Delaware Employment Law Blog

Delaware’s law banning calling and texting while driving takes effect in January. Eric Ruth, of the Wilmington News Journal, details what Delaware's new no-cell-phone law does and does not require and, with a few suggestions from Adria B. Martinelli, offers ways that employers can begin to prepare.

Adria also offers some tips for employers who will need to update their policies:

• Ban all cell phone use while driving company-owned vehicles -- even hands-free devices can distract drivers.
• Specifically ban texting and e-mailing while driving. If text messaging must be used, incorporate a strict policy requiring drivers to first find a safe area to park the vehicle.
• Make an exception for emergencies that require police or medical attention.
• Also require all occupants of company-owned vehicles or private vehicles driven on company business to wear seat belts.
• Monitor and enforce the policy.

Delaware will join the many states that ban cell-phone use while driving.  The law, signed by Gov. Markell on July 6, will take effect on January 2, 2011. The new law bans texting while driving and the use of hand-held cell phones – meaning a hands-free device will be required to talk on the cell phone while driving. It also bans the use of pagers, PDAs, BlackBerry devices, laptops, games or portable computers, and two-way communication devices while driving. In addition, drivers cannot browse wirelessly or read, write, or send messages while driving.

There are a few exceptions, including for law enforcement, firefighters, EMS technicians, or other operators of emergency vehicles. In addition, two-way mounted radios can be used to communicate with other employees or a central dispatch.

Any violation is primary offense and a civil penalty. The fine for the first offense is $50 and subsequent penalties are between $100 and $200 dollars.

29 other states plus D.C. & Guam ban texting. Delaware will be only the eighth state to ban the use of hand-held phones. Delaware State Police cite 230 crashes in 2009 that involved the use of a cell phone as a distraction. National research shoes that drivers using cell phones are four times more likely to get into crashes causing an injury.

Employer Policies

The new laws don’t require you to have specific policies, but it’s a good idea to remind your employees that they need to follow the law while they’re working. There are many reasons employers should take all the steps they can to make sure their employees are driving safely while on the job. Employers may be legally responsible for the actions of their employees. If one of your employees is negligent, gets into an accident, and injures someone while on the job, the company could be held liable. Furthermore, if the employee is injured, you will likely have a workers’ compensation claim on your hands as well.

For these reasons, consider adopting and enforcing the following policies – some of which go further than Delaware’s new law:

· Ban all cell phone use while driving company-owned vehicles or on company property (even hands-free phones can distract drivers);

· Ban texting and emailing while driving.  If text messaging must be used, incorporate a strict policy requiring drivers to first find a safe area to park the vehicle;

· Make an exception for emergencies that require police or medical attention;

· Require all occupants of company-owned vehicles or private vehicles driven on company business to wear their seat belts, and monitor and enforce the policy. Seat belt use is the single most effective way for vehicle occupants to prevent injuries and fatalities;

· Include a signed acknowledgement of your written policy;

Finally, employers may want to contact their insurance broker or review their insurance policies to make sure your company and your employees are adequately covered.

By implementing the suggested policies, employers can ensure their employees are following the law AND that, as an employer, have taken all steps possible to prevent accidents and minimize the company’s liability.

Bonus Benefit

Another potential upside of the cell phone ban, according to the L.A. Times, is improved personal relationships!  According to the article, effective communication while driving is difficult and can lead to relationship problems. 

Delaware’s legislature has bills pending which may change how some employers credential their employees.

First, there is a bill pending (Senate Bill No. 236) which will remove the provision that allows for the registration of psychological assistants who hold a master’s degree that is “based on a program of studies that is psychological in content and specifically designed to train and prepare psychologists but who is not working toward full licensure as a psychologist.” Pursuant to the bill, a psychological assistant must have completed all the course requirements for a doctoral degree in psychology. A grandfather provision is included for existing registered psychological assistants who maintain their registration. The change limits psychological assistants to those people who meet the experience requirement under §3508(a)(2) for full licensure as a psychologist. The bill was reported out of committee on May 12, 2010.

