Human Resources and money owed to me

Most of the people in the United States work for a company and a significant number of those work for a company with a Human Resources Department. Not too long ago I was one of them.

When I signed on with this particular company I read the employee manual and one of the benefits was vacation time. Not that unusual, but any unused vacation time at time of separation was to be paid at the hourly rate of the employee.

When I moved on to another job I had vacation time accrued (valued at about $300.00) and waited for my vacation pay to come it didn’t. I called human resources several times to find out where it was and got an answering machine and no reply. As you know sometimes “life gets in the way”. Afer a while I forgot about it. 

One day, six months later, I remembered that I hadn’t received an answer or the money owed me. So, I called my PrePaid Legal provider. Part of the coverage is to help you collect money that is owed to you. After talking with them they suggested I give them one more try before we go any further. So, knowing that the attorney was there for me I called a friend that still worked there and had her get me the name and extension of the person in charge of human resources.

I called and got their voice mail. I thought great here we go again. I left a message anyway. The next day the person in HR that I tried to contact before gave me a call. I explained the situation to her. She told me there was a problem and that she would get it straightened out.

A week later I got my vacation pay. I wonder how many of you would have contacted an attorney to get $300.00 owed to you?

Even though the attorney did not get directly involved by that point, just knowing that I had someone to help me through the process gave me enough courage to contact the person I needed to contact to get the situation resolved.

Ok, that check paid for a years membership – break even. However, with some of the other things my girlfriend and I came out ahead.

No vaccination means jail time

In the news is a story about parents who feel vaccinations do more harm than good and are refusing to get their children vaccinated. They are being threatened with jail time if they don’t. Over 500 of them. In Maryland a law just went into effect requiring children to be innoculated.

In case you didn’t know, the serums have never been proven to be safe by the Center for Disease Control. They contain the heavy element mercury which has been proven to cause developmental diseases. Who knows what else is in them as the pharmaceutical companies are not required by law to tell us.

If something were known to cause health problems don’t you think you have the right to know about it? If you find out you’ve been using something that has been shown to put your health at risk and you just found out about it, what are your options? Or, you are being forced to submit to a law that you feel puts you, or your family, more at risk, what do you do?

With a Pre-Paid Legal Membership you can find out with a simple phone call.

Small Claims Court Assistance

Your email couldn’t have come at a better time. Thanks to my Provider Firm and the really great support from (my provider attorney) from day one I not only won my small claims court case but I asked for $1,731.70 and walked out of court with a judgment in my case for $2, 467.70 plus interest. (My provider attorney) also helped me with information on collecting the judgment and options on what to do with it. He even reviewed my letter demanding payment. I have another matter they are handling, my drivers license and the state of Indiana, I can only hope they do half as good with that as they have with this and Ill be driving my Silverado all over the place. I only wish my health was good enough to get the word out to others about Pre-Paid Legal and my provider Law Firm.

Alan H.
Alabama

To learn what Pre-Paid Legal Service’s Membership plans are available in your area visit my Pre-Paid Legal website.

Marketers Use Trickery To Evade No-Call Lists

In friday’s Wall Street Journal on page 1 was a story titled “Marketers Use Trickery To Evade No-Call Lists“. The National Do Not Call Registry was insituted to give Americans the ability to stop solicitations by phone in response to the telemarketing industry basically flooding people with phone calls. If you aren’t on the list and you are reciving telemartketing calls that you do not want I suggest you get on it.

When my girlfriend and I moved to the west coast we were hammered with 4 to 5 calls, on average, per day until we got on the list. Our phone is now peacefully quiet.

I also suggest you go read this full article, especially if you have an older person in your life that you care about.

JENNIFER LEVITZ and KELLY GREENE
October 26, 2007; Page A1

Older Americans around the country are getting duped by a seemingly innocuous tactic that can expose them to hard-sell pitches from the insurance industry.

The technique is centered on a marketing tool called the lead card, and it became popular after the federal government created its Do Not Call Registry in 2003 to shield consumers from unwanted solicitors. Sent through the mail, the lead card invites the recipient to mail off an enclosed reply for free information about, say, estate planning.

Lead cards are not illegal. Selling or leasing contact information is not illegal (although it can be a pain in the neck).

What the telemarketing industry has done is to join with the direct mail industry to do an end run around the law. By sending out lead cards the direct mail industry can then compile a database of people. These lists are then used by telemarketers to call people because a business relationship has been established.

OK, this isn’t illegal. What may be illegal is that the lead cards that have been sent are rather generic and are misleading. They do not come from any specific company per se. This technique may be fraudulent.

