides the means by which the true nature of the British government’s dilemmas can be explained and understood.

ENDNOTE

1. Einzig and Quinn, 1977

2. Kenneth Waltz, Theory of International Politics, Reading – Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1979.

3. Stephen Krasner, State Power and the Structure of International Trade, World Politics, 28 April 1976, pp 317-347. Robert Keohane, The Theory of Hegemonic Stability and Changes in international economic Regimes, 1967-1977, in Change in the International System, Ed: Ole Holsti, Randolph Siverson and Alexander George, Boulder – Westview, 1980, pp 131-162.

4. Robert Gilpin, War and Change in World Politics, Cambridge University Press, 1981, pp19.

5. J. Rosenau and E. Czempiel (eds), Governance without Government: Order and Change in World Politics, Cambridge, 1992.

6. Charles Kindleberger, The World in Depression, 1929-39, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1973

7. Robert Keohane, After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984

8. Van der Pijl (The Making of an Atlantic Ruling Class, London, Verso, 1984); Cox (Power, Production and World Order: Social Forces in the Making of History, New York, Columbia University Press, 1987); Gill (American Hegemony and the Trilateral Commission, Cambridge University Press, 1990); and Walter (World Power and World Money, New York, St Martin’s Press, 1991).

9. Mark Zacher and Richard Mathew, Liberal International Theory: common threads, divergent strands, in Charles Kegley, Realiam and the Neoliberal Challenge: Controversies in International Relations theory, New York, St Martin’s Press, 1994.

10. Polanyi, Karl, The Great Transformation, Boston, Beacon Press, 1944

11. Dahrendorf, Ralf, Life Chances, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1979.

12. Marx Karl, Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Law, in Marx/Engels 1975, vol: 3, p32.

13. Galtung, Johann, A Structural Theory of Imperialism, International Journal of Peace Research, vol: 8, 1971, p. 81-118.

14. Cox, Robert, Production Power and World Order, New York, Columbia University Press, 1987

15. Stephen Gill, Gramsci, Historical Materialism, and International Relations, Cambridge University Press, 1993

16. Fernand Braudel, (Capitalism and Material Life, London: Weidenfield and Nicolson, 1973), also (The Wheels of Commerce, London: Collins, 1982)

17. Marx, Karl, Karl Marx: Selected Writings, ed. David McLellan, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1977 (1859)

18. Kindleberger, Charles, Manias, Panics, and Crashes: a history of financial crises, New York, basic Books, 1978

19. Robert Cox, Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory, New York, Columbia University Press, 1987, p205

20. Yaffe D, The Marxian theory of crisis, capital and the state, Economy and Society, 2(2), May 1973, pp203-213.

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Criminal Rothschilds

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Preemption of State Law Intentional Tort Actions Under the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978

After years of tight government control over the airline industry, Congress chose to pursue a policy of economic deregulation, enacting the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 (ADA). Areas formerly controlled by the federal government, such as the awarding of routes, the entry of new air carriers, and the setting of fares, were left to the airlines and the free market to determine. Congress, concerned that States might attempt to circumvent federal airline deregulation through their own state enforcement actions, included an express preemption clause in the ADA, which bars States from enforcing laws “related to a price, route, or service of an air carrier.” This apparently innocuous provision continues to cause confusion and divide courts over exactly what causes of action are preempted by the ADA.

Top-ranked Chicago personal injury attorney, Matthew A. Passen, examines one class of state-law based actions, intentional tort claims, and considers whether such actions are sufficiently “related to” an airline “service” for preemption under the ADA. For example, can a passenger who was refused boarding on a commercial airline and strapped to an immobile chair in the waiting area sue the airline for false imprisonment? Can a passenger detained by airline employees upon landing of an aircraft, wrongfully accused of stealing another passenger’s ring, and arrested by police, seek recourse against the airline for false arrest, intentional infliction of emotional distress or slander? Can an airline racially discriminate against a passenger or airline employee with impunity?

As the following discussion reveals, the answer to these questions often depends entirely on how broad or narrow courts interpret the ADA’s statutory phrase, “related to a . . . service of an air carrier.” If a narrow reading is adopted, plaintiffs will have their day in court. If, on the other hand, a court interprets the preemption provision broadly, airlines will essentially receive immunity from state-law intentional tort actions.

Often, the best answer to such questions of statutory interpretation is found by reconsidering the purpose of the underlying statute containing the preemption provision. Here, the purpose of the ADA is straightforward: economic deregulation of the airline industry.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ADA’s PREEMPTION CLAUSE

Prior to 1978, the federal government heavily regulated the airline industry.1 Beginning with the Federal Aviation Act (FAA) of 1958,2 Congress created a regulatory organization, known as the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), to serve three main functions: award routes to airlines, control the entry of air carriers into new markets, and regulate fares for consumers.3 Still, Congress preserved state common law actions against airlines by including a “saving clause,” which provided: “Nothing contained in this chapter shall in any way abridge or alter the remedies now existing at common law or by statute, but the provisions of this chapter are in addition to such remedies.”4

In 1978, however, Congress changed courses with respect to airline regulation, determining that “maximum reliance on competitive market forces would best further ‘efficiency, innovation, and low prices’ as well as ‘variety [and] quality . . . of air transportation services.”5 Accordingly, Congress enacted the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 (ADA),6 which gradually ended economic regulation of the airline industry in a series of steps over the years, including the elimination of the CAB.7

The ADA, unlike its predecessor, contained express federal preemption clause to ensure that “States would not undo federal deregulation with regulation of their own.”8 The ADA’s preemption clause states:

Except as provided in this subsection, a State, political subdivision of a State, or political authority of at least 2 States may not enact or enforce any law, regulation, or other provision having the force and effect of law related to a price, route, or service of any air carrier that may provide air transportation under this subpart.9

This preemption standard, while simply stated, has proven far more difficult to apply than Congress could have anticipated.

