Michigan Claims Affected by Substance Abuse

Michigan Claims Affected by Substance Abuse How Substance Abuse Could Affect a Claim The Social Security Administration (SSA) can  deny a claim for disability benefits  if they believe that substance use is a contributing factor material to the applicant’s disability.SSA issued a Policy Interpretation Ruling on February 20, 2013 to help clarify SSA’s role in evaluating cases involving drug addiction and alcoholism (DAA).[i]   SSA will first determine whether the claimant has a DAA, such as marijuana abuse.  Next, SSA will consider whether the claimant is disabled considering all of the alleged impairments, including substance abuse.  When SSA finds that substance abuse is one of the impairments, the evaluation becomes whether the applicant would still be disabled if he or she stopped abusing that substance.[ii]Importantly, at the initial application level, it’s important to be cautious about information relayed that may not be relevant or necessary to a disability claim. While an applicant must be truthful in his or her application, we have found that oftentimes applicants will include substance abuse as a â€Å"disability† on their application when such use may have only been in the past and may not be material to their disability.  In fact, even if DAA actually caused the medical condition or disability, it doesn’t automatically follow that such use is material to the disability. For example, alcoholic hepatitis or liver failure can be caused or worsened by alcohol use. However, SSA must first go through the above evaluation to determine essentially whether the individual would still be disabled if he or she were to altogether stop abusing alcohol; and, if the answer is â€Å"yes† that the individual would still be disabled, then alcohol abuse is not considered â€Å"material† to the individual’s disability, and he or she still may be eligible to receive disability benefits.Furthermore, we have found that when the individual’s disability includes mental or psychiatric conditions, he or she may have a more difficult time showing that substance abuse is not a contributing factor material to their disability. This is the case because DAA can come in the form of stimulants and depressants – causing individuals to exhibit many of the same symptoms that are manifested by individuals with mental or psychiatric disabilities like depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder to name a few. Nevertheless, even with ongoing use, doctors and mental health specialists can sometimes discern whether an individual’s DAA is material. Our attorneys draft both Physical and Mental Residual Functional Capacity Questionnaires for our client’s treating physicians and specialists to complete that can help SSA understand not only the claimant’s limitations, but also whether DAA is material to his or her disability. These Questionnaires become additional evidence that can help result in a favorable outcome for our clients. To talk with one of our   Social Security Disability attorneys, and schedule a free consultation,  call us  at  (888) 678-5839.[i] See SSR 13-2p. This Ruling rescinds and replaces SSR 82-60 â€Å"Titles II and XVI: Evaluation of Drug Addiction and Alcoholism.†[ii] In other words, SSA will determine whether DAA is â€Å"material† to the finding of disability in that case. 20 CFR 404.1535 and 416.935. Substance Abuse

Sexual Harassment against women at the Workplaces Essays

Sexual Harassment against women at the Workplaces Essays Sexual Harassment against women at the Workplaces After a long battle of almost 16 years after the verdict of Supreme Court in Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan, in 1997, India finally enacted the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act') for prevention of sexual harassment against women at the workplaces. Sexual harassment in workplace includes unwelcome verbal, visual or physical conduct of a sexual nature that is severe or pervasive and affects working conditions or creates a hostile work environment. It is a serious factor that renders womens involvement in works unsafe and affects her right to work with dignity. It endanger the victims job, negatively affect her job performance or undermine the victims personal dignity. It may manifest itself physically or psychologically. Its milder and subtle forms may imply verbal innuendo, inappropriate affectionate gestures or propositions for dates and sexual favors. However it may also assume blatant and ugly forms like leering, physical grabbing and sexual assault or sexual molestation. Before, the verdict of Supreme Court in Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan, women experiencing sexual harassment at workplace had to lodge a complaint under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code that deals with the criminal assault of women to outrage womens modesty, and Section 509 that punishes an individual or individuals for using a word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman. The entire scenario changed in 1997 with the introduction of Vishaka guidelines. The Supreme Court for the first time recognized, acknowledged and explicitly defined sexual harassment as an unwelcome sexual gesture or behavior aimed or having a tendency to outrage the modesty of woman directly or indirectly. Defining sexual harassment as an act aimed towards gender based discrimination that affects womens right to life and livelihood, the Supreme Court developed broad based guidelines for employers. The mandatory guidelines were aimed towards resolution and prevention of sexual harassment. These guidelines brought in their purview all employers in organized and unorganized sectors by holding them responsible for providing safe work environment for women. The Vishaka guidelines apply to all women whether students, working part time or full time, on contract or in voluntary/honorary capacity. The guidelines include acts like Physical contact and advances, Showing pornography, a demand or request for sexual favours. Any other unwelcome physical, verbal/non-verbal such as whistling, obscene jokes, comments about physical appearances, threats, innuendos, gender based derogatory remarks, etc. It also provided for the formation of a Complaint Committee by the employers, which shall be headed by a woman employee and not less than half of its members would be women. All complaints of sexual harassment by any woman employee would be directed to this committee. The committee would advise the victim on further course of action and recommend to the management the course of action against the person accused of harassment. It also levied an obligation on the employer to make an express prohibition of sexual harassment in any form and make the employees aware of the implications through in house communication system / posters / meetings. However, despite the guidelines, women continued to be harassed in the workplace because the Vishaka Guidelines were being breached in both substance and spirit by state functionaries who harass women workers via legal and extra legal means, making them suffer and by insulting their dignity. In Medha Kotwal Lele v Union of India, the Court stated that the Vishaka Guidelines had to be implemented in form, substance and spirit in order to help bring gender parity by ensuring women can work with dignity, decency and due respect. It noted that the Vishaka Guidelines require both employers and other responsible persons or institutions to observe them and to help prevent sexual harassment of women. The Court held that a number of states were falling short in this regard. Recently, the issue of sexual harassment of women at the workplace assumed prominence with serious allegations being made against a former Supreme Court judge, whose court pronounced verdict on huge scams, and the editor of a magazine with truth and exposure as its masthead. In the case of the former, a court-appointed committee found that the complainants statement prima facie

