Time Running Out for Federal Extension of Unemployment Benefits

As reported in the attached article from Huffington Post, Congress is not scheduled to meet again until this Sunday, December 30.  Unfortunately, by then federally subsidized long-term unemployment insurance will have lapsed - the extension period expires at Midnight on Saturday December 29. 

Things not looking up....

It's a darn shame that Congress has not made this a more primary issue.  To just let the extension lapse, without debate, discussion or public comment, is simply wrong. 

Not Right

Maybe a "miracle" will happen, but it is not looking good for the approximately 2 million people currently receiving these benefits.  Moreover, there are millions more nearing the end of their state benefit period of 26 weeks who were, I am sure, hoping (and planning, most likely) that extended benefits would be there for them so that they would have at least another 6 months to find a job.

UPDATE:  Extension to be approved.

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Video: What is Willful Misconduct Under Pennsylvania Unemployment Law?

John A. Gallagher is an employment lawyer who represents employees in Pennsylvania.

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CORRECTION: Mayans NEVER Predicted World Would End Today

Click on this 2 minute Video, and you will see an expert on Mayan culture, Tulane Professor/Archeologist Marcello Canuto, explain that the Mayans never predicted that December 21, 2012 was the World's expiration date.

Oh...its not "will end" - its "will exist"....

While it IS true that thousands of years ago the Mayans specifically identified today's date on at least two known artifacts (which is freakky, under any circumstances), Professor Canuto states that all the Mayans were predicting was that the World would be in existence today!  Ohhhhhh!

Great, so now I do have to do my Christmas shopping.  Super.  Probably have to shovel 2 feet of snow this winter, too....

John A. Gallagher is an employment lawyer who represents employees in Pennsylvania.

Click Here if you have questions about any aspect of employment law, from wrongful termination, to wage and overtime claims, to discrimination and retaliation laws, to Family and Medical Leave…

Click Here if you have questions about any aspect of Pennsylvania Unemployment Law, from willful misconduct, to voluntary quit, to Referee Hearings, to severance issues…

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Federal Unemployment Extension Benefits Set to Expire December 29, 1012, Unless....

WILL I STILL BE ENTITLED TO RECEIVE EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS IN 2013?

Can He Get Benefits Extended?

No, not unless something is done, and done quickly.  Federal unemployment insurance, which kicks in for workers when their state benefits are exhausted after six months, is scheduled to expire on Dec. 29. The National Employment Law Project, a worker advocacy group, estimates more than 2 million Americans will immediately stop receiving the benefits unless Congress acts.

Ouch!



House Speaker John A. Boehner

Not only with the expiration of benefits result in immediate loss of benefits to the estimated 2 million folks referenced by NELP, but millions more who are currently on unemployment and counting on an extension when their state benefits expire will be facing even more significant economic trauma in 2013.

The Republicans are trying to leverage their tax plan against the President's belief that
extended unemployment benefits are required irrespective of the outcome of the tax increase debate
.
It will be interesting - let's call it a morbid curiosity - to see how this turns out.

Stay tuned, and Happy Holidays to All.

John A. Gallagher is an employment lawyer who represents employees in Pennsylvania.

Click Here if you have questions about any aspect of employment law, from wrongful termination, to wage and overtime claims, to discrimination and retaliation laws, to Family and Medical Leave…

Click Here if you have questions about any aspect of Pennsylvania Unemployment Law, from willful misconduct, to voluntary quit, to Referee Hearings, to severance issues…

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Adam Lanza's Motive? Mother In Process of Having Him Committed

Adam Lanza Reportedly Enraged That Mother Was Seeking to Have Him Committed



Nancy Lanza

Late last week, I read that the police had a strong idea as to the motive behind the insane and heartbreaking Sandy Hook shootings committed by Adam Lanza.  Today, via the HuffPost, that possible motive was disclosed:



Adam Lanza

"From what I've been told, Adam was aware of her petitioning the court for conservatorship and (her) plans to have him committed," said Joshua Flashman, 25, who grew up not far from where the shooting took place. "Adam was apparently very upset about this. He thought she just wanted to send him away. From what I understand, he was really, really angry. I think this could have been it, what set him off."