One source of confusion is Congress’ retention of the “saving clause,” which provides that “[a] remedy under this part is in addition to any other remedies provided by law.” 10 Some courts have found Congress preserved this clause in order to protect the states’ ability to control non-economic matters involving airlines within their respective borders.11 Still, the Supreme Court has referred to the saving clause as “a relic of the pre-ADA/no pre-emption regime,” without power to supersede the specific substantive preemption provision of the ADA. 12

The greatest source of confusion surrounding the ADA’s preemption clause concerns the ambiguous language of the statute itself. In particular, courts have struggled to advance a coherent framework for what types of causes of action are “related to a price, route, or service” for preemption under the ADA. Congress neither defined the terms nor specified what types of state action are preempted, and the Supreme Court has not drawn any distinct preemption lines.13 Consequently, lower courts have been left to apply their own, often conflicting, interpretations of the ADA’s preemption clause. Regardless of statutory interpretation, courts remain guided by fundamental principles of preemption doctrine.

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO PREEMPTION DOCTRINE

The foundation for federal preemption of state law is based on the Supremacy Clause of Article VI of the Constitution, which provides: “This Constitution and the laws of the United States . . . shall be the supreme law of the land . . . anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.”14 As a general rule, federal law preempts state law in three situations:15 (1) Express preemption: where Congress has explicitly preempted state law;16 (2) Field preemption: where Congressional intent to preempt may be inferred generally from the pervasiveness of a federal regulatory scheme in a particular area;17 and (3) Conflict preemption: where state law conflicts with federal law or interferes with the achievement of congressional objectives.18

Where Congress has included an express preemption clause in a statute, courts “typically do not consider the issue of implied pre-emption,” and instead simply “determine whether the state law in question falls within the scope of the statute expressly promulgated by Congress.”19 In other words, according to the Supreme Court:

When Congress has considered the issue of pre-emption and has included in the enacted legislation a provision explicitly addressing that issue . . . ‘there is no need to infer congressional intent to pre-empt state laws from the substantive provisions’ of the legislation. Such reasoning is a variant of the familiar principle of expression unius est exclusio alterius: Congress’ enactment of a provision defining the pre-emptive reach of a statute implies that matters beyond that reach are not pre-empted.20

Because Congress included an express preemption clause in the ADA, courts look to the specific statutory language in order to determine whether a particular state action is preempted. Unfortunately, the literal text of the ADA’s preemption clause is ambiguous; and the Supreme Court has not resolved the uncertainty.

SUPREME COURT INTERPRETATION OF

THE ADA’s PREEMPTION CLAUSE

The United States Supreme Court has interpreted the ADA’s preemption provision only twice since 1978. In Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc.,21 the Court decided whether the ADA preempts States from regulating deceptive airline fare advertisements through enforcement of state consumer protection statutes.22 The Court held such actions were indeed preempted by the ADA.23

In reaching its decision, the Court focused on the statutory phrase “related to” in the ADA’s preemption provision. First, the Court looked to Black’s Law Dictionary for guidance, concluding that “the words thus express a broad pre-emptive purpose.”24

Second, the Court examined the similarly worded preemption provision of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA),25 which the Court had previously interpreted as having a “broad scope.”26 Therefore, the Court held: “Since the relevant language of the ADA is identical [to the ERISA preemption clause], we think it appropriate to adopt the same standard here: State enforcement actions having a connection with or reference to airline ‘rates, routes, or services’ are pre-empted” by the ADA.27 Although the Court in Morales declined to define with particularity the circumstances under which a state law “relates to” airline services, it held the state consumer protection guidelines at issue were sufficiently “related to” airline “price[s]” because enforcement of such guidelines would compel or restrict airline price advertising.28

Notably, however, the Court recognized there are limits to the scope of the ADA’s preemption clause.29 Specifically, the Court explained that state action affecting the airlines in “too tenuous, remote, or peripheral a manner” will not be preempted by the ADA.30 The Court declined to expand on this notion, instead stating, “[t]he present litigation plainly does not present a borderline question, and we express no views about where it would be appropriate to draw the line.”31

In 1995, the Supreme Court revisited the ADA’s preemption clause in American Airlines, Inc. v. Wolens.32 Here, the plaintiffs brought claims against American Airlines for breach of contract and for violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act following the airline’s unilateral devaluation of frequent flyer mileage credits earned by the plaintiffs.33 Rather than focusing on the “related to” language of the ADA’s preemption clause, the Court examined the phrase “enact or enforce any law” in the provision.34

First, in accord with Morales, the Court held that the plaintiffs’ claims based on the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act were preempted by the ADA.35 The purpose of the Illinois statute, according to the Court, was “to guide and police the marketing practices of the airlines; the Act does not simply give effect to bargains offered by the airlines and accepted by airline customers.”36 Therefore, because the plaintiffs sought to “enforce [a] law” regulating “the selection and design of marketing mechanisms appropriate to the furnishing of air transportation services,” the plaintiffs’ claims under the Consumer Fraud Act were preempted.37

Second, the Court carved out an exception to ADA preemption for the plaintiffs’ breach of contract claim. The Court explained: “We do not read the ADA’s preemption clause, however, to shelter airlines from suits alleging no violation of state-imposed obligations, but seeking recovery solely for the airline’s alleged breach of its own, self-imposed undertakings.”38 Because the plaintiffs’ breach of contract claim (based on American’s modification of its frequent flyer program) sought to enforce the terms of a voluntary undertaking by the airlines, and did not seek to “enforce any law,” the claim was not preempted by the ADA.39

COURTS OF APPEALS’ CONFLICTING DEFINITION OF “SERVICE”

Although the Supreme Court interpreted the “related to” phrase in Morales, and the “enact or enforce any law” language in Wolens, the Court has not defined the term “service” of an airline, as it is used in the ADA’s preemption clause. Instead, the United States Courts of Appeals have been left to define the term, resulting in conflicting approaches.

