Title: Unwanted touching escalated to physical postures of intimidation after I reported to HR.

Question:
I've been the victim of ongoing sexual harassment from late December to February 12; during this time, a coworker would walk behind me several times a day and run his hand along my back. I informally notified my supervisor mid-January, but declined to put in a formal complaint with HR, as my supervisor and I both wanted to try a less confrontational approach. He was eager to hold a floor meeting with the whole department and go over the employee handbook together, specifically spending time going over what sexual harassment was and setting a tone of zero tolerance.

When he held the meeting, he addressed a lot of unrelated issues, and spent thirty seconds or so on sexual harassment, saying something to the effect of, "As a reminder, sexual harassment is not permitted, please see your handbooks for details." After the meeting, he pulled me aside and said that the floor manager (his supervisor) had told him he couldn't have a meeting going into detail about sexual harassment, and to just refer employees to the handbook. He felt bad about not being able to do more, and asked me to let him know if anything else happened.

The harassment continued, and during this time, my supervisor had me actively training with and working around my harasser. So I filed a formal report with my supervisor to be submitted to his manager and HR on February 14.

The touching stopped after this, though it took over a week for HR to move the coworker to a different work station, though we both remained in the same room and the nature of his work meant that he was auditing some of my work. The day after I made my report, my supervisor asked me to work at the station sandwiched between this coworker and another man who we all understand to be my harasser's sidekick.

Though my harasser did not touch me again after February 14, he made a point of being in my work area several times a day, chatting and greeting other coworkers by name while altogether ignoring me. Though everyone involved in this work occasionally has a reason to be in my work area (to grab parts or confer with coworkers), this individual was in the area almost twice as often as anyone else on his team.

Starting last week, (3/21) he began physically intimidating me by standing near my work station and watching me work while we were alone in the area. He also blocked the entrance to my work station (a few feet away from me) and stood with his arms crossed, staring at me while I talked with a coworker. He did not move until the coworker needed to exit the area.

I attempted to report this new physically intimidating behavior to HR, but the HR representative told me she was too busy and had me make my report to the floor manager (my supervisor's boss) instead. This was on 3/26.

The next day (3/27), I met with both HR and the floor manager, and I was informed that I would be moved to a new department effective immediately. This new department is actually in the process of moving to an entirely new building -- this new building is more than twice as far away from my home as my current place of work, and puts a huge burden on me in terms of getting to work every day.

During this meeting, the HR representative told me that the man I was accusing of harassment/intimidation was a conscientious, exemplary worker who had been with the company over 4 years, and was a family man, and that she believed him -- his side of the story is that he is intimidated by me, and so they are moving me to a new department and will be "monitoring" the situation. The HR representative further told me that I was a temporary worker and this was their attempt to keep me around.

I began keeping a log of specific dates and times of the unwanted touch on February 12, and began logging each time he came into my work area and standing around chatting to coworkers. I have also been writing down reports of the meetings with my supervisor and HR.

Today I began the EEOC filing process, but am stuck in limbo until they have an opening to do an interview with me as a final step before submitting the claim.

My question is, what else should I be doing? Or, what else can I do? Am I being unreasonable? I feel so incredibly frustrated and victimized, not just by my harasser, but by the HR representative and the floor manager.

Answer: At this point, you get a lawyer. This company has no loyalty to you and they have majorly dropped the ball. Call the state bar association for a referral. Document everything. What was done, to your supervisor and HR's response.Answer #2: Can you escalate it to someone above the hr manager?


Title: Boss told me to tell him all of my medical issues

Question:
Backstory... I am pregnant and recently started fainting. It was a big surprise at first, but now I know it's coming and can safely sit down and prevent myself from fainting completely. It happens when I stand for too long so I have been making sure to sit, which is not an issue at my job.

One of my managers approached me today and said someone told him that I have a medical problem. I was a little confused at first but then he mentioned the fainting. So, obviously someone at my work told him. My manager then told me that I needed to tell him about any medical issues I have - which I don't believe is true. I didn't ask for any accommodations nor have I had to take any time off for this. Am I legally obligated to tell my manager about all of medical issues? I am in Massachusetts if that matters.

Answer:
 Taken in the most favorable light, your employer is concerned about your safety in performing your duties and is asking if you’re able to work safely. They should have phrased it better.

You probably don’t have to tell them. And if they have reason to believe a medical issue leaves you unsafe in the workplace they should send you home and require a doctor’s release before returning you to work.


Title: HR charging me for spouse benefits that I didn't sign up for

Question:
So, I was hired at a time during which open enrollment wasn't generally available where I work. Now, HR took about 1 month after my date of hire to finally open up my elections, which they then allowed me only 24 hours to review and make an election. In this 24 hours, I elected to only cover myself for health insurance for 2016 (my wife has her own up to the end of 2016), and I did not elect to pay into a retirement plan (this is a temporary 2 year Postdoc position). Now, skip to a month later, the general open enrollment for 2017 benefits open up. At this point my wife had decided she doesn't like her health plan so much and wants to switch to mine, so I elect to have her covered as well for my 2017 benefits. Now, my next paycheck comes and I have been charged not only for my own coverage, but hers as well, and backcharged even to my date of hire for coverage for her. Not only, I'm now enrolled in a retirement plan (which I selected for 2017). It seems pretty clear that HR took my 2017 elections and duplicated them on to my 2016 elections and is now claiming they can't change anything b/c it's past the date of elections and can't refund me anything, even though I never elected for this coverage under 2016. Is there anything I can do about this legally, it seems pretty ridiculous. They also state that I accessed benefits and changed them on days which I obviously did not (I only accessed this on 2 separate days to elect my coverage obviously).  Thanks for any help offered!

Location: NYC

Answer: When you asked HR about this, what did they say?


Title: [Michigan] Landlord is currently occupying property we are leasing

Question:
My roommate and I signed a lease that started August 1st 2018. The landlord of the property is moving to a new house and was supposed to vacate the unit a week and a half ago but the mortgage for his house is moving slower than expected, so he is still occupying the unit. Meanwhile my roommate and I have nowhere to live until the unit is vacated but no set date has been given and it keeps getting pushed backwards.

The landlord says he will prorate rent for the first month for the days we are not in the unit, but that prorated rent isn't enough for us to stay comfortably in a hotel or Airbnb. Our lease says that starting August 1st we are the only people allowed to occupy the house. What can we do?

Answer:
 You need to politely but firmly advise the landlord he's in violation of your lease and that he needs to either cover the cost of equivalent accommodations (for you), or find himself temporary accommodations so you can move in.Answer #2: You can break your lease if possession of the unit is not delivered. You  would also have a very good shot at suing him for any additional costs you incur.Answer #3: Tell him that he needs to cover your place to stay, storage of your belongings as well as any expenses that occurred from moving your stuff a second time. If he doesn't then list all your costs you incurred because of this and sue him.Answer #4: Speak to him today and demand that he put you up in similar accommodations until he can move into his house, or that you'd like to break the lease and have your deposit refunded.Answer #5: Most leases have a clause indicating what happens if you are not able to take possession. It’s not unusual for landlord only to be responsible for prorating rent and not other costs.

Regardless of what lease says, you may still have a valid excuse to break it.


Title: (US, UCMJ)

Question: Without going into too much detail, what kind of punishment can an officer expect from a Adultery charge. O1 un-married having sex with the wife of another O1 in his battalion. Would the commander really send this up to court martial or will he settle it with a GOMOR/ART 15? Most like that's the only charge they have. Is getting a civillian attorney for $6000 worth it?

Answer:
 > Is getting a civillian attorney for $6000 worth it?

Disciplinary action can ruin an officer's career. So the question is "how much money is **my career** worth?"Answer #2: Former Airman, not a JAG here. We had an O-3 get busted with adultery at one of my commands. He lost a rank and was kicked out with a bad conduct discharge. And the way UCMJ works, you usually don't just violate one provision at a time. You're looking at Adultery, Conduct Unbecoming an Officer, and Disobeying Lawful Orders at least.

If you're offered an Article 15, take it and do not argue. Anything else and your career is torpedoed.


Title: Can my friend who was falsely accused of rape sue his accuser for libel/slander?

Question: My friend was recently accused of rape, and after getting dragged through the initial hearing but before the actual trial the accuser recanted her story because it was bs. (they didn't even have sex) My friend lost his job, was kicked out of school, lost scholarships, and had his name plastered all over the news.  What legal actions i.e. libel/slander lawsuit or pressing criminal charges can he pursue? Location: Ohio.

Answer:
 Can your friend *prove* that her story was BS? If not, any lawsuit would not be successful, and would only serve to further tarnish his name.Answer #2: He can certainly request a meeting with the DA and request that the DA pursue criminal charges against his accuser for filing a false report.

A conviction would make it MUCH easier to file and win a civil suit, but if his accuser is a college student, the odds of her having any assets worth seizing aren't high.


Title: My husband pushed me against the wall and hit me with my cellphone.

Question:
Sorry if this is hard to read but I'm shaking way too much and it's really cold so my fingers are numb. I'm safe right now, I left and he doesn't know where I'm at. I was gonna call the police but he said he didn't do anything and I couldn't prove it anyway. So I just left because I was scared.  I just want him to move out of my apartment. He goes to school and doesn't have a job. I'm 21 and work full time, so I pay for everything. I tried to kick him out but he said he wasn't going anywhere. I just need to know what I can do to make him leave. He can go back to his parents house since they leave nearby, but I have nowhere to go, my family lives abroad. His name is on the lease though so I figured it might be complicated. I guess I just really want to know what I can do legally to kick him out, considering he doesn't contribute financially and there's some domestic violence involved. Thanks for the help.
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 I'm sorry that happened and glad you're safe.

