Is there real hope on the horizon for the roughly 12 million immigrants residing illegally in the United States? According to a bipartisan group of senators dubbed the Gang of Eight, immigration reform may be on the horizon in 2013. Many people have resisted the temptation to become overly optimistic, mainly because the immigration reform initiative sounds eerily familiar to the same offer as it was released in 2005, 2009, and again in 2010, which was eventually phased out without a real resolution. However, several factors indicate that this year will be different. Political will in the form of radical demographic changes in the US and an exponential increase in the Hispanic population, along with 1/3 of the legislators in the House and Senate who are new to their positions, will likely become the lever of change needed to address our nation’s immigration policies.

Republican John McCain, a staunch and vocal opponent of President Obama’s stance on immigration reform, said on ABC’s “This Week” that the group still had a lot of work ahead of it, but was pleased with progress. ” McCain further stated that a change was needed, because “we cannot go on forever with 11 million people living in this shadow country in an illegal state. We cannot have forever children who were born here, who were brought here by their parents when they were little, to also live in the shadows. “

So why should this new plan be any different? According to the plan offered by Gang of Eight, which includes key decision makers Michael Bennet of Colorado, as well as Republicans Marco Rubio of Florida, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona, the plan contains enough compromise in both. sides of the hall to make a real remodel a possibility. Legislators are aware that times have changed and immigration problems now have dire consequences.

The plan contains four basic ideas that would lead to a systematic transformation of immigration policies. First, the new plan would streamline the current immigration system and create a “tough, fair, and practical roadmap” toward citizenship for illegal immigrants. Second, it would reward advanced graduates of American universities in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. The plan would also create a way for employers to check the status of potential employees and impose sanctions on companies that fail to comply, and ultimately the new plan would allow employers to hire low-wage, undocumented blue-collar workers when there are no Americans who they will accept the job.

However, the plan is not without opposition. “In the race to overcome Obama’s amnesty, the Gang of Eight today repeated the failed amnesty plan of six years ago,” said Rosemary Jenks, director of government affairs for Numbers USA, an advocacy group that fights at higher levels. low immigration, calling the plan little more than “Amnesty 2.0”. Additionally, Republican Lamar Smith of Texas expressed an opinion likely shared by other conservatives when he said, “When you legalize those in the country illegally, it costs taxpayers millions of dollars, it costs American workers thousands of dollars. jobs and encourage more illegal immigration, “Smith said,” by granting amnesty, the Senate proposal actually compounds the problem by encouraging more illegal immigration. “

Senator McCain summed up why the current plan will succeed where others have failed with one word, “Elections.” “The Republican Party is losing the support of our Hispanic citizens … This is a preeminent issue for those citizens.” As long as both parties remember that Hispanic voters have a tremendous impact on the success or failure of an election, there is real reason to be optimistic about the success of the 2013 immigration reform.

Located just outside of Washington, DC, Silver Spring, Maryland has been a residential destination for families living in the area for years. While DC is the place to go for monuments and museums, Silver Spring is fast becoming one of the most desirable places to live outside of the district.

So what is it that draws so many people to Silver Spring? Here are some fun facts about the city of Montgomery County.

Important discoveries

Silver Spring is where one of the largest television and Internet companies is headquartered. Discovery Communications is the world’s number one non-fiction medium that includes channels such as the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Investigation Discovery and Planet Green; channels that everyone loves to go to when relaxing in their condo or apartment. During the ever popular Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, this multimedia company celebrates with a 466-foot shark named Chompie perched atop the corporate headquarters.

The best of cinema

Stepping out of your apartment or condo to watch one of your favorite movies takes on a whole new meaning when you visit the American Film Institute (AFI) Silver Theater and Cultural Center, located in Silver Spring. This historic landmark is dedicated to preserving the art of the moving image. Most of AFI’s programming focuses on films that are not normally available anywhere else, including independent films, foreign films, documentaries, and classic cinema.

Best Places to Eat Cheap in Maryland!

When Silver Spring residents are in the mood for a fantastic meal that won’t cost them a full paycheck, look no further than Ray’s the Classics. Ray’s has quickly become a staple of the Washington, DC metropolitan area due to the fact that Ray’s hand-selects only the best natural, farm-raised, corn-fed meat available anywhere, at any price.