In Charas v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., the Ninth Circuit adopted a relatively narrow definition of “service.”40 Because the term “service” is inherently ambiguous, the court looked to the purpose behind the ADA, which Congress enacted to protect “the economic deregulation of the airlines and the forces of competition within the airline industry.”41 As such, only state laws that interfere with economic deregulation and the forces of competition within the airline industry should be preempted.42 Conversely, ADA preemption should not “displace state tort law in actions that do not affect deregulation in more than a ‘peripheral manner.’”43

With these principles in mind, the Ninth Circuit defined “service,” as referring to “the prices, schedules, origins and destinations of the point-to-point transportation of passengers, cargo, or mail.”44 This definition includes “such things as the frequency and scheduling of transportation, and to the selection of markets to or from which transportation is provided.”45 This definition of “service” does not, however, encompass things such as “the pushing of beverage carts, keeping the aisles clear of stumbling blocks, the safe handling and storage of luggage, assistance to passengers in need, or like functions,” which the court found only peripherally affect airline deregulation or competition.46 Any broader a definition, according to the court, “effectively would result in the pre-emption of virtually everything an airline does. It seems clear to us that that is not what Congress intended.”47 This approach to ADA preemption has been followed by the Third Circuit.48

In contrast, the Fifth Circuit adopted a much broader definition of “service.”49 In Hodges v. Delta Airlines, Inc., a female passenger was injured when another passenger opened an overhead compartment and dislodged a case of rum. She brought a state law personal injury claim against Delta Airlines based on alleged negligent operation of the aircraft.50 In order to determine whether the plaintiff’s claim was preempted by the ADA, the Fifth Circuit adopted the following definition of “service”:

“Services” generally represent a bargained-for or anticipated provision of labor from one party to another . . . Elements of the air carrier service bargain include items such as ticketing, boarding procedures, provisions of food and drink, and baggage handling, in addition to the transportation itself. These matters are all appurtenant and necessarily included with the contract of carriage between the passenger or shipper and the airline. It is these [contractual] features of air transportation that we believe Congress intended to de-regulate as “services” and broadly to protect from state regulation.51

This definition of “service” is clearly far broader than the Ninth Circuit’s definition in Charas.

Still, the Fifth Circuit held the plaintiff’s claims were not preempted by the ADA. The court distinguished between claims related to the “operation and maintenance of the aircraft,” and claims related to airline “services,” holding that claims falling in the former category are not preempted by the ADA.52 With respect to the plaintiff’s claims, the court explained: “One uses the overhead luggage racks or the food and beverages provided in aircraft operation just as one uses the cigarette lighter or built-in cooler compartment in an automobile, and all these devices are available to support the general purpose of navigation.”53 The court rejected Delta’s arguments that the plaintiff’s injuries arose out of the “service” of baggage handling and boarding.54 Instead, the court found: “Whether certain luggage may be placed in overhead bins and whether the flight attendants properly monitor compliance with overhead rack regulations are matters that pertain to the safe operation of a flight.”55

Thus, while the Fifth Circuit adopted a broad definition of “service,” it added another layer of confusion with an almost untenable distinction between “service” and “operation and maintenance.” 56 Nevertheless, at least three other Circuit Courts of Appeals have adopted the Hodges court’s definition of “service.”57

SUPREME COURT DECLINES TO DEFINE “SERVICE”

In late 2000, the Supreme Court declined the opportunity to resolve the conflict concerning the appropriate definition of “service” within the meaning of the ADA’s preemption clause.58 Earlier that year, in Duncan v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., the Ninth Circuit held that a class-action lawsuit challenging Northwest’s smoking policy was not preempted by the ADA.59 Relying on its earlier narrow definition of “service” in Charas, the Ninth Circuit held that allowing smoking on Northwest flights does not constitute a “service” because such decision does not deal with “the frequency and scheduling of transportation, [or] the selection of markets to or from which transportation is provided.”60 Northwest appealed the Ninth Circuit’s decision, and the Supreme Court denied the petition for a writ of certiorari.61

Justice O’Connor, joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice Thomas, dissented to the Court’s denial of certiorari. In her dissent, she notes how the Courts of Appeals have “taken directly conflicting positions on this question of statutory interpretation.”62 Given these contradictory interpretations, the dissenting Justices would have granted certiorari in order to “provide needed certainty to airline companies.”63

APPLICATION OF THE ADA PREEMPTION CLAUSE

TO STATE-LAW INTENTIONAL TORT CLAIMS

Also in her dissent to the Court’s denial of certiorari in Duncan, Justice O’Connor suggests that while the underlying case involved a state law personal injury claim based on an airline’s smoking policy, “the legal principle at stake,” namely, the correct definition of “service” within the meaning of the ADA’s preemption clause, “has ramifications for a host of other tort actions against airline,” including “false imprisonment,” “intentional infliction of emotional distress,” and “defamation.”64 This section examines how courts have analyzed and should analyze these types of actions. Such cases often include state law discrimination claims.

