Are You in Compliance? California's New Sexual Harassment Law AB1825

By Rhonda Goetz
I was speaking recently at a business network meeting when a business owner asked whether she needed to be concerned with California's new Sexual Harassment law, AB1825. This business owner runs her company with 18 full-time, 20 part-time employees, 8 temp workers, and 5 sales subcontractors who are located in several states.
Requirement: 50 + employees
On the surface it appears that she does not meet the 50+ employee requirement that determines whether she must train her supervisors. Taking a closer look at the law, however, reveals that temporary service workers and independent contractors, regardless of where they are located are included in the total count of employees.
Requirement: Training must encompass all aspects of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.
The training must address retaliation and: sex, race/color, religion, age, and national origin harassment and discrimination. Typically previous trainings did not include these areas.
Another business owner wanted to know whether or not they could continue to train in the same manner as the previous year's training.
Requirement: A system in place to track and document employee participation and compliance
The answer is maybe yes, maybe no. If the training included all forms of harassment and discrimination AND tracked employee participation throughout the training (not just through sign in/out sheets) AND assessed their understanding of the material AND you can provide proof, then yes, continue to train as in previous years.
A business owner, one on a very tight budget, commented "it is good that I only have to train 5 supervisors, because I can't afford to train more."
Requirement: Businesses must provide a harassment-free workplace for everyone
With this in mind, how harassment-free will the workplace be if this owner only trains the supervisors? . And if a claim is made by the employee, will the money saved by training only supervisors, be enough to pay for attorneys, lost production time, and/or punitive damages? Probably not.
Conclusion:
Regardless of the number of employees, location of employees, or previous training, employers need to both protect their company from harassment and discrimination claims and comply with the law. Ensure that your company is protected by training all employees in harassment and discrimination prevention.
Visit Chrome Zebra for more information on AB1825.Rhonda GoetzChrome Zebra, Inc.866.241.9927Online Human Resource Training
Rhonda Goetz is the owner and CEO of Chrome Zebra. She also is an authorized harassment and discrimination trainer and online instructional designer.
Her online courses provide businesses with an alternate training method that saves time and money. Employees train at their desks or workstations, and can train anytime. Businesses no longer have to lose production time to large training seminars, or hire expensive consultants or be locked into a set training schedule. Online training is economical as well, the cost is approximately $25 or less for each employee.
Make sure your employees are well-trained in harassment and discrimination prevention and awareness. Get the Free 10 Tips to Prevent Sexual Harassment, sign up here.

Elder Law - Nursing Home Abuse

By George Dickerman
First, let's recognize that nursing homes are needed in our society, and the functions they serve are vitally important to the health and caring of our aged population.
Their job is not easy. Even the best nursing homes, those with the cleanest rooms and most committed staff, have problems. Anyone who has visited a nursing home will eventually feel a sense of doom, as many patients will die, mostly because of natural causes associated with old age. Most nursing assistants usually leave the facility within one year because the type of work they do is both physically and psychologically draining.
There are so many federal and state laws and regulations governing nursing homes that it is nearly impossible for them to operate without committing some violations. Minor violations are not a reason to sue a nursing home. It is only when the violation causes actual harm to a patient, should a lawsuit be considered. A lawsuit should be focused on forcing the nursing home to both correct the problem for the protection of other patients and to compensate the victim for the injuries s/he suffered.
Nursing home abuse most often occurs because of a shortage of staff or negligence at the hands of an incompetent nursing assistant. When one staff member is assigned to twenty patients, then the needs of each patient cannot be met. There are simply too many tasks to perform and not enough workers. This condition is not the fault of the nursing assistants; rather, it is the fault of the facility's owner who is placing corporate profit before patient care.
When litigating a case of elder abuse or neglect, the attorney will gather all medical records from the nursing home and then review each document with a fine tooth comb to discover any clue that shows any acts of negligence that contributed to the injury.
Negligence often occurs because of an unqualified nursing assistant. Sometime it's just plain laziness.
In one case, an elderly patient's leg had been broken and was only discovered three days later when a family member came to visit and saw the grossly disjointed leg.
A record review included the daily progress notes prepared by the nursing assistant assigned to the patient. Unbelievably, on the day that the patient's broken leg was discovered, and while she was in the hospital undergoing surgery to repair the leg, the nursing home assistant wrote that the patient was in her nursing home bed, eating well and in no discomfort!
These are the types of cases that warrant litigation against a nursing home for elder abuse or neglect. In California, the law provides substantial remedies for victims. When it can be shown by clear and convincing evidence that the nursing home acted with fraud, malice, oppression or recklessness, then punitive damages can be included in a jury verdict.
Minor violations can be dealt with by contacting a long term care ombudsman or other government agency that oversees complaints against a nursing home. More serious violations should be reviewed by an elder law attorney who can represent the patient and seek appropriate remedies to compensate the client and protect other patients.George F. Dickerman is an elder law attorney in Riverside County, California, practising law for 23 years. To learn more about elder law issues, and to subscribe to a free newsletter that provides valuable information on how to assist your family members or loved ones, please visit http://Elder-Law-Advocate.com/Elder_Law_Physical_Neglect.html