Go for a walk

One of Washington, DC’s hidden treasures is Great Falls. This national park is a short drive from DC and can be entered from Virginia or Maryland. Great Falls has over 800 miles of scenic views and spectacular waterfalls. The trails vary in difficulty. This is a great way to get out of town and get some exercise. After a day in nature, you will return home and be ready for a nap.

There is no limit to the many activities the Washington, DC region has to offer. Whether you’re meeting friends at a movie or having a drink at a bar, Silver Spring is a must-visit destination.

He was born in November 1946 as Theodore Robert Cowell and used various aliases during his life. Some knew him as Chris Hagen or Richard Burton or even Ken Misner.

When he died in the electric chair in January 1989, the United States knew him as Ted Bundy and he was one of the most famous serial killers of the 20th century.

Authorities believe his murder spree lasted approximately four years, from 1974 to 1978, although Bundy himself said the first was in 1972. They believe it killed between 30 and 100 people. He confessed to 30 murders while on death row.

Ted Bundy was born and raised by a single mother, Louise, and his father’s identity is pure speculation. Ted and his mother lived with their parents in Philadelphia for the first four years of their life. Bundy grew up thinking that his mother was his sister and that his grandparents were his parents. At the age of four, Ted and Louise moved to Tacoma Washington and Louise soon married Johnnie Culpepper Bundy.

Bundy was a very good student and active in his youth at First Methodist Church in Tacoma, Washington. However, he was shy and not very sociable with others. He received a scholarship upon completion of high school and graduated from the University of Washington.

While in captivity, Bundy told authorities that there was an entity within him that has always been fascinated with sex and violence. All his victims were white, middle-class women. All were beaten and then strangled. Once it started in Washington state, it was killing at a rate of about one per month.

The first known victim was Joni Lenz in January 1974. She survived the ordeal, but brain damage prevented her from helping in the capture of Bundy. In February, Lynda Ann Healy was murdered by Bundy. On March 12, 1974, in Olympia, Bundy kidnapped and murdered Donna Gail Manson. A month later, Susan Rancourt disappeared and her disappearance has been attributed to Bundy. In May it was Brenda Ball and in June it was Georgeann Hawkins. Finally, the Bundy massacre in Washington ended on July 14, 1974 with the kidnapping of Janice Ott and Denise Naslund.

And then the killings in Washington stopped!

Bundy moved to Utah to attend the University of Utah law school and accelerated the pace of his murders by killing three Salt Lake City women in October 1974.

In 1975, Bundy killed some women in and around Colorado ski resort areas. He was arrested for alleged robbery and subsequently escaped. It is not really known if he killed during the next two years, but in January and February 1978 he killed three women in Florida using the same modus operandi and was finally captured for good.

Theodore Robert (Cowell) Bundy was executed in an electric chair at the maximum security prison near the remote town of Raiford, Florida, on January 24, 1989 and will go down in history as nothing more than a notorious serial killer.

Migrant labor is an issue that receives increasing attention. It has become an issue of growing importance, as various factors, including rapid population expansion and higher rates of urbanization, lead many people to seek better economic opportunities in other countries.

The International Labor Organization estimates that there are currently approximately 96 million migrant workers and their dependents in the world. Some experts predict that the number will double in the next twenty years.

In the United States, there are 6.3 million illegal workers in the United States, according to estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center. About half of them are from Mexico. These illegal Mexican immigrants are at the center of an ongoing debate about how the United States should handle illegal immigration.

A common belief is that Mexicans emigrate to the United States to find work. But according to a study carried out by the center, the lack of work in Mexico is not one of the main reasons why immigrants arrive illegally in the United States. Rather, immigrants are expelled from their home country due to low wages in Mexico, poor quality of work, and a lack of long-term prospects and opportunities.

The study results were based on interviews with 4,836 men and women who applied for Mexican identification cards at the consulates in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Fresno, Atlanta, and Raleigh, North Carolina.

The study found that only 5% of Mexican immigrants who have been in the United States for less than two years were unemployed in Mexico. In fact, the vast majority of the undocumented immigrants interviewed were in paid employment before leaving for the United States.