DISCRIMINATION CLAIMS

The United States Supreme Court has not decided whether actions against airlines alleging state discrimination violations are preempted by the ADA.65 For lower courts examining this issue, the preemption outcome largely depends on the court’s definition of “service.”

A. Employment Discrimination Actions

Generally, discrimination suits brought by former airline employees bear “too tenuous, remote or peripheral” a relation to airline rates or services for preemption under the ADA, regardless of the court’s definition of “service.”66 Courts refusing to preempt such actions stress the purpose of the ADA, which “was concerned with the states’ attempt to regulate airline fares, routes and services, not employment practices.” 67

For example, in the racial discrimination context, courts generally agree that neither air safety nor market efficiency is appreciably diminished by the operation of state laws forbidding racial discrimination.68 As the Second Circuit explained in Abdu-Brisson: “Unlike the regulation of marketing practices at issue in Morales or the regulation of frequent flyer programs at issue in [Wolens], whether an airline discriminates on the bases of age (or race or sex) has little or nothing to do with competition or efficiency.”69

In other contexts, however, enforcement of state discrimination laws may appreciably “relate to” airline “services,” warranting preemption by the ADA. For instance, in 1996, the Michigan Court of Appeals held that state law weight discrimination claims brought by a baggage handler who was terminated for failure to comply with the airline’s height and weight standards were preempted by the ADA.70 Applying the Supreme Court’s broad interpretation of the phrase “related to” in Morales, the Michigan Court of Appeals held the plaintiff’s discrimination claims "related to" the “services of an air carrier,” and were preempted accordingly.71 In this case, as well as in other disability discrimination actions where the state law arguably “relates to” airline “service,” the scope attached to these statutory terms ultimately determines the preemption outcome.

B. Passenger Discrimination Actions

Cases addressing the scope of ADA preemption in discrimination actions brought by airline passengers provide a less coherent body of case law.72 Ultimately, whether or not a discrimination claim is preempted depends on the court’s definition of “service.”

Generally, courts have found such claims entirely unrelated to the performance of airline services, and therefore outside the scope of ADA preemption.73 For example, in Doricent v. American Airlines, Inc., a male passenger alleged that prior to his flight’s departure from Haiti, American Airlines employees referred to him using racial epithets, threatened to remove him from the plane, and physically assaulted him.74 The court held the plaintiff’s state law race discrimination claims did not “relate to” airline “services” under the Supreme Court’s precedent in Morales.75 While the airline employees’ behavior might “arguably constitute ‘services’—poor services, to be sure,” the court found this behavior had “nothing whatsoever to do with any legitimate or quasi-legitimate industry-wide practice of affording airline service.”76

Still, in other contexts, discrimination claims may have some legitimate bearing on an airline’s ability to render safe and efficient “service.”77 In such cases, even those involving alleged race discrimination, the plaintiff’s discrimination claims might be preempted by the ADA.

For instance, in Huggar v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois held that an airline passenger’s race discrimination claims against Northwest were preempted by the ADA.78 The plaintiff, a 21-year-old black male was removed from a Northwest flight after removing another passenger’s luggage from an overhead bin and throwing it on the floor, threatening to physically assault the passenger, and claiming he could “buy” the passenger.79 The plaintiff’s ten-count claim against Northwest alleged that his ejection from the flight was racially motivated, and included a claim for a violation of the Illinois Human Rights Act.80

In determining whether the plaintiff’s state law race discrimination claims related to Northwest’s “service” of providing airline transportation, the court employed the following analysis: “the critical inquiry is [sic] the underlying nature of the actions taken, not the manner in which they were accomplished. Therefore, a court should not look to the subjective motivations of the employees because they are irrelevant to determining what constitutes ‘services’ within the meaning of the [ADA].”81 According to the majority, because the plaintiff’s actions clearly posed a safety threat to the other passengers, the airline’s decision to eject him from the flight “related to” the “service” of boarding and seating passengers, notwithstanding the airline employee’s subjective, allegedly discriminatory motivations.

As the above case highlights, the preemption outcome in passenger discrimination cases often depends entirely on whether a particular jurisdiction employs a broad or narrow definition of “service.” In order to find the plaintiff’s claims preempted by the ADA, the Huggar court first had to include “boarding and seating decisions” as cognizable “services” under the ADA’s preemption clause. In a similar case, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts held that a passenger’s lawsuit alleging he was discriminated against on account of his handicap in connection with boarding on a particular flight was preempted by the ADA.82 Necessary to the court’s decision was its reliance on the Fifth Circuit’s broad definition of “service,” which explicitly refers to “boarding.”

Conversely, jurisdictions employing the Ninth Circuit’s narrow definition of “service” will reach the opposite result under identical scenarios. For instance, the Ninth Circuit held a plaintiff’s disability discrimination claim against American Airlines based on the airline’s refusal to allow the plaintiff to board without a doctor’s certificate (she was in a wheelchair and had a heart problem) was not preempted by the ADA.83 The court’s analysis was probably over-simplistic; it simply held, “the term ‘service’ does not refer to alleged discrimination to passengers due to their disabilities.”84 Consequently, whether a passenger discrimination lawsuit is preempted by the ADA may ultimately depend on the court’s definition of “service.”

FALSE ARREST/ IMPRISONMENT

Several courts have addressed the issue of whether the ADA preempts false imprisonment and false arrest claims, reaching divergent conclusions.85 These cases can, however, be reconciled.

