Decisions

For many, the dawn of 2009 holds a great deal of uncertainty, while for others it represents a chance at a fresh start and the potential for improvement – whether personal, professional, financial, or some combination of the three. For the human resources industry, 2009 will undoubtedly be a year in which changes in our government and our economy will be noticeably reflected in changes to employment law. The election in 2008 played host to a huge number of ballot issues regarding hiring processes and worker benefits. Such issues are again at the top of the incumbent legislature’s agenda in 2009, and will have a direct impact on not only the American worker, but on the employers and HR professionals responsible for their pay and benefits.

After examining a number of the bills proposed and voted into action for 2009, leading research indicates some overall legislative trends emerging in three major areas of human resources:

Healthcare Reform

As the number of Americans without insurance continues to rise, finding a way to provide individuals with better access to affordable healthcare was at the forefront of heated issues in the 2008 election. While already a major issue in 2008, the incoming Congress has recently announced that healthcare reform will be among its top priorities this year. Just prior to the start of 2009, for example, Congress passed the Mental Health Parity Act, a measure requiring many employers to broaden their mental health and substance abuse coverage for employees.

Meanwhile, a number of states and municipalities introduced new legislation addressing employers’ responsibilities concerning the health of their employees. Washington, DC and Milwaukee, for instance, passed initiatives mandating that employers provide paid sick leave for workers. New Jersey joined the movement by signing into law a bill requiring employers to give six weeks paid leave to staff members caring for a sick relative or new child.

However, in light of the economic crisis, further healthcare legislation may not increase quite as dramatically as once expected – on the state level, at least. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) predicts that in light of “widespread budget shortfalls predicted in nearly half of the nation, health care reform is likely to be less of a front-burner issue in the states.” Instead, SRHM predicts that cash-strapped state legislatures will be looking to the new administration to handle this issue on a federal level.

Immigration Reform

A hot-button issue with immediate implications for employers and HR professionals, immigration was the topic of a significant number of bills introduced in 2008. A total of 26 states passed new legislation addressing immigration concerns, many of which imposed new penalties on companies employing undocumented aliens.

Playing a large role in much of the new immigration legislation was E-Verify, the government’s Employment Eligibility Verification System. In 2009, all federal contractors and subcontractors will be required to use the system. Likewise on the state level, many immigration bills passed in 2008 require employers to use E-Verify or similar systems to ensure they are not hiring illegal workers.

Unlike the issue of healthcare reform, immigration legislation is predicted to continue occurring mainly at the state level while, according to SHRM, any sort of comprehensive reform at the congressional level is considered “unlikely.” Again, however, due to the budget shortfalls and the economic crisis it is difficult to predict whether states across the country will see a continued push for immigration reform. However, in some more conservative U.S. regions like the South and Midwest, employer penalties for hiring illegal workers may be more severe.

Workplace Safety

Concerns about workplace safety and efforts to increase employee health and wellness were evident in a number of new state laws put into effect in 2009. Safety concerns ranged from matters such as office air quality to more grave issues like gun control in the workplace.

On a federal level, increased attention to workplace safety was made clear in a large increase in government money directed toward the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for its 2009 fiscal year. OSHA received a budget increase of $15.7 million, part of which is being used to conduct increased workplace inspections in 2009. Likewise, the incoming presidential administration has touted workplace safety as a priority, and is predicted to take a second look at several previously failed workplace safety bills, including the regulation of combustible dusts in the workplace and mandating stricter ergonomics requirements for employees working in the healthcare industry.

On a state level, Oregon passed a law requiring all workplaces to be “smoke free,” prohibiting smoking within ten feet of the entrance to a building or worksite. In the meantime, eight other states, concerned with a growing number of gun-related incidents in the workplace, have enacted various laws concerning an employer’s right to limit the possession of weapons on company property.

While only time will tell how these potential changes to federal and state policies will play out over the course of the next year, staying aware and informed of proposed legislation can help employers and HR professionals prepare in advance for new regulations, develop appropriate contingency plans, and ensure a smooth and compliant transition if and when the changes occur.

About the Author:
Ms. Elizabeth Rice, SPHR, is the President of http://www.InnovativeEmployeeSolutions.com/ Innovative Employee Solutions, a San Diego-based company specializing in payroll and HR administrative services for the contingent workforce. Ms. Rice has more than 20 years of experience in HR and executive management.