The study also found that immigrants have little trouble finding work in the United States, despite the lack of legal rights to work. After six months in the United States, only 5% of immigrants reported being unemployed. This statistic reveals how important these immigrant workers are to the United States economy, because they perform jobs that few others are willing to do.

And they do it for low wages. Immigrants generally earn poverty wages in the United States, or about $ 300 a week. Although surprisingly low, these wages are twice what workers in Mexico earn.

According to the Pew Hispanic Center study, Mexican immigrants provide many types of labor needed across the country, including construction in Atlanta, Dallas and Raleigh; hospitality in New York; manufacturing in Chicago; and agriculture in California. These four industries employed around two-thirds of the respondents.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington DC, says it is not news that there is a demand for low-wage labor in the United States. But instead of establishing guest worker programs or amnesty for illegal immigrants, Krikorian advocated gradually pulling immigrant workers out of the economy. In his view, this, among other things, would improve the wages of American workers.

Despite a seemingly steady stream of immigrant workers, California farms and other businesses are having a hard time finding enough people willing to work for low wages. Many immigrants are choosing to work in the riskier but higher paying construction industry. And the government and civilian border patrol groups like the Minutemen are stepping up their efforts to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, making it harder for immigrants to enter.

Government officials, including the president, want to enact new legislation that will enforce immigration laws more strongly.

In January 2004, President Bush outlined a plan to renew the country’s immigration laws and allow some eight million illegal immigrants to obtain legal status as temporary workers, saying the United States needs an immigration system “that serves the economy. and reflects the American dream. “

Illegal immigrants already in the United States can apply for the temporary worker program only if they already have a job. The special status would last three years and could be renewed once, for a total stay of six years. If temporary workers did not stay employed or violated the law, they would be sent home.

Bush said the new legal status would allow illegal immigrants to travel back to their home countries without fear of not being allowed to return to the United States.

The reason for the reform, Bush said, is to confront “a basic fact of life and the economy: some of the jobs that are created in America’s growing economy are jobs that American citizens are not filling.”

Currently, about 140,000 “green cards” are issued each year to people who want to migrate to the United States. Bush has asked Congress to increase it, but gave a specific number.

Bush described the immigration proposals as a national security measure that will help the United States exercise more control over the borders. “Our homeland will be more secure when we can better account for those who enter our country,” he said. “Instead of the current situation, in which millions of people are unknown … the police will face few problems with undocumented workers and will be better able to focus on the real threats to our nation from criminals and terrorists.”

The US Department of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Department of Labor and other agencies, would administer the new program.

When Bush announced his ideas in early 2004, some Democratic party leaders expressed suspicions that he was trying to increase his popularity with the Latino contingent as the 2004 campaign began. Senator Kennedy said: “I certainly hope that the long-awaited re-entry of the administration into this fundamental debate is genuine and not because of the election year conversion. The immigration status quo is outdated, unfair and unacceptable.”

Many senators also have ideas about how to reform immigration law. Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Jon Kyl of Arizona propose a program that would allow immigrants to work in the United States for two years, followed by a one-year hiatus. This pattern could be repeated a total of three times before the worker had to return to his country of origin permanently.

Senators John McCain, R-Ariz., And Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., Support legislation that would allow illegal immigrants to work in the United States for up to six years without obtaining any permits or paperwork. After six years, workers would have to be in the process of obtaining legal residency or returning to their country of origin.

And Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel proposed granting legal status to illegal immigrant workers if they pass criminal background checks, have lived in the United States for at least five years, pay taxes, have a working knowledge of the English language, and pay a fee of $ 2,000. Before this program is implemented, Hagel wants border security to be strengthened.

But efforts to stem the tide of migrant workers entering the United States appear to have stalled. Many farmers do not want to change the system that provides them with much-needed labor. And conservative anti-immigrant groups like the vigilante group Minutemen are critically opposed to reform that would somehow encourage immigration.

“Guest worker programs are worthless,” says Minutemen President Chris Simcox. “We can’t even talk about it until there is a real government enforcement at the border.” The Minutemen is an organization of fully voluntary citizens who oppose illegal immigration. Members patrol the US-Mexico border looking for illegal immigrants trying to cross.

“This is a direct challenge to President Bush,” Simcox has said. “You have continued to ignore this problem. Our state officials, senators and congressmen will do nothing. So this is a last-ditch effort to roll up our sleeves and do it ourselves.”

