Bullying at Work Latest Top Legal Issue

September 4th, 2012. By AbiK

LawyersandSettlements.com recently published our top 10 lawyer interviews for the month of May, 2012—based on your clicks. What was interesting was that the interview Jane Mundy had done with California employee attorney Donna M. Ballman, P.A. on workplace bullying and harassment on the job was the number one interview for the month.

Just as bullying in the schoolyard—and all forms of bullying such as that which we learned about in the national media after Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi took his own life—have become the focal point for new legislation and tougher penalties, bullying at work has become a hot legal issue.

Just last month, HRMorning published an article highlighting the top legal issues HR pros need to be mindful of for the remainder of 2012. Number 2 on the list? Workplace harassment.

The Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI)—you know an issue has hit a groundswell when there’s an organization dedicated to it—states that 35% of US workers have reported that they’ve been bullied at work. Of note, WBI informs that that’s about the equivalent of the combined populations of Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah.

The organization also defines bullying on the job as the following:

“Workplace Bullying is repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons (the targets) by one or more perpetrators that takes one or more of the following forms: verbal abuse; offensive conduct/behaviors (including nonverbal) which are threatening, humiliating, or intimidating; and work interference—sabotage—which prevents work from getting done.”

While a definition of workplace bullying provides a guide of bullying tactics, for employees and managers, being aware of signs that might indicate an escalating situation—including workplace violence—is just as important. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (opm.gov) shares the following as signs of workplace violence to be on the lookout for—the signs were identified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, Profiling and Behavioral Assessment Unit:

• Direct or veiled threats of harm;
• Intimidating, belligerent, harassing, bullying, or other inappropriate and aggressive behavior;
• Numerous conflicts with supervisors and other employees;
• Bringing a weapon to the workplace, brandishing a weapon in the workplace, making inappropriate references to guns, or fascination with weapons;
• Statements showing fascination with incidents of workplace violence, statements indicating approval of the use of violence to resolve a problem, or statements indicating identification with perpetrators of workplace homicides;
• Statements indicating desperation (over family, financial, and other personal problems) to the point of contemplating suicide;
• Drug/alcohol abuse; and
• Extreme changes in behaviors;

 

You Know Those Lawyer Billboards? Tell Us How You Feel About Them!

August 30th, 2012. By admin

We’re noticing a lot of lawyer billboards along the highways and byways lately–but what do you think about them?

Take our short (very short–4 questions!) survey and let us know. The survey’s right below.

Thanks…we’ll let you know the results.

-The LAS team

 

Asbestos News Roundup: 8.30.12 – Asbestos Drilling Mud

August 30th, 2012. By LucyC

A roundup of recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of. An ongoing list of reported asbestos hot spots in the US from the Asbestos News Roundup archive appears on our asbestos map.

Asbestos Drilling Mud puts Oil Industry Workers at High Risk for Asbestos Disease

Drilling mud is widely used in the oil industry, both onshore and offshore, to help cool the drill bit and flush debris from the well hole during drilling. Many oilfield workers may have been exposed to toxic asbestos products without knowing its harmful, and often lethal, effects.

Drilling mud composition contained asbestos, which led to mud engineers being exposed to asbestos drilling mud, and the potential to develop asbestos-related disease such as asbestos mesothelioma. The two drilling mud brands that were mainly used were Flosal and Visbestos: both products were packaged in 50 lb. bags and were used for sweeping the hole as a viscosifier.

Asbestos Lawsuits

Pasadena, CA: Raul Rodriguez and Jose Juan Gonzalez have filed an asbestos lawsuit alleging they were misled into buying asbestos-contaminated property in Pasadena.

Filed in District Court against Betesda Iglesia Hispana International and Ruben Perez, of Pasadena, the lawsuit alleges fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud and breach of contract.

In their lawsuit, Rodriguez and Gonzalez say on March 23, 2011, the defendants tricked them into buying asbestos-contaminated property, located at 600 Walter St. in Pasadena. In addition to hiding the asbestos, the lawsuit claims the defendants also failed to disclose that they were leasing the property and collecting rent, even after the sale was final. The plaintiffs are seeking attorney’s fees, court costs and damages. (ultimateclearlake.com)

Asbestos Settlements

Los Angeles, CA: A California man who contracted the lung disease mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos at work has won an important ruling that prevents Lorillard Tobacco Company from further delaying a civil damages trial by attempting to get the case transferred to federal court.

Doctors for Dimitris O. Couscouris have told him that he may have only months to live, but the Simi Valley resident and his wife have continued to pursue their claims against Lorillard and other defendants as part of a lawsuit originally filed in December of last year. The lawsuit alleges the companies exposed Mr. Couscouris to asbestos, which led to his developing asbestos mesothelioma.

In May 2012, Lorillard attempted to have the case removed to federal court, claiming that Mr. Couscouris could not have been exposed to products manufactured by the defendants that were based in California. However, U.S. District Court Judge George H. King denied Lorillard’s motion and remanded the case to state court. The company then attempted to remove the case to federal court a second time, but Judge King denied the second attempt on Aug. 1, 2012.

