New York Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

The court usually looks at what his risk of flight is. The stronger the ties to the community, the less the flight risk. So if he has a job, then get a letter from his employer showing how long his employment has been with the company, and that he is a faithful and loyal employee that will most likely continue on into the future, tax return showing stability of income, any property ownership also is helpful. ... Read Answer

Possibly but I'm not sure you have monetary damage to recover. The denial of the club probably isn't what we call an "adverse employment action," such as a demotion, pay reduction, termination, denial of raise, or forfeiting benefits. (It didn't cause you any monetary loss.) A court may consider injunctive relief to compel the employer to allow a social club, but the employer would have the opportunity to explain itself and defend its position. Absent monetary damage, getting an attorney to sue on contingency is unlikely unless you have identified several (no specific number but more than a handful) coworkers who are interested in the club to bring a class action under state law.... Read Answer

Sorry to hear what happened to your friend. He should speak with an experienced personal injury lawyer.  Many excellent personal injury lawyers can be found using the search tool on the Lawyers.com homepage. Best regards, Jonathan R. Ratchik, Esq. Kramer, Dunleavy & Ratchik, PLLC 61 Broadway, Suite 2220 New York, NY  10006 (212) 226-6662 www.kdrpilawyers.com  ... Read Answer

Sorry to hear what happened to you.  You have a right to discharge your lawyer at any time.  My office regularly handles pedestrian knockdowns / motor vehicle crashes.  Would be happy to speak with you about your case.  Feel free to call me at 212-226-6662.  You can also find many excellent personal injury lawyers using the search tool on the Lawyers.com homepage. Best regards, Jonathan R. Ratchik, Esq. Kramer, Dunleavy & Ratchik, PLLC 61 Broadway, Suite 2220 New York, NY  10006 (212) 226-6662 www.kdrpilawyers.com... Read Answer

Sorry to hear what happend to you.  Here's a link to the Notice of Claim form for the MTA / New York City Transit Authority, https://new.mta.info/document/29871  Keep in mind that a Notice of Claim must be filed within ninety (90) days of the date of incident or you will not be able to file a lawsuit (which must be filed within one year and ninety days of the date of incident).  In any slip and fall case, you must demonstrate that the NYCTA either created the condition on which you slipped, knew about the condition (actual notice), or that the condition existed for a sufficient length of time before your fall such that the NYCTA should have discovered it and corrected it / cleaned it up (constructive notice). Best regards, Jonathan R. Ratchik, Esq. Kramer, Dunleavy & Ratchik, PLLC 61 Broadway, Suite 2220 New York, NY  10006 (212) 226-6662 www.kdrpilawyers.com  ... Read Answer

No, the executor of the Will cannot keep your inheritance.  Just the opposite.  The exector of the Will has to distribute a decdedent's property in accordance with terms of the decedent's Last Will & Testament.  Here's an article I found online which you might find helpful, https://www.findlaw.com/estate/estate-administration/what-does-an-executor-do.html#:~:text=The%20executor%20is%20the%20person,taxes%20comes%20from%20the%20estate. Best regards, Jonathan R. Ratchik, Esq. Kramer, Dunleavy & Ratchik, PLLC 61 Broadway, Suite 2220 New York, NY  10006 (212) 226-6662 www.kdrpilawyers.com  ... Read Answer

Workers compensation is a specialty area. I moved your question to attorneys handling workers compensation. Those attorneys are specialists in workers compensation claims. Some of them also handle personal injury and/or social security disability claims. For those of us who handle employment discrimination cases most all of our clients are currently looking for work and able to work if a position became available. This applies even when it looks like a potential employee might not be offered work because that prospective employee is perceived or regarded as disabled. Good luck.... Read Answer

Each DA's Office in NYC has different plea policies, however, speaking generally if this is your first offense it is likely that you'll be able to resolve it with a non-criminal resolution to your case. With that being said, the weapon component will probably play a large role in the DA's offer on your case - as you can imagine menacing with a stick is treated much less seriously than menacing with a gun for instance. With that being said, your best bet is to go through all of the specifics of your case with your attorney and he/she will be able to best advise as to their expectations for the resolution of your case. ... Read Answer

Unfortunately this is more of a fact specific question than one someone would be able to answer just based upon the charges. With that being said, from what you've mentioned you're charged with all misdemeanors so probation is certainly an option. Some factors that may impact the DA's offer or the potential sentencing by the Judge if convicted at trial are, what your prior felony conviction is for, whether the complainant is cooperative in this case, the severity of the alleged conduct, the harm that's alleged to the complainant, your background information, among other factors. Your best bet here is to contact a criminal defense lawyer who can start negotiating with the DA's office on your behalf and who can fight for you at trial if need be. ... Read Answer