Where the courts have held a plaintiff’s claim for false arrest or false imprisonment is preempted by the ADA, such cases involve incidents where the airline refused or failed to provide a service relating to the transportation of a passenger.86 In these cases, “where the crux of the claim was the airline’s refusal to transport the passenger,” the courts have concluded that the claims related to the services of the airlines, and were therefore preempted by the ADA.87 This makes sense because all Circuit Courts of Appeals agree that “transportation” of passengers is a cognizable “service” under the ADA.

Conversely, where the basis of a false arrest or false imprisonment claim “is that the airline caused the passenger to be arrested by authorities without a proper factual basis,” courts have held that such claims are not “related to” an airline “service.”88 For example, if “an airline held a passenger without a safety or security justification, a claim based on such actions would not relate to any legitimate service and would not be preempted.”89

OTHER INTENTIONAL TORT CLAIMS

The Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Travel All Over The World, Inc., examined whether a travel agency’s intentional tort claims against Saudi Arabian Airlines, arising out of the travel agency’s unsuccessful attempts to arrange flights to Saudi Arabia for its clients, were preempted by the ADA’s express provision.90 The court organized the plaintiff’s claims into two categories: (1) defamation and slander; and (2) “other” intentional tort claims.91

With respect to the first category, the Seventh Circuit acknowledged that courts have reached “divergent results” concerning whether claims for slander and defamation are preempted by the ADA.92 Here, the plaintiff based its defamation and slander claims on the airline employees’ making knowingly false verbal and written statements about the travel agency to the agency’s clients; specifically, that the agency “was not a reputable company, that [the agency] had not booked seats on Saudi for many of them, that [the agency] often lied to its clients about reserving seats for them, and that” the agency’s president would not be there to help them.93

Even after adopting the Fifth Circuit’s broad definition of “service,” the Seventh Circuit held the statements themselves were not airline “services” within the meaning of the ADA.94 Citing the Supreme Court’s opinion in Morales, the court explained: “It is difficult for us to envision how tort claims based on an airline’s knowingly false statements about a travel agency would have even a ‘tenuous, remote or peripheral’ economic effect on the rates, routes, or services that the airline offers.”95 Furthermore, although the statements refer to the travel agency’s services, the court held they certainly do not refer to the airline’s rates, routes, or services.96 Therefore, the plaintiff’s defamation and libel claims were not preempted by the ADA.

With respect to the second category of “other” intentional tort claims, including intentional infliction of emotional distress, tortious interference and fraud, the Seventh Circuit reached a different opinion. Only where these claims are based upon the same slanderous and defamatory comments that the court already found not preempted, could such claims withstand preemption scrutiny.97

Yet, the Seventh Circuit doubted this would hold true for the plaintiff in Travel All, as with most plaintiffs. Instead, the “other” intentional tort claims were most likely “based, at least in part, on [the airline’s] canceling the confirmed tickets of [the agency’s] clients and requiring these clients to purchase their tickets directly through [the airline].”98 To the extent that the plaintiff’s intentional tort claims rely on this “conduct” of the airline, rather than the airline employee’s allegedly slanderous and defamatory “comments,” the court held such claims “expressly refer to airline ‘services,’ which include ticketing as well as the transportation itself,” and are therefore preempted by the ADA.99 Again, this holding depends entirely on the court’s adoption of the Fifth Circuit’s broad “service” definition in Hodges, as opposed to the Ninth Circuit’s narrow definition of “service” in Charas.

CONCLUSION

The ADA’s preemption clause continues to cause confusion and divergent opinions throughout our nation’s courtrooms. The fundamental problem concerns the seemingly benign phrase “related to a price, route, or service” of an air carrier. The Supreme Court has done little to clear the fog surrounding this issue. Aside from expressly declining the opportunity to define “service,” the Court’s interpretation of the phrase “related to” has recently come into question.

In Morales, the Supreme Court interpreted the “related to” language of the ADA broadly, based largely on the “broad scope” previously applied to the similarly worded ERISA preemption clause.100 Yet, in recent years the Supreme Court has been narrowing the reach of ERISA’s preemption provisions.101 Indeed, the phrase “related to” in ERISA’s preemption clause “appears to be developing, to some degree, to mean whether state law actually ‘interferes’ with the purposes of the ERISA legislation.”102 Although the literal text of ERISA’s preemption clause is “clearly expansive,” like the ADA, the Supreme Court has held that for practical purposes the statute must be interpreted more narrowly, “lest its reach stop nowhere.”103 Analogously, it is unclear whether the ADA’s “related to” phrase should likewise receive a narrower interpretation to mean: whether state law actually interferes with the purpose of the ADA.

The larger question involving the ADA preemption clause concerns the proper definition of “service.” The Supreme Court has expressly declined to answer the question, despite the objections of three Justices.104 If the Court is not going to answer this question, Congress should. A clear definition of “service,” from either the Supreme Court or the Legislature, “would provide needed certainty to airline companies.”105

The question becomes: What definition of “service” should the Supreme Court or Congress adopt for the ADA’s preemption clause? This question must be answered in light of the fundamental purpose behind the underlying statute—courts should look to the objectives of the ADA as a guide to the scope of state law that should survive. The ADA is an economic deregulation statute designed to promote competitive rates, routes and services among the nation’s airlines.106 As such, only those actions directly impacting the airlines’ ability to provide competitive rates, enter new markets, and provide effective transportation to consumers should be preempted by the ADA.