Second, there is a bill pending (House Bill No. 377) for all state contractors in the plumbing and heating, ventilation, air conditioning and air refrigeration (“HVACR”) fields. Currently a licensed contractor from any state can obtain a Delaware plumbing or HVACR license by simply paying a fee and proving that the contractor is licensed elsewhere. Some states do not offer the same reciprocity, and instead require Delaware contractors take a written test, pay a fee, and satisfy all licensing criteria for that state.  This bill eliminates the existing disparity between Delaware and out of state reciprocity requirements.   If an out of state contractor’s home state has provisions similar to Delaware’s, the contractor may obtain a Delaware license through the reciprocity provisions.  If the other state does not offer reciprocity, that state’s resident plumbing and HVACR contractors must go through the full process of becoming licensed in Delaware. The bill was reported out of committee on May 12, 2010.

Third, pending Senate Bill No. 246 would create a Delaware Board of Examiners of Bail Enforcement Agents empowered to enforce standards upon bail enforcement agents. This 9 member board will supplant the primary responsibility of the Secretary of the Department of Safety and Homeland Security regarding licensure and disciplinary regulatory authority. Regulations proposed by the Board would still be subject to the approval of the Secretary. The Bill also requires that licensees operating a bail enforcement company obtain insurance and file proof of insurance with the Board. The bill was reported out of the Senate’s sunset committee on May 12, 2010.

Employers can find out more about pending state legislation and how the legislative process works at http://legis.delaware.gov.

Delaware Department of Labor (DDOL), has published its yearly statistics for FY2009 relating to the charges of discrimination filed with its Office of Anti-Discrimination.  Here are some highlights:

It may not come as a surprise that the most-often filed charge was a retaliation charge, making up just over 70% of all charges filed.  Where a charge alleges more than one basis, each basis was counted separately, which explains why the total is higher than 100%.  It also indicates that retaliation is very often added as a second basis to a charge that alleges other types of discrimination. 

Again, not surprisingly, DDOL had a very busy year, with intakes at a five-year high.

Thanksgiving may have officially occurred last week but the authors of the Delaware Employment Law Blog have a new reason to continue giving thanks.  In something akin to a holiday-movie miracle, we were voted one of the Top 100 Blawgs (aka legal blogs) by the ABA Journal yesterday.  Winners were selected by the ABA Journal’s editors, based on submissions by readers. 

When the opportunity to nominate blogs was announced, lots and lots (and lots) of blog authors campaigned their readers to submit their blogs as nominees. As tempting as that idea may have been, I passed on it because, honestly, we didn’t stand a chance.  Or so I thought.  As it turns out, you thought differently. And boy aren’t we thankful.

Please be sure to check out the other 99 amazing blogs on the list and, if you’re so inclined, you can vote for your favorite blog in each of the several categories, including DELB in the “Geo” category, between now and December 31.

The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), was amended in September 2008 by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA), which took effect on January 1, 2009. The ADAAA emphasizes that the definition of disability should be construed in favor of broad coverage of individuals to the maximum extent permitted by the terms of the ADA and generally shall not require extensive analysis. In other words, the Amendments Act expanded who qualifies as “disabled” for the purposes of the ADA’s protections. The new law makes it easier for an individual to establish that he or she has a disability within the meaning of the ADA.

The ADA’s basic definition of "disability"—an impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment—remains the same under the new law. But those definitional terms are now subject to revised interpretations. A summary of the key revisions are set forth in the document linked below.

EEOC must revise its ADA regulations to comply with the new law. To accomplish these revisions, EEOC approved a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), containing a detailed analysis of the proposed changes, in September. There is a 60-day period following the publication of the NPRM when the Commission receives public comments on the proposed changes. Those comments are considers when drafting the final regulations.

As part of this public-comment period, EEOC will host four full-day “Town Hall Listening Sessions” across the county in October and November. Those in the Philadelphia area will have the opportunity to participate in one such session on Friday, October 30, 2009. Attendees will have the chance to provide their direct input on the proposed regulations.

The Format

The Listening Session will be held at the Liberty Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.   Throughout the day, individuals will be able to comment on the proposed regulations in five-minute increments. Some of the time slots will be pre-assigned and others will be available on a first-come, first-served basis on the day of the event. Details, including the event address and registration details,are provided in the document below.

Those who take advantage of this opportunity will have the attention of a panel of key players. The panel will be presided over by EEOC’s Acting Chair and Vice Chair, Stuart J. Ishimaru and Christine Griffin, and Commissioner Constance S. Barker, as well as DOJ’s Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Samuel Bagenstos, Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Mazen Baswari, and Chief of the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division, John Wodatch.

