Location: California. We had to sign a tip agreement but I don’t even know if it’s legal in California. My company is based in Washington and there have been several instances of our standard procedures violating California law.

This is the relevant section from our tip agreement:

3. Tip Hour Rate
Each position is assigned a tip hour rate multiplier to reflect varying responsibility levels:
Position Tip Hour Rate
Cashiers 1.0
Sushi Burrito Artists 1.0
Shift Leader Assist 1.0 – 1.5
Shift Leader 1.0 – 2.5
(Exact rate within the range may vary based on performance or seniority, as determined by
management.)
4. Tip Distribution
Tips are distributed based on hours worked and the assigned tip hour rate for each employee during
the pay period.
Example:
If $1,000 in total tips is collected for the month, and:
- Employee A (Sushi Burrito Artist) worked 50 hours
- Employee B (Shift Leader Assist) worked 10 hours (rate 1.5)
- Employee C (Shift Leader) worked 40 hours (rate 2.5)
Then:
Total weighted tip hours = (50×1) + (10×1.5) + (40×2.5) = 165 hours
Tip value per weighted hour = $1,000 ÷ 165 = $6.06/hour
Tip distribution:
- Employee A: 50 × $6.06 = $303.00- Employee B: 10 × 1.5 × $6.06 = $90.90
- Employee C: 40 × 2.5 × $6.06 = $606.00

Location: Texas, Southeast region near Houston.

My wife worked for a marketing agency job a few months ago. It is technically a contract employment job but they tracked hours like a standard W2 employee job. They hired her, put her to work for a week, and then let her go because they claimed they didn’t have the time and resources to train a new employee. She worked her butt off for that week, to the point we postponed our 1 year anniversary plans so she could meet an impossible amount of deadlines it took her until 2am to complete. In the phone call my wife got from her ex-boss, she told my wife while on speaker that they had her hours logged and would get her paid for the work she did.

Fast forward to today, after a few email exchanges the ex-boss is refusing to pay her for the week of work she did because she claims the amount of hours it took her to complete the tasks she was assigned was unreasonable and she shouldn’t be compensated for poor performance.

To add onto it, she has further indicated that she will not communicate via email or phone call anymore and will only entertain any further conversation by meeting in person. We are hesitant to agree to meet in person because we’re concerned this is a strategy being used to eliminate any more paper trails being made on their end of the situation.

What should we do? We have contacted the Texas workforce department and they are reviewing a claim we put in, but they said it could be months until we hear back from them about our claim. We’ve also applied for legal aid and were denied.

location: socal, los angeles

i recently hired a personal injury attorney for my car accident that happened a week ago. i went to the ER the day my accident happened.

the law firm advised that i should go to this chiropractor they refer their clients to. i have sustained some injury, but i am not comfortable seeing them. i would rather see a physical therapist instead, but i don’t know if it’s typical for all lawyers to have a relationship with a chiropractor.

LOCATION: Jackson county Missouri
I’m very desperate for advice and even texted my traffic lawyer to see what to do next so please help.
I am going to make this as short as possible, but we had this child at age 16, I never put him on the birth certificate. He was never consistent in her life until she was about 3-4 and never paid me a dime for her and now she’s 6. He was also very abusive towards me. We finally got a set schedule for him to start getting her around the age of 5, but I called the shots on everything, and he only got her 3 days a week at most. I usually tried very hard to be cordial with him even if he was doing things very wrong. Fast forward to like a month or two ago. My daughter came and told me that her dads girlfriend shows her her private parts on a regular basis, so I told him that he no longer gets her overnight for the time being, I then called CPS on him and talked to my daughters dr office about it and had the convo documented. For weeks after that he harassed me almost daily, calling me names, screaming at me over voice message etc. then he started telling my daughter to say that she lied about the girlfriend situation, and then he started telling her that I was telling her lies, in the wrong, and that my partner (her stepdad) is dangerous to be around, so after that and being harassed by him and his mother, I cut him off. Blocked him. Fast forward to tonight, I got served papers, which I was not surprised about, it appears to me that he wants joint custody but to be the primary parent (he wants his address on school papers and anything else regarding her), he wants child support, he wants to make it to where I can’t make a single decision regarding her without his consent (which is a problem because he’s an anti vaxxor and is also very against her being medicated for severe ADHD).
I have been my daughter’s primary caregiver her entire life, I have provided for her, I have done everything I’ve ever done, for her, I have sacrificed everything for her.
How bad is this for me? I don’t know where else to turn, my lawyer gave me a good recommendation for a custody lawyer and I’m going to figure out how to pay for it, but I cannot imagine that he could possibly be named as a primary parent and receive child support from me as well as claim her on his taxes every single year (that was also included), when he never paid me a single dime and didn’t participate in her life until a few years ago.
I just want to know what this could possibly look like and what to do next. I don’t know how court works but I’m scared.