From what you're saying, it's possible that the police department has a warrant out for your arrest. This can come up any time that law enforcement runs your name in their system - such as if you're pulled over for a traffic stop. With that being said, your best bet here is to contact an attorney who can speak to the police department for you, find out whether or not there is an active warrant for your arrest, find out what the charges are against you, and potentially arrange a voluntary surrender to clear up the warrant and start fighting the case.    As far as what you may be charged with, from what you've stated it seems that it's possible you may be charged with petit or even grand larceny depending on the amount of money that they are alleging you stole. With that being said, being charged with a crime does not give you a criminal record in and of itself. After you are charged and arraigned, your attorney will be provided discovery materials related to your case, will be able to examine the evidence and discuss it with you, advise you on what viable defenses exist as well as the potential for plea bargaining with the District Attorney's Office for a favorable resolution to your case. Understand though, that the simple omission of video does not necessarily mean that you can't be charged with a crime. Oftentimes people are charged with a crime where there is not direct evidence such as video or DNA, but rather they are charged with circumstantial evidence such as your pin code having been used to open the register when the money went missing.    At any rate, from what you've said you may be at risk of being arrested, so you should definitely consider consulting an attorney who can fight your case for you. ... Read Answer

No one can answer your question with any degree of certainty without reviewing your contracts, agreements, and legal documents. However, the general rule is that an employee is either able to perform the essential functions of their job or they are not. In some situations where physical or mental conditions prevent working employees may recover short term disability benefits while they are on Family Medical Leave. Remember that FMLA leave is unpaid unless the employee has accrued benefits or unless some policy of insurance covers their inability to work. Collecting benefits from any source due to disability generally requires full disclosure. For example, if an employee is receiving insurance benefits and returns to work that employee would inform both the insurance carrier and the employer that they have returned to work and both would want to know how much income the employee is earning, having returned to some type of work. Failing to inform insurance carrriers while receiving benefits or informing an employer that an employee is taking FMLA leave while working elsewhere could be fraudulent. That could include charges of insurance fraud although you should pay an attorney to review all of your documentation before working or continuing to make claims. You listed harassment as the area of discrimination or hostile workplace but there were no facts indicating that you were harassed. Hostile workplaces or harassment can occur due to race, religion, sex, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, national origin and any one or more other protected classes of employees. Stressful or uncomfortable or uncivil supervisors are not necessarily harassing nor unlawful. Many employees work for unpleasant supervisors but that does not make those supervisors "hostile" or lawbreaking if they are not targeting you or others because of the protected class or classes to which you belong. Is your stress caused by something you cannot change or control. Is your supervisor targeting you because of your disability or regarding you as disabled or because of some other protected class you belong to? This should be flushed out with an employment lawyer. You definitely should consult with an employment lawyer to confirm that you are not yourself potentially in violation of benefit recovery laws. Stress by itself may or may not be a disability. It depends on its severity and how it was caused or its origination. Remember that workers compensation claims without physical injuries or unusual assaults are rarely compensable and those claims are very fact specific. If your claim does not qualify as work comp it might be covered under STD but that would not necessarily mean that it was caused by a hostile workplace or discriminatory. It also depends on whether the stress stems from general workplace stresses or unlawful discrimination targeting one or more protected classes of employees. Get a legal consultation from employment lawyers sooner than later. Good luck.... Read Answer

Does DC 37 have an own occupation policy?  I'm not even sure what type of policy this refers to but you'll need to get a copy of your Collective Bargaining Agreement to find the answer.  Am I allowed to work in another field while collecting dc 37 short-term disability? No. The Union has advised you to take FMLA and STD. STD is a statutory benefit available to all New York employees. When you take STD leave, you are certifying to the insurer that you are unable to work. Absent a separate Union benefit that would provide for paid leave pending a dispute (which probably doesn't exist given the advice you received), your only other option would be to take an unpaid leave of absence while working in another field.  ... Read Answer

Correct. Once you have complained of some type of "employment discrimination" which might include sexual harassment or racial harassment or national origin harassment then that might be a hostile work environment. That is much different from being harassed because you are not performing your job duties exactly in the manner your supervisor wishes. Harassment because of discrimination is not ok. Harassment because you are not following exactly what is being asked of you and others who do similar work is just a conflict with a supervisor which is often best resolved by moving to some new position like a transfer or new job. HR will investigate unlawful discrimination and the employee does not conduct their own investigation which could be insubordination which can result in termination. HR does not investigate just complaints about a supervisor which have no reason to believe discrimination is being alleged or just sour grapes. The latter usually resolves itself with the employee's new job voluntarily or involuntarily. So yes you may not violate instructions from HR. But if you did not say words which usually include discrimination because of .... don't expect much to happen. Start looking for other positions if the hostility is not discriminatory. Hostile does not mean generally not nice or not civil. At work it means discriminatory or it's probably nothing the law is designed to protect. That's the reality check for employment law.... Read Answer