Free Essays on Decision Making Model

Making decisions is a major portion of the manager's responsibilities. It is not an aspect that cannot be taken lightly nor can it be done in a hasty manner. Hasty, careless decisions can have devastating results on the manager's department or even for the entire company. Decisions that are made with deliberation using different kinds of processes, however, can lead the department or company to better and/or more profitable operations. When decisions are indeed made in this manner, the manager should feel confident that he or she has made an appropriate decision and is the best option given the information available at the time. This does not mean to say that the manager will always make the correct decision; lack of information or situational changes can lead to faulty analysis. However, if the manager uses critical thinking and proven successful decision-making strategies, he or she can and should be confident in whatever action they have decided is appropriate. Their own confidence level will, in fact, affect the outcome of their action. To make an effective and ethical decision, a manager could utilize a decision making model that consists of several, relatively simple steps. The first step in this model would be to gather all of the pertinent facts. By doing this, a manager will ensure that he or she has all of their bases covered. Secondly, a manager will need to create a list of all the stakeholders involved. They would need to ask these simple questions: Who is involved? How will it affect them? What could happen if chose an alternative? Then, utilizing the last question asked, imagine the alternatives that could be taken and then discard those that are clearly wrong. Through this technique, a manager will be able to, figuratively speaking, â€Å"weed† out the wrong from the right decisions. Lastly, picture each remaining alternative in terms of some relevant questions and then choose correctly. These questions includ... Free Essays on Decision Making Model Free Essays on Decision Making Model Making decisions is a major portion of the manager's responsibilities. It is not an aspect that cannot be taken lightly nor can it be done in a hasty manner. Hasty, careless decisions can have devastating results on the manager's department or even for the entire company. Decisions that are made with deliberation using different kinds of processes, however, can lead the department or company to better and/or more profitable operations. When decisions are indeed made in this manner, the manager should feel confident that he or she has made an appropriate decision and is the best option given the information available at the time. This does not mean to say that the manager will always make the correct decision; lack of information or situational changes can lead to faulty analysis. However, if the manager uses critical thinking and proven successful decision-making strategies, he or she can and should be confident in whatever action they have decided is appropriate. Their own confidence level will, in fact, affect the outcome of their action. To make an effective and ethical decision, a manager could utilize a decision making model that consists of several, relatively simple steps. The first step in this model would be to gather all of the pertinent facts. By doing this, a manager will ensure that he or she has all of their bases covered. Secondly, a manager will need to create a list of all the stakeholders involved. They would need to ask these simple questions: Who is involved? How will it affect them? What could happen if chose an alternative? Then, utilizing the last question asked, imagine the alternatives that could be taken and then discard those that are clearly wrong. Through this technique, a manager will be able to, figuratively speaking, â€Å"weed† out the wrong from the right decisions. Lastly, picture each remaining alternative in terms of some relevant questions and then choose correctly. These questions includ... Free Essays on Decision Making Model Decision Making Model Making a good decision requires time and effort. Everyone makes decisions everyday. Most of these decisions are made without a lot of time and effort. When confronted with ‘big’ or ‘important’ decisions most of us struggle with how to make the best decision. If we try to make decisions using logic, careful analysis and perform a thorough information search we should feel confident that we are going to make a good decision. When applying rationality to decision making we are forced to confront and clarify our priorities and values. Imagine someone walking into a neighborhood drugstore to purchase a bottle of Scope mouthwash. What made him/her purchase Scope rather than the Listerine that he or she has been using since the tender age of ten years old? The answer may lie in critical thinking. What is critical thinking? According to Bassham et al, â€Å"critical thinking is the general term given to a wide range of cognitive skills and intellectual dispositions needed to effectively identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments and truth claims, to discover and overcome personal prejudices and biases, to formulate and present convincing reasons in support of conclusions, and to make reasonable, intelligent decisions about what to believe and what to do† (Bassham et al, 2002). Does a person always use critical thinking? Not always, because we are so used to being in a decision routine. But we all may have used critical thinking at one time or another. Rational Decision Model What is a rational decision? â€Å"A rational decision is one which best achieves the multitude of objectives of the decision maker(s).† (Ernest H. Horman & Mary Ann Selly, 2001). When we want to make the ‘best’ decision we need to take our time, look at our options and really try to figure out what we want to accomplish. We have to think about the various scenarios that may result because of the decision we make. One model that...

