Archive for May, 2015
The Ohio Revised Code states that no employer shall discharge, demote, or take any punitive action against an employee because the employee filed a workers’ compensation claim. R.C. 4123.90. The elements of a retaliatory discharge require an employee to prove that (1) they were injured on the job; (2) the employee filed a claim for […]
Social Security follows a multi-step evaluation process. They will gather medical records from your doctors and obtain hospital records and test results. SSA may choose to have you examined by a doctor or psychologist. To determine if you meet the definition of disability, SSA will ask the following questions: 1) Are you working? If so, […]
Is an employee who travels to different job sites on a daily basis a fixed-situs employee subject to the “coming and going rule” for the purposes of determining whether he or she is entitled to workers’ compensation? If so, does the “special hazard exception” apply? Recently, in Palette v. Fowler Electric Co., 2014-Ohio-5376 (2014), the […]
Paul F. Woodrow Filing for Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits involves a sometimes lengthy administrative process. A claim is filed by contacting the Social Security Administration (SSA), which may be done online, over the telephone, or in person at your local SSA office. The SSA representative will ask you for information about when you became […]
The Social Security Administration recently announced that monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits will increase 1.7 percent in 2015. The 1.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin for Social Security Disability and Retirement beneficiaries in January 2015. Increased payments for SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 31, 2014. SSI beneficiaries will now […]
Disability payment you receive from workers’ compensation and/or another public disability payment may reduce you and your family’s Social Security benefits. Your Social Security disability benefit will be reduced so that the combined amount of the Social Security benefit you and your family receive plus your workers’ compensation payment and/or public disability payment does not […]
As we’ve previously discussed, the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has stepped up its enforcement initiatives over the past few years to pursue civil money penalties, back wages, and liquidated damages when violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) are found. Specifically, Section 11(a) of the FLSA authorizes the WHD to […]
Working Off the Clock The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) was effectively a law beginning in 1938. It was the first big success for workers of the industrious country of America and effectively implemented many of the same working standards that are still in place today. Aside from prohibiting the almost incomprehensible child labor that […]
Some states recognize a dual-intent, or dual-purpose doctrine when an employee is injured while traveling for both business and personal purposes. However, in a recent case, the Ohio Supreme Court clarified that the doctrine of dual intent does not apply in Ohio when determining whether an employee who is injured while traveling for both work […]
Last week, an Arizona news column reported about a restaurant that requires its employees to donate their tips to charity one day a month. Can employers have this much control over employees’ tips? Under Arizona wage statutes, the answer is no. But aside from violating Arizona state law, this practice could also violate the Fair […]