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  It is also the national day of service and the first day of President-elect Obama’s initiative to Renew America Together.  In communities around the First State, as well as in neighborhoods around the country, Americans are volunteering to help others.  If you would like to join in this growing initiative but don't know of any particular activities in your local area, check out USAService.org.   Here, you can search by zip code or by state and find a list of events being held today that would benefit from any time you can contribute.  And the website isn't just a great resource today.  Its comprehensive database of volunteer and charitable events lists the many opportunities that happen throughout the year.

73.5% of corporate and in-house counsel report that their companies have been a defendant in employment-related litigation over the last three years. Delaware employers, therefore, have an immediate need to understand state employment laws. To address these concerns, the Employment Law Group at Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP, will host a CLE seminar specifically for in-house counsel with responsibilities for Delaware employees.

The seminar will be held at our offices in Wilmington, Delaware on December 9, 2008, from 9 am - 12 p.m. Registration is $105 per person and includes all seminar materials, validated parking, continental breakfast, and, as a bonus, the 2009 edition of the Delaware Employer's Handbook, which annotates the state-specific employment laws. Registration is open until November 26, 2008, and seats are limited.

To register, visit the Young Conaway website and register online or download the form for submission via fax, e-mail or mail. If you have any questions, please feel free to call or e-mail Shaina Carl (302) 571-4745 or SCarl@ycst.com.

In a prior post, Senator Biden on Work-Life Issues, I wrote on Biden’s stand on work-life issues. What about other matters of interest to Delaware employers? Is his possible ascension to the Vice Presidential role a good or bad thing for Delaware employers?

Friend or Foe?

It should come as no surprise that Biden has taken the “employee”-side on several important pieces of pending employment legislation. Biden supported the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 766), which is intended to prevent pay discrimination by strengthening penalties should it occur. Biden’s support for the Fair Pay Restoration Act (S. 1843), should also be no surprise. The Fair Pay Restoration Act seeks to address the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber.

In the Ledbetter decision, the Supreme Court held that employees cannot challenge ongoing pay discrimination if the employer’s original discrimination decision occurred more than 180 days before the most recent discrimination (300 days under Delaware’s statute), even when an employee continues to receive paychecks that have been discriminatorily reduced for some time. Under the Fair Pay Restoration Act, an unlawful discriminatory act is committed when a discretionary compensation decision is adopted, when an employee becomes subject to the decision, or when an individual is affected by the application of a decision, including each time compensation is paid. If this Act is passed, employers could be exposed to lawsuits based on decisions made decades ago.

Biden also supported amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (S. 3406), which has been placed on the Senate’s legislative calendar. The Act promotes changes to the ADA which purport to override several U.S. Supreme Court decisions which apply a strict standard for individuals to meet in order to show that they are disabled or regarded as being disabled under the ADA. The Obama-Biden platform includes goals of appointing judges who respect laws designed to protect people with disabilities, increasing funding for enforcement, and garnering support for the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (S. 358). However, Delaware has long protected against discrimination on the basis of genetic information, so passage of GINA would not mean anything new for Delaware employers.

Finally, Biden is a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act (S. 1041). If passed, that act would enable workers to form unions when a majority sign union authorization cards, establish mediation and binding arbitration when the employers and workers cannot agree on a first contract, and strengthen penalties for companies the coerce or intimidate workers.

Bank on Biden?

At the same time Biden has taken “pro-employee” stances on employment legislation, he has put his full weight behind, and achieved great success on behalf of, at least two significant segments of Delaware employers: banks and the legal system. He supported the 2005 bankruptcy reform law, which made it harder for consumers to rid themselves of debt, but benefited banks such as MBNA (since acquired by Bank of America).

Also as part of the 2005 law, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware got four new judges. Once the new judges were assigned, Delaware regained its top position for bankruptcy filings, with nearly 80% of companies seeking bankruptcy protection filing in Delaware in 2007. Biden has thus endeared himself to Delaware’s legal employers, by ensuring Delaware’s prominence in the bankruptcy field.

Joe – We Hardly Knew Ye

So what will it mean if Biden moves from his leadership position in the U.S. Senate to one in the executive office? As Vice President, Biden would also become the President of the U.S. Senate. As President of the Senate he has the primary duty to cast a vote in the event of a Senate deadlock. However, his constituency has changed from Delaware, to the entire nation.