Keyword tags: HR law,employment law,business law,human resources,HR

When you are injured at no fault of your own, you may be in a situation in which you should contact a personal injury lawyer. This is because a personal injury lawyer can determine whether or not you have grounds to seek damages from the person that you allege caused you to become injured.

When you become injured and it has caused certain losses in your life, such as not being able to work, having to have surgeries, and permanent injury, then it is necessary to seek compensation from the responsible party. You did not ask to be put into that situation, so you should not have to pay the consequences out of your pocket. You’re paying enough in the way of consequences by having to deal with the injuries.

But what situations typically call for a personal injury lawyer?

1. A car accident – If someone runs a stop light or they hit you in another manner, this is grounds to seek the assistance of a personal injury lawyer. You did not ask to be hit by that individual. They were not paying attention to what they were doing, so it is only right that they make sure you are taken care of. However, you may have to take it to court in order to get the compensation you need for your pain and suffering, medical bills, and lost wages.

2. Animal bites – Animal attacks result in more than just bites and scratches. There is the fear of diseases, such as rabies. There is also the possibility of disability. This also results in lost wages and pain and suffering. Extensive surgeries may also be needed to repair the damages as much as possible.

3. Slips and falls – This is something that tends to happen on personal property. For example, the department store may not have properly blocked off a spill. An individual then steps in the wet area and they fall. Another example is a store that has left an obstacle in the aisle that was not seen. This can result in severe injury. Individuals can find themselves suffering from broken bones, severe sprains, tears, and even whiplash when this occurs.

4. Personal attacks – A personal attack is when an individual is attacked by another person. This could be a fight that renders a person disabled. If they have to have expensive medical attention, have lost wages, or are permanently disabled, this is grounds to see a personal injury lawyer.

5. Any injury on personal property – If you are on someone’s personal property and you become injured due to something that exists upon that property that the owner should have taken care of, see a personal injury lawyer. This could be anything from not taking care of ice on steps to falling through a weak floor.

When you go to see your personal injury lawyer, you present them with evidence that shows that someone else was at fault. This includes any medical records, police reports, and anything else that you have to prove your case.

Once the personal injury lawyer evaluates the information, they are able to determine whether or not you have a case. If they do determine that you have a case, then they will take the next step in finding more information. From there, they will notify the proper entities of the lawsuit and file it in court.

From there, a court date will be scheduled and it will be time to prove your case so that you can receive the compensation that you need. This compensation is used to replace any monetary losses you have experienced because of the injury.

About the Author:
Personal Injury Lawyer London Firm specializing in the needs of accident victims and injured plaintiffs. Visit us at: http://www.judithhull.com

Keyword tags: Personal Injury Lawyer, Personal Injury Lawyer London

The numbers are frightening – there are millions of people out of work or crossing their fingers they won’t find a pink slip in their next paycheck. More have watched their retirement funds slip away as the stock market plunged. More Americans than ever can’t make their mortgage payments and face foreclosure. Who wouldn’t be afraid in this economic climate?

Do you wish you could close your eyes and wake up on the other side of this mess? If you did, you’d miss one of the greatest opportunities of your life. Did you know that more millionaires were created per capita during the Great Depression than ever since? There is no better time than now to figure out your life purpose, set goals, and design a life blueprint. And the best part is that the process won’t cost you a dime.

How satisfied are you with your life? Think that ‘just getting by’ is the best you can hope for in this economy? That this is the worst time to make any major life changes? Nonsense. You may not have much control over the economy, but you do have control over your own life.

You should be happy with your job, your relationships, your health, and feel that you are fulfilling your life purpose, no matter what the economy. In fact, you’re more likely to ride out the bad times if you’re secure in the fact that your life is on the right track. The problem is that most people don’t know how to set short-and long-term life goals, and they wind up reacting to individual situations and they flounder. They have no life plan. No wonder they don’t feel secure and fulfilled.

Think of your life as a building project. No architect would attempt to build something without a blueprint, so why would you approach your life plan without one? The details may change over time but it will always remain the building block on which you can focus your energies and base your decisions.

The best way to start creating your own blueprint is to take stock of where you are right now. Begin by simply making a chart. Write down the ten most important categories in your life. They can be career, relationships, spirituality, health, or whatever is important to you.