You can't kick him out if his name is on the lease. You may be able to get an order of protection to keep him away from you. Please call the police and make a report, and contact a women's shelter for help with the next steps.Answer #2: IANAL...I would notify the police so at least you have filed a complaint against him..just incase it were to happen again.  I think the police might be able to help you get him out of there too.  Good luck and keep safe.


Title: [IL] Dogs are constantly off leash in the green area in front of my house, and I'm a bit worried about safety!

Question:
Hey everybody! Hope I flaired this correctly.

I live in Chicago in a townhome that's part of a small neighborhood with its own HOA. All the townhomes are arranged in a circle around a park-like area that's actually really nice and well-kept--flowers, lawn, the whole nine. This neighborhood is really popular for dog-owners, and there are a lot of dog-friendly parks nearby. This green space in front of my house is not one of them, but people--my townhome neighbors and others who live nearby--treat it like one. Dogs are required by the HOA to be leashed if they're walking through the park (I also believe that's a general city law), but by my estimate, only maybe one in three dogs I see out there are ever on their leash.

I can definitely understand the urge to let dogs roam--it's a beautiful respite from the rest of the city, it's probably not often that most of these urban pups get to run around freely in such a nice area, and the entrances and exits are tucked away so it'd be hard for a pup to run off. But here's my concern: I walk my dog (5-year-old labradoodle) on the leash at all times. She's well-behaved in general, but has some relatively mild leash-aggression issues (basically, barks and lunges more when she's on leash, but doesn't when she's off) that we're working on, and she's made significant improvement on not snapping at other dogs unless they're way up in her personal space. But more than once, some off-leash dog in this park outside my house has run straight up to my dog, starting a big fight! (And to be perfectly clear, it's about 50/50 in terms of number of times the other dog runs up already barking and being aggressive vs. times my dog gets freaked out by the personal space invasion and starts to snap.) She's been bitten once already, but it was a warning nip and it didn't break skin (advantage of her being fluffy, I guess!).

I've tried to politely point out to the people whose dogs are roaming that leashes are required (sort of like "Oh, I'm not sure if you knew this, but..."), and they say they understand but then I see them out with their dogs off leash again the next day.

I don't want to wait until someone gets hurt to fix this problem, but I'm not sure what to do to resolve it. Because of the layout of the complex, I have to walk her through this green space to get her outside at all, so avoiding it isn't really an option. My HOA, which is usually relatively competent for an HOA, refuses to put up "Dogs must be on leash" signs because they "wouldn't look nice," and none of the dogs involved in any of the incidents with my dog were from residents of the townhomes, so they couldn't follow up with them directly.

Do I have any course of action here besides "grin and bear it"? Should I start to be more aggressive with telling people who I see with off-leash dogs that that's not cool? I'm pretty shy so I'm not great at the whole confrontation thing, but to keep my dog safe--and to keep her from hurting other dogs--I'd do pretty much anything. Thanks in advance!
Topic:
Real Estate law

Answer:
 Just as [Godsend67](https://www.reddit.com/user/Godsend67) said, don't get more aggressive.

\> Dogs are required by the HOA to be leashed if they're walking through the park

This tells me that the park you're referencing is part of the HOA. In that case it's private property and may not be governed by the city leash law while on the property.

Send notice to the HOA of the leash violations. Every time you see a violation of this rule, send the HOA an email or letter to document time, date, location, description, and unit owner address (if known). This will force the issue onto the HOA who has the authority to start passing out fines to the people who are breaking the rules.

You may be able to get the police or animal control to come out, but If I were you, I'd go the HOA rout first.  Answer #2: DO NOT GET MORE AGGRESSIVE

Okay now that we got that out of the way it sounds like the leash violaters are not part of the HOA and it sounds like there are leash laws so i would call the nonemergency police line to report when you see them.


Title: My brother is a proven pedophile who now has a small daughter in his house, is there anything I can do to keep her safe?

Question: Long story short, my brother raped my sister and I growing up, and molested 5 of our friends. My parents are aware of this. In 2013 his then girlfriend gave birth to his daughter. I warned the girlfriend in front of my brother that he has molested children in the past and that it is not safe for her child. He told her that it was all consensual. The baby was taken away by social workers with in the first year of her life for other reasons, but my parents got temporary custody. My sister and I called CPS and told them what had happened to us in attempt for them to realize that neither my parents home or brother's was a safe place. My sister and I then promptly got disowned by my parents thus keeping us out of the loop. I do know my parents fought for my brother to keep custody and he now is a stay at home dad with my parents supporting him, and he also now has a son, who could potentially be in danger as well. Is there anything else I can legally do to keep her safe? She is getting near the age that he raped my sister and I at, and the thought that I could do more haunts me.

Answer: That’s terrible, I am so sorry to hear about that. Even if you already reported it, I would report it again and re tell what happened, it may be a hard and long process... but if he is truly a proven pedophile and has done all that in the past her safety is very, VERY important. You shouldn’t risk the chances and keep trying, explain what happened. I don’t have any experience of anything like this myself, but that is my best advice. Really hope the kids are safe, please keep trying!Answer #2: Aside from informing CPS there isn’t much to be done. You can go to the police and report your own abuse in the jurisdiction where it happened. Many states have lengthened the statute of limitations for child molestation.


Title: (FL) My neighbor is trying to get me fired from my job and calling APS over a reborn doll. How can I get him to stop?

Question:
**A reborn doll is a doll made to look like a baby,they're  often extremely realistic**. I always wanted lots of children but I missed out on the opportunity to have a husband and family. I'm fully aware that it's a doll and not a real baby but I find it very soothing.

My neighbor needed to borrow a folding table for a barbecue. He peaked into the guest room as I was grabbing it and spotted the baby doll. He asked what it was, I explained it to him and said that I collect them. He did not approve.

Since then he's contacted my boss 3 times and asked that I be fired due to "weird obsessions" and he's even called Adult Protective Services. They weren't happy with him after the saw that I'm normal and mentally sound.

I'm a kindergarten teacher, have rumors spread about my mental state could ruin my career. Help.

Answer: I never heard of reborn dolls until a story about one was a top post in an AskReddit thread yesterday. The AskReddit thread mentioned that someone had rigged some up to make breathing motions. Interesting that this is the second time I've seen reborn dolls mentioned on the internet ever, and they both occurred within two days of each other!


Title: Illegal to lie for money?

Question:
Trying to setting an argument. Is it illegal for someone to lie about what they need money for and the person they are lying to willing provide it? Austin, TX
Topic:
Criminal Law

Answer: Quite possibly. This sounds like textbook fraud.Answer #2: That's usually called fraud.


Title: I've been harassed and fired. What do i do.

Question:
I'm in WA State

So I work in the Construction Union in an undisclosed place For an Undisclosed Company (Biggest Local General Contractor) (I'm an apprentice).  For  the last few months I've been on this Job I've been working with a 7 man crew Boss, Bosses Son, J, R, C, Myself and JO. When Hired I was told I'll be working until the Job is complete. And I'll probably be brought inside to do Doors when out side work is done.

My Crew Boss is an old school guy he cracks jokes all the time about homosexuality and other disgusting things like rape and so forth, I'm on the receiving end of these and no buddy mess me because my dads big in the company and I'm "Untouchable" quite often as he's worked with my father all his life in the union (My father's a foreman with the company).  So I take all these jokes and jabs about how I'm gay because of my profile pic on Facebook (We aren't friends) and how He's sure I suck dick and take it in the ass from my friend in my profile picture. And insinuates that i was molested as a child on a regular basis. Now he makes these jokes periodically to my self and J and R they laugh it off and being the new guy I do the same...

Fast forward to 3ish work days ago 9/10 or 9/11 He's putting it on kinda hard and at the end of break I've had enough and I tell him to back off (I didn't get indignant just told him I've had enough and to leave it... I was visibly upset and my voice and stern). He proceeds to tell me to shut the fuck up and that He can have my job in an instant and have me "kicking rocks out of here tomorrow."

Our Superintendent constantly stresses that harassment is not Ok and that if someone is having issues to bring it to him. So now that my job's been threatened I do just that. I initially don't want to name anyone and I just say. "I'm having an issue with someone on my crew, I don't want to say who because I respect the person even with whats happening and I don't want anything to happen to them." He responds. "Well i get that and I don't condone any of that and I need to have a harassment free worksite and if there's something or someone that is making you uncomfortable at work you need to tell me who it is. You're kind of putting a hot potato in my hands and i have to pass it on the HR so i need a name." I tell him who it is and it says "thank you, it should end here and he'll make a report and pass it on."

Next 3 days including saturday my Crew Boss doesn't make eye contact with me never directly talks to me unless its work related which was nice for a change. And suddenly Today I'm let go. Because there's "Not Shit to do" even though we are working overtime for the next 2 weeks SOLID until we catch up.

I don't know what to do. I can go to the Union HR department, I can go to the company HR department, Or seek legal advice from an attorney.... What are my options. I'm afraid I'm poking a huge bear and have no idea what's going to happen. Please reddit i need you guys!

Answer: We need a location. Either that or we assume Saudi Arabia.


Title: (USA) Is this a valid defense ?

Question:
Hi /legaladvice. My question is: Is being conviced that something is morally good (or morally not wrong) a valid defense ?. As you may know law sometimes may contradict moral (like smoking weed is not something morally wrong but it is banned its banned in a lot of states). So I'll give you 3 examples:

#1 A member of PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) breaks into a lab and "steals" the animals who are there. Then he explains it was his duty because animals experience a lot of suffering in those labs. Can he be judged for trespassing ?

#2 This is a classic example. Your mom/dad/sister/friend/whatever is dying and he needs X drug to survive. But X is really expensive and you dont have the money to buy it and the drug store wont give it away for free. So you steal the drug because you thought it was your duty to do so in order to save the person dying. Can you be judged for stealing ?

