The United States social security system will take into consideration the eligibility, benefit amount and claim circumstances when someone applies for benefits.

If they send an employee their decision and he or she does not agree with what they have stated, they can begin the process of appeal. The social security appeal process begins when a claimant who is seeking benefits sends a letter of request within 60 days of receiving the letter from the Social Security Administration.

Understanding Social Security

The social security system in the United States can be explained in simple terms for most people to understand.

Social Security affects everyone in the United States work force including self-employed individuals, employers and employees. All of these people pay a certain amount of social security tax from their personal pay check.

When people in the work world stop working, are retired, have past away or have been severely disabled they are given benefit payments. This is done so that the family is provided with the earnings and benefits they have lost during the taxing process.

A large majority of people in the United States are trying to build a safety nest and to protect their families under the Social Security system. Benefits can be paid in a variety of ways such as survivor’s benefits, disability benefits and retirement benefits.

The way to earn this social security protection is to either be self-employed or to obtain a job with benefits and coverage. One has to make sure they pay their taxes either way to be granted this kind of protection for the future.

When retiring, the employee must have a certain amount of work credits to be given the benefits for themselves and their family. This amount of credits all depends on age demographics such as when he/she was born and how old they are now.

Social Security Appeal Process

The appeal process is as follows: After the application for disability benefits has been denied the first time, the claimant can send in a Request for Reconsideration.

If the denial reconsideration is rejected, then the claimant can appeal for a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ).

If this fails, then the next appeal will go to the Social Security Appeal Council (SSAC) who will consider the accuracy of ruling by the ALJ and make a decision.

If the decision does not favor the claimant, then he or she can apply for a Federal Court review.

It is recommended that the appeal process be handled by a social security disability lawyer, who typically works on a contingency basis, to have the best chances of receiving claims. Contrary to myths about the process, a large percentage of people do win their cases after the initial rejection.

So do handle the social security appeal process as early as possible, because it takes months of waiting, and get a good lawyer who works exclusively in this arena.

By: Louis Zhang
Go to http://www.esocialsecurityappeal.com for more on how to navigate the social security appeal process for faster award of disability benefits.

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A workplace may be an office, hotel, hospital, school, store, private home or even a factory. It can also be along the street, in a vehicle, airplane or while in a train. Harassment is feeling uncomfortable as a result of someone else’s verbal or physical actions that are intended to maliciously humiliate and undermine the individual. (Oppenheimer and Willy, 2002)

Workplace harassment is therefore the behavior of by which an individual abuses his or her colleagues either emotionally or verbally thus making the individuals uncomfortable. Workplace harassment is also known as bullying. Examples of abuses may be; use of offensive language, humiliation and isolation, threatening, yelling while giving instruction among others. It is especially constituted as a form of bullying when such actions results in adverse employment effects such as firing, demotion, suspension, significant change in the status of ones benefits, increased work assignment or transfers. (Oppenheimer and Willy, 2002)

Types of Workplace Harassment
Sexual Harassment

It is particularly a common form of harassment that includes physical or emotional effects. Any unwelcome conduct or contact that touches on sexual privacy is sexual harassment. It affects both men and women although the latter are frequent victims. The following are incidences considered to be sexual harassment. (Oppenheimer and Willy, 2002)

o Asking questions or commenting about an individuals sexual life
o Soliciting sexual favors in exchange for employment related services
o Display of pornographic materials such as pictures, music, etc.
o Whistling.
o Touching, patting or kissing somebody without his or her consent

Organizational Harassment
It usually occurs when a bigger and powerful organization subjects another organization to some sudden and extreme conditions or changes. A government might declare an organization bankrupt; it can also impose budget and financial constraints through heavy taxing and budget cuts. These and other external pressures constitute workplace harassment.

Serial Harassment
It is a common form of harassment which involves individuals with frequent assault-like behavior. This group of persons moves around workplace insulting other employees, touching female colleagues and bullying anyone who dares them. This type of harassment is common among students

Client Harassment
It is also called technical bullying because it involves people in authority. It is where employees are bullied by the same people they serve. It is common in workplaces such as hotels and restaurants where customers harass the waiters and cooks. Students can also harass their teachers, parents and support staff in their schools. A supervisor in an office or factory can harass the messengers, drivers and sectaries.

