This past Saturday, President Obama signed a bill that extends federal COBRA health insurance premium subsidies for the unemployed.  Buried in a military spending bill was a provision that extends the nine-month, 65% premium federal subsidy by six months.  It applies to those involuntarily terminated through February 28, 2010.  It was previously the case that employees who lose their jobs after December 31st would have been ineligible for the subsidy.  It also gives beneficiaries whose subsidy expired and who didn't pay the full premium the opportunity to receive retroactive coverage.  As more details unfold, we will get them to you.

Previously, we gave you the link for the form that the New York State Department of Labor was requiring to be used to notify new hires of their pay rate and overtime rate.  It was said at the time that the form they gave a link to, was the required form to use.  Not anymore apparently.  It now says on the DOL site that: "No particular form is required.  Employers may create their own forms, or use and/or adapt a sample form available at the link below.  In the near future, sample forms for a variety of pay agreements (salaried, prevailing rate, exempt, and others) will be provided here."  You can read this for yourself at: http://www.labor.state.ny.us/workerprotection/laborstandards/workprot/lshmpg.shtm

The Department of Labor, I assume, realized what myself and a client realized the first time we went to use the form - it did not work for every situation and some modifications are necessary.  It appears they are now allowing for just that.  Go figure, a government agancy changed its mind. 

 If you haven't noticed, I try pretty hard to intersperse the boring legalese with some odds and ends of "life" and "community".  It's kind of the whole theme here on this hugely read and widely demanded blog.  Cough.  If there were another theme, it'd be balance.  Balance, actually, is the mother of all these things and what allows me to do what I do.  There'd be no way I could run my practice well, be a Husband and a Dad, contribute to my community and take care of myself via running and nutrition without balance.  You've got to keep it all in perspective and keep all these things moving forward in a positive direction.  

Just recently, we've had three happenings at the Firm that speak to the whole balance thing and from which I'm still feeling ripples of positive change.  It's been an amazing few weeks to say the least.  

First, on October 22nd, I sponsored the movie Food, Inc. to come to the Capitol.  I wanted people in Rome and the surrounding area to get a chance to see this important documentary.  Nearly 200 people came.  Eyes were opened about our food industry and just where our food comes from and how it's produced and the effects on the environment and our workforce and most importantly, our health.  I cannot tell you the amount of people who have thanked me for bringing it and who have told me they've made changes in their shopping/eating habits as a result.  It's mind blowing and humbling.  Many have asked me about local places to get meat that isn't raised with steroids and genetically modified corn.  One such place that you can check out is Winters Grass Farm - Jordan Winters is the rock star there.  Here is the link:  http://www.wintersgrassfarm.com/ 

Jordan actually apprenticed with the farmer in Food, Inc. - Joel Salatin - you will remember Joel as the "good guy" as my kids refer to him.  His beef and poultry are grass fed and natural and humanely treated.  Take a ride to Holland Patent, it will be worth it.  

On October 28th, I spoke to the Rome Twigs at their annual dinner - they are the volunteer army at Rome Memorial Hospital.  I was the keynote speaker and the topic, as given to me, was 'Friendship, Sharing and Laughter'.  A slightly random topic but I ran with it and enjoyed the time with the Twigs .  The overall theme?  Simple.  Let us all stop being brainwashed by Madison Avenue and stop seeking the great white whale of perfection - doesn't exist.  And we are wasting life's precious moments in this foolish pursuit.  Let us live our life with love, with friendship, with sharing, with laughter - let us celebrate our imperfections and not chase after windmills trying to get what isn't possible.  It was a tremendous evening and one which I'm still receiving gratitude from.  Good stuff.  

And finally - gnarly facial hair.  Yes, that is a moustache sprouting on my upper lip if you've seen me in the past week.  it's part of an international movement called Movember - Mo being the nickname for a moustache in Australia where this started.  It is part of dedicating the month of November, now Movember, to men's health issues.  This year, the funds we are raising are going to the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Livestrong.  As part of this fun endeavor, I've been dropping some healthy tips on Facebook and Twitter here and there.  I've already had someone tell me that I've inspired him to fix some bad health habits he's gotten himself into.  That is pure gold.  I can't tell you how fired up that makes me.  If you are interested in donating to our team, Team Captain Kangaroo (the Captain had one fine Mo), here is the link:  http://us.movember.com/mospace/232957/ 

We would be grateful for anything you might want to do - it's for cancer awareness and prevention - it's for awful facial hair - how can you go wrong?  

