Throughout the past two years, LaBovick Law Group has taken on more and more matters involving workplace bullying. There are a number of problems involving this type of bullying:

There is no real legal designation for the act of “bullying.” The definition of bullying sounds obvious on its face: generally, bullying is one person’s aggressive behavior pattern focused on another person or smaller minority group. The aggression can be physical, verbal, nonverbal, psychological, and can include humiliation and denigration.

The big problem is that in a school yard, kids have no authority to bully each other. Each child is directed by their teachers to “play nice” with the other children. So, there is no component of higher authority supporting the act of bullying. But that is not the case in the workplace. Bullying can easily and often does operate within the actual mandate of authority and direction given from the higher levels of the corporate body. Workers are hired to do a job. Doing that job will take time, mental energy, physical energy and discipline. There are literally countless books written on the subject of proper management and best practices. But even with all those resources, management often is off the mark and believes that the only way to get workers to do the job is to motivate them with what they might term as “negative attention” and what we will call “workplace bullying.”

So, when does a boss who talks loudly about a worker’s efforts become a bully? When does criticism become caustic and step over the line? If it is true that the sensibilities of one person differ significantly from the sensibilities of another, and that both of those people can act within relatively normal parameters, isn’t it also true that one person can feel terribly bullied by a tough boss, while the other is completely fine with that boss’s behavior?

That leads us back to the definition of bullying. It appears we need to understand that bullying relies not on the victim’s perception but rather on the intent of the person doing the negative action. There are experts who define workplace bullying as an action taken with mal-intent toward a singular employee. In other words, the bullying moniker is reliant on the bully saying that they were trying to be bullies or within facts that do not allow us to imagine any other reasonable motivation beyond wanting to bully.

Since we are only concerned about employment-related bullying, can workplace bullying happen between coworkers or only supervisors to subordinates? Isn’t it often the case that one coworkers does not appreciate another and is a bully in the lunchroom? While that is considered “bullying at the workplace”, a legal definition, “workplace bullying” is only used when the bullying is between a supervisor and a subordinate. Workplace bullying is a new legal term of art used by employees who have had a legal violation of their rights.

I recently worked with bullying expert Gary Namie. He feels that workplace bullying should be limited to repeated behavior patterns that tend to cause harm to the mental or physical health of an employee. The negative behavior would be verbal abuse, threats, humiliation, intimidation or even behavior that intentionally sabotages the employee's work product or social network. The interesting thing about Gary’s analysis, as well as other workplace bullying experts, is that behavior can’t be a single episode of anger. It must be a repeated or persistent behavior that creates a work environment that undermines the culture of harmony in the workplace. Within some definitions, there is no requirement of supervisor to employee. Many simply indicate there must be a power disparity between the bully and the bullied.

Can you believe that:
- More than 13% of all workers in the United States are currently being bullied.
- 24% of US workers have been bullied in the past.
- Shockingly, almost half (49%) of all workers believe they have been impacted in some way by bullying.

There have even been studies on how aggressive management and workplace bullying harms job satisfaction and productivity. Those studies state that almost 75% of the American workforce is affected by behavior. That is tantamount to our definition of workplace bullying. It is obvious that the workforce of America feels that workplace bullying is a problem.

But what do bullies actually do in the workplace? Certainly there is not much physical bullying. Is there a lot of name calling? What about other things that we define as legal violations, like sexual harassment and sexual discrimination, or discrimination at any level? Is that also a form of bullying? Certainly it is like workplace bullying because it allows the person in power to harm the subordinate. But workplace bullying is more “professional” in nature. Generally, workplace bullying attacks the foundation of a person’s job, including things like separation or isolation of an employee from other employees, disrespecting the individual employee by using verbal abuse or disrespectful language, overworking an individual and devaluing their personal life, micromanaging and denigrating the work product of an individual, stealing credit when another individual does the work, preventing an individual to have access to an opportunity, and downgrading the individual’s ability to accomplish a task.

Workplace bullying is real. It can cause significant damages to workers as well as workplace morale. Don’t allow yourself to be bullied. Stand up for your rights.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is holding a press conference today to announce the results of “Operation Logjam,” a nationwide effort launched by several law enforcement agencies nationwide to curtail the production, distribution and sale of synthetic marijuana.

Synthetic marijuana appeared on the scene a few years ago and for a while existed in a legal grey area. It was sold under various brand names often as incense or bath salts. Palm Beach County was not spared from the operation: Sheriff Ric Bradshaw announced that a distribution center in suburban West Palm Beach was part of the investigation. Authorities believe that synthetic marijuana being sold under the name of “Mr. Nice Guy” was being produced at the facility in West Palm Beach. Sheriff Bradshaw reported that tons of the product were seized at the facility, which was one of the largest in the nation. The federal government recently banned 24 drugs marketed under bath salts, fish food and incense. However, new forms of the drug appear as older ones are banned.

