M. A. SMITH
A PROFESSIONAL LAW CORPORATION
Michael A. Smith, Attorney at Law
E-mail: masaplc@hotmail.com
319 E. Foothill Blvd., #C Voice - (626) 357-1177
Arcadia, CA 91006 Facsimile - (626) 357-4588
March 2006 No. 10
BLOCK THOSE SOLICITORS
Tired of solicitors calling during dinner or your favorite movie? Stop them in their tracks by registering you phone numbers, including cell phones, on the National Do Not Call Registry. Call them at (888) 382-1222 or go on-line and register at www.donotcall.gov. Your registration lasts five years.
BOOMERANGS
Corporate America is actively seeking out ex-employees as a hiring strategy. Ex-employees are cheaper to hire and often more productive than those recruited from scratch.
The estimated savings: 1/3 to 2/3 of the cost of bringing in a new recruit.
MEDICAL CARE
According to the American College of Physicians (ACP), “Primary care (general practitioner) is on the verge of collapse.” Not enough graduating physicians are going into primary care and those currently in practice want out.
ACP’s solution: put primary care doctors in charge of organizing a patient’s care and make patients responsible for monitoring their own health. This would include instituting preventive medicine which would go a long way to cutting costs for patients and insurance companies.
GENETIC PRIVACY
In Washington state, detectives posed as a law firm to trick a suspected murderer into giving up his DNA. The DNA was taken from an envelope mailed to the suspect inviting him to participate in a fictitious class action suit.
An amicus brief has been filed on behalf of the WA State Bar Assoc. contending, such ruses harm the relationship between clients and their attorneys. See State v. Athan, No. 75312-1.
ON-THE-JOB VIOLENCE
Forty-seven million Americans experience psychological or physical aggression while at work. Not from co-workers but from customers clients or patients.
More than 40 percent report being victims of screaming, insults or threats. Six percent have actually been slapped, kicked or attacked.
THE COURT SPEAKS
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled, the government can seize a person’s Social Security benefits to pay old student loans.
GRAY IS GOOD
Employers are finding older workers are repositories of hard-to-replace knowledge and experience which is critical to business. Workers 55 and older are growing 4 times faster than the work force as a whole. By 2012, this age group will account for more than 19 percent of the labor force. In the same era, people in their prime working years (25 to 44) will shrink to 43 percent of the work force.
NEW COMPUTER VIRUS
A new computer virus, Virkel.F, comes as a file called BETA8WEBINSTLAL.EXE and can be downloaded from a Web site. Running the program installs a virus that sends download links to the computer user’s MSN Messenger buddies. The virus falsely labels the link as “MSN Messenger 8 Working BETA.”
It also connects your machine to a botnet server, meaning a person’s computer can be controlled remotely to attack other machines or send spam.
This type of malicious software is growing more common and Microsoft’s instant-messenger infrastructure is the most popular conduit for attack.
NUMBERS CRUNCH
A joint study by AARP and Tower Perrin claims an economic impact on companies facing the upcoming retirement of eligible workers exists.
Replacing experienced workers could cost 50 percent or more of the former employee’s annual salary in turnover-related costs. This cost is even higher for jobs requiring specialized skills, advanced training, extensive experience and knowledge; skills often possessed by workers 50 or older. Keeping older employees is marginally higher in may cases.
WINNERS NEVER CHEAT
In his new book, Winners Never Cheat: Everyday Values We Learned as Children (But May have Forgotten), Jon M. Huntsman offers a moral compass for business leaders and, in deed, all of us, to live by that is based on his personal experiences. His principles include:
* Compete fiercely and fairly, but no cutting in line
* Set the example -– risk, responsibility and reliability
* Revenge is unproductive: learn to move on
* Operate businesses and organizations as if they are family-owned
Huntsman also stresses, among other principles, the importance of surrounding oneself with associates who listen to their conscience and act accordingly; of treating customers, colleagues, employees and competitors with respect; and of returning favors and good fortune by helping out those less fortunate.
WORD OF THE MONTH
The word for March is leprechaun (what else?) which The American Heritage Dictionary defines as:
An elf in Irish folklore.
COMMENTS OR SUGGESTIONS?
Call Paula at (626) 357-1177 or e-mail/write her at paulasmith1000@hotmail.com.