#3 Lets say X (I'll call him Marcus) is 19 and he is a philosophy student and he is an utilitarist (those who think that what brings more happiness to the world is right and what brings pain is bad). So he mets Y (Lets call her Mary) and she is a teenager (lets says she is something like 15/16/17). So they have sex. And then Mary's dad wants Marcus to go to jail. But Marcus said (and I wanna say that I dont have any idea what law says about sex with underage people) that he had to do it, because if they had sex she would be happy and he would be too, nobody would be hurt. Is that a valid defense ?

EDIT: I'll give you another example. As you know law can and sometimes is unfair. So lets say Im asian and law says asians should wear white tshirts on Sunday. So I decide to wear a black tshirt on Sunday and they judge me. That sounds so stupid. I believe I wasnt doing anything wrong and actually I wasnt, it was just the fact that law was unfair.

So If civil disobedience is acceptable, why cant I break the law if Im convinced (and I know) that breaking it will bring more good things than bad things

Topic:
Criminal Law

Answer:
 That's an interesting list of three people who are going to jail. Answer #2: >  Is being conviced that something is morally good (or morally not wrong) a valid defense ?

No.  There is no available defense for "But **I** thought it was OK".

Think your question through.  If this was available, I could take you off the street and rape you for a week, then use as a defense "I think raping people is morally OK" and get away with it.


Title: House got raided by police, roommate got arrested for selling drugs out of our house we share.

Question:
Hey all,

This morning the house I am currently leasing with some people was raided by the police in search of narcotics. They searched every room and found 8+ pounds of drugs in my roommate's room. They found nothing in my room, and I told them I didn't do any of drugs. They think I knew what was going on (which I did, though not to the extent of 8 pounds of marijuana). My roommate was arrested and I was let go along with the other roommates. None of the drugs were in the common area minus maybe 2 roaches they didn't seal up for evidence. We all share a lease.

What is my best legal option here? I'm thinking about consulting a lawyer incase they want to question me. Can I bring a lawyer to questioning? What can I do to protect myself to the fullest?

I can provide more detail and information if needed.

Located in CT

Update 1: found out he is staying in jail for the night, opted not to inform his parents. He has a court date tomorrow for what I don't know. He rumored to have a warrant for his arrest at the time at of the search.

Answer:
 1.  Get a lawyer. No seriously, why are you reading this get one now, I'll wait.

1.  Get a lawyer. NOW. Seriously depending on the laws of your state you could be at serious risk. Not just your freedom but more importantly your stuff! Depending if they decided to go civil asset forfeiture on your ass (or even your roommates) you could lose all your shit. Got a receipt for that couch you two share? Can you prove you got it with your nice legal paycheck?

1.  Your lawyer can advise you otherwise, but depending on how strongly the police are "inviting" you to talk with them, you really stand to gain nothing by talking to them.

1. If you don't have a lawyer at this point, go get one. Yes they are expensive but in this case they are so worth it.
Answer #2: 8+ lbs? After your small legal troubles are over, you may want to find a new roommate. You won't be seeing that guy for a long time.


Title: Aggravated Drug Trafficking and Possession in Ohio

Question:
Hello people who know more than me! I appreciate any help at all in this matter.

A friend of mine was recentt arrested during a music festival in Ohio after cops seized drugs from his car. He's getting charged with 2 counts of LSD aggravated (no idea what that means) trafficking and 3 counts of drug possession. He had LSD and other drugs in the car, between 10-20 white on white hits, a half of shrooms, 3 grams of MDMA, as well as a gram on ketamine. I'm not sure if he's getting charged with all of these or just the LSD.

He was arrested today, and will hopefully be seeing a judge on Monday (does anyone else think weekends are a waste of resources by being closed?)  I'm scared for him, and I want to do everything I can to help. He's going to talk to a public defender on Monday, but I'm strongly considering getting him a adequate criminal defense lawyer (no idea how to go about this).

What are the possible consequences for this? How can we work on plea-ing it down? Any chance he can avoid jail or (brain explodes) prison?  He has no priors, is a full time student and worker, and is a Michigan resident.

Is there any chance this situation will not suck as much as I think it is going to?

Thanks, friends.

EDIT: we re-read all of the paperwork. He's getting a  **felony f4 charge** opposed to f3.

Answer:
 God damn that's a lot of drugs. Your friend wouldn't by chance be [this guy](http://pitch.rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Fear-and-Loathing-in-Las-Vegas-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas-12935663-1920-10801.jpg) would he?

In all seriousness though, your friend needs a great criminal defense attorney and yea, it's not going to be cheap. Prison time is a very real possibility here.


Title: My mom woke up during surgery, but was paralyzed and could not tell the surgeon

Question:
It was like a nightmare. She was so afraid and in so much pain that all her vitals spiked and she threw up. The tube down her throat was choking her. She said that she has never been so afraid in her life. I’m upset that she had to experience this in the hands of trained medical professionals.

Is there a case here or something we can do? It seems so unfair that after so much preparation and so much money spent, they leave her emotionally scarred.
Topic:
Medicine and Malpractice

Answer:
 This is a rare occurrence but it’s not necessarily the doctors fault.  Your mom can talk to a medical malpractice attorney, but not every bad outcome is malpractice and this type of thing isn’t so uncommon that it is likely to be malpractice.  Answer #2: Unfortunately, anesthesia is not 100% effective, even when properly administered and monitored.

From [here:](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5628777/)

> Awareness during anesthesia with subsequent explicit recall is  distressing and may contribute to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The  incidence of intraoperative awareness during general surgery, as  reported in the literature, varies between 0.1% and 0.9%. Incidence of awareness in patients undergoing cardiac surgery is significantly higher, with older reports of up to 23%


Title: My Ex is taking me to court to pay for half of our taxes.

Question:
So let me explain, me and my ex husband were divorced in 2015 but agreed to file jointly in 2016 per our divorce decree, but it says nothing about what happens if we had to pay the IRS back. We were separated in May and officially divorced in August of that year. I was working full time in the hospitality industry while he had two jobs, one dealing with banking and the other he was a server at the chain of Italian restaurants.
I feel like I shouldn’t have to pay for one, it’s not in the divorce decree and two I know with waiters generally they do have to pay back the government because of all the tips they get. Also he had two jobs so I’m sure, unless I’m mistaken, that contributed to that as well. So my question is how likely is it that I will have to pay? I just want to know how successful he’ll be. I’ll be happy to provide pics of our divorce decree for any other clarification.

Answer: File an innocent spouse form and that will separate your portion of tax from his when you file together to find out if its his income that owes tax.


Title: Found narcotics in someone's home [TX]

Question:
I was the director of a mission camp recently where we went into a community and repaired houses that were in poor condition.  One of my work site adults was repairing a hole in the ceiling of a client's house when he discovered what appeared to be narcotics (clear, plastic bag full of white powder) hidden in the insulation in the hole.

The client had recently kicked an adult son out of the house for domestic violence (he caused much of the damage we were repairing).  We were almost done repairing the house, so I called in another adult guy and we helped them quickly finish repairs and we got the heck out of there, telling nobody what we'd discovered (including our campers).

My question has to do with my legal/moral obligations.  I don't believe the woman we were helping knew about the drugs, otherwise she wouldn't have asked us to repair the hole.  I fear that if we call the police they'll arrest her for her son's drugs.  Furthermore, we've done a lot of good work in the community when we go there annually, and don't want to develop a reputation as snitches.  Right now the gangs in the area don't mind and even appreciate what we do.  I don't think that would be the case if we started tipping the police off about drug use in the community.

Thoughts?

Answer:
 Forget about it.  Nothing you can do/should do really.  I mean you could tell the woman, she'll either be grateful and get rid of the shit, or it's hers, she'll get pissed, and you won't be doing these projects anymore.

And if you called the police they're probably not going to go through the trouble of getting a warrant and searching the place for one dimebag alone.  And if they did, she runs the risk of being the one arrested like you said.  Answer #2: I'm so glad my client talked to the police - No Lawyer Ever


Title: What are my disabled boyfriends’ [18 M] options for a legal course of action against his abusive father?

Question:
My boyfriend is 18 M and physically disabled with spastic diplegia. His father is physically abusive and has been for years. Recently, my boyfriend has been dragged out of his room during an argument, and today he was put in a chokehold by his father (he left bruises as well).

I would also like to add that his father is an alcoholic and gets very angry and out of control when drunk.

There are other instances of verbal and physical abuse as well as threatening text messages, but I’m not going to go into those as it would take too long to describe all of them.

Does he have any legal recourse? He still lives at home but we are planning on moving out in August when we go to college, but until then is there anything we can do?

Answer: In the US, it would either be “move out since you’re an adult” or “call the police”. What is your ideal outcome? Dad being arrested, or ...?


Title: CATS!!!

Question:
I live in Tempe, AZ & my next door neighbor feeds all the feral cats in the neighborhood. I've reached out to Tempe PD, animal control, etc & they will do nothing. Both of the children are allergic to cats, our brand new puppy contracted parvo from their feces, all-in-all they need to be dealt with & I have half a mind to get a BB Gun and use it until they leave the area.

What can I do, I'm not down to harm an animal just for living but I feel like all my legal options have been expended? I mean isn't the whole purpose of animal control to get rid of feral animals & other unwanted wildlife?

Answer: I wouldn’t use the B.B. gun. That could possibly get you an animal cruelty charge.


Title: Screwed over by my paid internship. What can I do?