It's worth a private consultation but any lawyer will need more specifics to be of any assistance.  I see at least 3 topics to discuss, specifically whether: (i) the employer has a basis to oppose unemployment for misconduct; (ii) the employer's on-site substance abuse testing was lawful; and (iii) there is any basis to infer your termination was discriminatory or retaliatory as opposed to a lawful exercise of at-will termination rights. ... Read Answer

For starters, you're posting from New York (apparently). New York law, called long-arm jurisdiction, specifically excludes out-of-state defamation about someone in New York. So you'd have to sue this guy in Florida. You can write letters and make demands from New York, assuming you know who he is, but a lawsuit has be to in Florida. Being called a pedophile is probably going to qualify for libel in any state, but consult with a Florida counsel to discuss the specifics including any Florida SLAPP Act and privileges that may apply. ... Read Answer

Unless you have a clear connection with the UK, you may find that the embassy will be less than sympathetic to a request for an H-1B visa appointment as third country cases are generally disfavored. You may wish to continue monitoring the situation in India to see if a slot opens up, and if it does, to grab it. Hopefully, you will be able to obtain a slot to fulfill your plans of returning to the US in January. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

First, congratulations on your third anniversary. Second, without the ability to ask clarifying questions, any response I give here will be inadequate, so please keep that in mind as you read this. Based on what I can glean from your statement, I think a few things are happening.  1. Your primary objective is to get health insurance for your wife. So that you know, your wife doesn't need an SSN to apply for private health insurance. She might need an SSN for government health insurance. You need to talk to a security disability benefits attorney to determine if she needs an SSN. 2. Your wife is a noncitizen who doesn't appear to have a Green Card. I recommend that you talk to an immigration attorney to help apply for your wife's green card. In the meantime, please visit the USCIS website to become familiar with the green card process. https://www.uscis.gov/green-card All that said, your question was about her eligibility for an SSN. The social security administration (SSA) is responsible for issuing SSNs. The SSA has different eligibility requirements for the two types of noncitizen-applicants (immigrant vs. nonimmigrants). Please refer to SSA's website or visit your local SSA office for up-to-date information. Here is a link to the SSA eligibility requirements for noncitizens: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10096.pdf.If you meet the qualifications, you can apply online at their website (https://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber/) or visit your local office and apply in person. ... Read Answer

Sorry to hear what happened to you.  As owner and operator of the NYC subway system, the MTA / NYCTA has a legal responsibility to maintain the platform in a reasonably safe condition.  It is responsible for any dangerous conditions on the platform about which it had notice, either actual notice (it knew about the condition) or constructive notice (the dangerous condition was visible and apparent and existed for a long enough period before your fall to have permitted the MTA / NYCTA to discovery it).  Unless you can demonstrate that the MTA / NYCTA either knew or should have known about the dangerous condition, they will not be legally responsible for your fall and resulting injuries.  In other words, if the condition that caused you to fall existed for only a few minutes (or even seconds) before your fall, the MTA / NYCTA would not have had sufficient time in which to discover it and correct it.   Keep in mind that before you can bring a lawsuit against the MTA / NYCTA, you must first file a Notice of Claim within 90 days of the incident, .  If you do not file a Notice of Claim during such time period, you will be unable to bring a lawsuit later on. Best regards, Jonathan R. Ratchik, Esq. Kramer, Dunleavy & Ratchik, PLLC 61 Broadway, Suite 2220 New York, NY  10006 (212) 226-6662 www.kdrpilawyers.com... Read Answer

Sorry to hear what happened to you.  As owner and operator of the NYC subway system, the MTA / NYCTA has a legal responsibility to maintain the platform in a reasonably safe condition.  It is responsible for any dangerous conditions on the platform about which it had notice, either actual notice (it knew about the condition) or constructive notice (the dangerous condition was visible and apparent and existed for a long enough period before your fall to have permitted the MTA / NYCTA to discovery it).  Unless you can demonstrate that the MTA / NYCTA either knew or should have known about the dangerous condition, they will not be legally responsible for your fall and resulting injuries.  In other words, if the condition that caused you to fall existed for only a few minutes (or even seconds) before your fall, the MTA / NYCTA would not have had sufficient time in which to discover it and correct it.   Keep in mind that before you can bring a lawsuit against the MTA / NYCTA, you must first file a Notice of Claim within 90 days of the incident, .  If you do not file a Notice of Claim during such time period, you will be unable to bring a lawsuit later on. Best regards, Jonathan R. Ratchik, Esq. Kramer, Dunleavy & Ratchik, PLLC 61 Broadway, Suite 2220 New York, NY  10006 (212) 226-6662 www.kdrpilawyers.com... Read Answer