The Ninth Circuit’s narrow definition of “service,” which encompasses the “prices, schedules, origins and destinations of the point-to-point transportation of passengers, cargo or mail,” best aligns with the purpose of the underlying ADA statute. Furthermore, this definition comports with the Supreme Court’s approach to express preemption clause analysis: “the familiar principle of expression unius est exclusio alterius.”107

Neither the language nor the history of the ADA suggests that Congress was attempting to displace all state law tort causes of action against the airlines; nor should the preemption clause act as a safe harbor against claims having only a tenuous impact on airline services.108 The vast majority of state law intentional tort claims cannot be said to frustrate the goal of economic deregulation in the airline industry. Furthermore, such claims do not affect a particular airline’s competitive posture any more so than a lawsuit affects any corporation in America. Accordingly, such actions should fall outside the scope of federal preemption under the ADA.

1 For a good discussion of the ADA’s legislative history, see Daniel H. Rosenthal, Legal Turbulence: The Court’s Misconstrual of the Airline Deregulation Act’s Preemption Clause and the Effect on Passengers’ Rights, 51 Duke L.J. 1857, 1869-1872 (2002).

2 Pub. L. No. 85-726, 72 Stat. 731 (later codified as amended at 49 U.S.C. §§ 40010-44310 (1994)).

3 Matt Andersson, The New Airline Code 62-64 (iUniverse, Inc. 2005).

4 49 U.S.C. § 1506 (current version at 49 U.S.C. § 40120 (c)).

5 Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 504 U.S. 374, 378 (1992) (citing 49 U.S.C.App. §§ 1302 (a)(4), 1302 (a)(9)).

6 49 U.S.C. app. §§ 1301-1557 (1988).

7 Matt Andersson, The New Airline Code 67 (iUniverse, Inc. 2005).

8 Morales, 504 U.S. at 378; See also Trinidad v. American Airlines, Inc., 932 F. Supp. 521 (S.D.N.Y. 1996) (stating that the purpose of ADA’s preemption clause was to prevent states from interfering with the development of an air transportation system driven to higher levels of innovation and efficiency by economic competition).

9 49 U.S.C. § 41713 (1997) (emphasis added).

10 49 U.S.C. § 40120 (c); Chrissafis, 940 F. Supp at 1296.

11 Hodges v. Delta Airlines, Inc., 44 F.3d 334, 337 (5th Cir. 1995); Morales, 504 U.S. at 425 (Stevens J., dissenting).

12 Morales, 504 U.S at 385.

13 See Matthew J. Jelly, Federal Preemption by the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978: How do State Tort Claims Fare?, 49 Cath. U. L. Rev. 873 (2000).

14 U.S. const. art. VI § 1, cl. 2.

15 See Susan D. Hall, Preemption Analysis After Geier v. American Honda Motor Co., 90 Ky. L.J. 251 (2002).

16 Shaw v. Delta Airlines, Inc., 463 U.S. 85, 95 (1983).

17 Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp, 331 U.S. 218, 230 (1947).

18 Florida Lime & Avocado Growers, Inc. v. Paul, 373 U.S. 132, 142-43 (1963).

19 Branche v. Airtran Airways, Inc., 342 F.3d 1248, 1253 (11th Cir. 2003).

20 Id.; Cipollone v. Liggert Group, Inc. 505 U.S. 504, 517 (1992) (quoting Malone v. White Motor Corp., 435 U.S. 497, 505 (1978)); compare Grier v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc., 529 U.S. 861 (2000) (existence of express preemption provision does not mean that implied preemption cannot exist where the express preemption does not apply).

21 Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 504 U.S. 374 (1992).

22 Id. at 378.

23 Id. at 391.

24 Id. at 383.

25 29 U.S.C. § 1144 (a).

26 Morales, 504 U.S. at 384 (citing Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Massachusetts, 471 U.S. 724, 739 (1985).

27 Id. (emphasis added).

28 Id. at 390.

29 See John T. Houchin, Harris v. American Airlines: Flying Through the Turbulence of Federal Preemption and the Airline Deregulation Act, 51 U. Miami L. Rev. 955, 966 (1997).

30 504 U.S. at 390 (quoting Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 463 U.S. 85, 100 (1983) (emphasis added)).

31 Id.

32 American Airlines, Inc. v. Wolens, 513 U.S. 219 (1995).

33 Id. at 224.

34 Id. at 226.

35 Id at 228.

36 Id.

37 Id. (emphasis added).

38 Id. at 228 (emphasis added); see also Williams v. Midwest Airlines, Inc., 321 F. Supp. 2d 993, 996 (E.D.Wisc. 2004) (holding the plaintiffs’ breach of contract claim was not preempted because the airline’s agreement to transport plaintiffs to New York City “was a self-imposed undertaking, and plaintiffs’ attempt to enforce it does not involve the enforcement of any state law”).

39 Wolens, 513 U.S. at 232-33. The Court stated that this distinction makes sense in light of the ADA’s saving clause, which does not prevent states from “affording relief to a party who claims and proves that an airline dishonored a term that the airline itself stipulated.” Id.

40 Charas v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 160 F.3d 1259 (9th Cir. 1998) (en banc).

41 Id. at 1261.

42 Id. at 1263 (citing Gee v. Southwest Airlines, Inc., 110 F.3d 1400, 1410 (9th Cir. 1997) (O’Scannlain, J., concurring).

43 Id. at 1265.

44 Id. at 1261.

45 Id. at 1265-66.

46 Charas, 160 F.3d at 1266.

47 Id.

48 See Taj Mahal Travel, Inc. v. Delta Airlines, Inc., 164 F.3d 186, 195 (3d Cir. 1998); Duncan, 531 U.S. 1058; compare Abdulla v. American Airlines, Inc., 181 F.3d 363, 367 (3d Cir. 1999) (holding that the entire aviation industry is field preempted).