So there you have it - Food, Twigs and Facial Hair.  Oh my.  it's all good stuff and that which I am very proud of.  I need to go grow my Mo now.  Onward.  

Previously, we informed you about the new requirement from the New York State Dept. of Labor regarding notifying new hires in writing of their wage and their overtime wage.  This went into effect October 26, 2009 and they had promised a sample form to use.  It is now finally available.  The form can be found here:

http://www.labor.state.ny.us/workerprotection/laborstandards/PDFs/LS_52_Hourly_Rate_Plus_Overtime.pdf

This is the form that needs to be used for new hires before they do any work - notifying them of their rate of pay, their regular payday and their overtime rate of pay. 

We keep seeing social networking and virtual on-line relationships cross over into hard reality and here is yet another example.  A Tennessee woman is charged with vioating an order of protection by reaching out and "poking" another woman on Facebook.    The story is here:  http://www.abajournal.com/news/did_court_order_ban_facebook_poke

It makes sense to me personally.  A "stay away" order is just that - it means you have to completely refrain from contacting that person whether it be in person or via cell phone or tweet or Facebook poke.  Once you start saying some things count and others don't, it turns into an administrative nightmare.  It will be interesting to see the outcome of this case. 

How many of my entrepreneur/business owner friends have uttered these lines?  "As soon as I get this loan paid off for the business, I can finally do that remodeling job at home."  Or "If this contract comes in, we will be able to do a vacation this year."  Or "If can just get past these next couple weeks, then life will calm down."  Or multiple variations of these?  C'mon, don't lie to me and more importantly, don't lie to yourself - I know you have. 

And that's okay.  Building a business is hard work.  It's rewarding, don't get me wrong but it often takes over at the expense of all aspects of life including health, family and fun.  There may be times when this is unavoidable.  And there are definitely other times when you simply have to say, "No, I am taking that trip with my family because I'm only getting one shot at my kids' upbringing and they deserve to have this memory."  It's recognizing those times and forcing yourself to do it that is the hard part.

Here's a nice article recently in Inc. Magazine about just this topic:  http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090901/balancing-acts-if-not-now-when.html , written by one of the owners of Stonyfield Farm.  Perhaps the most important takeaway from this article besides the obvious of forcing yourself to enjoy life as you build your business is the part about separating your feelings/reactions to your businss (fearful, stressed, depressed, you name it) from your feelings about your family and your personal life (thankful, optimistic, content).  Not an easy separation to make but an important one. 

So, my friends, I ask you, if not now, when?  We are getting only one turn on this ride, we should take some time to enjoy it, no?

I've never been a huge proponent of video games.  I balked at the idea of getting exercise through a video game when the Wii Fit came out and maintained that the great outdoors was the best place to get your workout.  I still believe that.  Yet, at the same time, I have always said that you need to keep it fun in order to maintain fitness as a steady focal point in your life.  It's important to constantly mix your workouts up and avoid boredom and monotony. This will equate to more consistent fitness versus always starting and stopping. 

Apparently this also goes for professional athletes too.  Here's a neat little story about relief pitcher Heath Bell who has lost 25 or so pounds, due in large part to rocking the Hula Hoop game on the Wii fit.  http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/info-WORKOUT09.html  I find it amazing that a major league pitcher, with all the resources around him for training and nutrition that one could ask for, needs to rely on the Wii Fit to stay in shape but hey, whatever works right?  With the soon to come release of the Tony Hawk Wii skateboard game that has you standing on a real skateboard, sans wheels, I just may cave in on this Wii thing yet!  The moral of the story, to me, is that variety is the spice of life when it comes to staying in shape.  Running, biking, swimming, hiking, skateboarding and yes even the Wii Fit - the more you can throw in the mix the better off you will be in the long run.  Enjoy the ride.