Corporate Harassment
Due to perhaps some loopholes in the law or documented policies in a company, an employer can act in a manner to create difficulties for an employee. This may include soliciting for sexual favors in exchange for promotion, extending a contract or recruiting an individual to the company.
These are general forms of harassment that are not only directed to a person but to a group of persons. Workplace harassment is considered a form of discrimination and it may come in the following examples;
o Verbal insults and offensive remarks about ones body parts, looks, clothing, lifestyle etc.
o Bad and undesirable jokes that touch individual’s family, race, language or religion.
o Hanging racial, sexual and provoking material in a public office.
o Avoiding, isolating and excluding an individual due to disability.
o Leering and looking at a person in a sexually provocative manner.
o Sending of sexually suggestive letters, emails etc. (Eugene and David, 2002)

Signs of Workplace Harassment
Workers and individuals who are victims of harassment are usually reluctant to report any cases of harassment to the relevant persons concerned because they fear payback from their ‘attackers’. But a good employer who cares for all his employees and the progress of his business should check out through the following ways (Brown 1998);
o Personal observations and critical assessment of individual behavior especially in a school situation and companies with small numbers of employees.
o Interviewing those workers who are leaving the company either because of retirement or to pursue other career prospects.
o Conducting work opinion surveys.
o Checking the trends in workplace harassment grievances and compensation claims through the analysis of statistics available in the human resource office.
o Breaking of relationships in teams, groups and managers themselves.
o Poor commitments to job assignments. (Eugene and David, 2002)
Factors That May Increase the Risk of Workplace Harassment

Organizational Changes
Research has shown that significant changes within an organization can propel the level of workplace harassment in that organization. Changes such as the introduction of new supervisors, new technology or even new owners to the company may result in unprecedented increase in certain forms of harassment.

Workplace Culture
Most companies and institutions such as schools which entertain and condone the use of abusive language and other teasing practices are likely to experience an increase in some form of harassment related to these practices.

Human Resource Management Systems
Poorly drafted policies and failure to handle workplace harassment complaints and grievances in a fair manner catapults the same kinds of harassments that are supposed to be avoided

Workplace Relationship Trends
Poor communication among workers and lack of between the junior employees and the management may cause an increase in certain forms of harassment such as sexual exploitation because the victims fear condemnation from their colleagues.

What the Law Says About Workplace Harassment
Under the Workplace Health and Safety Act of 1995 developed by the United Nations Commission for Human Rights, all employees and employers regardless of their job status, nationality, color, origin, sex, religion and age are entitled to equal protection from any form of harassment. Employers are required to identify situations that may cause bodily, emotional or psychological injuries and rectify them. (U.N Act, 1995) It also outlines how individuals should relate to each other while at work. Although there are many definitions for workplace harassment, all the policies come to a conclusion that some individuals should account for their behaviors in one way or the other. Whether the specific behavior is intended to hurt anyone or not, it is the eventual effect that is considered. If it is taken negatively, then it is definitely an offense by law.
There are many factors that the law considers before it declares a certain form of behavior illegal. If for example a group of workers in a construction company told of color jokes to each other and they didn’t feel hurt about it. But when a new worker was brought in and the same jokes continued, he felt harassed. This means that everybody takes comments in his or her view depending on the relationships of the people involved. However, principles of natural justice indicate that a person accused of harassment is innocent until proved innocent. Anybody accused of workplace harassment should be informed of the issue and given adequate time to defend himself. All cases of harassment must investigated and found to be true, necessary legal proceedings should be commenced even if it must involve the law enforcement officers. (Eugene and David, 2002)

Impacts of Workplace Harassment
How It Affects an Individual
Workplace harassment is associated with emotional distress, physical illnesses and body injuries. They occur to a victim of harassment who have frequently abused at his or her workplace (David 2002). First, it prevents effective production of the individual in terms of his or her output resulting in subsequent loss of employment. Secondly, one develops poor concentration due to distress, anxiety and chronic stress resulting in severe mental illness. It also leads to the loss of positive work values such as self-esteem, self- confidence and integrity which in the short term may lead to social discrimination and isolation at the place of work. Finally, an individual may develop social phobia i.e. an individual become.