The Minutemen and others believe that illegal immigrants are bad for America, an economic drain and a threat to security. Immigrants often require assistance from government and social service agencies, but due to their non-legal status, they often do not pay the taxes that fund these programs. Groups like the Minutemen claim that immigrants are a threat to national security.

Many businesses and industries are also opposing the new immigration legislation, fearing it could further reduce the pool of available workers they need. Tamar Jacoby, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, says that most Americans are unwilling to do forced or agricultural labor. Immigrants are willing and cheap, so their presence is a matter of economic importance.

Those in favor of new legislation on immigrants can get away with it. A 2004 poll by National Public Radio, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government found that Americans are less negative about immigration than they have been in several years. However, nonimmigrant Americans surveyed felt that the government has not been tough enough on immigration. They would like the government to spend more to narrow the borders.

According to http://www.census.gov, Florida has between 243,000 and 385,000 undocumented immigrants. But the numbers are likely even higher, because experts say illegal immigrants often avoid government polls. The 2002 census survey included both legal and illegal immigrants.

In the Tampa Bay area, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties have seen foreign-born populations grow faster than the general population. Of the more than one million residents of Hillsborough, 13% are foreign born. Census data shows that Hillsborough’s foreign-born population grew more than 80% during the 1990s, four times the growth rate of the general population.

In Pinellas, the proportion of foreign-born residents topped 10% for the first time in 2002, according to the Census Bureau. The foreign-born population grew by 45% during the 1990s, almost six times the growth rate of the general population.

There are so many variables involved in paralegal salaries that it is almost impossible to pin down an exact range. The median starting salary is currently in the area of ​​$ 43,000 a year, but that’s just an average. Choose a paralegal career because you saw someone on TV making $ 100,000 a year and you will probably be disappointed, at least at first. Here are the top 5 factors that affect your paralegal salary to show you why there is such a wide variation.

Geographic location

In most cases, a paralegal who works for a large company in New York City is going to make a lot more money than someone who works for a company of the same size in a small Midwestern city. New York has a higher cost of living than almost any other city in the country. The people who live and work there naturally earn more money.

Education

Obviously someone with a higher level of education can charge a higher salary. To increase your earning potential, consider continuing your education. Learn some new skills, such as how to use some of the specialized computer programs or how to create PowerPoint presentations.

Specialization

Yes, there are paralegals who earn 6 figures or more per year. They live in areas that can support those wages, have the education necessary to get those jobs, and generally specialize in either certain skills or certain types of law.

Experience

Of course, you’re not going to earn those high paralegal salaries right out of college. But the more experience you have, the better your earning potential. And the more time you spend in your chosen field, the higher your salary. Be careful here. Don’t confuse experience with education. There are a few things you should learn from books. And there are other things you can only learn on the job.

Reputation of the firm

The reputation of the company you work for will also have a lot to do with your earnings. Again, there are many variables, but there are dozens of law firms with offices around the world. Those offices may not be located in cities where high salaries are generally paid, but associates earn those salaries because of the company they work for, not the actual location of the office.

A 6-figure paralegal salary as seen on TV shows is possible and is out there. You may have to change companies several times or even have to move. The best thing to do is make sure you have a good quality education under your belt, and then start researching all the various opportunities to see what you need to do to get to the next level.

For many beginning writers, and also for some veterans, the punctuation can be confusing. The scoring rules sometimes seem arcane, abstract, and even random. But if we see punctuation as a form of traffic control: commands to stop, pause, look ahead, etc. – it is easy to master these necessary grammar rules. In a previous excerpt, we explained how to use periods, commas, colons, and semicolons.

Hyphenated Words to Combine Ideas. People often coin new words by combining several. Stuck in with hyphens, these expressions are often converted into individual words. The word for America’s national pastime began as base ball, evolved into base ball, and eventually took the modern form of baseball. The last example: email turned into email and then email.

Scripts offer a great way to show how things are related to each other. Consider the following sentence: “East Coast liberals like Hillary Clinton differ from West Coast liberals like Jerry Brown.” We could say, “West Coast liberals,” but that’s not quite so concise.

Of course, connecting too many things with hyphenation can be silly. Thus: “The African-American senator for the first time from the South Side of Chicago made his first candidacy for the White House in 2008.”