One would expect Biden to use his vote to support Obama’s platform, not Delaware’s interests. Obama has strongly criticized the bankruptcy reform act, and has taken aim at the same financial services industries Biden has supported. Even if Biden were inclined to support Delaware’s interests, there is a strong convention within the U.S. Senate that the Vice President should not use his position as President of the Senate to influence the passage of legislation or act in a partisan manner, except in the case of breaking tie votes. For these reasons, Biden is unlikely to use his position to advocate for Delaware employers, as in the past.

Delaware is all a-frenzy with the announcement of our very own Senator Joe Biden as the presumptive Democratic nominee for vice president. If you’ve seen The News Journal over the several days, you’ve seen the almost front-to-back coverage of Joe. With Barack Obama still fighting to win over many Hillary Clinton’s women supporters, there’s been considerable focus in the media already as to Joe Biden’s record on women’s and work-life balance issues.

We’ve previously posted on Barack Obama’s position on women’s and work-life balance issues. What kind of work-and-family experience has Joe Biden had, both in his personal life and as a policy maker?

The Wall Street Journal’s blog “The Juggle” noted Biden’s personal family tragedy: the 1972 car accident which killed his wife and infant daughter and left his two sons badly injured. To care for them while continuing his political career, he commuted daily by train between Wilmington, Del., and Washington, never securing a Washington residence.

As Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991, some alleged that he was too easy on Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas and too hard on Anita Hill, a former co-worker of Thomas' who had accused the federal judge of sexual harassment. Some even maintain that "he very self-consciously tried to shore up his support from women voters after the Anita Hill episode."

Although Biden is perhaps best known for his focus on foreign policy, he has also had a hand in legislation targeting work-and-family issues. According to a cached version of Biden’s senatorial campaign Website (which since this weekend has automatically referred visitors to the Obama-Biden campaign site), the Senator is a co-sponsor of the Healthy Families Act, which would require employers with more than 15 employees to offer seven paid sick days a year. In the 1990s, he was the primary sponsor of the Violence Against Women Act and supported the Family and Medical Leave Act, which guarantees workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a family member.

Want to know what it takes to be voted best place to work?  Ask the healthy employees of Wilmington, Delaware-based internet bank, ING Direct.  The healthy-factor is no coincidence.  ING takes its employees' wellness very seriously.

The bank has a full-time doctor and nurse in the building for employees' immediate access.  And employees can use the company's full-scale gym.  Known as The Energy Zone, the gym offers a variety of group fitness classes such as yoga and spinning, and even organizes a running club.  For $10 per month, employees can use the gym before, during, and after work--including weekends.  The Wellness Center offers weight-loss programs, access to personal trainers and cholesterol monitoring. 

According to the respondents, the good stuff doesn't stop at the doors of the Wellness Center, though.  81% think they have a great physical work environment.  And 85% feel their benefits package is good compared to others in their industry.  92% said they are proud to work for ING and 81% said they are motivated to give their best.  86% believe in the mission and the strategy--reporting that they feel that the company is moving in the right direction.

The bank is known for doing things its own way, which has turned out to be a very effective way for ING.  Since it opened in 2000, the bank has grown to more than 6.8 million account holders.  All without a single branch.  ING also prides itself in treating all of its 1,108 employees equally.  Instead of formal titles, employees work in a certain department--where managers sit in cubicles next to their direct reports.

Innovation is working for ING--and for its healthy employees.

Lou Michels and Halima Horton of McGuire Woods will be presenting a free webinar about state gun laws that prohibit employers from outlawing firearms on company property--including employee-owned guns kept in personal vehicles.  This is a topic we've covered here a number of times and are likely to hear more about as incidents of workplace violence continue to occur across the country.  I'd encourage you to take advantage of this free, 1-hour program.  It is scheduled for July 29th at 12:30 EDT and you can register online.

For previous posts on Guns in the Workplace and Workplace Violence, see:

Georgia Takes One Step Backwards in the Fight Against Workplace Violence

Employee Shooting Results in Unusual Liability for Workplace Violence

Florida Law Permits Guns at Work; Delaware Initiates an Anti-Workplace Violence Training Program

Local Violence & Workplace Violence: Keeping It Safe

Employees' privacy rights.  They're everywhere.  Lately, they've been in the KYW-3 TV Newsroom.  Two former Philadelphia co-anchors have put e-mail privacy in the spotlight.  Larry Mendte, who is accused of reading and leaking Alycia Lane's private e-mail account, was fired today.  His termination comes in the middle of a federal investigation, which involved a raid of Mendte's home and office and the removal of "computer equipment," and follows just days after Lane filed her long-threatened suit against their shared former employer.