The HuffPost article contained some other interesting information I had not heard before:

"Nancy Lanza reportedly volunteered with kindergartners at the school for several years. Flashman said that Adam "believed she cared more for the children than she did for him." On the day of the massacre, Nancy was Adam's first victim. Flashman told Fox News that Nancy was also good friends with the school's principal and psychologist, both of whom were killed during the incident.
Lanza had also reportedly cut off communication with his father, Peter, in 2010."

I have a few thoughts on this.

One, this motive "makes sense", and that helps me because I need to make sense out of this insanity.

Two, Nancy Lanza should have taken all of her guns out of the house if she knew her son was very angry about the possibility of being committed.  It should not have been beyond the pale of her reasoning to expect that her son might respond violently, if to no one else other than herself, if he was indeed very angry about her plans.  The fact that she apparently believed he was mentally ill to such an extent that she was willing to give up her custodial role, one that she by all accounts took very seriously, only buttresses my belief in this regard. 

Reportedly, Adam Lanza had never been violent, despite his problems, so doesn't it make sense that he was demonstrating some significant change of behavior that caused her to seek his commitment?  And, doesn't it make sense that maybe, given his habit of locking himself in a windowless room in the basement of their home playing "Call of Duty" from morning to night, that the change she saw that caused her to seek his commitment was a shift towards violent tendencies?  If so, and Nancy Lanza saw the anger of her her theretofore placid son further escalate once he learned that she was seeking to have him committed, should she not have removed her guns from their household? Isn't that what you would do?  Don't you think this idea crossed her mind, and maybe more than once?  Did Nancy Lanza's apparent "survivalist" agenda subsume any instinct she had to remove her guns from the house?  Can such "fanaticism" ever be a good and rationale thing?

What Happened to This Child...

Finally, the murderer had spoken to neither his Father nor his Brother since 2010.  For a boy to be estranged from his Father and older Brother suggests the boy may have a very deep problem, particularly where, as here, they appear to be "normal" while he was clearly not.  Meanwhile, his Mother taught this obviously troubled boy/man how to master firearms.  Say what you want, but had she, say, taught him how to master fishing, cooking, flying RC airplanes or to drive a race car, maybe this tragedy would have been avoided.

John A. Gallagher is an employment lawyer who represents employees in Pennsylvania.

Click Here if you have questions about any aspect of employment law, from wrongful termination, to wage and overtime claims, to discrimination and retaliation laws, to Family and Medical Leave…

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Best Companies to Work For - 2012

John A. Gallagher is an employment lawyer who represents employees in Pennsylvania.

Click Here if you have questions about any aspect of employment law, from wrongful termination, to wage and overtime claims, to discrimination and retaliation laws, to Family and Medical Leave…

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Click Here to see Fortune's entire list. 

Here is Fortune's Top 50:

COMPANY                                       2012 JOB GROWTH     # OF EMPLOYEES

1	Google	33%	18,500
2	Boston Consulting Group	10%	1,958
3	SAS Institute	8%	6,046
4	Wegmans Food Markets	5%	41,717
5	Edward Jones	1%	36,937
6	NetApp	30%	6,887
7	Camden Property Trust	-2%	1,678
8	Recreational Equipment (REI)	12%	10,466
9	CHG Healthcare Services	17%	1,312
10	Quicken Loans	20%	3,808
11	Zappos.com	70%	3,003
12	Mercedes-Benz USA	2%	1,680
13	DPR Construction	18%	1,265
14	DreamWorks Animation	8%	2,151
15	NuStar Energy	6%	1,512
16	Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants	4%	6,996
17	JM Family Enterprises	-1%	3,685
18	Chesapeake Energy	23%	10,502
19	Intuit	9%	7,102
20	USAA	7%	23,211
21	Robert W. Baird	5%	2,509
22	The Container Store	11%	3,495
23	Qualcomm	6%	13,353
24	Alston & Bird	3%	1,645
25	Ultimate Software	15%	1,209
26	Burns & McDonnell	5%	3,165
27	Salesforce.com	39%	3,802
28	Devon Energy	-6%	3,286
29	PCL Construction	-5%	1,262
30	Bingham McCutchen	-7%	1,489
31	Scottrade	9%	3,139
32	Whole Foods Market	6%	60,213
33	Goldman Sachs	N.A.	N.A.
34	Nugget Market	8%	1,135
35	Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Co.	3%	1,311
36	Southern Ohio Medical Center	18%	2,276
37	Plante Moran	1%	1,476
38	W. L. Gore & Associates	2%	5,852
39	St. Jude Children's Research Hospital	1%	3,580
40	SVB Financial Group	9%	1,349
41	Adobe	11%	5,296
42	Baptist Health South Florida	10%	13,302
43	Novo Nordisk	N.A.	3,961
44	Balfour Beatty Construction	-2%	2,041
45	National Instruments	7%	2,708
46	Intel	4%	44,209
47	American Fidelity Assurance	0%	1,490
48	PricewaterhouseCoopers	9%	30,569
49	Children's Healthcare of Atlanta	-1%	6,616
50	World Wide Technology	23%	1,470