Question:
So. I went to culinary school and as part of that I am required to do 120 hours of internship work in order to graduate. I got a paid internship at a bakery in Beaverton, OR. I've worked 7 days (~54 hours total). Halfway through my training (I thought I was doing fine, as did the other bakers), I was told that I was at "skill-level zero" directly by the head baker (I had maybe worked 3-4 days by that point) and that I would be evaluated through the week. Today, I was told to come in at 11:00 AM instead of my usual 4:00 AM. They told me that I would no longer be paid, would not have a permanent position, and changed my hours. I am still able to complete my internship amd graduate in June, but I feel like what they did was unacceptable and not quite legal. Their reasoning behind this was that they had just hired two new bakers before me, and didn't have the time or resources to train me. I am still getting paid minimum wage for the 54 hours I've worked, but for the other 56, I will be getting nothing. Is there any action I can take legally over this?
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer:
 For the 54 hours you’ve already worked you must be paid whatever the previously agreed upon rate was.  They can’t retroactiely dock your pay.

For the 56 coming up, that entirely depends on if this unpaid internship is legal.  They have the right to fire you at any time for any reason, or for no reason at all, as they aren’t breaking some sort of law by doing so.  (Most commonly one dealing with discrimination).

The legality of unpaid internships is not something I’m up to date on, so hopefully another poster has more info on that front.


Title: /WI/ Ex husband wanting to take me back to court over out son's school district placement

Question:
(Wisconsin) We finalized our divorce 2 yrs ago. Per our final divorce decree, it states word for word "When the child reaches school age, the child's school shall be that of the respondent's (me) residence provided that the school district is within 30 miles of the petitioner's (ex husband)  residence". He's stating his lawyer never informed him of this, that he doesn't agree with it, and now wants to take me back to court to get it changed to his district because he bought a house in a different city (20 minutes away). Our son is currently in 4k, already set to start kindergarten at the same school. I still rent, but have a very stable renting situation, I've been here for 2yrs, and will be moving up to a bigger apartment in the same building within the year. My argument is that he is already established at this school, and will be even more so by the time we would end up back at court. We have 50/50 everything else, but his schooling is very important to me, so I refused to finalize the divorce without being in control of the school district placement.

My question is, what is likely to happen in this situation? Is it likely he could get this changed? Should I be concerned?

Answer:
 I don't think anyone can guess how a judge we haven't met is going to view a very specific issue based on one paragraph of synopsis from one side of the dispute.

This question is best taken up with your family law attorney.


Title: [WA] Traffic infraction for honking at car who cut me off

Question:
Hi all,

A few days ago, I was driving to work in the morning and an SUV cut in front of me at an excessive speed where there was barely enough space between myself and the other car.

I honked my horn (admittedly a bit long and out of frustration) and then noticed police were standing at the corner lasering cars for speed. I honked my horn again, because it didn't look like the police was going to stop the car in front of me, and to my surprise they pulled both of us aside.

I believe the other car got written up for their speed and the fact that he cut me off and put me in a dangerous situation, but I was baffled when the officer said I was also getting a $136 fine for "improper horn use".

I explained that yes, I honked longer than necessary out of frustration, but that didn't seem to matter much.

What's the best course of action now? I got the infraction ticket at home, with an option for a Mitigation Hearing, but I don't know what my chances of success are of not getting this on my driving record and/or lowering the fine? Is it better to hire an attorney to contest the ticket?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

Answer:
 >	The driver of a motor vehicle shall when reasonably necessary to insure safe operation give audible warning with his or her horn but shall not otherwise use such horn when upon a highway.

RCW 46.37.380

The first honk even if long was probably ok, the second one not so much.  Looks like you broke the law.  You could try hiring an attorney but realistically that’s gonna cost more than the ticket.Answer #2: I mean you probably got the ticket for honking at the officer to let them "know" they should pay attention to the guy.

You can try to plead not guilty, for $136 it's really not worth hiring an attorney for. Honestly I'd just try to say you felt the use was justified and let them decide if that's a good excuse or not. Non-moving violations don't affect your insurance that much.


Title: How can I help my best friend—

Question:
Wasn’t sure if this would be best for r/legaladviceofftopic, r/legaladvice, or r/RBI, so I am going to post this in all 3 if I can, so apologies if I hit the wrong sub.

Around October my best friend, let’s call him E, flew from New York to Texas to live with his wife. His wife was/is still living with her family, so they were all under the same roof. Upon arriving, E and his wife got into an argument, which lead to E getting close to her face, without intent to harm, and his wife quite honestly beat the living shit out of him. He sent me pictures of his face and I later saw it on FaceTime, it was completely black and blue, she obviously did a number on him. The cops were called, and my friend E ended up getting charged, spent I think a couple days in jail?? (This happened a few months ago), and then got released, and I believe now is pending charges which I just texted him to confirm so I’m awaiting that response. He’s unable to leave the state (Texas) and is now staying at an extended stay hotel after being kicked out of his wife and their family’s house. They are saying that if he leaves the state before hearing back or getting it cleared up or something, that he will be a felon. I can clarify the details with him if you guys need more info to help. It seems to me that they’re being lazy with his (case??? Is it technically a case at this point?) and that worries me for his state of being, future, and livelihood. His sister is having a wedding soon in New York which he would like to attend, I am having a funeral for my grandpa this week and he would have liked to come, and E and his wife have aspirations to move to Ireland together once they are on their feet and have worked and saved enough to do so securely, which I can tell he is super passionate about and I know he is doing his due diligence and research on how to emigrate or immigrate there. I hate that E is stuck in a state he barely knows anything about and just came to, and doesn’t know anybody there besides his wife’s side of the family, doesn’t even like the state tbh but just wanted to of course live with his spouse, and wants to be able to travel freely. All of his family is in New York and he can’t even visit them. It’s frustrating. E is also a trans and bisexual man, and we already think he has faced medical discrimination once in the short time he’s been in Texas, and I worry about this type of thing carrying over into criminal justice. I also wonder if this is why they seem to be so absent about getting back to him. What can I do to help E expedite this process and get everything cleared up? Who should I tell him he should contact? Who will actually not dodge the issue and will work with him? He can not afford a lawyer right now and we both know that would be the best option, so I’m looking for how he CAN advocate for himself, and who WILL advocate for him, and what phone calls he can make and what things he can do to help the matter. Thank you for all of your help in advance

Answer: If he was charged with a crime, released on bail with a requirement to not leave the state this is not a DIY situation. Your friend needs to hire a criminal defense attorney and listen to their advice. If they can't afford one request a public defender.


Title: [Cali, USA] Harassment from family after lawsuit.

Question:
I was lane filtering on my motorcycle and a guy opened his door and I ran into it. My insurance wanted to place me at fault despite the video where he clearly admitted to doing it with the intention of hitting me. So I brought a civil suit against him and won, but now his family is harassing me on facebook, and one of them even came into my work. Is there any thing I can do legally?
I have all the interactions documented and saved. I even got the CCTV footage from work.

Answer:
 Document all of their attempts to interact with you.  Do not respond back other than to ask them to stop or go away, etcetera (do NOT do anything more than that).

Block any interactions from them that you can (eg. facebook).

If their attempts to interact with you continue and/or are threatening, then you can try to obtain a restraining order against them.


Title: Judge told Social Security Disability to not pay Attorney, SSD paid them Anyways

Question:
I'm hoping for some help or advice.

&#x200B;

I live in Florida. My father is in hospice care, and was diagnosed only after years of being bedridden and awfully sick, due to lousy doctors. Because he was so terribly sick and bedridden, 4 or 5 days out of the week, 2 years ago, we filed for disability and were denied. My mother got an attorney to help.

&#x200B;

The attorney didn't do anything though. My mother prepared the paperwork, and had to beg them to expedite his case when he went into hospice, after the attorney repeatedly told them they couldn't do anything. This shows in the paperwork because a Judge when reviewing it said the same thing, and wrote some documents that said that he felt the attorney should only be paid for minimal effort done and that he shouldn't receive his full rewards. We agreed and we thought we had dodged a bullet with a bad attorney.

&#x200B;

We finally received our backpay this week though, and Social Security paid that attorney 6 grand out of our backpay. We were very confused. I don't know who to call or appeal to in social security, and my mother just wants to get another lawyer to sue the orginal disability attorney. Can anyone offer any insight on who i should call? Is this the time to get another attorney involved?

Answer: Ask the attorney to refund the fee. If they don’t, make a bar complaint.


Title: Can employer change my pay whenever they want?

Question:
In WA. I work for a large flight school as an instructor. We are labeled independent contractors, but are treated like employees (set schedule, they provide materials, hourly pay/salary, required uniforms, all without the benefits of employer paid taxes and work related injury pay if something were to happen).

Two weeks ago the company restructured the pay from $7.50 per flight hour (with $1000/mo guaranteed) to $20 per flight hour, plus many new bonuses for various student accomplishments. Many people complained due to the minimum pay being redacted so the company on Friday changed the pay again back to $7.50 per hour plus a 15% bonus every paycheck now.

Among the illegal classification of independent, and other illegal labor practices, can they change our pay like that, twice in one pay period, leading to a raise, then a reduction in pay? Any advice in this situation? Thank you.
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer:
 Whether an independent contractor or regular employee (that's a different argument) your employer can change your rate of pay *going forward* whenever they like.  Your recourse would be to refuse the change and end the employment.

So "beginning tomorrow (or even today at the beginning of your shift) we're going back to the old way of pay would be ok.  "effective yesterday we're going back" would not be ok.  Answer #2: If you are an independent contractor you set your pay rate, not your customer.  Of course, if the customer does not like your rate then they will likely no longer be your customer.

From the sound of it you are not an independent contractor since you do not set your own hours and do not provide your own materials for work.  You should report this company for abusing IC classification, and get them paying for your worker's comp.


Title: Work added a new point system based on attendance but now our Sick Days count against us.

