Hates Crimes May Cover Gender, Sexual Orientation
Headline Legal News
The Associated Press is reporting that on Thursday the Senate approved an expansion of federal hate crime laws. The legislation will allow the 1968 hate crimes law to cover those attacked because of their gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, "This bill simply recognizes that there is a difference between assaulting someone to steal his money, or doing so because he is gay,or disabled, or Latino or Muslim."
The legislation also ends the "federally protected acts," meaning that now it doesn't matter where the crime takes place. The 1968 bill only covered crimes in federal government-related environments, including schools and court rooms.
This piece of legislation is an amendment to the new defense spending bill that is expected to be finished sometime next week. President Barack Obama has promised to veto the bill if it includes more money for an F-22 fighter program he is trying to end.
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Does a car or truck accident count as a work injury?
If an employee is injured in a car crash while on the job, they are eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits. “On the job” injuries are not limited to accidents and injuries that happen inside the workplace, they may also include injuries suffered away from an employee’s place of work while performing a job-related task, such as making a delivery or traveling to a client meeting.
Regular commutes to and from work don’t usually count. If you get into an accident on your way in on a regular workday, it’s probably not considered a work injury for the purposes of workers’ compensation.
If you drive around as part of your job, an injury on the road or loading/unloading accident is likely a work injury. If you don’t typically drive around for work but are required to drive for the benefit of your employer, that would be a work injury in many cases.
If you are out of town for work, pretty much any driving would count as work related. For traveling employees, any accidents or injuries that happen on a work trip, even while not technically working, can be considered a work injury. The reason is because you wouldn’t be in that town in the first place, had you not been on a work trip.
Workers’ compensation claims for truck drivers, traveling employees and work-related injuries that occur away from the job site can be challenging and complex. At Krol, Bongiorno & Given, we understand that many families depend on the income of an injured worker, and we are proud of our record protecting the injured and disabled. We have handled well over 30,000 claims for injured workers throughout the state of Illinois.