How It Affects Business
Workplace harassment can lead to severe financial and human costs in an organization in terms of;
o Reduction in production, efficiency and profitability levels hence business collapse
o Public and customer related effects such as bad publicity whereby people start to brand the organization bad names and ‘a difficult place to with’
o Increased legal, compensation, counseling, mediation and training costs for the organization resulting in bankruptcy in the long run
o Worker health deterioration and poor commitment to work
o Breakdown of individual, team or personal relationships within the organization
Solutions to Workplace Harassment

1. Development of a workplace harassment prevention policy
It is important that a workplace harassment prevention policy is put in place and quickly implemented by employers to guide every worker in the organization on the expectations of the employer regarding his or her conduct and other appropriate behavior expectations.

This policy can be part of the Workplace Health and Safety Act of 1995 developed by the United Nations or it can be a solo-policy as long as it conforms with other Human Rights policies. The policy should be written in such a way that all the workers can read and understand very well and ensured that everybody accesses it easily. It should also contain such elements as; the value statement which describes the organizations commitment to eliminate the vice completely, provide a clear definition of workplace harassment and the impacts of the same by singling out examples of deviant behavior in the policy. Proper obligations of every worker should be clearly spelt out starting with the manger on top to the watchman at the gate so that each individual understands his or her role in the organization and desist from interfering with other people. It must also encourage employees to report all forms of workplace harassment and make a commitment to fairly investigate the allegations. The policy should finally provide agreed penalty for defaulters. (U.N Act, 1995)

2. Implementing an effective complaint and grievance handling system
Proper handling of formal and informal complaints on workplace harassment is an important factor in preventing the hazard. Solving a problem informally usually is less expensive and requires little resources because it involves open discussions between the parties in the dispute. In a formal case, a simple procedure should be developed to settle cases of workplace harassment. An efficient process is to report the issue to a specified officer, commence the investigation, attempt a resolve the conflict and finally allow for appeal.

3. Personal handling of workplace harassment
Whether one is experiencing workplace harassment for the first time or you’ve been harassed for a long time it is possible to deal with it yourself and come up with a solution. The following are guidelines to be followed when doing this. First is to follow and trust your instincts-nobody becomes uncomfortable without a reason. It is therefore advisable to inform somebody who is close to you about the feelings, don’t ignore them.

Secondly, it is important to seek external support from either your family or close work mates. It is also advisable to study the assistance options available to you and weigh the success probability of each. This can be achieved through extensive consultations and research work. Thirdly, a victim should take care of himself because workplace harassment have serious physical and emotional consequences whish not only affect his or her job but will also interfere with his or her personal life, family life, relationships and more importantly the health of the individual. Finally, one can either deal with the harasser personally or through the workplace so that a legal complaint is launched. (Eugene and David, 2002)

By: Craig Willis
Craig Willis is an associate staff writer. Upon graduation, he started a career in essay and research paper writing and has been providing quality custom term papers. His specialty subject is Arts term papers and critical essays.

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Grandparents Custody Rights are finally coming to the forefront in the judicial system. More & more cases are being decided on what really is in the best interest of the child rather than on just parental rights alone. There are some hoops to jump through, but custody is being awarded more often to the grandparents.

It’s a sad state of affairs when we have to fight our own children in order to do what is right for their children. But sometimes, it just has to be done to get the child out of a bad situation.

At some point, you will need an attorney, one who specializes in the area of Grandparents Custody Rights. Now here is a caveat: Don’t assume your attorney is one who will do anything to win if they think you are right. In reality, it just doesn’t work that way.

There are a lot of things you need to do. And at $150 to $500 or more per hour, you want to do as much as you can on your own. Even if you have an attorney who is working pro bono, their investigations will be very limited.

Here are 3 Tips to help you in your struggle to gain your Grandparents Custody Rights.