Next, make two columns next to each category. In the first one, write down where you are right now in your life in that area. Be brutally honest in assessing your current situation. For the second column, close your eyes and think of where you’d like to be in three years if no obstacles were in your way. Think hard and big and write down everything you can think of. No idea is too big or impossible and the more uncomfortable or daunting the dream, the better. Each future vision should make you gasp.

Now review the list and rate how difficult it would be to achieve this goal. Use a scale of one to five. If all your scores are low, you’re probably not reaching far enough in your goals and should try the exercise again and this time, reach higher. Interestingly, you may find that some of your biggest dreams really aren’t that hard to attain. Some though, may seem impossible. Don’t worry about that, simply by thinking frequently about your visions, results will begin to appear, slowly but surely.

Congratulations, you’ve begun the process of creating your own life blueprint. You’ve started with visions and goals that are unique to you and your life. It’s the first step in taking control of your future and creating a purpose driven life. While it may not seem it, that’s the hardest part of creating the life of your dreams. Next comes the process of achieving your goals, keeping the promises you’ve made to yourself and staying motivated — and that is actually easier than you think.

About the Author:
For help with your goals, go to http://www.keepanypromise.com and sign up for a FREE 1-hour teleseminar. Karim H. Ismail’s 12-step process will kick-start your life blueprint and help you attain your dreams.

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Background checks on people can usually be carried out in a discreet manor from the privacy of your own home or business. Typically it’s a point of security or nervousness that drives us to sneakily attempt to find the information needed to put our mind at ease.

The use of background checks on people has become routine these days with the advent of the information age and the ease with which data can be retrieved from almost anywhere in the world. Love it or hate it, background checks on people are on the upsurge in both our business and private lives.

Employers, landlords, business partners and new loves, just to name a few, at some point may carry out background checks on people as a standard practice. Background checks on people have nearly become a required part of life for these individuals.

Employers customarily want to confirm information presented to them by possible hires such as licenses, job experience, or degree credentials. They are trying their best to insure that any employee that they may hire will not become a liability or pose other risks to their company in the future.

Landlords will certainly want to carry out a credit check on any eventual tenants in hopes that they may avoid any deadbeat tenants. A criminal history check will probably also be needed because most will want to try to avoid having bad elements move into their properties. Drug usage or convictions and non-payment of bills may be red flags for any potential landlord.

To avoid potential problems in their business ventures, business partners may run background checks on people to find out if they are being scammed or to make sure that those they are dealing with are not scam artists.

In the private sector it is often potential lovers or partners that may come under the scrutiny of a background check. One can never be too careful about who they hang around with these days. Background checks on people have taken a dramatic rise in the private sector the last few years as data becomes more easily attainable to anyone with a computer and the desire to find the information.

Last but not least, it is probably a good idea to examine your own personal records periodically. A good example of this would be to check your credit history to make sure that nothing is out of the ordinary. New accounts under your name for instance, may point out identity theft if it is not something you purposely signed up for. It’s also a good idea to make sure that the records that do show up are right and if not they can be taken care of accordingly.

There are a many other reasons, too numerous to bring up in one article, that might make you want to carry out background checks on people. They can be a breeze to do once you have the fundamental investigation skills down pat but they can also take up a lot of time if you’re not comfortable with the internet or using search engines.

About the Author:
If you would like to find out how you can do your own investigations be sure to sign up for our free background check crash course or you can visit our web site, http://www.inet-investigation.com, for details on other background check resources

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A company’s success can hinge on the relationship they have with the public and how they are perceived in the media. Some companies choose to try and handle all of these matters from the inside with their own PR department but others feel the need to enlist an outside service to ensure that all matters of public view and perception are handled by highly trained professionals.

A good public relations firm can take your businesses success to levels you never even imagined, but the question on many CEO’s minds remains, “Will the results obtained from enlisting an outside PR firm offset the cost we have to pay for the services?”

What can a PR firm do for You?

Establish Relationships

The key to success in any business is developing and maintaining solid relationships, not just with your clients, but with investors, vendors and employees. Most of the time an in house PR department can easily grow and maintain the relationships with customers and vendors, but it gets much more difficult for an inside department to handle relationships with vendors and especially other employees.

An outside firm can readily handle all of these relationships impartially, with only the company’s best interests in mind. This almost makes the company’s investment in an outside firm worth it without even considering all of the other positives they can offer – happy employees and investors make a much more productive work place and in turn can really drive the profits and, therefore, the success of the business.