Use em-hyphens – like this one – to make aside. If you want to establish complete phrases or lists, look for a long dash known as em-dash. Look at this sentence:

The Chicago Cubs’ inability to win a World Series for 100 years, a period that saw nineteen different presidents, has caused anguish among fans.

The em-dash helps the author to make an aside. The electronic script tells the reader to pause, as if to say, “Hey, check this out.”

Critics say em-dash makes writing cheaper by encouraging a loose, casual style. Without a doubt, the excessive use of any tool can be annoying. When we use em-dash too much, like here, it distracts and annoys the reader. But in moderation, again not like this, em-dash offers a useful and even fun way to emphasize a point.

Use ellipsis to show vanishing thought … Every time I see an ellipsis, a set of three points, I hear the sound of the harp music. Ellipses (plural of ellipsis) suggest that thinking turns off, reflects, open ideas. Ellipses allow us to deviate for a moment …

Case in point: “Dorothy considered her challenge: ‘If only I could see the Wizard of Oz …”‘ We see the girl with braided hair, a wicker basket, and a dog named Toto staring off into space, in her own world, lost in thought.

The ellipses also perform a more technical task: marking gaps in the quoted passages. Quotes often omit entire sections. People rarely speak in compact packages, so writers have to stitch together comments made at different times. To indicate a space, use an ellipsis. Therefore, we can quote John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address this way:

Do not ask what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country … Let’s go out and lead the land we love, asking for His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our.

The ellipsis here indicates that the writer cut words from the original source. Connecting one part of the quote to another makes a point quickly.

Psst: use parentheses to make aside. Sometimes you want to offer a little related information. That information could strengthen the argument (by providing details or context) or simply provide an aside. (Ben Yagoda loves parentheses.)

Parentheses provide an efficient way to add basic information. When you want to provide examples of various things, use parentheses instead of saying “for example” over and over again. When Barack Obama began shaping his administration in 2008, he drew on America’s elite universities. New York Times columnist David Brooks described the emerging team:

January 20, 2009 will be a historic day. Barack Obama (Columbia, Harvard Law) will be sworn in as his wife, Michelle (Princeton, Harvard Law) looks on with pride. Nearby, your foreign policy advisers will be beaming, including perhaps Hillary Clinton (Wellesley, Yale Law), Jim Steinberg (Harvard, Yale Law) and Susan Rice (Stanford, Oxford). Phil.).

Here an elite, there an elite, everywhere an elite. Brooks uses parentheses to clarify this point.

The wasteful use of parentheses makes the writing choppy. It is disorienting when you stray from the main train of thought, over and over again. On the other hand, sometimes you want to show how hectic the world can be. “So are my parentheses part of my style?” Yagoda asks (rhetorically). “Actually, yes. They appeal to me in part because they express my belief that the world and language are multiple, intricate, and illuminated by digression.”

Use quotation marks to say exactly what someone said. To indicate that you are using someone’s exact words, use quotation marks. Then:

“Don’t ask what your country can do for you,” said President Kennedy. “Ask what you can do for your country.”

Use the exact words of the speaker. If you want to paraphrase, quote only the words that were spoken and use your own words to connect the sentences. Then:

After challenging the nation to “ask what you can do for your country,” President Kennedy challenged other nations to “ask not what the United States will do for you, but what we can do together for the freedom of man.”

Punctuation is generally enclosed in quotes. So: “Don’t ask what your country can do for you,” Kennedy said.

Put punctuation marks outside the quotation marks to avoid confusion about what is being quoted. When television journalist Tim Russert died, a website ran this headline: Tom Brokaw as host of “Meet the Press?” The headline suggests that Brokaw was in fact the host and that the show’s name contains a question. The headline should have asked: “Tom Brokaw as host of” Meet the Press “?

Sometimes it is necessary to quote someone by quoting someone else. To do that, use single quotes, inside double quotes, like this:

“I went back to the doctor and he said, ‘Henry, I told you, you can’t come, you’re going to die in that mine.’ I said, ‘Well, Dr. Craft, let me try one more time,’ because I had some debts that I wanted to pay off. “

And what about a date within a date within a date? Go back to the double quotes (“), like this:

“I met Joyce at the rally, and she yelled at me, ‘Let’s sing something. How about,’ I’m not going to let anyone turn me around ‘? Let’s do it.’