Implementation of the Marketing Strategy Research Paper

Implementation of the Marketing Strategy - Research Paper Example The researcher of this essay aims to analyze the Implementation of the Marketing Strategy. This essay demonstrates that the second thing that will be key in the implementation will be visiting bars near campuses to promote the beer brands. This will require the participation of the marketing team, sales team and the suppliers in the areas selected.The online marketing will begin in March 2015 and will be carried out throughout by means of the social media platforms. Also, it is interesting that since there are minimal costs associated with the platforms, the plan will last for the whole year but will be updated, regularly, so that the right content is displayed. And it is clear, that the campus promotions, on the other hand, will take place during the school going seasons.This paper makes a final conclusion that to be able to engage the potential consumers and buyers, online interaction and sharing of ideas between the company and the users of its profiles will be facilitated. The ma rketing team will respond to the questions, thoughts, and issues raised by the consumers in the various channels used (Barker, ‎Barker & ‎Bormann, 2012). It will also entail tracking and be monitoring the reaction of the fans and followers and adjusting the products and sales as per the needs of the market. All in all, the author of this paper underlines that the implementation of the marketing plan is truly the most important aspect and Hop Valley Brewing Company will publish content on the various social media platforms.

Jong & Hartog - article review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Jong & Hartog - article review - Essay Example The importance of innovation is further seen in the amount of research geared towards understanding how it can be encouraged and cultivated among organizational people. Some of these researches have looked at innovation in terms of a personality characteristic, while others examine it as a behavioral characteristic. The article under review has adopted the latter view. It looks at innovation as a behavioral aspect that can suffer or benefit from the manager’s involvement. In this case, the study looks at the positive aspect where interest is on what the managers can do to influence individual innovation. The study considers this as an extension of existent studies which have demonstrated that employees’ innovative behavior is largely reliant on employee interaction in the workplace (Jong & Hartog .p.42). The future of organizations lie in the ability of leaders to coordinate and integrate their employees differing styles via a process of applied creativity that comprise s defining novel problems, coming up with solutions to these problems and employing these solutions. This demonstrates the importance of leaders in prompting individual innovation, however, irrespective of this acknowledgment little research exists on the role of leadership in spurring employee innovation. It is the void resulting from this inadequacy that the present article seeks to address. The aim is to provide insight into the role of leaders in individual innovation. To create an objective study the article thoroughly examines the two main concepts, innovation and leadership. The researchers look at innovation as a process made up of two main phases, initiation and implementation. As a two staged process, the first step concludes with the production of an idea and the second stage concludes as soon as the idea is implemented (Jong & Hartog .p.43). This approach contributes to the adopted definition which considers innovative behavior as a multi-faceted, overriding construct th at represents all behaviors through which employees can contribute to the innovation process. The concern of the paper is idea generation and application behavior. In regard to leadership, the article considers leadership as the process of influencing others towards achieving some kind of desired outcome. The article mainly relies on the behavioral perspective of leadership as this will help in addressing how leader behavior influences employees’ idea generation and application behavior (Jong & Hartog .p.43). The next step is establishing a connection between leadership and individual innovation. This is enabled by looking at theory-based leadership styles. The theory-based leadership styles were originally developed for variant purposes such as the assessment of leaders’ impact on performance or effectiveness as opposed to innovation-related outcomes. Looking at the adopted approach it is possible to identify that the study dwells on the subject of leadership in relat ion to innovation. In this case, innovation is the dependent factor as it is influenced by the leadership approach. What is the paradigm? A research paradigm is a perspective about research held by a community of researchers that is based on a set of shared assumptions, concepts, values, and practices (Johnson and Christensen, 2012.p.31). More simply, it is an