Tip #1: Approach your child directly, in a non-confrontational matter. If the situation is serious enough for you to want to remove them from their home, they know it is bad and what kind of an effect it is having on your grandchild. Talk to them and ask them to give you custody. Explain why it would be in the best interest of the child - without making accusations.

Point out how their life would be better and not as burdensome if the grandchild were with you. It does work sometimes! If you can get them to agree, find an attorney who specializes in Grandparents Custody Rights and get the necessary paperwork completed and signed. You want to do this as soon as possible, before they have a chance to change their mind or let someone else talk them out of it.

Tip #2: Document everything. Keep good and accurate records. List dates, times, places & witnesses if any. What are the grandkids being exposed to? Are they being abused? Are they being neglected? Have they been abandoned? How much time does your grandchild spend with you? Have they lived with you and if so, for how long (try to get the dates)?

Tip #3: Know Your State’s Laws regarding Grandparents Custody Rights and find the Precedents. What recent rulings awarding grandparents child custody rights have been made? Look for the rulings that have been made in favor of the grandparents and what circumstances led to the decision. List them. Most courthouses have a legal library where you can do your research and obtain this information for free.

First ask your child for custody (it is the quickest and cheapest way to win). Make sure you document everything and find legal precedents in your favor. Type & organize your notes and give them to your attorney.

By: Wally Ashbaugh
Did you find these tips on Grandparents Custody Rights useful? You can learn a lot more about Grandparents Rights Here.

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At The Law Offices of Michael A. DeMayo, L.L.P., we work tirelessly to keep a pulse on the most recent news and information that may affect our clients. One area that we are particularly attentive to is the area of dangerous drugs. Most recently our focus has been on Zelnorm.

On March 30, 2007 the FDA issued an advisory informing the public that Novartis is complying with an FDA request to suspend marketing of Zelnorm. This request was made as a result of the drug being linked to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and unstable angina.

Just a few days later, on April 2, 2007 the FDA took stronger action and removed Zelnorm from the market subsequent to analyzing the results of an extensive study of the drug’s performance. The analysis included data gleaned from more than 18,000 patients, most of whom were treated with Zelnorm but some of whom received a placebo. The conclusion was that the benefits of the drug do not outweigh the risks. Those risks include serious cardiovascular adverse events such as heart attacks and strokes. Zelnorm has also been linked to severe cases of diarrhea, ischemic colitis and potentially death.

Zelnorm was initially marketed in the U.S. from August of 2002 through March 2004. During that period the FDA adverse reporting system did receive reports of patients who experienced serious adverse events. These reports included 21 that presented with serious consequences for diarrhea, 20 patients that were diagnosed with ischemic colitis and 3 patients diagnosed with other types of intestinal ischemia. In some patients, these adverse events have led to hospitalization, surgery and even death.

Since being approved by the FDA in 2002, Zelnorm, manufactured by Swiss drug maker Novartis AG, has been prescribed as a short term medication for women coping with irritable bowel syndrome. The primary symptom is constipation. The drug increases the movement of stools through the bowels. It does not cure irritable bowel syndrome but it has been shown to help the condition in some regards.

Zelnorm was marketed in 55 countries and was the first drug the FDA approved for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome. Prior to being recalled it was under prescription to about 500,000 people and in 2006 alone the drug generated just under five hundred million dollars in revenues for the company.

The FDA made the following announcements in its Public Health Advisory:

· Patients being treated with Zelnorm should contact their physician to discuss alternative treatments for their condition.
· Patients who are taking Zelnorm should seek immediate medical treatment if they experience any of the following symptoms: severe chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, any known symptoms of a heart attack or stroke.
· Physicians who prescribe Zelnorm should work with their patients to find appropriate alternative treatments.

By: Sara Goldstein
If you or someone you know has been taking Zelnorm, we suggest that you follow up with your health care provider as soon as possible. If you or a loved one has suffered from the side effects of Zelnorm, contact the dangerous drug lawyers at the Law Offices of Michael A. DeMayo, L.L.P. to schedule your free initial consultation. You can visit our website at http://www.demayolaw.com or you can call us at 704-333-1000 or toll free at 877-333-1000.

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