This scandal is a big deal in the Philadelphia local news.  And perhaps that has something to do with the fact that Lane had lost her sugary-sweet charm after the third or fourth scandal.  Or maybe it's because Philly is known equally just as much for relentlessly jeering unpopular sports figures as it is for brotherly love.  But maybe it's because this is a story that so many people already know.  They've lived it themselves.

Mendte is suspected of accessing Lane's account "possibly hundreds of times" and then leaking the information to their boss, the news station, or the press.

So what happens to Mendte if it's later found out that he did secretly sabotage his former partner at the news desk?  Not much.  Mendte isn't a supervisor so, unless the station is found to have known about the snooping or somehow endorsing it, the station will not be held responsible for the acts of Mendte.  Obviously, losing his long-time job, where he spent many years enjoying the favor of Philadelphians, is a big deal and probably one of the most severe consequences he could face.

And Lane could certainly sue Mendte, as well as the station.  It's unlikely that she will, though, given the low value of any possible recovery for privacy claims brought against an individual, as opposed to an employer.

But the real question is not who will be victorious in the media or in the courtroom.  The real question is whether your organization faces similar risks to the potential espionage of trade secrets and confidential information or to a Jerks-at-Work campaign where a bully secretly accesses a target-coworkers' emails with bad intentions.

What safeguards do you have in place to automatically monitor technology use of company computers?

What policies do you utilize to ensure employees' data is protected with regular password changes and by communicating that an employee who shares her password with another may be subject to serious discipline?

What about the specifics of what an employee may and may not take from the workplace, which includes sending it out of the organization and into the world wide web?  Have you expressly told employees about the consequences of such action?  Do you know what the consequences are?

Take the Mendte-Lane debacle as a cue for you to review your policies, practices, and how those messages are communicated to employees.

Michael Klein and John Shiffman at the Philadelphia Inquirer, have more on this story.

Prior Related Posts:

More Drama at the News Desk

Employee Embarrasses Employer, Who Fires Employee, Who Sues Employer

What do News Anchors, Sports Figures, and Corporate Executives Have in Common? Employment Agreements and Risk-Avoidance Clauses

Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha' Gonna Do . . . When They Work for You?

Managers, be thankful that you don't work in news television.  Apparently, news anchors aren't the easiest employees to manage.  Local news celebrities just might have the market cornered on employee off-duty conduct that causes employers the biggest headaches.  And now, employees' off-duty conduct is at the heart of an employee-versus-employer lawsuit.

Oh, those crazy news anchors!  Always making news of their own! You may recall from earlier posts the saga involving the once anchorwoman for KYW-TV Philadelphia.  Hmmm. Scandals, actually, would be more accurate. 

Let's start with Alycia, seeing as she's the trophy-holder in the scandal department.  First there was the "Dr. Phil episode." She spilled her heart (and lots of tears) on national television during an appearance on the Dr. Phil Show and discussed in detail her failed marriage and the prospect of dating.  Then she was busted sending pictures of herself clad in a skimpy bikini to NFL Network sports anchor Rich Eisen. Eisen's wife was the so-called busting party. 

Then, in December 2007, Lane was arrested in New York and charged with assaulting a police officer.  There also were allegations that she'd verbally attacked the female officer with degrading and homophobic slurs. 

The officer was in plainclothes when the incident occurred.  Oops.

KYW terminated her a month later and issued a fairly quiet (and gentle) press release. 

Then, last month, after the story trail had gone cold, Lane was back in the news.  But this time, it was her former co-anchor, Larry Mendte, who had the spotlight.  In May, FBI officials searched Mendte's home and office computers triggering speculation that Lane may have pointed the finger at Mendte for leaking the Eisen email.  It hasn't been confirmed by Lane, Mendte, or the FBI that the search may have been the result of suspicion that he'd secretly read Lane's emails or otherwise accessed her computer.

The latest?  Lane has filed suit in Philadelphia against KYW.  The lawsuit against her employer alleges that the station's management had a pattern of "deep-seated gender-discriminatory animus" towards women in the workplace. 