Gangs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Gangs - Essay Example The latest definition of gangs depicts criminality as an inherent idea in such groupings. Basically, a function is termed a gang when it is identified as having such aspects as; an organizational structure, identifiable territory, identifiable leadership, recurrent interactions. In addition, gangs have been closely linked to serious criminal behaviors that are violent in nature. Information from the Past studies reveals an increased prevalence of gangs’ activities in major cities. For instance, in the past decade, over 25, 0000 active gangs were believed to be in existence in America alone. The reports have indicated a slight decline of gang activities between 1996 and 2003; however by the end of 2010 the yearly estimates realized a significant increase. The latest study indicates an approximation of greater than 29000 gangs, which represents a 4.6% increase from 2009.certainly; this presents the highest yearly estimate since 1997. Gang’s activities exist in smaller in the same manner they exist in suburban counties and larger cities just. However, the latter have been depicted as their primary locations, considered to host nearly two- thirds of the Gangs nationally. Although suburban Counties and larger Cities expectedly accounts for large numbers of gangs, there is also substantial disparity within each area type. Such is the case that 45% of bigger cities and more than half of suburban counties report ten or less active gangs within their jurisdictions. On the other hand, a greater part of agencies in rural counties and smaller cities report less than five gangs. The geographical locations also explain a considerably large variation in the number of gang members reported between 2006 and 2010. The suburban Counties and Bigger cities have been depicted again as reporting large numbers of gangs. Here, one in every five large cities accounted for 1,000 or even more gang members-an estimate deemed higher when compared to one in ten reported in subu rban counties. Gangs have been closely linked to homicide activities. The period between 2000 and 2010 saw an average of 80 percent persons reporting gang-related homicides within their jurisdictions. In this case, the data got from the NYGS sample depicting the period between 2006 to 2010 showed an average of nearly 2,000 annually homicides. In that same time, the FBI anticipated, on average, greater than 16,000 homicides all over America. A further report relating to cities recorded populations of over 100,000persons, showed the number of gang-linked homicides as having increased by approximately 10 % from 2008 to 2009, a similar scenario depicted in the period between 2009 and 2010. Another significant gang related information from the respondents showed crimes ranging from person offenses, drug related crimes and use of fire arms. However, the relative absence of comprehensive and definitive gang-crime data regarding violent and nonviolent crimes indicates that there is so much still to be told on gang crime trends. Gang activities have also been extended to take in street –crime like drug trafficking, extortion and theft. Also, gangs have been shown to undertake victimization of individuals through kidnapping and robbery. A report from the studies conducted depicts street gangs’ dominance in certain â€Å"turf† or territory where they extort people in the name of â€Å"providing protection.† In such cases, they use fronts to display control and gain proceeds in certain areas.

Mahler And Strauss Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mahler And Strauss - Essay Example Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss were two of the most famous composers of the last 19th century. Both were influenced by Beethoven, and both were extremely proficient and had a lasting impact on classical music into the 20th century. It is very interesting and instructive to examine their aesthetics and the various techniques they used to help establish their remarkable reputations and make such wonderful music. To begin with, both Mahler and Strauss were composers in the late Romantic period. Their music featured clear harmonies and melodies and had themes that were often rooted in nature and in love—indeed, some of their best works were inspired by failed love affairs (something everyone can identify with). Both also involved and were inspired by various folk songs of their homelands. Another important element seen in the works of both men is tonality. Mahler experimented with tone a lot A lot of this can be said to have influence later atonalist composers like Schoenberg, who really respected Mahler and drew a great deal of inspiration from the older man. Mahler pushed what was then seen as the limits of conventional tonality. Strauss too would experiment with tone in his tone poems. He started off quite conservative, but after discovering Wagner, began to experiment a lot more.