Use exclamation marks (rarely!) To show enthusiasm or to be emphatic. I once worked with someone who used exclamation marks, a lot of them, all the time! Whether talking about something mundane or exciting, he ended each sentence with a multitude of these happy punctuation marks! I guess it’s not much different from someone who agrees with you all the time, or says “have a nice day” no matter what’s going on! But it’s too much!

Sober word writers avoid exclamation marks except to show someone yelling. They point out, for example, that the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression does not include shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater. Novelist Elmore Leonard suggests using no more than two or three exclamation points per 100,000 words (the length of a book). And I agree. Mainly! To show real emotion, tell a great story instead of relying on a lighthearted punctuation.

And yet I admire Tom Wolfe so much that I admit the value of each and every one of his exclamations. By one count, Wolfe’s novel Bonfire of the Vanities contains 2,343 exclamation points on 659 pages. “I’m trying to get the score back where it belongs,” Wolfe once explained. “The dots, dashes and exclamation marks were removed from the prose because they ‘reeked of sentiment.’ But a! Show someone who gets carried away. Why not? The writer carefully not using this punctuation does not bother to convey what is exciting to the reader. “

Wolfe uses the exclamation point wisely, conveying excessive jealousy or innocence or naivety or rudeness. It works for him. For most of us, however, it is like a sharp object that is best left in the drawer.

Pattaya is a city on the north coast of the eastern Gulf of Thailand that attracts millions of tourists every year. Its name was originally “Thap Phraya” which means Army of Phraya. Initially, the place was just a fishing village until 1961 when the American military began to go there to relax. This gave rise to the Pattaya tourism industry which has developed continuously up to the present.

The Pattaya authorities strictly monitor compliance with Thai national laws and their own set of local rules and regulations. To avoid conflicts with Thai government property and business laws, many foreigners will hire a Pattaya lawyer to do the legal basis for them, such as due diligence of the purchase or registration of the planned company, preparation of documentation for the license and dealing with concerned Thai officials. Foreigners also hire a Pattaya lawyer to conduct a title search before purchasing property or real estate in Thailand. These steps are very sensible and practical, especially for foreigners who are not familiar with Thai laws.

A good Pattaya attorney can commonly be found in an older, well-established law firm. A law firm is usually made up of licensed Thai lawyers who have joined a law firm established in Pattaya to practice law. Each attorney will specialize in a field practice such as Thailand Divorce, Thailand Business Registration and Corporate Matters, and Pattaya Immigration and Work Permit. This structure allows the group to handle almost all types of cases that clients bring to it.

The best Thailand law firms in Pattaya can be obtained conveniently through the internet. The most popular and established law firms publish their legal services and office locations on their legal websites. Also, these international law firms in Pattaya offer free consultations via email and chat.

Small law firms are also available, however the scope of services they provide rarely matches those of the major international firms. A Pattaya attorney at large law firms may cost you a bit more, but the quality service provided in return will be worth it.

Light job offers

On the one hand, L&I offers cost reimbursement to employers. Here, employers are eligible to recover costs when they accommodate employees after a work injury and offer them light duty. L&I refers to this program as Stay at Work (WA-SAW). Explicitly, if a work injury claimant has limitations due to conditions related to the claim, the employer may offer work that meets those limitations. Interestingly, L&I considers light work to be valid if it meets the following criteria:

1) The workplace injury claimant must have limitations due to the conditions that relate to your workers’ compensation claim. These limitations should affect your ability to work.

2) The employer must submit a written (and detailed) job description for light duty to the treating physician.

3) The serving provider must approve the light duty in writing.

Once the criteria are met, the employer can make a light job offer to the worker. Light duty job openings vary significantly between employers and industries. For example, grocery stores often offer storekeepers or brokers light jobs as receptionists. Also, another good example is sedentary office work. Also, if the wages for the new job are 5% less (or lower) than what the worker earned before, then the worker can claim loss of purchasing power benefits.

The financial incentives of this program are advantageous for employers. In fact, the program has many other benefits as well. For one thing, after a workplace accident, it helps keep employers and employees connected during the recovery process. Additionally, it creates less ambiguity regarding the employee’s employment status. These benefits are only realized when the program is used for the right reasons. Unfortunately, all too often, that is not the case.