49 Hodges v. Delta Airlines, Inc., 44 F.3d 334, 336 (5th Cir. 1995) (en banc).

50 Id. at 335.

51 Id. at 336 (citations omitted) (emphasis added).

52 Hodges, 44 F.3d at 336-37. The court found that claims relating to the “operation and maintenance of the aircraft” concern matters of “air navigation.” Id. at 338 (citing 49 U.S.C.App. § 1301(31) (1998)).

53 Id. (emphasis added)

54 Id. at 338-39.

55 Id. at 339.

56 The Firth Circuit admits that “the provinces of ‘services’ and ‘operation and maintenance of aircraft’ overlap somewhat conceptually; no strict dichotomy exists.” Id. at 339.

57 See Duncan, 531 U.S. 1058; Smith v. Comair, Inc., 134 F.3d 254, 259 (4th Cir. 1998); Travel All Over The World, Inc. v. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 73 F.3d 1423, 1433 (7th Cir. 1996); Branche v. Airtran Airways, Inc., 342 F.3d 1248, 1257 (11th Cir. 2003).

58 Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. Duncan, 531 U.S. 1058 (2000) (cert denied)

59 Duncan v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., 208 F.3d 1112 (9th Cir. 2000).

60 Id. at 1115 (quoting Charas, 160 f.3d at 1265-66).

61 Duncan, 531 U.S. 1058 (2000) (cert denied).

62 Id.

63 Id.

64 Id.

65 Lynette M. Bledsaw, The Express Preemption Provision of the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act Does Not Reach State Civil Rights Claims of Race Discrimination, American Bar Association (2000).

66 See Branche v. Airtran Airways, Inc., 342 F.3d 1248 (11th Cir. 2003) (former airline employee’s state court claim for retaliatory discharge was not preempted by the ADA); Wellons v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., 165 F.3d 493, 495 (6th Cir. 1999) (former airline employee’s race discrimination claim was not preempted); Parise v. Delta Airlines, Inc., 141 F.3d 1463, 1467-68 (11th Cir. 1998) (plaintiff’s age discrimination claim was not preempted by the ADA); Aloha Islandair Inc. v. Tseu, 128 F.3d 1301, 1303 (9th Cir. 1997) (holding Hawaii law barring physical disability discrimination was not preempted by the ADA); Abdu-Brisson v. Delta Airlines, Inc., 128 F.3d 77, 84 (2d Cir. 1997) (holding New York age discrimination action was not preempted by the ADA).

67 Id.; (citing Delta Air Lines, Inc. v. New York State Div. of Human Rights, 652 N.Y.S2d 253, 257 (1996);

68 Ryan L. Bangert, When Airlines Profile Based On Race: Are Claims Brought Against Airlines Under State Anti-Discrimination Laws Preempted By the Airline Deregulation Act?, 68 J. Air L. & Com. 791, 801 (2003); see Thomas v. United Parcel Service, 241 Mich. App. 171 (2000) (holding that former African-American employee’s race discrimination claim was not preempted by the ADA).

69 Abdu-Brisson, 128 F.3d at 84; Wellons, 165 F.3d at 496; Thomas, 241 Mich.App. at 181; see also Wellons v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., 165 F.3d 493, 495 (6th Cir. 1999) (“State law claims of racial discrimination—as opposed to claims of discrimination on the basis of physical characteristics that might have some bearing on the individual’s ability to render service safely and efficiently—are not preempted, in our view; they bear ‘too tenuous, remote, or peripheral’ a relation to airline rates or services.”); Thomas, 241 Mich.App. 171, 181 (2000) (“Plaintiffs’ race and gender are wholly unrelated to defendants’ services”).

70 Bledsaw, supra note 65; Fitzpatrick v. Simmons Airlines, Inc., 218 Mich. App. 689 (1996).

71 Fitzpatrick, 218 Mich. App. At 692. See also Belgard v. United Airlines, 857 P.2d 467, 471 (Colo.App.1992) (“any law or regulation that restricts an airline's selection of employees, based upon their physical characteristics, must necessarily have a connection with and reference to, and therefore must be one ‘relating to,’ the services to be rendered by the airline”)

72 Bangert, supra note 22 at 803.

73 Bledsaw, supra note 65 at 5.

74 Doricent v. American Airlines, Inc., 1993 WL 437670 (D.Mass 1993).

75 Id.

76 Id. at *5.

77 Bledsaw, supra note 65 at 5.

78 Huggar v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., 1999 WL 59841 (N.D. Ill. 1999).

79 Id. at *1; see also Bangert, supra note 22 at 805-06.

80 Id.

81 Id. (citations omitted).

82 DeTerra v. America West Airlines, Inc., 226 F. Supp. 2d 274 (D.Mass. 2002).

83 Newman v. American Airlines, Inc., 176 F.3d 1128, 1131 (9th Cir. 1999).

84 Id. at 1131;

85 Chrissafis v. Continental Airlines, Inc., 940 F. Supp. 1292, 1298 (N.D. Ill. 1996).

86 Id.; see Williams v. Express Airlines I Inc.,, 825 F. Supp. 831, 832-33 (W.D. Tenn. 1993) (holding that plaintiff’s claim for false imprisonment after he was denied admittance to a flight and then strapped to an immobile chair in the airline waiting area was preempted by the ADA); Lawal v. British Airways, PLC, 812 F. Supp. 713, 715 (S.D. Tex. 1992) (holding that plaintiff’s false arrest and false imprisonment claims where airline personnel detained the plaintiff and forced him to purchase a new ticket were preempted); Galbut v. American Airlines, Inc., 27 F. Supp. 2d 146 (E.D. N.Y. 1997) (holding that plaintiff’s false arrest and false imprisonment claims arising out of airline’s refusal to permit plaintiff to upgrade using stickers the airline had falsely alleged were stolen and the demand for payment for the upgrade were preempted by the ADA); Smith v. Comair, Inc., 134 F.3d 254 (4th Cir. 1998) (passenger’s claim for false imprisonment based on the airline’s refusal to permit him to board due to the airline’s failure to ask for photo identification at the point of original departure was preempted).