Question:
So, like the title says, my work, located in Southern California, recently added a point system (about a week ago):

1/2 point for being late
1/2 point for leaving up to 2 hours early
1 point for leaving half way through your shift
1 point for missing a day

Points get taken away after 60 days.

Accumulate 4 and it's a verbal warning, then gradually increases by 1/2 point to written warning then possible termination.

Now the problem a lot of us employees have is the fact that if we were to use our earned Sick Day hours, it would count against us. I was under the impression that reprimanding employees for using Sick Leave was against the law?

I've been debating whether or not to even bother talking to HR about this or if I even have any sort of legal grounds to do so. Any advice will help, thanks!

Answer:
 So that's a stupid policy, and one that can have illegal applications, but not one which is inherently illegal.

Legally, you can't be penalized for: Using FMLA, having a disability requiring accommodation, or using your state-mandated 3 sick days per year.

You *CAN* be disciplined for missing work in general, unrelated to any other protected issue.  So here, they can say "You were disciplined because you got to 4 points.  Only one of those was for a sick day" and *probably* be legally acceptable.  There are situations where disciplining you would be improper (like if you were out on FMLA, or all of the points you accumulated were due to taking sick time)Answer #2: that *might* be considered retaliation under the Healthy Workplace Healthy Families Act. you should contact the California DOL and have them clarify whether or not a system like this is allowed.


Title: The government took away social security from my girlfriend and her grandmother without a reason

Question:
My girlfriend and her grandmother live on their own. Her grandmother is unable to work, and my girlfriend is in college, using financial aid to pay for it. They were living off of the grandmother’s social security as their only income. Things were tight but they were making it. My girlfriend just texted me and told me that her grandmother just received a letter in the mail from the government that told her that they took away her social security, and did not list a reason. They don’t know what to do, and I’m just researching, and asking to see if they can even do that in a situation like this. As I said, that was their only source of income, so they don’t know what they’re going to do, or how they’re going to make it. Needless to say, figuring this out is more dire than not.

Thanks in advance!

Answer:
 In the short term, your girlfriend may need to find a job.  Plenty of college kids work through school to pay the bills.  If she needs more work than she can do with school, she may need to take a leave of absence to work full time until this is resolved. There may be work/study at her school she is eligible for or other resources.

As for why the grandmother's social security was cut, it's impossible to say from the details provided here.  It may have been valid, it may not have been.  She should contact an attorney specializing in social security and disability to have the matter explained to her and have her next steps outlined.  This is not always a quick matter, so again, your gf may need to consider picking up a job in order to start bringing money in while this is being worked out.


Title: NEED HELP!! Accused of a crime I did not commit!! In Cedar Park, TX

Question: Earlier today I received a call from CPPD. They wanted to question me about some stolen property that went missing at my wife's grandfather's house. I redid the siding around his house back in December. Around that time his Grandson (my wife's cousin) was staying with him because the dude is a deadbeat no job pregnant girlfriend sells drugs for a living. His pregnant girlfriend supports him as well. Anyways around the time we were working on the old man's house he moved next door to his brother in laws house. Shortly after he had a physical altercation with his brother in law for selling drugs at his house. We were working next door when it happened so me and a friend that was helping me ran over and broke up the fight. That was it. Fast forward to today I received a call from the police wanting to question me I went in and turns out the grandsons gun went "missing".  They questioned me for about 1.5 hrs accusing me wanting me to fess up to it. I have no reason to take the gun, I have guns of my own. He names me specifically in his report stating I took it. Only reason that dude had a gun was to protect himself if a drug deal went bad. He said so himself a while back. Now they want me to go under a polygraph test. I honestly did not take it. I do not want to go in for a lie detector test, I am really annoyed and disgusted by the fact they believed this guy. He's a real piece of shit. Drunk/druggie has been accused of rape before. Has a couple DUIs drug possessions as well. How the he'll did the police believe him enough to bring me in to question? What are my rights here? Do I need to coaperate? I really don't want to deal with this? Can any of you give me some advice? Thanks in advance!

Answer:
 Stop talking to the police, and get a lawyer. If they'd like to speak with you again, politely refuse.Answer #2: Lie detector tests are voodoo bullshit and inadmissible in every court in the nation.

Point blank, you're a suspect in a criminal investigation.  You are under no obligation to cooperate with the police, and everyone here will advise you to stop talking with them until you seek the advice of a criminal defense attorney.  Answer #3: No, you don't have to cooperate, and you shouldn't.


Title: Can someone explain this to me in English? Teachers took my radio and I want to let them no that's not exactly legal but I don't speak legalese

Question:
http://codes.findlaw.com/tx/education-code/educ-sect-37-082.html

Edit: yes it was an amateur radio, I am licensed, and I was cleaning out my backpack and the teacher saw it and took it up.
Topic:
School Related Issues

Answer:
 > ...let them ~~no~~ *know* that's not...

Teachers have wide latitude on discipline of students. They absolutely can take your radio and can forbid you from bringing it on campus. Have your parents contact the school to get it back.Answer #2: I don't no English either apparently


Title: I Bought a book that is not published anymore since 1938 and I want to make it available for free for everybody because it's not on the Internet

Question: Do I face any kind of lawsuits If I do so ? or Can I even think of doing so without having any issues ?

Answer: yes, it's called a "copyright violation" if the copyright has not expired.


Title: [IMM] Reentering US with deported GF

Question:
Truncated version:
My GF of 5 years was deported from the US in 2007 after having lived there for over 10 years. She departed and her family immigrated to Canada, there she has not committed so much as a traffic law for the past 11 years.

For her 35th I wanted to take her to Hawaii, a place she has always wanted to visit, and since its been 10 years since her deportation I presumed that she would be fine crossing the border.

Some non-PII details about her present and the nature of her deportation.

* She has no criminal record in Canada, not even a speeding ticket.
* Currently gainfully employed at the same office for 5 years.
* Has accomodations and a return flight for this trip to Oahu
* its been 10+ years since her family self-deported after an immigration judge/ICE court (?) booted them

About her deportation/legal status

* her family got scammed by an immigration lawyer in cali and lived illegally
* bench order to self-deport
* she didn't know any of this, stayed past the bench order date and left in 2006
* she has been admitted into the US once on a judgement by a border guard during Obama
* she's been denied entry twice under the same administration

So her family has all been able to re-enter the US now after the 10 year window without difficulty, but she's paranoid because Trump administration and her prior experience.
I had her produce proof of her employment, an RCMP criminal background check, and verification of our outbound flight ticket for the immigration as our flight ticket was purchased monday but is in 2 weeks.

Is there anything more we can do to make this more legitimate or legally strong when at the airport?

Thanks in advance,
legal burner

Answer:
 Before spending money to book the trip consult a US immigration attorney.

Or go to the Bahamas, etc.


Title: Cop drove my car at sobriety checkpoint without my consent.

Question:
On way home last night, went through a checkpoint. Officer took my license, asked me to turn off car and get out. Followed him to the side of the road. Another officer got in my car and pulled it from the street to the parking lot where they had the base of operations.

It didn't occur to me at the time, but I never allowed them into my vehicle. Nothing was searched, they were only in the car long enough to move it, but that can't be legal, can it?

For the record, I passed the field test quickly and without question

Answer: assuming the story is correct no, that's not legal. but since you have no damages from it, and no evidence is being used, it's not a big deal.


Title: Bought a ring, then discovered it's not what the Jeweler said it was. Is there anything we can do?

Question:
We ordered an engagement ring that was supposed to be Sterling Silver and have small diamonds along the side with 3 cubic zirconium diamonds in the center. The receipt clearly matches what we asked them to give and says S/S, DTW 1.4 dia. We paid $265.

After wearing it for about a week, it started turning bronze colored. I know some silver rings can tarnish, but even cheap rings I buy from Claire's have never turned so quickly, and those usually turn green, or if silver, dark black. I've never had this bronze color happen, or any color happen so quickly. It had a few other small strange things about it that I'd never seen, but I don't normally wear a lot of jewelry so maybe it is normal. For example, you can see the screw on the band where they expand the size. It says "Sample" on it inside instead of a jewelers mark. I figured it was a cheaper version of an expensive ring, so maybe it was what they called a sample or something.

Once it started turning colors, though, we went back to the jeweler and asked them about it. The first person we talked to was a relatively low-level employee and she looked at the receipt and the ring and said they must have sent the wrong one to us, or it was supposed to be a sample that was approved and then they would have made the real one but we didn't approve it. Except they never called us after picking up the ring if that was the case, and they didn't tell us any of that at all. She said she wasn't management or an upper-level employee, though, so she'd have to have someone else who wasn't in that day call us to figure it out. She took our information and said they'd definitely fix it as it's clearly not right.

Then the next day the other lady calls us and tells us that this ring is exactly what we ordered. It has no real diamonds in it because we paid too little ($265) so it couldn't possibly have any, and they must have just forgot to put the right coating on the silver so it's wearing away quickly. She's insisting they can just recoat it, or refund us and be done with it. The price we paid for cubic zirconium for everything is way too much. We never would have bought it for that price when we can find endless others online for nearly half, and the receipt clearly says what we ordered.

We've arranged to talk to the owner to try to work things out, but before we do I wanted to know if there's anything else we can do other than get a refund. We asked them for a specific ring - Sterling Silver with small diamond chips on the side, and cubic zirconium in the middle for the main stones. They gave us a receipt saying exactly this and we paid. Then they gave us a ring two weeks later with a pamphlet for those who ordered real diamonds that had options for upgrading later, making us believe it was exactly what we ordered and what the receipt said. Now they're claiming we didn't order this and they'll just take it back and refund us.

