That Time I Rear-Ended a Sheriff

Posted on by Horman Nichols, LLC

What to do after getting into a car accident, even a fender bender with a Deputy Sheriff.

Written By: Andy Nichols

If you’ve been involved in a car accident, even a minor one, you know it’s a bad experience.  You know what makes a bad experience worse?  When you rear-end a car in traffic and a police officer in uniform steps out of the car you just hit.  Your stress level goes through the roof.  You begin to wonder if you paid that last parking ticket you got downtown, you hope your headlights are all working correctly and you begin to think who your one phone call from jail will be.  

This happened to me.  We were in bumper-to-bumper traffic and I looked down at the radio display, looked up and traffic was stopped.  I couldn’t stop in time and I bumped the Toyota in front of me.  Imagine my response when a deputy sheriff stepped out of the Toyota.  Thankfully, the deputy I hit could not have been nicer.  We pulled over into a parking lot, made sure everyone was okay, exchanged information and went our respective ways.  

It is worth noting that in Maryland, if you get into a car accident and your vehicles are able to be driven, you can move them off the roadway.  If you need to take pictures to memorialize where the vehicles were respective to road signs, lanes of travel, etc., do so, but once you’ve done that, you can move your vehicles.  Not only will your fellow commuters and drivers thank you, for obvious reasons, it’s the safe thing to do.  

While even minor accidents are stressful, here are a few tips to help reduce that stress.  

If you think you may be at fault:

(1) take pictures of the other vehicle(s) to document property damage, particularly if it’s minor.  

(2) Call your insurance company on the spot if you can.  This allows the insurance company the opportunity to speak with the other driver and document any injuries they may be claiming and whether or not they were alone in the vehicle or had passengers.  

(3) Don’t admit fault.  Even if you think you’re at fault, there may be circumstances you’re not aware of at that time that may shift some or all of the liability to another person. 

If you believe the other party is at fault:

(1) Take pictures of the other driver’s license plate, vehicle, driver’s license and insurance card.  Call the other driver’s cell phone immediately and make sure it rings to the phone they have.  This a is great way to make sure you’ve got the number stored. 

 (2) Call their insurance company on the spot because this allows you to confirm they have insurance coverage.  

(3) Even if you’re not feeling any injuries, be very careful how you word a response if someone asks you if you’re injured.  Don’t lie, but consider saying, “I’m not feeling anything right now.”  

Be safe and don’t drive distracted!

Zantac and Ranitidine Cancer Lawsuit

Posted on by Horman Nichols, LLC

Horman Nichols Attorneys at Law are offering free consultations in the Maryland area for the Zantac/Ranitidine Lawsuit.

Currently, there is a class action lawsuit against the manufacturers for the over-the-counter heartburn medication Zantac and its generic form Ranitidine. In April 2020 both drugs were recalled due to producing dangerously high levels of NDMA, a cancer-causing chemical.

If you’ve taken Zantac/Ranitidine, and have been diagnosed with cancer as a result, Horman Nichols is prepared to file a lawsuit on your behalf.

Call Horman Nichols for a free consultation. 301.663.8101

Exotic Dancers Should be Classified as Employees

Posted on by Horman Nichols, LLC

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that exotic dancers at two Maryland night clubs, Fuego Exotic Dance Club and Extasy Exotic Dance Club, were misclassified as independent contractors, when they were in fact employees.

Six dancers brought suit, alleging they were owed back wage and damages as a result of improperly being treated as independent contractors.

Ultimately , money is a strong motivation for employers to classify workers as independent contractors versus as employees.  Designating workers as independent contractors allows employers to not pay minimum wage or overtime, carry workers compensation coverage for the worker or pay for unemployment insurance for the misclassified workers.

Courts generally look at several factors that determine if a worker is an employee versus an independent contractor and the most crucial of these is the amount of control the employer exerts over the worker (i.e., dictate schedules, how the work is to be done, etc.).  The 4th Circuit found that the amount of control the clubs had over the Plaintiffs was enough to create an employer/employee relationship.   Judge Wilkinson III noted in the Court’s opinion, “The clubs insist they had very little control over the dancers. Plaintiffs were allegedly free in the clubs’ view to determine their own work schedules, how and when they performed, and whether they danced at clubs other than Fuego and Extasy. But the relaxed working relationship represented by defendants — the kind that perhaps every worker dreams about — finds little support in the record.”

Possible New Overtime Rules On the Horizon

Posted on by Horman Nichols, LLC

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, approximately 5 million employees that are currently exempt will become eligible for overtime unless their salary is raised.  The current exemptions that will be affected are the “white collar” and the “highly compensated employee” exemptions.

The proposed rules propose to increase the salary level for “white collar” exemptions from the current minimum $23,660.00 per year a year up to approximately $50,440.00 per year.  The proposed rules impact the “highly compensated employee” exemptions by increasing the annual compensation level from $100,000.00 to $122,148.00. However, the “white collar” exemption likely has the potential to impact businesses the most.  Here are five things businesses can start doing now to prepare (as taken from http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2016/04/18/as-new-overtime-rules-near-businesses-need-to-prepare.html)

1. Check State versus Federal Regulations

Each state may enact regulations that differ from federal regulations. Businesses will be subject to whichever set of directives is more generous to employees.

2. Classify Employees by Salary

Employees making over the threshold amount may be exempt from overtime if their job duties primarily involve executive, administrative or professional duties, as defined under the regulations. Make a list of the employees whose salaries do not exceed the threshold because they may be entitled to receive overtime once the changes are enacted.

3. Calculate Employee Hours

Identify exactly how many hours per week each employee works.  If a previously exempt employee made $26,000 annually under the old rules, and actually worked 40 hours per week, then you can convert that salary into an hourly rate equal to their pay, or $12.50 per hour. Monitoring those employees’ work hours proactively with threshold reports and/or scheduling tools may help manage overtime costs or ensure that any work exceeding 40 hours per week is paid at the appropriate overtime rate.

4. Consider Changes to Salaries

Consider a different strategy for employees who make less than the proposed salary threshold, who were previously exempt from overtime and who typically work more than 40 hours per week.  You could raise these employees’ base salaries to at least the exemption threshold.  To determine if this is a more cost-effective approach, calculate the increased salary and compare it to the estimated overtime costs that would otherwise apply.

5. Monitor Overtime

Examine the ebbs and flows of your business and think about seasonal fluctuations.  You may find it’s more cost-effective to hire additional full-time, part-time or even temporary employees.  Or you may want to consider implementing an automated scheduling solution to help manage labor costs.

One final consideration – this rule change was endorsed by the Obama administration, and heavily backed by the Democratic legislators, as such, pundits are offering the opinion that it is possible that any finalized rules and changes could be repealed if a Republican win the White House this fall.