The State of Florida has attempted to control the spread of these drugs by modifying section 893.03(1)(c), making many of the more popular forms of the drug a Schedule 1 narcotic. The change in law means that possession of these drugs is a 3rd-degree felony that could carry up to five years in prison.

If you or a loved one have been charged with a drug crime in Palm Beach County, it is imperative that you consult with an experienced criminal defense attorney as soon as possible.

For more information on this crackdown, please refer to this Palm Beach Post Article:
3 local men charged in fake pot bust yielding ‘tons’ of the illegal substance

1) If your treating physician says that you are disabled you will be granted disability benefits.
The truth is that a short letter from your doctor stating that you are diagnosed with a
disease or ailment will not go very far with Social Security. Social Security is not very
interested if your doctor thinks you are disabled. However, they are interested if your
doctor has done a detailed report of your condition, treatment and impact on your daily life. A well-written report by your treating physician will go a long way to having your disability application approved, but it will not guarantee that you will receive benefits. For your doctor's opinion to carry more weight their correspondence with Social Security needs to be as detailed as possible, chronicling your treatment over time, and how your condition has impacted your work and life. You should ask your doctor to draft a medical source statement. This will detail tests, x-rays and treatments. It will also explain how your condition has physical limitations on daily task. This report will be extremely helpful at the hearing stages. The medical source statement will fill in the gaps of your testimony and add creditability to your claim when you are before the Administrative Law Judge.

2) Social Security denies everyone in the first round.
Social Security approves about 30% of applications in the first round. These tend to be for
people who are more than 55 years old or who have been diagnosed with a life-threatening
disease that is one of the “listings” used by Social Security. If you are a younger worker or
if you do not meet a listing, you will most likely be denied in the first round of approval.
This is not the time to be discouraged. You do not want to abandon your application after
it is denied. If you are denied and file a new application, it will most likely be denied as
well. If you are denied, you should seek reconsideration of your application and proceed to
the hearing stage. It is at the hearing stage that you have the highest likelihood of
approval. That is the time that you will appear before an Administrative Law Judge. This is
the first time that you are interacting with the person who is handling your file. At the
hearing, the judge is able to speak with the applicant; this humanizes the applicant far
more than their paper file.

3) If I go to the hearing before the Administrative Law Judge and explain my disability they will grant me disability.
Your word alone will not be enough for Social Security to grant you benefits. You will need
to show to Social Security that you are treating all of your physical and mental conditions.
You will also need to have your treating doctor provide detailed information to Social
Security about your condition and how your conditions limit you at work. If you are seeing
more than one doctor due to multiple issues you should have a report from each of your
doctors. Social Security can grant you disability benefits for a combination of conditions
that theyacknowledge prevent you from working even if any one of the conditions on its
own would not be severe enough for you to qualify for disability.

4) If I am not receiving medical treatment Social Security will pay to have me examined.
It is true that Social Security quite frequently sends applicants to a “consultative
examination.” Recently due to budget constraints Social Security has been limiting the
amount of consultative examinations they have been ordering. This means that you may
have trouble proving that you are disabled due to lack of medical evidence. Also some
consultative examinations may not be in-depth enough to fully develop the extent of your
disability. These are doctors that you meet with once, and they are not able chart your
degeneration over time due to your condition. You are far better off to continue treating. If
you have been treating for an extended time and you are not improving this will illustrate to
Social Security that you are unlikely to improve in the near future (Social Security only
grants benefits for life-threatening conditions or those that are likely to persist for 12
months or more). Additionally, your treating physician can often times be your best
advocate because they have the unique combination of medical training and first hand
knowledge of your condition for an extended period of time.

An interesting opinion has recently been issued by the Florida 4th DCA in regards to rescinding retirement account beneficiary designations done pursuant to a temporary relief order. The Topol opinion illustrates the problems that can occur when a party to a divorce proceeding dies before the final judgment of divorce is entered.

As a result of temporary non-appealable orders, the husband signed a beneficiary designation naming his then estranged wife as the beneficiary of one of his retirement accounts. He subsequently died before the case proceeded to final judgment. His estate/daughters sought to revoke the beneficiary designation, which would then have given them the retirement accounts. Because the beneficiary designation was signed in order to comply with a temporary interlocutory order, the beneficiary designation was revocable as the case had not proceeded to final judgment.

In Florida, when a divorce participant dies before a final judgment of divorce is entered, the case must be dismissed. That means all temporary orders are thrown out as well. Documents signed in order to comply with those temporary orders can be rescinded. Family law practitioners should be aware of this opinion as it provides substantial relief to heirs of deceased parties. LaBovick Law Group has a dedicated division focusing on family law matters. Attorney Joseph Robert Fields, Jr., Esq. has been practicing family law for more than 23 years and can assist you if you have any legal questions regarding your family law matters. He is available for free initial consultations.