 I'm just really disappointed and love this ring we chose (minus the issues), and if we get a refund now we have to start all over and find a new place as I definitely wouldn't trust to order from this place again. Plus we're not going to be in the U.S. long enough to order and get a new one now since this place did all this. We carefully planned to get it before we left, and won't be back until October probably, so I won't have a ring until then if we refund.

Is this legal? Is there any way we can just get the ring we ordered for the price they told us? Should we have this ring appraised to see if anything is real or is it a waste of money?

Answer: Have you had the ring checked out at another jeweler to verify what the ring actually is?


Title: Former employer still owes $10k, court has awarded us judgment, now former owners filing for bankruptcy

Question:
That's the jist of it, here's a little more details.

* Company failed to consistently pay employees last year.
* Took them to court was awarded a judgment for about 10k.
* During the dragging on of that case, company changed their name.
* After the judgment in the court case we received a notice saying that the owners of the company are filing bankruptcy.

What should we do?

Answer: At this point your pumping from a well that is just about run dry.  You can throw your claim into the hat if there are any assets going to auction etc.  Outside of that, not much.


Title: Email Confidentiality

Question:
I was sent a job offer letter via email. The offer contained my start date other general information. It also stated that the information was confidential and only for me.

Well, I shared it with some friends and family members and it got back to someone also competing for the job who had not been contacted by the company yet. Now the job offer has been rescinded because I violated confidentiality.

Is this even legal? I thought emails were assumed to be non-confidential.

Answer:
 Assuming this is the US, the company is free to hire you, not hire you, or hire you and then fire you at a moment's notice for any non-legally protected/discriminatory reason.

You demonstrated to them that you cannot keep information to yourself even after they asked you to do so, so why would they want someone like that working for them?

Try and do better next time.Answer #2: They told you it was confidential. You didn't keep it confidential. Assuming you're in the U.S., this is perfectly legal.


Title: Employer is threatening to remove time worked from employees (Michigan).

Question:
Basically this was posted by our clock-in/clock-out station:  http://imgur.com/JfW3HPo

Normally they'd just manually remove the time of the break when someone forgets to clock out, but now they're saying they'll double that.  We all make minimum wage, so any change like this would effectively pay us below that.  What laws are being broken and is there anywhere that I can report this?
Topic:
Labor Law

Answer:
 That's a stupid note written by a somebody who doesn't understand wage and hour law and is playing with fire. Does HR know about this? That note is excellent evidence the employer willfully and knowingly underpaid people if somebody ever files a wage complaint.

However until somebody is actually not paid for time they worked, no laws have been broken.

These breaks you have to punch out for, how long are they? Generally breaks under half an hour must be paid.


Title: What are some good first steps towards for a parent to gain custody of a child?

Question:
I'm in PA and am the legal father of an infant girl. The mother recently put an end to the relationship I had with her and has been refusing any visit from me, thus preventing me from seeing our daughter. The mother lives with her grandparents and they have been the primary providers of the child. I have also been providing, but unfortunately did not keep a regular record of it. What should I start doing to 1) be permitted to see my daughter and 2) possibly gain custody?

Notes: The mother has mental health issues and was in jail while pregnant for assault. (The pregnancy occurred early in the relationship and before I knew her well.) Due to her issues, the mother recently applied for and received disability welfare, which extends to our daughter. Our daughter is also covered under the benefits I receive from a full time job.

Answer: Step 1 is see an attorney.  Have you established paternity?


Title: [Mi] Is what my employer doing legal?

Question: I'm a lube tech at a car dealership in Michigan and I'm paid in a very weird way. I'm paid both hourly and commision. However I only get 40 hours paid hourly then it stops. I also get paid by the cars I work on. However, this is also capped at around 10 hours. This week for example I got both payments at my cap so I'm expected to work Friday for free. I also work every other Saturday and am not allowed to claim those cars for myself. So again I work for free. Working 730-6 every day I get 40 by Thursday even with my hour lunch so almost every Friday is free. Are they allowed to do this? Is there any action I can take? Help would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

Answer: What's your hourly pay rate?  There is an exemption for auto mechanics buried deep in the FLSA that might apply.  Someone correct my if I'm wrong.


Title: K1 Fiancé VISA Denied. What now?

Question:
My fiancé and I met in Japan and got engaged. I moved back to the US assuming that her visa would be approved and she would come over and we would get married. We just found out that it was denied. We checked online, and don’t know exactly what the reason is, and we won’t until we get the letter in the mail telling us. I already have an appointment with a well regarded immigration lawyer in a nearby city. So I have an idea before meeting with the lawyer, what are our options? I know we can appeal, but will that really fix it? What else can we do?

My guess is that it was denied because I had a K1 visa approved within the past two years but never married on it. My old fiancé became verbally abusive and I broke it off with her. I noted this on the application where it was asked about. How can I prove that this relationship is different and get my fiancé here so we can start our life together?

She is afraid that she will never ever be able to come to the US now. Even if I move back to Japan and we get married and live there, she thinks she won’t be allowed in for things like a funeral or to visit my family on vacation.

Some guidance would be much appreciated now.

Answer:
 > K1 Fiancé VISA Denied. [...] We checked online, and don’t know exactly what the reason is, and we won’t until we get the letter in the mail telling us.

I'm assuming it was the I-129F Petition for Alien Fiance(e) that was denied and not the actual visa, since visa denials do not usually happen by mail and have no appeal rights.

> So I have an idea before meeting with the lawyer, what are our options? I know we can appeal, but will that really fix it? What else can we do?

It would be better if you waited until you had the denial letter in hand so we don't have to speculate as to the reasoning for the denial, which obviously can impact your options.

> My guess is that it was denied because I had a K1 visa approved within the past two years but never married on it.

Assuming you requested the mandatory waiver, I'm going to assume that USCIS declined to waive the prohibition of a second I-129F petition within 2 years.

If that's the case, and your appeal is unsuccessful, then you may have to marry outside the US and your then-spouse may be able to enter the US via the CR-1 route.


Title: just bought a house and had it surveyed. turns out i own some of my neighbors' yard behind a fence. what should I do?

Question: in urban MN. i own about 1000sqft of my neighbors' yard. in this area that's a lot of money. I'd like to propose that he can keep it this way until he wants to move/sell/die at which point i will pay to have the fence moved to the proper location. is this a bad idea? is there a time limit after which the de facto border stands?

Answer:
 Your safest bet is to meet with a real estate attorney and run everything through them.  When you’re dealing with large amounts of money it’s best not to gamble on free internet advice.

The good news is you just met with a real estate lawyer when you bought your house.Answer #2: > is this a bad idea?

Usually no, but if it's worth "a lot of money" it's worth paying someone local to advise rather than hit up the internet for free.

> is there a time limit after which the de facto border stands?

[15 years.](https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=541.02)   Answer #3: The laws regarding this vary widely by area and local case law. You really should discuss your options with a local real estate attorney.

However, not all square footage on a property is valued equally. That 1,000 SF may contribute a great deal or next to nothing, to the value of the property overall. How much more would you have paid for the property, if you realized the fence was in the wrong place before you closed? If the answer is 'not much' then that's a pretty good idea what it's worth. Answer #4: Get the fence moved asap. Do as the other comments say and make sure you do everything legally however.


Title: [USA, NZ] US Government won't stop paying my disability benefits - will I be in trouble?

Question:
Feb. 3rd 2017 edit at the bottom!

Hey everyone, long time reader of LA but totally new to posting on reddit, so apologies if I miss anything obvious. Here's the skinny (TLDR at bottom):

I was on SSI benefits in California for a little over a year. No appeals process or anything, I was considered significantly disabled enough to get right through and I was lucky enough to have a free attorney available to me in case it went badly. Benefits in question: $650 a month, total medical coverage (including my $1500+ a month medications being 100% paid for. Nice!)

I was born in the USA but had long been planning to move in with my partner in New Zealand sometime last year. Worked out partner visas/residency crap, bought my plane ticket for the last day of July 2016. Weeks before I left, I called my local Social Security office and explained the situation, asking them to cancel my benefits as I would be leaving the country for more than 30 days (you are required to notify them in this instance.) Woman on the phone kept asking when I'd be coming back (hopefully not for years?), if I was SUUUURE I wanted to cancel (yes?)... etc. I was polite, but firm. No problem, we got off the phone with me thinking it'd been solved.

Mid August I transferred maybe ~$1500 of savings (SSI requires you do not save more than $2000 or you lose eligibility for coverage) from my Chase bank account to my partner's Kiwibank, as we're using it jointly until I get my own. That was the point when I noticed that I had received my August SSI payment. No big deal - I sometimes got paid a day early, and my technical date of leaving the US was July 31st. I made sure not to disconnect my US cell phone so I could still be reached. Guess I should have been proactive and called them at that point, but I assumed the government would follow up on their lost money if I wasn't meant to have it... I didn't touch it, just waited for a call.

September rolls in. I have my September SSI payment. I call the Social Security administration for a second time to ask what's going on. The nice lady on the phone (it's always a nice lady) tells me that probably my request for cancellation is just sitting on a desk somewhere and will be dealt with in the next few weeks.

In late December I give them call #3. Nice phone lady #3 tells me that my previous two requests are... nowhere. She's apologetic once she hears my situation and explains that by manually changing my on-file address to my New Zealand one, it will cancel the payments. I'll receive a letter to that address telling me how to pay them back the $5,200 (jeez!) they've accidentally paid me over the past 8 months.

Today I check my Chase account and... there's January and February's SSI payments sitting in it. Damn it. Too late to call them now due to time zone differences, but I'll be giving them a call tomorrow. The big question for my terrified, uneducated ass is - am I liable for this? Obviously, I haven't touched the money and I'll be paying it back as soon as they tell me how, but what if it blows up in my face? I guess I'm just wary of being accused of benefits fraud - probably because family was asking me to commit it and give them the "free" money when I was still receiving them legally. I'm not going to be nailed for something scary or forced to pay interest or something, am I?