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How to Spot a Bad Boss During an Interview

So, you are looking to escape an untenable job because your boss there has made your life hell, and your efforts to fix the problem have failed.  You are interviewing for a new job, and your mindset is that just about anything is better than what you are currently dealing with.  But, be careful: Sometimes the Devil You Know is better than the Devil You Don't!

In this article by Stephanie Christensen, published at Forbes.com, provides some insight on how you can spot a "bad boss," before you have even started working for him/her.

A synopsis of Ms. Christensen's tips are as follows:

1.  Pronoun usage.  See how the interviewer uses "we", "I" and "you" during the interview. This will help tell you if the boss is a "blameshifter."

2.  If you feel the interviewer is probing too deeply into your personal life, be careful.  That is really neither necessary or appropriate during an interview.

3.   If the interviewer routinely interrupts your session to check e-mail, answer the phone, send a text, be wary.

4.  If the answers to your pointed questions are vague or non-responsive, you may be dealing with an evasive person.

In the end, be careful not to "rush into the arms" of a "rebound lover" if your Spider-Sense tingles during the interview.  Just as one cannot change one's spouse, one cannot change one's boss. 

John A. Gallagher is an employment lawyer who represents employees in Pennsylvania.

Click Here if you have questions about any aspect of employment law, from wrongful termination, to wage and overtime claims, to discrimination and retaliation laws, to Family and Medical Leave…

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Is Your Boss a Bad Person - or Just a Bad Boss?

What Can an "Employee at Will" Working in Pennsylvania do to Cope With and Fix a Sour Relationship With the Boss?

If you are an Employee at Will in Pennsylvania, you basically have no protection from being mistreated by your boss, or from being fired, if the reason for the boss's action is just plain old fashioned favoritism (of another employee) or dislike (of you).

I see so many clients who are in the unfortunate position of being "on the outs" with their boss, and at a loss on what to do about it.  So, when I read this article by Alan Henry on LifeHacker.com, regarding how to cope with job-related stress, I was curious about any additional perspectives on how one should/could deal with this type of problem. 

I really like what they have to say, so I have posted it and hope that you find it helpful and informative too.

A brief synopsis of Mr. Henry's advice:

1.  Determine if the boss is a jerk, or just a bad manager. 

2.  Determine if you are or may be the problem or part of the problem;

3.  Do not expect "respect" from your boss; otherwise, you will often be disappointed, which in turn often will lead to additional problems.

4.  Examine and implement "coping mechanisms."

5.  Undertake tactics designed to bring you and your boss "closer together" (this often requires a little "humble pie."  However, keep in mind that your "principles" do not pay the rent.)

6.  Mr. Henry suggests that, "if all else fails, quit."  On this score I disagree.  Never quit until you have a new job.  If you quit because the boss is a jerk, you will almost assuredly NOT get Pennsylvania Unemployment Benefits. 

John A. Gallagher is an employment lawyer who represents employees in Pennsylvania.

Click Here if you have questions about any aspect of employment law, from wrongful termination, to wage and overtime claims, to discrimination and retaliation laws, to Family and Medical Leave…

 

Click Here if you have questions about any aspect of Pennsylvania Unemployment Law, from willful misconduct, to voluntary quit, to Referee Hearings, to severance issues…

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