87 Chrissafis, 940 F. Supp. at 1298.

88 Id.; see Diaz Aguasviva v. Iberia Lineas Aereas 902 F. Supp. 314, 316 (D. Puerto Rico 1995) (permitting a passenger to pursue a claim that airline personnel falsely identified the passenger as an illegal alien, causing police and customs agents to arrest and detain her); Curley v. American Airlines, Inc., 846 F. Supp. 280, 281-82 (S.D.N.Y. 1994) (holding that plaintiffs claim that the flight crew had falsely arrested the passenger for smoking marijuana, causing him to be strip-searched, was not preempted); Bayne v. Adventure Tours USA, Inc., 841 F. Supp. 206, 207 (N.D.Tex 1994) (refusing to preempt a passenger’s claim that an airline pilot made misrepresentations to police, causing the plaintiff to be taken into custody, detained, and subjected to a luggage search); Rombom v. United Airlines, Inc., 867 F. Supp. 214, 224 (S.D.N.Y. 1994) (finding that false imprisonment claims stemming from the airline’s decision to have plaintiff arrested, allegedly motivated by spite, were not preempted).

89 Smith v. Comair, Inc., 134 F.3d 254, 259 (4th Cir. 1998); Chrissafis v. Continental Airlines, Inc., 940 F. Supp. 1292, 1289-99 (N.D. Ill. 1996)

90 Travel All Over The World, Inc., v. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 73 F.3d 1423 (7th Cir. 1996).

91 Id.; see also Chrissafis , 940 F. Supp. 1292 (recognizing this distinction). In addition to defamation and slander, the “other” intentional tort claims included tortious interference with a business relationship, fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and tortuous interference with a business relationship.

92 Travel All Over The World, Inc., 73 F.3d. at 1433; compare Fenn v. American Airlines, Inc., 839 F. Supp. 1218, 1223 (S.D. Miss. 1993) (finding claims for slander unrelated to airline “services”) with Chukwu v. Board of Directors of British Airways, 889 F. Supp. 12, 14 (D.Mass. 1995) (finding specific claims for slander related to airline “services”) and Pearson v. Lake Forest Country Day Sch., 262 Ill.App.3d 228 (1994) (same).

93 Id.

94 Id. at 1433.

95 Id. citing Morales, 504 U.S. at 383-85.

96 Id. at 1433.

97 Travel All Over The World, Inc., 73 F.3d at 1434..

98 Id.

99 Id. (citing Hodges, 44 F.3d at 336); see also DeTerra, 226 F. Supp. 2d at 277 (finding handicapped passenger’s claims for intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress in connection with his denial of boarding on a particular flight was preempted); Chukwu v. Board of Directors British Airways, 889 F. Supp. 12, 13 (D.Mass. 1995) (concluding that plaintiff’s claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress based on the allegation that he had been improperly denied boarding on a flight was preempted by the ADA).

100 Morales, 504 U.S. at 384.

101 See Abdu-Brisson, 128 F.3d 77, 82 (2d Cir. 1997); DeBuono v. NYSA-ILA Medical and Clinical Serv., 520 U.S. 806, 816 (1997).

102 Abdu-Brisson, 128 F.3d at 82 (emphasis added); citing New York State Conf. of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans v. Travelers Ins. Co., 514 U.S. 645, 655 (1995); Boggs v. Boggs, 520 U.S. 833 (1997) (“We can begin, and in this case end, the analysis by simply asking if state law conflicts with the provisions of ERISA or operates to frustrate its objects).

103 Travelers Ins. Co., at 655 (Too expansive an interpretation of “relate to,” according to the Court, “would be to read Congress's words of limitation as mere sham, and to read the presumption against pre-emption out of the law whenever Congress speaks to the matter with generality. That said, we have to recognize that our prior attempt to construe the phrase ‘relate to’ does not give us much help drawing the line here”).

104 See Duncan, 531 U.S. 1058 (cert denied).

105 Id.

106 See Morales, 504 U.S. at 378.

107 See Cipollone, 505 U.S. at 517 (quoting Malone, 435 U.S. at 505).

108 Smith v. America West Airlines, Inc., 44 F.3d 344, 346-47 (5th Cir. 1995).

About the Author

Matthew A. Passen is an experienced Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer with Passen Law Group. Prior to joining Passen Law Group, Mr. Passen was an associate in the litigation department of Jenner & Block LLP.


Mr. Passen received his B.A. magna cum laude, Phi Bete Kappa, in Economics from the University of Michigan in 2002. Mr. Passen obtained his law degree, summa cum laude, from DePaul University College of Law in 2006, where he graduated Order of the Coif. During law school, Mr. Passen was as a member of the DePaul Law Review.


During the 2003-04 academic year, Mr. Passen clerked for the Honorable Ronald A. Guzman, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He also spent the following semester clerking at the United States Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois.


Mr. Passen is a member of the Illinois Bar. He is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Illinois State Bar Association, and the American Association for Justice. Mr. Passen also works with elementary teachers and students in Chicago-area public schools, as a volunteer in the Constitutional Rights Foundation of Chicago's "Lawyers in the Classroom" program.

Experts on Topic: Dr. Cheryl Maranto, Marquette University