Pain clinics have been a problem in South Florida for many years. They have been feeding many local people’s addictions. These clinics have also built a cottage industry of prescription tourism. Addicts and traffickers from as far away as Ohio and West Virginia would travel to Florida to feed their addiction. They traveled here because pain killers were easier to obtain, often with no proof or medical records indicating a need. In the past couple of years, law enforcement has cracked down on these clinics with high profile busts of their owners and seizures totaling in the millions.

With law enforcement focusing on the epicenter of the problem in Broward County, the pain clinics have migrated north. The most recent pill mill bust occurred in the quiet town of Vero Beach. A year-long investigation by several law enforcement agencies led to the arrest of 14 people in June. The pain clinic is believed to have dispensed more than two million pills in the last year, according to the Florida Department of Health. The clinic prescribed Oxycodon, Xanax, Valium and other drugs to more than 60 customers a day on a cash-only basis. The state went as far as to wire tap the clinic to intercept thousands of phone calls over the year-long investigation. As of late June, the state has seized bank accounts worth more than a million dollars.

The illegal use, possession, and sale of these drugs carries high fines and possible prison time. Possession of just one prescription pill without a prescription is a third-degree felony that can carry up to a five year prison sentence and a $5,000 fine.

If you are being investigated or have been arrested for any drug crime you need to contact an experienced criminal defense attorney immediately. The earlier the attorney gets involved in your case, the more options they have in defending you. For a free consultation in your case call the LaBovick Law Group today.

Reference: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/crime-law/vero-beach-pain-center-handed-out-2-million-pills/nPhyx/

A Maryland women is sentenced to five years in prison for defrauding insurers, banks and the Social Security administration of millions. Winnie Joanne Barefoot of Annapolis used stolen identities over a four-year period to perpetrate fraud on the government, private insurers and unsuspecting lenders. Ms. Barefoot defrauded Social Security by providing false information so she could collect disability benefits.

Cases like this are egregious, and perpetrators should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. With Social Security Disability headed for a budget shortfall in four years, fraud regulations need to be tightened to protect disability for the deserving workers who need the safety net of Social Security. The tighter regulations have a drawback for some deserving claimants who may be denied benefits due to increased regulations. Having an experienced Social Security Disability lawyer at your side will assist deserving claimants in receiving benefits. At LaBovick Law Group we know how to assist claimants in compiling medical records and proving your application for disability.

Reference: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/bal-annapolis-woman-sentenced-to-five-years-in-prison-for-26-million-fraud-20120619,0,507306.story

The Florida legislature recently passed a bill with numerous changes to the current Personal Injury Protection (PIP) law. With ever-increasing insurance rates and a seemingly never-ending wave of PIP cases being litigated, the bill has an ultimate goal of reducing both the number of PIP cases in litigation and insurance rates for consumers. Rate reductions are even written into the bill… well, sort of.

The problem is that these reductions are quasi-mandatory. The bill attempts to require two major rate reductions from insurers: one by October 1, 2012 that is to provide at least a 10 percent reduction to the insurer’s current rate, and another by January 1, 2014 that is to provide at least a 25-percent reduction. This sounds great for consumers except for one major flaw: the bill leaves insurer’s with a loophole to avoid these reductions. The bill states that if an insurer fails to achieve these reductions, it must explain in detail its reasons for failing to do so. This would be tantamount to legislation that gives citizens the option to submit to the IRS a detailed explanation of why they were unable to pay their taxes this year instead of actually paying them. It seems absurd that the legislature doesn’t think that the insurance companies aren’t going to utilize this exception instead of actually reducing their rates. It’s not hard for one to envision the devious, Grinch-like grin on the face of insurance executives while they were reading the provisions in the new law allowing them to explain there reason for not reducing there rates.

In an attempt to make these reductions possible, the bill has numerous provisions aiming to reduce fraud and frivolous litigation. Whether or not these changes will be effective is yet to be seen. Here are some of the major changes the new legislation will have on Florida’s current PIP law:

- An insured is only entitled to reimbursement for services and care provided up to $10,000
if a licensed physician, physician’s assistant, dentist, or an advanced registered nurse
practitioner has determined that the injured person had an “emergency medical
condition.”
The statute defines an emergency medical condition, as “a medical condition
manifesting itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity, which may include severe pain,
such that the absence of immediate medical attention could reasonably be expected to
result in serious jeopardy to patient health, serious impairment to bodily functions, or
serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part.”

- If any of the above mentioned medical providers determine that the injured person did not
have an “emergency medical condition,” reimbursement for services and care provided is
limited to $2,500.