Lorillard then appealed Judge King’s ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and filed a motion to stay all the proceedings in state court during the appeal. On Aug. 21, 2012, Judge King denied Lorillard’s motion to stay, finding that “Lorillard has failed to establish that it is entitled to a stay of all state court proceedings,” and that “Lorillard is not likely to succeed on the merits of its appeal.” (PRNewswire.com)

Bellingham, WA: Schools in Bellingham must be tested for asbestos – the state Department of Labor Standards (DLS) declared this week. The DLS claims the school district has not followed its regulations.

Under the Asbestos-Containing Materials in School requirements, enacted in 1986, schools have to develop an asbestos-management plan and designate a person trained to handle it. That person must test for asbestos every three years following the plan’s implementation.

Maintenance Director Roger Oakley, who was hired this summer, said he could not find evidence that the district had ever created a plan or appointed someone to look for asbestos: he estimated that it has not tested for asbestos in nearly 20 years. (milforddailynews.com)

How to Get Outed on Facebook: Be Seen Here

August 27th, 2012. By AbiK

How it hadn’t happened earlier is a mystery, but there’s a new website in town that’ll give even the snoopiest of insurance companies or HR departments a run for their money—heck, it might even be a new resource for them. The website is WeKnowWhatYoureDoing.com.

And know they do.

Want to be outed for hating your boss and wanting to be fired? Stop by.

Want to be outed for being way the hell too hungover to show up for work? Click on over.

How ’bout being outed for taking drugs? Gotcha covered.

Oh, and you’re also outed on WeKnowWhatYoureDoing.com if you’ve got a new phone number. Nice to know.

The key here is that YOU do not have to actually sign up for the pleasure of being outed on Facebook—you merely have to post something (something rather stupid I might mention) and not be too up on your Facebook privacy settings, and—Voila!—you may well show up on the site.

You may be sitting there saying, “Gosh, isn’t that like some sort of internet privacy issue? Aren’t they doing something illegal?”

Well, not exactly.

A little unkind, perhaps—but YOU’VE put the post about your prior night’s transgressions out there publicly for everyone to access, right? Not smart.

Here’s an excerpt on what WeKnowWhatYoureDoing.com has to say about things:

How does it Work? It simply queries Facebook’s Graph API and outputs the results. There is nothing on this website that cannot be accessed by anyone else.

Note also the site’s disclaimer (to see full disclaimer, visit the site):

Disclaimer: All data is pulled directly from Facebook, it is not censored, and it is publicly accessible via the Graph API. I cannot be held responsible for any persons actions as a result of using this experiment. Absolutely no information from any of the data providers includes, but not limited to Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, Yahoo, or Google is being collected or stored.

Hmm. Now may be a good time to head over to Facebook and make sure your privacy settings aren’t set to “Public”.

Oh, and WeKnowWhatYoureDoing.com even tells you how to do that:

Just go to https://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=privacy and make sure Control Your Default Privacy is not set to “Public”. You can set it to “Friends” but for the best privacy it is recommended you choose “Custom” and go through each option to choose who can see what.

Top 10 Lawyer Interviews for the First Half of 2012

August 27th, 2012. By AbiK

The journalists at LawyersandSettlements.com conduct hundreds of lawyer interviews each year on the latest legal issues—lawsuits, mass torts, class actions, settlements—that our readers are most interested in. The attorneys our journalists interview provide a birds-eye view into the cases we report on. Here are the top 10 attorney interviews that readers clicked during the first half of this year (in reverse order):

10. Attorney Stacy Hauer, co-lead counsel in the Minnesota State Court American Medical Systems litigation, discusses the transvaginal mesh lawsuits being consolidated into an MDL (multi-district litigation).

9. Attorney Tim McCarthy shares insight on the Starbucks class action lawsuit regarding the company’s switch from Tassimo to Keurig single-serve coffee. The lawsuit alleges consumer fraud.

8. Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik discusses the outcome of the FDA advisory panel meeting held at the end of 2011 regarding the safety and efficacy of oral contraceptives, including drospirenone-based birth control drugs Yasmin and Yaz.

7. Attorney Brenda Fulmer, who specializes in medical device litigation, talks about allegations surrounding  CardioGen 82 over-radiation.

6. Attorney Eric B. Brown shares some information on making a Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) claim and what needs to be included to prove a 100 percent inability to work.

5. Attorney Shaun Setareh—a California labor law attorney—answers five commonly asked questions on filing a wage and hour lawsuit.

4. Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik, who is both an attorney and a cardiologist, discusses Yasmin and Yaz settlements and how Bayer had indicated it would handle settling Yaz claims.

3. Attorney Barry Kramer informs readers about excessive emergency room charges and how it is typically uninsured patients who are victims of hospital overcharging—and compounding the issue, emergency room costs are increasing.

2. Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik on the Yaz litigation concerning oral contraceptives that contain drospirenone and their alleged side effects which range from gallbladder problems to DVTS to stroke—and even death.

1. Attorney Stacy Hauer discusses the legal claim “loss of consortium” and how it plays into the allegations regarding the transvaginal mesh litigation. She explains that, “The woman and their partners who have been injured have significant loss of intimacy in their relationships due to their injuries.”