In the article several elderly people were pressured by the solicitors to purchase products or shift their savings into things they did not need. If you have a senior loved one pass this on to them.

What can a Prep-Paid Legal membership do in this situation?
Well since it isn’t illegal for a business to contact you about a product or service there isn’t much that can be done on this aspect of it.

If you have been contacted repeatedly and repeatedly to them to not contact you and to remove you from their call list a membership can help in this respect. If you tell them to remove your name from their lists they must do so – this is a federal law.

If you do decide to allow them to present you with their product or service there will be a sales a greement or contract – your membership covers document review to help protect you. Do not let them tell you you don’t need an attorney. If they say that you most definitely do.

To learn what Pre-Paid Legal Service’s Membership plans are available in your area visit my Pre-Paid Legal website.

Where was “Justice For All” for Genarlow Wilson?

Most of us through our Junior, or Middle, and High School years have, or had, thought about what sex is, or was, like. Many of us have, or had, sex during those years.

Sometimes I find it interesting how things happen. I just finished reading a book about Australian Aboriginal Society. Part of the book deals with their view of sex. They view sex as a wonderful part of life and when it comes to children imitating adult behaviors about sex they don’t condone it, but neither do they punish them for it. Of course the children are pretty much capable of living on their own by the time they are 5 years old. They know how to find food and shelter and water. Their culture is structured in such a way that the children, while still children are able to act as adults when the need arises.

They, as a result of their culture do not have problems with population.

Our culture is fragmented. On the one hand our population must grow. On the other hand sex is a taboo subject. We expect our children to act as adults, but when they do it is a crime.

In the case of Genardo Wilson both parties involved were agreeable to what happened. It was not intercourse so there was chance of an untimely pregnancy.

Somehow the authorities caught word of the incident and prosecuted Mr. Wilson (Yes, Mr. as he is now an adult). He was convicted and went to jail. He refused to plea bargain because he did not feel he commited a crime nad didn’t want the stigma of being labled as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

After the incident and while the case was in court the state legislature changed the law and Genardo was tried as an adult (seemingly the law was used retroactively). While he was in jail after his conviction the law was changed again to make it a misdemeanor he was left in jail.

He is now free. My congratrulations Mr. Wilson!

How does this tie in to a Pre-Paid Legal Membership?

When the police showed up to arrest him, with our Legal Shield, he would have had 24 hour emergency access to an attorney. With early intervention by an attorney it is possible that he may never have been arrested in the first place.

To learn what Pre-Paid Legal Service’s Membership plans are available in your area visit my Pre-Paid Legal website.

The fashion police say…Dress properly while flying!

In the past several months there has been two reports about passengers being required to change how they were dressed.

The first was a waitress for a well known restaurant chain. While the way she was dressed did accentuate her breasts there really wasn’t anything wrong with it. However, the security personnell at the airport thought it would cause passengers undue stress. She was detained, required to make a change in her appearance and almost diidn’t make her flight.

The last one I heard was a man wearing a t-shirt with a saying on it that from a joke that is at least 30 years old. The saying was a double entendre. From what I saw the shirt wasn’t overtly sexual and if you didn’t know the joke you wouldn’t know about the double meaning. He was made to change his shirt tight there in public.

Both situations could have been handled better by the authorities. If the citizens involved had a Pre-Paid Legal Service plan they could have called an attorney and let their legal representative handle it without causing undue stress to themselves.

Being delayed in going somewhere could cost you money and possibly your job.

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To learn what Pre-Paid Legal Service’s Membership plans are available in your area visit my Pre-Paid Legal website.

I am not an attorney, therefore, do not take anything in any of my posts as legal advice. In any legal situation, as in a medical situation, always consult a professional.

The posts on this blog are only intended to provide the reader with information on how and in what circumstances they may use their Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. membership.

I am not an employee of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. I am an Independent Associate.

New weapon to fight identity theft!?!?

I heard recently that the credit rating companies are implementing a ne service to help combat identity theft. Well, actually, only part of what could be stolen – your credit.

Here is the lowdown. It is called “Credit Freeze”. What it does is freeze your credit so that no one – not even you can access your credit until you unfreeze it. Sounds good doesn’t it?

Here is the down side. Each time you have a freeze placed on your credit it will cost you $30.00. Each time you unfreeze your credit it will cost you, guess what, $30.00. OUCH!

The people involved in perpetrating identity theft will go after your cash first. Then, they will possibly go after your other identities – such as your insurance, drivers license, …

Yes, the money portion is the biggest arena of Identity Theft. However, the other areas are growing fast.