Save you Money

It may not look like it at the outset, because the initial investment of enlisting a public relations firm can be reasonably high, but hiring an outside firm to handle all of your public relations can save your corporation a good deal of money in the long run.

Without a PR firm to do at least some of the work involved in overall company public relations, your corporation would need (depending on the size of the company) at the very least one, most likely several, full time employees. The hourly wage paid to these full time employees may seem like peanuts when compared to the dollars that would be paid out to a public relations firm, but when you factor in the benefits, paid holidays, paid vacations and overall annual salaries of these employees your corporation could end up saving thousands and thousands of dollars a year by hiring an outside public relations firm.

You can use the services of a public relations firm when you need them, and forego the services when you don’t. It’s not as if a member of the firm will be in your office collecting a paycheck – you pay for the services that you use and nothing more.

Diversity

A good public relations firm can often offer you much more than what used to be considered the basics of good PR. Many public relations firms today can offer everything your PR department and your marketing and advertising departments can do and more.

By enlisting the services of a good, reputable public relations firm you can effectively turn your own office into a lean and mean machine. You won’t have to cross train employees to take on roles that they are not comfortable or experienced with – your sales force won’t have to be concerned with any phase of marketing or advertisement. Your valuable sales staff can get focused on what they were trained to do – sell, while a PR firm takes care of developing the relationships and public perceptions.

Emergency Services

A public relations firm can bail you out of trouble in the event of a PR emergency. PR firm representatives are trained to handle all types of scandals or problems that crop up and can affect your corporation’s image in the public eye. Press releases can be quickly written and submitted and press conferences can be put together in short order to ensure that your company keeps its positive reputation with all of your current and potential clients, investors and employees.

Whether you decide to enlist an outside public relations firm to handle any or all of your company’s PR or marketing, solid relationships are the cornerstone of your company’s success. If you don’t have a rock solid PR department, than hiring a public relations firm could be the best decision for your company’s future.

About the Author:
PR company in Toronto offers extensive experience in public relations, http://www.polarisprinc.com/services.html media relations and corporate communications. We seeking professional public relations representation, consider Polaris http://www.polarisprinc.com Public Relations.

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To the everyday man, a motorcycle is all about speed. The adrenaline rush experienced while going full throttle headily- there is nothing like it. Have you thought of a helmet then? Probably not.

Granted you might be confident as a rider, and well-trained as well, but road safety measures do not exist for nothing. You should always protect yourself form possible harm and accidents while driving, especially if you are driving a two wheeler. A helmet is the first precautionary step you can take. In crunch times it can make a difference between life and death. In fact, you need not be apprehensive about wearing one because they have become a style statement today.

New trends in motorcycle helmets are really striking today. For example, Scorpion helmets have been at the forefront of new generation motorcycle helmets and other driving-safety gear. It is not only their engineering excellence that makes Scorpion helmets stand out, it is also their innovative graphic designs. In fact the never-before graphic designs of ScorpionExo Helmets are said to be created by their designers spread the world over from Europe to Southern California. Isn’t that fantastic?
Which one suits your style is your choice. But we can guarantee this- You have a lot of choices.

Obviously, before buying a helmet, you would want to combine style with comfort. The first thing you should do is visit the websites of major helmet manufacturers and shortlist the ones you like, based on what you like in them. Make sure that the helmet you choose meets the specified safety standards like absorbing certain impact energy and fastening quality. Fit is another important criterion.

Try on helmets and see what fits you the best. While you can buy both helmets covering a part of your face and ones covering the entire face, and while both will protect you from the fatigue and the noise of the wind, the full faced one is more advisable since it will also prevent insects from entering the helmet. In case of a crash too, a full faced helmet is better since it protects you from the full impact of the crash. Though helmets are available in a wide variety of prices, think about your safety before you think about economy.

Most helmets today are made of state-of-the-art materials, which means that the outer shell is made of fiberglass and Kevlar matrix to withstand the highest impacts during any crash. The helmets made in the other eras were not as efficient as these because they were not wind tunnel tested and aero tuned to ensure aerodynamic superiority.

ScorpionExo helmets feature the HelmetPump which helps the riders have a perfect fit, and the advanced SpeedView feature in the face shield automatically adjusts itself according to the intensity of the sunlight. This is especially helpful when you are driving on bare stretches or in cities.

Always look for features that will provide the most of your money’s worth while buying helmets, and at the same time ensure that you have maximum safety while driving.

About the Author:
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