- An insured seeking PIP medical benefits now must have received there initial medical
services within 14 days of the motor vehicle accident.

- Medical benefits will no longer cover massage and/or acupuncture therapy regardless of
the person, entity, or licensee providing the massage or acupuncture, and a licensed
massage therapist or licensed acupuncturist may not be reimbursed.

- PIP will now offer $5,000 in death benefits in addition to $10,000 in medical and disability
benefits, rather than the $5,000 being included in the available $10,000.

PIP litigation can be very complex. Insurance companies often refuse to pay their insureds the benefits they are rightfully owed. Don’t let this happen to you. Visit www.LaBovick.com for more information. Our attorneys can help you receive the benefits you are legally entitled to.

Defending a DUI in Palm Beach County is challenging work. The State Attorney takes these charges very seriously. You need an attorney who understands how the State builds its case and more importantly how to knock their case down. For the State to convict you of DUI, it must prove two elements of the crime:
1) You drove or were in actual control of the vehicle, and
2) You were under the influence of an alcoholic beverage, a chemical substance listed in Fla. Stat. 877.111 or a controlled substance, which caused you to be impaired or your blood alcohol level was .08 or higher.
Simply put, the State must prove that you were driving the car and that you were impaired/drunk.

Defense of the traffic stop in the first place:
We live in country of laws not a police state. Police officers cannot pull you over because they saw you leaving a bar or because it's Tuesday. For a police officer to pull you over, he/she must have specific reasons for pulling you over. These can be speeding, running a red light, or weaving in and out of your lane causing a danger to traffic. The police officer cannot pull you over because you weave inside of your own lane. You could have been answering a phone call or putting on lipstick - it does not matter. If the police officer pulled you over without just cause your attorney can have the stop thrown out. That means all the evidence they collected subsequent is gone: you dancing and singing the alphabet, and your .217 BAC on the machine is all gone. This is where having an attorney who recognizes the weakness of the case can make all the difference.

Defense for control of a car:
Proving control of the vehicle is usually not the hardest part of the State’s case. In most DUI cases the driver is pulled over for a traffic stop and is behind the wheel. This defense comes up more frequently in a crash-related DUI. Say you wrap your car around a tree in a single car accident. If you are out of the car before anyone arrives then the State is going to have a hard time proving you were driving the car unless you tell them you were driving.

This defense comes up in BUIs (Boating Under the Influence) as well in non-crash related cases. You and your friends are out on the water in a center console boat. More than one person is standing near the wheel. If the police want to arrest you and charge you with DUI they have to be able to prove that you were the one in control of the boat and not merely a passenger since there is no driver’s seat. To make the most of this defense you need to speak to a Palm Beach County Criminal Defense Attorney immediately after your arrest.

Defense for being impaired:
The most difficult cases for the State to prove are cases when the driver does not submit to a breath test. Without the breath test the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt (remember that the State has the burden of proof the defendant does not have to prove anything) that the defendant’s normal faculties were impaired to the extent that they could not operate a motor vehicle on the roads of Palm Beach County safely.

To do this the State will use any Field Sobriety Exercises that you performed: walk in a straight line, say the alphabet, stand still with one foot off the ground, etc. They use these tests to prove you are impaired because you did not perform them perfectly. NO ONE CAN perform them perfectly except maybe the DUI officer. These exercises are designed to make you fail. They are complicated, and the officer administering the test is writing down everything you do wrong. Miss the letter “U” FAIL, say it too slowly FAIL, stutter FAIL. These exercises are hard, and you do not have to do them. If the police officer asks you to perform field sobriety exercises, you are within your legal rights to say "no." Do it politely, though. There’s no need to be rude, but remember you don’t have to do them. If the State does not have field sobriety exercises or your breath sample, they are left with only the testimony of the police officer, and the videos of you driving and in the police station. Be polite, don’t run off at the mouth, and contact your attorney as soon as you are released.

The United States Supreme Court ruled last week on the constitutionality of juvenile sentencing laws. Throughout the last decade, the Court has begun to differentiate juvenile sentences from adult sentences. In 2005, the Court ruled that juveniles may not be sentenced to death. In 2010, the Court ruled that juveniles may not be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for crimes other than murder. This ruling greatly impacted Florida because of the strict mandatory minimums sentences that impacted juveniles in the adult court system.

The newest ruling handed down this last week of June 2012 discourages courts from sentencing juveniles to life in prison without the possibility of parole for homicide. This expands on the Courts belief that juveniles have a greater ability to be rehabilitated than their adult counterparts. The change in thinking shows an evolution towards the belief that a juvenile offender should not spend the rest of their life behind bars.

Reference: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/us/news-analysis-ruling-reflects-rethinking-on-juvenile-justice.html?pagewanted=all