TL;DR (Sorry!): Left USA 8 months ago, cancelled benefits before leaving, cancelled 2 more times since then, still receiving them and have to cancel again. What if I'm held liable for this somehow? Is there any way I'm guilty of fraud? Is there any precautions I should take? Does the US typically charge any kind of interest in cases like this? And, if anyone's well-versed in this stuff: is there anything I can say on the phone call tomorrow to make sure it's REALLY cancelled this time? I just want to stop paying for my US phone...

**EDIT**: Hey everyone - thanks for the advice! Just got off the phone with my fourth Phone Lady... not at all nice this time. Repeatedly berated me for not coming into the office in person before I left the USA, accused me of not being who I said I was ("You sound older than 23", "You're calling for someone else, aren't you?", griping that I didn't have my SS# memorized and had to read it out to her) and basically telling me my past 3 phone conversations didn't happen (or at least didn't happen the way I said they did.) According to her, there's no way to cancel SSI payments over the phone... so why did the past 3 people I talked to tell me they would?

Anyway - she says I have to contact the local American Consulate here, so that's my next step, I guess. I'm making records of every time I've called the SSA in case anything bad happens, but apparently that was NEVER the correct step to take in the first place. I really wish the first woman I'd called had told me this!

The consulate in my city has given me the email address of the one in Auckland so I'm emailing them now.

Answer: As long as you give the money back, you should be fine. Just make sure you're documenting all communication, that way in case anything does happen you have proof that you asked several times for your benefits to be canceled.


Title: [PA] My 14yo brother is on probation. My mom says part of his probation is that she is supposed to look through his phone and internet history often. Is that a real thing?

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Your mom has a right to look through his phone and history regardless of probation.  She has the right to take away his phone, computer and other devices and restrict him from the internet until he becomes a legal adult and moves out.  The fact he's on probation only adds incentive, because she can call his parole officer any time to report his disobedience and they can crack down on him.


Title: Hi I need help!!!

Question:
Hi guys
So let me start off this story.
I was on snapchat and saw a snapchat story. The post said "18+ Bankers message me to make money". I was in need of money so i messaged regarding this. We had a chat on the phone and he said this is legit and all we do is put money in your account and we withdraw the money leaving you with a share of this. It seemed ok to me at the time. So first what happened was we were about to start the process and my bank account got locked with 60 pounds inside. My contact ignored my messages when i said i need my passport back and gave fake promises that he will give it back for 2 weeks. When he gave it he asked for 40 pounds for the 60 pounds missing that he needs to give to his boss. He said he will give the other 20 which i find very hard to believe. I also know that these people took the money because when i unlocked the card it said 60 pounds withdrawn from the branch. Now he tried explaining all of this by saying his boss was fuming and refused to give my passport back. He then explained himself and it felt believable to the point i gave it a shot. They asked for my national insurance number and a copy of the passport as i refused to hand it over after last time. I suspect now this is a money laundering scheme and i need this to be explained to me if anyone can. Is this a real way to make money? Is it money laundering? What can they do with this information i have passed over? I felt this was legit as i found this guy through one of my friends who i trust. I asked him if this is a scam or not as this friend of mine is this contacts close friend aswell. He said "i asked him without mentioning your name and he said its not a scam and you can make money this way". This made it seem a ton more legit as i know my friend wouldn't lie like that and i know my friends friend wouldn't lie to him. I am really confused!?

Answer:
 > It seemed ok to me at the time.

 What about this sounded okay to you? "Oh, we just give you money for nothing. It's so easy, why isn't everyone doing it?" No. This isn't a real way to make money. The penance you could potentially receive for allowing someone to use your account to launder money (because that *is* what's happening) wouldn't be legitimate or worth the risk.

>He said "i asked him without mentioning your name and he said its not a scam and you can make money this way".

 Well, you asked him. Of course the scammer totally told the truth.


Title: Mis-remembered while talking to police officers - NC

Question: edit: grammar.

Answer:
 You probably won't be charged with obstruction of justice.

However, yes they will likely think you are covering for him. You can still find out the investigating officer and change your statement, for what good it will do.

There isn't much to be done about it I'm afraid. He'll have a lawyer and you can talk to them about how to handle it.


Title: Will I be held liable if someone kills someone with a gun licensed to my name?

Question: Just like when you are held liable for some traffic violations made by another person with your car?

Answer:
 Maybe, it will depend on the circumstances of how the killer obtained your gun. If you house was burgled and you reported the theft of the gun, probably not. If you loaned your gun to your Uncle Bubba who just got out of prison because he said he needed to shoot some rats in his  basement but instead he robbed a bank with it and shot someone, yeah, you're going to be in trouble with the law, too.

Most states have laws in place regarding the private transfer of firearms. You can transfer to family members without going through a Federal background check, but only if that person is legally allowed to own a firearm. It's on you to ensure they are legal. For transferring to strangers you usually have to go to a FFL (Federal Firearms Licensee) who do the background check for a small fee. Most gun stores will perform that service for customers.

It varies from state to state how the law works on transferring firearms, with Federal law setting a minimum threshold of requirements.


Title: Ordered flowers for mothers day, they nevet arrived. Called the merchant for a refund, then they sent the flowers anyway.

Question:
Details: I ordered flowers two weeks ago for Mother's Day. The charge posted to my credit card that day. Come Mother's Day, the flowers never arrived. I emailed the merchant the next morning explaining that the delivery did not take place and I wanted a refund. I then called 2 hours later to confirm the email and that I was going to get a refund. The woman I spoke to said I would.

Three hours after the phone call, they deliver the flowers but leave them outside (chicagoland area, so the weather wasn't great) and left a message on my mother's answering machine saying "sorry the flowers are late. We were busy yesterday. No one was here to accept them so we left them outside"

I called the merchant after finding out the flowers had been delivered. I explained that I had called earlier, and emailed them, to cancel my order and get a refund but the flowers had been delivered anyway. This time, I was told someone would come back for the flowers and the refund would go through. After the phone call, I emailed the merchant again summarizing what had happened and that I still want a refund because I cancelled the order before the late delivery took place.

The refund has not come through and no one came to pick the flowers up. I filed a dispute with my credit card and sent copies of the emails I sent to the merchant.

Should I try to contact the merchant again? Do I have a legitimate claim? Will the flower company win the dispute because the flowers were delivered even though it was late and after I already cancelled them? Should I have had my mom return the flowers directly to the store?

Answer:
 Sounds like you've done everything right so far.  Your claim sounds legitimate and fairly strong. If you get any push back, focus of these two points:

- You ordered the flowers for Mothers Day and they failed to deliver

- You spoke to an agent of theirs and they cancelled the order and promised a refund

You may have jumped the gun a little bit on the dispute - depending on their system they may have already filed the refund and it might take a day or two to go through.  If you see a refund show up on your card before your dispute is resolved, be nice and call again to cancel the chargeback.

As you've already filed a dispute, I think you mostly just need to wait for the process to play out.


Title: Represent Myself?

Question: I am about to divorce my lying cheating slut of a wife. Please explain the pro's and con's of representing myself. I just hate to have to shell out money to an attorney over that slut. Comments and advice welcome.

Answer: If you can't go two sentences without referring to your wife as a slut, you don't need to represent yourself.  The only pro there is when representing yourself is that you aren't paying an attorney. The cons are that you don't know how any of it works. I can save on airfare by building and flying my own plane. It doesn't mean I might not crash and die because I don't know how to do it. Answer #2: Your anger and emotional exposure to the situation are likely to cloud your decision-making and result in a poor outcome. A lawyer has the breadth of experience and removal from emotional exposure that will help ensure the best possible outcome. Remember, he who represents himself has a fool for a client.


Title: Is this legal / safe

Question:
I need to know about the laws and safety about what my mom wants me to do for her.

She lives outside the country and I live in the US. Her friend there gave her a large sum of money, enough for a down payment on a house. For some reason she cannot directly pay the owner of the house. She needs to send me the money through PayPal and then I need to put it in my checking account and send the man a cashiers check (his bank is in the US). I put the money in my bank account, am I taking a risk doing this? I’m scared something will be reversed and I’ll lose the money after I transfer it out. I mean I don’t think my mom would do that, but I don’t know where this money came from.

Answer:
 There is literally no reason to involve you in this, except as part of a scam.  Your mom is either part of it, or a victim of it.  A foreign bank can easily transfer money to a US bank without involving a third-party Paypal account.  It's done every day.

Assuming your mom isn't in on it, I would guess that she received a check to deposit to her account, and was told to send the money to you via Paypal.  You then deposit it and send a check to the next person.  Later, the original check is found to be stolen/forged/whatever, and the money is pulled back out of your mom's account (leaving her badly overdrawn) and you can't send the money back, because you've already sent it to somebody else (possibly the original scammer.)  They're using you to add an extra step to a classic fake check scam, probably to make it harder for authorities to trace the money.

If you've already transferred the money to your bank account, leave it there, but notify your bank manager that you suspect it might be part of a scam, and if it is, you'll have to wire it back to your mom.


Title: Positive this is a Scam but they have a LOT of accurate information about me...

Question:
Here's a screenshot of an email I received. Thing is they have a lot of accurate information about me including my social, bank account number, email address, and address... I'm very cautious about not putting that information out there so for a company to have it concerns the hell out of me. I need some advice on how to proceed here.
  The primary reason I'm positive this is a scam is because of Google Searches of the company he named and the fact that he said I got a Cash Advance in June of 2013 and I didn't, I've also had my credit run for applications for a car and to move into a place in the last year and nothing appears on my credit for something like that.