Today's Wilmington News Journal reports:

The lawsuit says the station told Lane to interview TV psychologist Phil McGraw in 2004 and suggested that she talk about some of her past relationships. She said she understood that inappropriate personal elements would be removed and was mortified when footage of her crying about her divorce was included in a heavily promoted KYW newscast.

The suit says that because of those decisions, Lane "was branded in the press as someone who sought to make herself the news, rather than to merely report the news.

The defamation suit alleges that the station invaded her privacy and spread malicious gossip that eventually caused her to lose career opportunities and destroying her reputation. 

Stay tuned, viewers, I feel that it's safe to say there's more to come in this drama suited for prime-time TV.

Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News at Philly.com:  Alycia Tells Her Side In Suit

(AP) The Wilmington News Journal:  Alycia Lane Sues Former Reporter

Related Posts:

What do News Anchors, Sports Figures, and Corporate Executives Have in Common? Employment Agreements and Risk-Avoidance Clauses

Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha' Gonna Do . . . When They Work for You?

In addition to the Advanced Employment Issues Symposium (AEIS), where Adria Martinelli, William W. Bowser, and Scott A. Holt, will be presenting on several employment law topics, attorneys in the Employment Law Group has several seminars on the calendar this summer.  To keep you in the loop, here's a short recap. For more information, just give us a call or use the links below.

Delaware Contractors Association, June 25

William W. Bowser and Molly DiBianca will be presenting a breakfast seminar to the Delaware Contractors Association (DCA) on June 25, 2008 on Hot Topics In Employment Law.  The recent amendment to the Family Medical Leave Act, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which imposes new leave requirements for employees with servicemembers in the family who are called to active duty or who are returning from active duty and who require medical care.  The recent (and sudden) passage of the Construction Industry Independent Contract Act through the Delaware House of Representatives will also surely be on the agenda.

Developing Your Employee Handbook, October 23 & 30

Molly DiBianca will be presenting this seminar, which is sponsored by Lyons Companies Insurance, twice in October.  The first seminar is scheduled for October 23, 2008, from 1-3 p.m. and will be held in Georgetown, Delaware. The second is set for October 30, 2008, from 9 - 11 a.m. and will be hosted by Young Conaway Stargatt and Taylor in the firm's Wilmington, Delaware offices.  The seminar is free to clients of Lyons Companies but limited spaces are available for non-clients.  Just be sure to contact Molly DiBianca or Lyons Companies representative Jenn Miller early because Lyons' seminars are always well attended and fill up quickly. 

Good leaders are difficult to come by.  Good leadership in government, some might say, is even more difficult to find.  I'd guess that some of the citizens of the Illinois town of Cahokia might just feel that way right about now. 

Cahokia Mayor, Frank Bergman, filed a workers' compensation claim after taking a fall down the stairs while fulfilling his duties as a civil servant. This claim has resulted in payment to Mayor Bergman for more than $20,000. 

And what's wrong with that, you ask?  Certainly, there is nothing un-leader-like about utilizing a government service for its intended purpose. 

But, the trouble here is, Mayor Bergman appears to be an unusually clumsy government official. This was his fourth workers' comp claim since he began working for the small town. In all, the Mayor has collected no less than $145,000 in workers' comp payouts since he came to work for local government in 1986.  The Mayor's annual salary is $40,000. 

Well, maybe the Mayor can try to avoid walking under ladders and crossing paths with black cats in the future.  Surely, bad luck must be to blame for his ongoing series of unfortunate accidents. 

Source: Chicago Tribune:  Small-town mayor gets $20,000 for his 4th workers' compensation claim

William W. Bowser, a partner in our Employment Law Department, is featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer’s coverage (March 31, 2008; Health & Science) of Delaware’s cancer treatment program. Pictured in the article with Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner and state Health & Social Services Secretary Vincent Meconi. Bowser is chairman of the 15-member advisory council formed to develop a cancer-care battle plan for residents of the state.

The article highlights Delaware’s high cancer death rate, and the state’s unique program that provides uninsured residents with free cancer treatment for up to two years. “We wanted to do the things that would make a difference and were possible,” panel chairman Bowser is quoted in the article. He received the National Governor’s Association Award for Distinguished Service to State Government in 2007 for his work as chair of the nationally-recognized Delaware Cancer Consortium.