Personally, I don’t like to piece meal things when I don’t have to and I am glad to have one place to contact if I feel anything is out of the ordinary. On top of they they are monitoring all aspects of my identity.

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To learn what Pre-Paid Legal Service’s Membership plans are available in your area visit my Pre-Paid Legal website.

I am not an attorney, therefore, do not take anything in any of my posts as legal advice. In any legal situation, as in a medical situation, always consult a professional.

The posts on this blog are only intended to provide the reader with information on how and in what circumstances they may use their Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. membership.

I am not an employee of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. I am an Independent Associate.

A Breach of Trust and the Legal System

I had lunch with a friend of mine who is in the insurance industry and one of the topics we discussed was Washington States proposition to allow claimants to receive triple damages for insurance companies that pay too little or take forever to pay. See my previous post.

It shouldn’t be any surprise that he will be voting against it. I on the other hand will be voting for it. Here is a brief explanation why he is against it…

A dentist in Seattle was doing some surgery on his assistant. While she was under anesthesia he implanted wild boar tusks in her mouth, took pictures and the removed them and finished the surgery. Sounds incredible? Here are the Google results for the case.

At a party he circulated the pictures and some of the other employees showed the assistant the pictures. Needless to say she was horrified and sued. She was awarded $250,000.

The dentists’ insurance company refused to defend him. He turned around and sued his insurance company for $750,000 for NOT representing him in the case. He won! The insurance company appealed and the award was overturned. He appealed to the State Supreme Court and the original verdict was upheld.

I am not one to champion insurance companies, however, I do believe that they were in the right to refuse him coverage.

I will write a post explaining how insurance is supposed to work.

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To learn what Pre-Paid Legal Service’s Membership plans are available in your area visit my Pre-Paid Legal website.

I am not an attorney, therefore, do not take anything in any of my posts as legal advice. In any legal situation, as in a medical situation, always consult a professional.

The posts on this blog are only intended to provide the reader with information on how and in what circumstances they may use their Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. membership.

I am not an employee of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. I am an Independent Associate.

Hazardous Materials Truck Drivers, Identity Theft and National Security

Yesterday I heard on the news that not one but two computers containing the names of over 2 million HazMat certified truck drivers were stolen. This is NOT good.

A quick check of Wikipedia reveals that hazardous materials “may be radioactive, flammable, explosive, toxic, corrosive, biohazardous, an oxidizer, an asphyxiant, a pathogen, an allergen, or may have other characteristics that render it hazardous in specific circumstances.”

We depend on hazardous materials drivers to transport these materials in a safe manner and that they understand what safeguards are required to keep from exposing us and the environment to these materials. Besides knowing how to handle these materials they put themselves, and us, at risk should anything go wrong. Can you imagine what could possibly go wrong if someone who didn’t receive the certification were to transport these dangerous goods?

Another side to this situation is what if someone wishing to do us and our country harm were to use a false ID and certification were to pose as someone who has the certification and gain access to a truckload of hazardous material? Not only could it cause major problems for the real hazmat driver but also for any of us.

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To learn what Pre-Paid Legal Service’s Membership plans are available in your area visit my Pre-Paid Legal website.

I am not an attorney, therefore, do not take anything in any of my posts as legal advice. In any legal situation, as in a medical situation, always consult a professional.

The posts on this blog are only intended to provide the reader with information on how and in what circumstances they may use their Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. membership.

I am not an employee of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. I am an Independent Associate.

Blog Action Day, The Environment and U.S. Law

It took me some time to figure out what to post about for Blog Action Day. I really don’t know of anything that no one has heard before. I tried to think of how I could tie the subject of this blog together with the environment. It just hit me (at 9:30 in the evening on a Sunday).

I heard some time ago about a federal law that would reward people who discovered a source of pollution and turned it in (if it resulted in fines being recovered.)

I did do a Google Search for it and couldn’t find it (any takers on why that might be?)

I will call my attorney tomorrow and get an answer by tomorrow evening.

So, please come back soon to see what I discovered.

In the meantime you may want to check out this blog for some more enviroment friendly posts.

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To learn what Pre-Paid Legal Service Membership plans are available in your area visit my Pre-Paid Legal website.

I am not an attorney, therefore, do not take anything in any of my posts as legal advice. In any legal situation, as in a medical situation, always consult a professional.

The posts on this blog are only intended to provide the reader with information on how and in what circumstances they may use their Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. membership.

I am not an employee of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. I am an Independent Associate.