The Light Duty Reality in Some L&I Claims

I’ve seen employers offer light “jobs” like watching safety videos throughout the work shift. I’ve also seen light “job” offers that involve sitting at a desk doing nothing. These are clearly not legitimate light duty jobs and the sole intention behind them is to save costs. Sometimes employers ask workplace injury claimants to perform tasks outside of the details in their job description. Other times, employers require the worker to perform tasks that are contraindicated by explicit medical limitations. Realistically, many complain of harassment and bullying while trying to do light work.

Some employers tell light-duty employees to schedule medical appointments and treatments after hours. This can be difficult, if not impossible. Lastly, many workers place themselves under a performance microscope while doing light work. For example, when the employer writes them to be one minute late. Another example is when the employer asks them to play a game on their cell phone out of sheer boredom because light work was a desk job doing nothing. Yet another is writing to the employee because he places his swollen foot on a desk shelf to reduce pain and swelling, while doing work that does nothing. These are all real life examples. Surprisingly, when inspecting personal records, one must wonder why this excessive performance monitoring did not occur prior to the work injury or occupational disease.

Advocating for people with a workers’ compensation claim

In the past, employers and white-collar workers have criticized me for my criticism of L&I programs like WA-SAW. Proponents of the program cite studies, graphs and data showing that returning to work early (even light jobs) dramatically reduces long-term disability. I do not dispute these findings. I, too, want the workers I represent to regain their quality of life, including their full income-earning potential, as soon as possible. However, I believe that the WA-SAW program is often misused and does not achieve its intended goals.

Too often, when employers use the program solely to save costs without considering the feelings or needs of the workplace injury claimant, I see workers bitter with their employer. I see work environments turn hostile, mental health conditions develop, and L&I claims become unnecessarily contentious. It is for that reason that I will continue to advocate for a more worker-centered review of these incentive programs.

This article was first published at https://tarareck.com/light-duty-work/

My name is Lonnie and I am a victim of identity theft.

So check this out. A friend of mine wrote a post on Facebook about how someone stole her daughter’s social security number and filed for unemployment benefits with the Washington State Employment Security Division (ESD). Since it had never occurred to me, I decided to go to ESD and try to file an unemployment claim. After entering the information, I received the following message:

The social security number (SSN) you entered already exists and is linked to this partially hidden email address: *****@fasternet.co

THAT ?? !! ??!? I have never filed an unemployment claim in my entire life and I have certainly never used an email address on rapidnet.co. Who is the # $% ^%! It is this?

I read more and saw the following message:

If you think you could be the victim of unemployment imposter fraud, when criminals illegally apply for unemployment benefits using someone else’s personal and work information, please report it! Use the form in the Employment Security Department (ESD) website. Then wait for ESD news.

I could not believe it. I was a victim of identity theft for the first time in my life. And it didn’t go through the more traditional route of bank or credit card fraud; It was through unemployment benefit fraud.

While browsing the What do you do about it path, I learned a lot about the prevalence of identity fraud and how exposed it was. Experian, one of the three credit reporting companies, published some eye-emerging statistics (all as of 2017).

• 158 million Social Security numbers exposed in data breaches

• 14.2 million credit card numbers exposed

• $ 905 million in total fraud losses

• 13,852 complaints of identity theft affecting children and adolescents

• 60,000 reports of mail theft

• 883,000 tax returns confirmed for identity theft

• 27% of data breaches were related to medical or healthcare.

Identity theft is real. The bad guys are smart and only care about getting your money. The pain, frustration, and fear they leave behind mean nothing to them. If you think it can’t happen to you, you are living under a rock.

As a result of my experience, I decided to collect everything I did to verify fraud activity and the steps I took once I discovered that unemployment benefits fraud occurred. Hopefully these will help you too.

1. Check your credit report at annual credit reportrt.com for fraudulent accounts. You can do this for free once a year. Don’t be swayed by a false sense of security if everything looks good. Things like unemployment benefits do not appear in the report. You need to do more research.

2. Check to see if someone has used your SSN to file an unemployment claim. In Washington State, go to ESD safe access washgton and follow the instructions to create a Secure Access Washington account. This is how I found out that someone filed unemployment benefits using my name and SSN.

