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ALBANY, N.Y. — New York legislative leaders are pushing new protections for student athletes who get concussions, immediately benching those who may have a mild traumatic brain injury and keeping them sidelined from sports or gym classes until they’re symptom-free for at least 24 hours and get written authorization from a doctor.

Sen. Kemp Hannon, a Long Island Republican who chairs the Senate Health Committee, said the number of children hurt annually is alarming, though statistics are not now available.

“It happens far too much, but it’s not just the rate that counts. It’s our current awareness that this is a real injury, that a blow to the head is as bad as a broken arm, and needs time to recover, and you have varying times to recover for various people,” Hannon said.

The Assembly Education Committee unanimously approved a bill Tuesday that includes the new protections and also would direct the state Education Department, in consultation with the Health Department, to adopt the rules. It calls for each school district to establish a group responsible for staff training and student and parent education.

Both chambers are expected to act before the legislative session ends next week.

“We think we have everybody on board,” Hannon said. “We think we have all the interested groups involved.”

A spokesman for Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the governor was reviewing the bill.

According to the Mayo Clinic, concussions are usually temporary, but can include problems with headache, concentration, memory, judgment, balance and coordination. Most injuries are mild, don’t cause loss of consciousness, and most people usually recover fully, but need time to rest and heal.

They happen in scholastic football with its frequent helmet contact and also in lacrosse, soccer, volleyball, softball and hockey, Hannon said. It’s an issue with kids who think they’re just a little dizzy from a hit to the head and overzealous parents who say players aren’t really hurt.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said the legislation creates a safer environment for student athletes by building a statewide standard for what happens after a concussion.

“These injuries can disrupt normal brain function and must be treated appropriately to avoid serious, long term medical conditions,” he said.

Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, who chairs the education committee, said several legislators have had a long term interest in head concussion guidelines for student athletes.

Among the groups issuing statements in support of the bill were the New York State Public High School Athletic Association and the NY State Athletic Trainers’ Association.

Judith Avner, executive director of Brain Injury Association of New York State, said the injuries are more than a bump on the head. “An undiagnosed concussion can affect a student’s abilities at school and in everyday activities,” she said.
—Copyright 2011 Associated Press

By Ben Waldman

I keep saying that the only excuses that keep us from exercising are the ones we allow, and that most of what keeps us from being healthy is psychological. Well, what about when those excuses aren’t just in your head? My father blames his knees after years of playing baseball when he was younger. My best friend blames a shoulder injury from a car accident back in high school. A coworker blames her flat feet. Another friend blames a “fragile bone structure.” Right.

Such excuses (okay, most) should not be taken lightly. You should always consult a doctor before starting an exercise regiment or when in pain. However, these reasons are not a death sentence – they’re merely obstacles to overcome. With proper training and willpower, almost anyone can lead an active lifestyle. Just ask Jaime S.

A New York salesman worked for a tool maker for 9 months. His supervisors criticized his performance, and he criticized their overtime practices. He sued, charging that because he performed some work tasks at home before leaving for work and after returning home, his commute time should have been compensated. He also claimed he was told never to report having worked more than 40 hours a week.
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What happened. “Kruser” was a retail specialist for Black & Decker, assigned to do in-store marketing and sales for the company at six Home Depot locations. He traveled to the Home Depots from his home (not to or from a B&D location). B&D paid for time spent at home to synchronize a company-provided personal digital assistant (PDA) with the B&D server, answer company e-mail and voice mail, and prepare display materials. And, it paid for travel time to a store over 60 minutes. B&D expected specialists to spend between 5 and 8 hours a day in stores but also required that specialists manage their tasks so as not to work more than 40 hours a week. Accordingly, Kruser later testified, he falsified his time cards so that they never showed more than 40 hours, even though he routinely worked between 1 and 5 hours over that every week.

A judge in federal district court considered Kruser’s charges and ruled entirely in B&D’s favor, dismissing his suit. He appealed to the 2nd Circuit, which covers Connecticut, New York, and Vermont.

What the court said. Appellate judges reviewed Department of Labor regulations at the federal and state levels. First, they decided that regardless of what tasks Kruser performed at home before and after work, they did not start the “continuous workday” clock. They said he could have gone to the gym or taken his kids to school after doing the at-home tasks and before driving to his first store.

Kruser testified that he complained to his boss repeatedly that he had to work overtime and wanted to be paid for it. The boss replied, Kruser said, that B&D “can’t afford to pay overtime” and ordered him to change his time cards. Judges decided the overtime hours he claimed should have been compensated. Furthermore, it appeared that B&D knew it would be difficult for specialists to limit their work to 40 hours, so it “willfully” refused to pay overtime, which would extend the statute of limitations on Kruser’s back pay from 2 years to 3. That question will go to a jury. Kuebel v. Black & Decker, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, No. 10-2273-cv (5/5/11).

Point to remember: It’s good news for employers that judges so firmly ruled that Kruser’s commute time was not compensable. Travel to a customer’s premise is usually paid if the employee first reports to the office.

http://compensation.blr.com/Compensation-news/Compensation/FLSA-Fair-Labor-Standards-Act/Is-Commute-Time-Ever-Compensable/

Police say that a Brooklyn teen who was fatally hit by a car last night was biking against the light. According to authorities, 16-year-old Aileen Chen allegedly wasn’t wearing a helmet, but was wearing headphones, when she was struck by a 26-year-old BMW driver at 62nd Street and 21st Avenue around 6 p.m. “There was blood all over her face,” witness Gabriella Castalano told the Post.

But Chen’s family, who said she had only been out for a quick ride before dinner, didn’t believe she would disobey the traffic signal: “She was so young, so talented, so smart. We just don’t know how this could have happened,” her cousin Dila Szeto said. Chen, a sophomore at Stuyvesant, loved physics and wanted to become a doctor; she had just gotten her first part-time job at a hospital.

The driver, who remained at the scene, will not face criminal charges. During Bike Month NYC in May, the DOT encouraged cyclists to sign a pledge to follow five major cycling rules, including “stop at red lights and stop signs.” According to the DOT, over 90 percent of bike fatalities were the result of motor vehicle crashes; some studies claim drivers are at fault more often than not in those incidents.

The family saw Chen’s body after the accident: “They couldn’t recognize her face at all. It was totally swollen. Her clothes were all bloody and thrown away. The only thing we have left of her is her iPod and her watch,” said Setzo.

ALBANY, N.Y. — When is a village parking lot a highway? When New York’s highest court says so.

A Court of Appeals ruling Thursday means Margaret Groninger can’t sue Mamaroneck for her slip and fall on ice in its parking lot.

The village says it neither received prior notice about that icy defect nor caused it, and therefore can’t be sued.

Lower courts agreed.

Groninger says state law lists only six municipal locations that require advance notice of defects: sidewalks, crosswalks, streets, highways, bridges and culverts.

Four judges say this parking lot serves the “functional purpose” of a highway, “open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.”

Three dissenting judges say that’s so obviously untrue “as hardly to merit serious discussion.”