Will You Be Supporting Your Parents, In-Laws and Your Own Children at the Same Time?

By Bill Young
It is estimated by the Human Resources Administration that by 2010, 1/2 of the workforce will be caring for dependent elders in addition to their own, immediate families!
Is that you? How are you going to take on these additional responsibilities when you can barely hold your own now, financially?
Where will all the money come from to pay:
• 2 mortgages? • Huge medical bills? • Expensive prescription drugs for conditions that will not go away? • Alterations to your house or theirs? • Household help so you can continue to work? • Extra food?
Will you have to choose between funding college for your kids, your own retirement or support for your parents and/or in-laws? Will you have no choice but to deny your own parents help and care?
Not happy thoughts, I agree, but for many people, those will be the realities...
Unless you get ahead of the curve and start making preparations now on how to keep this all too likely situation from becoming a nightmare, you may be sorry.
While there are too many possible solutions to these problems to cover in this article, we will take a look at a couple of the most effective ones; starting a home based business and eliminating all debts, including mortgages in 5-10 years, even if your 30 year mortgage is brand new!
Understand that you will need more money, a lot more money to survive, let alone prosper under these dire circumstances.
You and your parents/in-laws should also get rid of as much debt as you possibly can between now and then, especially credit card debt and mortgages.
As for the first point, more income, your first thought is probably to get another job. However, in many cases, the income from a 2nd job is usually so chewed up by taxes and expenses such as transportation and food that are directly attributable to the 2nd job, that you are netting peanuts.
A little used but perfectly legal and effective option is to start a home based business, writing off losses from the early years against your salary on your current job or self employment. This strategy can unleash hundreds of extra dollars in cash every month.
As your business grows, its income will supplement your job income and in time could actually replace it. You will probably need every additional penny to meet your additional responsibilities.
As far as rapidly getting rid of debt, there are many strategies. They vary from the simple; pay a fixed amount on your credit card bills each month, even if it is this month's Minimum Payment!
That strategy alone will mean your current balances will be paid off 15 to 20 times faster than following the bank's recommended minimum payment each month.
There are other, more aggressive strategies that can pay off all your cards, bank and personal loans in 1-2 years, but again, they are beyond the scope of this article.
When you think of paying off your 30 year mortgage in half the time, you are probably thinking of those Bi-Weekly mortgage programs or the newer, Money Merge plans.
Both work, but have serious draw backs. There are few banks that will allow the bi-weekly payments because their computers are not programmed to handle them or the current mortgage holder will not allow them.
The new, Money-Merge programs out of Australia, are hampered by reliance on the home owner having equity in the home and the availability of HELOCS, Home Equity Lines Of Credit, both of which are becoming scarcer as you read this. Plus, I have an aversion to paying off debt with more debt.
There is a new kid on the block, the "Amortization Accelerator," (Amac) which we developed. It turns the typical bank amortization schedule on its head and allows the mortgage to be paid off in half the scheduled time.
Check with your CPA or accountant for more information, as we are introducing this new system rapidly across the country.
Obviously, we have only scratched the surface of this huge, emotional and financial problem. However, the earlier you begin to prepare, the better you will be able to deal with it in your life.Copyright 2008 Bill Young.
Bill is a Personal Financial Consultant. He is offering a Free, Special Report that will show you how to get Hundreds of Extra Dollars in your pay check every month! http://TheInstantPayRaise.Com Bill specializes in showing middle income families how to solve income, debt and credit problems. He can be reached for free, private consultations at 646-961-3818