3. Request a Social Security AccOunt statement for any claim for benefits against your SSN.

4. Request a IRS Transcrypt for your tax filing history.

5. Check if your personal information was included in the Equifax battain which occurred between May and July 2017 that exposed the personal information of 140 million Americans. My SSN was one of 140 million.

If there has been fraudulent activity, take the following steps:

1. Go to the Federal Trade Commission website Identitytheft.gov. The website guides you through the steps for your situation.

2. File a fraud report in your state. In Washington he appears before meSouth Dakota.

3. File a police report with your local police department.

4. Submit a IRS identity theft Sworn declaration.

5. Submit a Equifax Fraud alert. This lets credit card companies know that you were the victim of identity theft. According to Equifax, this establishes additional controls to monitor fraudulent activity. They also notify Experian and Transunion of the theft. I can’t speak to whether it is effective at the moment, but I feel like it wouldn’t hurt to do so.

6. If the theft was for medical reasons, file a health privacy complaint with the US Department of Health and Human Services.ice.

Regardless of whether you have fraudulent activity, I strongly recommend that you do the following:

1. Place acrepeat freeze in your report with Formerperian, Transunion, and Equifax. A credit freeze restricts access to your credit report. However, if you plan to apply for a credit card, bank account, or mortgage, you need to unfreeze your credit with each of the bureaus and then freeze it again after the inquiry has been made. A slight inconvenience compared to someone opening a credit card in your name using your personal information.

2. Set up email or text alerts with your bank and credit card companies for any transaction with an amount greater than zero. Large financial services companies offer alert options that you can customize. You’ll get an alert every time the card is used, which can be annoying for some, but again I’d rather delete a notification email or text message than have someone running rampant with my credit card or bank account.

3. Set up two factor authenticationentication in your accounts. Also known as two-step authentication, this enforces a second type of authentication in addition to a password (that is, a text message, fingerprint, or email verification) if someone tries to log into one of your accounts.

4. Use a cross cut shredder for any document containing personal information. This also includes any financial services or credit card offers you may receive in the mail.

5. If your state offers it, set up an account that allows you to register your SSN and access the online services of various state agencies. In Washington state this is called Secure Aaccess to Washington. You may need to do a little research for your state, but it’s worth it.

6. Be careful with the use of public WIFI; consider using a Virtuto Private Network (VPN) if you access sensitive personal information on public networks.

7. Be sure to also review the accounts of a loved one, spouse, partner, and children.

Identity theft is real and it can happen to you. The bad guys will never go away, but you can make it harder for yourself by putting some preventive measures in place to protect yourself and your loved ones from identity theft.

Note: if you want hyperlinks to all bold references go here.

In Mark Hone v. Six Continents Retail Limited (2005), a bar owner who collapsed due to overwork successfully sued his former employers in County Court for breach of duty of care.

Mr. Hone, the plaintiff, began working for Bass (now Six Continents) as a pub manager in 1995 and in 1998 he was awarded “Pub Manager of the Year”. However, in 1999 he began working at The Old Moat House, where he found himself working 13 hours a day.

He repeatedly complained to his employers that he was working excessively, but the employers took no action. He had no assistant manager and other staff members, who left, including two chefs and a clerical worker, were never replaced.

Hone, who had refused to sign a clause that excluded EU law limiting the number of hours an employee works, began to suffer from headaches and insomnia. In May 2000, she collapsed at work due to an anxiety disorder. In 2004, Mr. Hone sued Bass for violating his duty of care as an employee.

The trial court (Swansea County Court) held that:

Bass had failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that Mr. Hone worked no more than 48 hours, which would likely cause harm to his health, and that resources were available to hire more support staff for him; and

Bass should pay Mr Hone £ 21,000 in damages.

Six Continents (formerly Bass) appealed this decision to the Court of Appeal, which upheld the Swansea County Court ruling.

Comment: This case highlights the importance of not imposing excessive working hours on employees and ensuring that employees have sufficient support from staff.

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© RT COOPERS, 2005. This Information Note does not provide an exhaustive or complete statement of the law related to the topics discussed, nor does it constitute legal advice. Its sole purpose is to highlight general issues. Specialized legal advice should always be sought in relation to particular circumstances.