I was fortunate enough today to speak with the empoyees of the Rome office of Par Technology about achieving a balanced life.  This topic and wellness in general, is something I've been focusing a lot of attention on in 2009.  What I spoke of today had a lot to do with a term I've heard (I'm not sure where I first heard it), that being "living on purpose".  I like that.  To me, that means sitting down and visualizing where you want your life to be and how that feels.  Then, the next step is to actually map it out and write it down.  When you write something down, it becomes real.  Then you actively take steps to implement that vision into reality.  You identify the things that are keeping you from achieving that reality and you map out ways to overcome those obstacles.  It could be deleting them from your life entirely or delegating the task of dealing with them.  If you cannot do either of those things, then you find the next best soluton, implement it and move on to the next obstacle.  You do this until you have eliminated/solved the things that are keeping you from achieving your vision.  It's living on purpose - going through life with identified goals and tailoring your activities towards those goals.  Living on purpose versus living by accident, i.e., allowing life to simply carry you along and then one day you look around and say "How did I get here?".   There was much more covered as I essentially crammed six hours of material into one hour long session but this was one of the main points.  Here's to all of us, llving our lives on purpose versus by accident.   Enjoy the ride.

Somehow, I just doubt the scientific validity of all this but it's worth passing on.  A recent survey apparently shows that there is a correlation between states with a higher concentration of lawyers and heavier cocaine use.  It also showed that states with higher concentrations of artists, architects and educators have heavier marijuana use.  Here's the link:  http://www.abajournal.com/weekly/lawyer-heavy_states_see_higher_cocaine_use

Weird.  I won't discount anything and there have been fairly involved and reliable studies showing lawyers leading the league in depression and alcoholism but the cocaine statistic doesn't necessarily mean that it's the lawyers doing the snorting.  Lawyers go where the business is - wouldn't it make sense that areas with high cocaine use and as such, high rates of cocaine arrests, would attract more lawyers to defend those arrests?  It does to me.  Or it could mean that my brethren are snorting lines to get through their day which would be a bummer.  Myself, I've never seen evidence of it.  Too much coffee is all I can attest to for me and my legal pals.  Thankfully, I won't get five to ten for main lining Starbucks.  Plus, cocaine doesn't really fit into my marathon training plan.  It might work for a 5k but a marathon, never!    

The New York Legislature is still jamming that sausage casing full of legal obligations for New York employers.  Once October 26, 2009 hits, employers will be required  to notify new hires in writing and advise them of both their regular hourly rate and their overtime rate.  The employer will also have to obtain a written acknowledgment from each employee that they received this notice.  And as a reminder, Section 195 of the Labor Law also still requires employers to provide written notification of changes in paydays and time-off policies to their employees.  I only bring the mail folks. 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued a new guidance on severance agreements for employees and surprise, it's pretty employee friendly.  Yet, it is a useful tool for employers to look over when considering these agreements.  Here is the link: http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/qanda_severance-agreements.html

Several points they cover is that you cannot have an employee waive the right to file a claim before the EEOC or waive the ability to participate in an agency investigation. Also, it is reaffirmed that the employee needs to be receiving some additional consideration beyond that which they were already owed for the agreement/waiver to be valid.  The waiver must also advise the employee to consult an attorney before signing.  There are other things to look out for as well, obviously, but this is a blog, not a law review article.  If you have questions, I'm here.

I detest spam and viruses.  Hundreds of spam messages clog up my blog's comment software weekly.  It greatly annoys me.  Viruses are even worse - one of the reasons why I'm slowly and surely converting to Macs.  Yet, here is maybe the first example of viruses being cool.  Apparently, a video hit the net recently of ESPN anchor Erin Andrews that was taken from a peep hole in her hotel room and which shows her nude.  Once the story hit, bunches of losers went surfing the net looking for the video.  Instead they were surprised with a virus.  Here's the story.  http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/07/20/2009-07-20_hackers_create_links_to_naked_footage_of_espn_reporter_erin_andrews_results_in_d.html

Memo to the morons: You deserve every bit of that virus.  Yes, Erin Andrews is attractive.  And if she willingly posed for photos at some point in time, then she deserves to be googled.  But she didn't.  She had her privacy invaded unknowingly and is taking legal action to stop it.  Don't encourage the dirtbags who do these things by searching for their smut.  But if you do, you deserve this computer version of an STD.  I find it a fitting reward.