[Here is a screenshot](http://i.imgur.com/bcwDbGs.png) showing some of the info (I erased my account number but it was accurate)

Answer:
 The stilted English reads Nigerian to me.   Sounds like your bank account number and contact information got grabbed in some sort of data breach.

You can troll him, or ignore him.

Is "USA Cash Advance" an actual company that can make loans in your State ?   I know that that's the name of a scamming company that pretends to have made loans and tries to collect on them.Answer #2: Bullshit.  Note the terrible English.  That's a dead giveaway.

Ignore or send to spam, and don't give these idiots a cent.

Also, it's difficult (not impossible) for a cash advance to have accrued ~2x the principal in fees over two years.

In America, who the hell writes "bank a/c" for "bank account"?

Very few companies in America send email collections notices.

No US-based company uses scripted emails including phrases such as "reply me back immediately" or "now I just want to know that do you want..." (Please advise whether you'd prefer to resolve this matter before it goes to court might be more likely phrasing) or "court house" (generally seen as one word, not two.)

Feel free to tell them to pound sand.


Title: Family trespassing on property: I want to avoid using a lawyer, but I am not sure I have a choice (Ontario, Canada). Fairly long post explaining family dynamics.

Question:
Edit:TL;DR:

My father inherited some property. I'm upset that our relatives accessed the property. The property has been in the family for ages, and there is a pervasive “what’s ours is their’s, what’s their’s is ours” mentality when it comes to its use. How can I "stop any kind of legal claim he may have from regular usage of the property and not being informed it’s a problem. It will cause drama, it will damage my relationship with my cousins, it will make me seem like an asshole to the extended family as well."
They used a picnic table I own that's located on the property. "I will be putting a locked cable around the chairs and table when we leave now."
"What is my best course of action? Is a verbal warning enough?"

Credit to u/BUBBLYSTRING for the summary.

I can’t see through my biases in this family situation, I can empathize with my other family, but I don’t feel much compassion for them because of their past actions, and legally I don’t think they have a leg to stand on.

My grandfather bought a selection of land and various cottages along a lake, it was run as a resort. He built a personal cottage in addition to the existing buildings. From what I understand, my father was with my grandfather as much as possible on the properties, helping out etc. My uncle was as well, but it was my father who really took to the place.

Over decades, my grandfather had to sell off some of the properties individually to keep his favourite ones. Eventually, he would offload all of them except for his own personal cottage. He offered both my father and uncle an individual cottage for free, my father accepted one, my uncle did not.

My father and mother spent most of their recreational time at the cottage, it was a special retreat for them. They put their own money into the upkeep of the old building, as well as the property. They also put some time and money into developing the beach (my grandfather most likely bought the original sand and maybe some loads afterwards, but my parents kept it up after a certain point), it was the 70’s and current waterfront laws were non-existent or not enforced readily. Also, they had to fight very hard to create new boundaries with the extended family, as my grandfather would let anyone visit, at anytime, meals included.

The cottage my father took was pretty run down (built in the early 1900’s), but charming in a rustic way with a beautiful waterfront. At some point, my grand-father had both properties evaluated. My grandfather’s was worth $30,000 more than my father’s. It was always known that my uncle would inherit my grandfather’s cottage, and my father would keep his. This $30,000 difference seemed unfair in my grandfather’s eyes, and gifted my father that amount with the idea that it would be used to replace the original, dilapidated building. For whatever reason, my uncle wasn’t told about this. It should be noted, that my father was always my grandfather’s favourite, and my uncle was always my grandmother’s favourite.  Also, my grandfather continued to pay the property taxes on my father’s property, which for a long time was a minuscule amount, and the property was still in my grandfather’s name, he was a  generous man, too generous in many ways.

There are a few examples of my uncle still feeling entitled to everything, and acting somewhat vindictively, but this one stands out in my mind. I am not sure where it came from (sitting on the property or maybe an old building of my grandfather’s), but there was an old cedar strip boat that my Father and I refinished, it took forever, but it was beautiful. My uncle seemed to think this was unfair, and my grandmother demanded my father to give the canoe to my uncle (not sure where my grandfather stood on this, he may have been staying out of it, a wise man). Not sure why my father relented, but he did. The boat would just sit at my uncle’s house, never to see the water again as it rotted into the ground. Also, my father had bought another used wooden boat, with his own money, which my uncle thought was from the property too, and it took a lot of arguing to finally convince everyone it wasn’t original to the property (always get a receipt folks!).

So as my grandparent’s aged, and knew their time was limited my grandfather wanted to make sure everything was straight with his will and that capital gains wouldn’t be an issue. He hired his lifelong accountant to go over everything. It was at this time that the gifted amount of $30,000 came up, it didn’t go over very well with my uncle nor the accountant (maybe because it wasn’t on the table initially). I assume the property tax thing came up as well. Also, a bit before this, my grandfather severed off some of the property joined to his cottage to be sold, he needed the money. I am not sure what he cleared in the end, aprox. $25,000.

Part of this meeting was to start initiating the transfer of the property into my father’s name and to take over the tax payments. My uncle was to do the same for my grandfather’s cottage. My grandfather would pass away shortly after (my grandmother had passed away a few years before). My father had successfully finalized the transfer, my uncle had not (a small but important detail).

The estate was handled in a very haphazard way, my uncle mainly in charge (he is the elder, got to love family dynamics). I’ll spare you the laundry list (selling of assets for speed not their value, cousin living rent free in the house to “keep insurance happy”), but in the North, laws and technicalities are treated as a lesser thing, an example being, 90% of the carpenters and electricians etc aren’t licensed. “Common Sense” is considered a higher order of law. My father has a lot of resentment towards my uncle, and isn’t good at standing up to him, or asking pointed questions. It’s starting to get annoying as it affects my life too.

Anyways, my father never got to see the will, or any kind of banking statements etc. and while some suspicious things happened here and there, it was never challenged. Honestly, we didn’t care, because we had our special place, including the majority of my grandfather’s property (it was attached to my father’s cottage, and due to by-laws couldn’t be severed, this extra land would have been part of that initial evaluation). I should mention too, shortly before my grandfather passed away, my uncle mentioned wanting to create a document that would allow all of my grandfather’s grandkids to have permission to be on all of the property. My father ignored this, and my grandfather passed away before this became a thing.

I have a lot of plans for this place, and had mentioned to my father about starting a managed woodlot, to at least cover our own needs, but we may be able to sell enough to get a property tax reduction. My father mentioned this to my uncle in passing, and he freaked out, saying I can’t do that blah blah. In my mind, the shady estate dealings, as well as some other issues (I feel a stewardship over the place, like it’s my personal responsibility to protect the ecology etc), made me not really care, and unlike my father, I was going to do what I want with the place.

Once the estate had been handled, and the cash assets could be divided up (sale of house minus the cost of retirement home etc), my father was given a copy of the will and his share (which seemed lower than it should be, but who knows). My father had been named executor as well! I am not sure if there was an additional handwritten part of this will, but the document I read today seemed to state that assets were to be divided up equally, with no specific details about anything. My grandfather’s cottage was still in my grandfather’s name. I wouldn’t go after this, but I see it as a possibility to use as leverage. This is from about 6 years ago.

A few weeks ago, my gf was on Facebook, and said “I don’t know if I should show you this, it’s going to piss you off.” It was a series of pics of my uncle, and his grandkids using our waterfront area without our knowledge/permission. His daughter (my 1st cousin) had posted them, and either she didn’t care or was ignorant of the issues at hand. I was extra pissed because I had just refinished the table at the waterfront, and it wasn’t supposed to be used for another 48 hrs (it took sooooo much work!). I screen capped the pics, and downloaded them to get the EXIF data.

My uncle called my father that night, in damage control mode, “I hope you don’t mind, I took my grandkids swimming at your place because we don’t have a beach.” My father isn’t on fb, doesn’t own a phone either. While livid, he didn’t say anything. My sis also got a text from uncle, basically in damage control mode too. It’s basically fallen on my shoulders to say anything about this. I’ve been waiting to see my uncle in person, I don’t want to do it over the phone or text.

My concerns are to end this idea of “what’s ours is their’s, what’s their’s is ours” mentality, and stop any kind of legal claim he may have from regular usage of the property and not being informed it’s a problem. It will cause drama, it will damage my relationship with my cousins, it will make me seem like an asshole to the extended family as well.

I will be putting a locked cable around the chairs and table when we leave now. I already have enough of a future challenge sharing this place with my sis, this is making me seriously consider selling, sentimental value seems like it isn’t worth the drama. Why pay property tax on all this land if I am “not allowed” to make use of it. I’d be more understanding, but they just go ahead and do what they think best, or what they want, but we “can’t.” Also, I can’t help but feel that my uncle needs to accept the consequences of not taking a free cottage. Really, there should be three properties, and my grandparent’s cottage should be shared 50%. I know, legally this is meaningless, but, it’s how the asshole part of me feels.

I could write up a large list of things they have done that aren’t cool  (e.g. when younger, cousin tried to grow a large weed crop on the property), but this post is long enough already.
What is my best course of action? Is a verbal warning enough? I am not the best at confrontations, given, I usually avoid them (wonder where I got that from) unless it’s something very important (like this), and sometimes I can get pretty angry in a non-constructive fashion.

I want to try and keep this out of official channels, like avoiding a cease and desist letter, or threatening with a trespassing charge, however, I don’t want to risk losing any legal claims to the property either.

Topic:
Real Estate law

Answer:
 1.  You need a tl;dr please.  A lot of this is family story not relevant to any legal issue.
2.  You also probably need a lawyer.
3.  Generally, to keep people off your property, the best advice is to get a survey and fully fence it in.
4.  Unless you are on the title somewhere, I do not see that you have legal standing.  Likely your father needs to be the one handling this.