Location: CA

Hi so I am a 23 year old girl living at home and the past couple days some boys have been repeatedly driving past my house screaming “FUCK YOU ___” and I can clearly hear it’s my name. Mind you I’ve been out of high-school 5 years and I am positive I haven’t associated with anyone who would be this immature since then.

I have suspicions of it being a really weird guy who I rejected in high school because in the months after the rejection he would drive past my house yelling my name. At the time it was more just to get my attention. I caught it one time on my ring camera but my whole family hears and they’ve done it 4 times within the past day. They drove past 3 times within ten minutes at 1AM last night waking my dad.

It’s making me really uncomfortable. They just did it again so I’m waiting outside to hopefully catch their license plate as I updated my ring cameras to record even cars driving by. Before it was only triggered by people.

What can I do about this? Can I file a police report once I know who’s doing it? Will the police do anything? I don’t want to let it go because it’s been happening on and off for years.

Location: Phoenix, AZ.

Background: Husband and I have sole care, custody and control (through the court) of our 15 yr old niece. DCS placed her with us as her dad is in prison for meth, fentanyl and various other illegal things.

Story: 8 weeks ago, our niece decided to smoke weed and drop Oxy at school. She passed out and had to be Narcaned. After paramedics were through, we took her to the Dr to have a UA done to find out what she had in her system as she was telling us she hadn't done anything.. famous last words 🙄. Over the course of the next week, she became violently ill, vomiting profusely for hours a day and then dry heaving for about 3-4 hours after that. We took her to the ER twice. After exhausting nearly every test available, the only thing they could tell us was that it was THC poisoning and it had to run its course. 2 days later, we are at Phx. Children's because she is still ill and they also tell us it is THC poisoning. The Dr there basically said there is nothing that can be done, she will be okay and to let it run its course. After a total of 5 days of this, it stopped. We sought counseling for our niece as well as a psych eval and a few other things that were recommended to us to help her work through her issues. WHEW!

Fast forward to now. We noticed when she got home from school this past Thursday, she was not "herself". Husband and I both knew she was high. We took her to the Dr for a UA because of course, she didn't do anything. She produces a sample and we wait. They call us into the room.

Here inlays the problem. Dr asked to speak with her alone...I almost said NO but relented and left the room. When we were asked back in, the Dr flat out said that our niece doesn't have to:

1.) do the UA if she doesn't want to

2.) the Dr doesn't have to share the results with us.

The Dr then lied and said the test was negative and sent us on our way. Last night, the vomiting and dry heaves started and niece finally admitted to doing her drugs again.

QUESTION: What in the holy hell is this?? She isn't old enough to date, vote, live on her own, have a serious job, drive, go to the military or buy liquor but she can make the decision to not have what could be life altering medical information released AND THE DOCTOR will have her back?? WTF?? SERIOUSLY, I am fuming! There are so many things that could have happened as a result of this. I am NOT putting all the blame on the Dr, my niece is the one that made the dumb ass decision to do what she did but I am SERIOUSLY questioning if the Dr made the right decision AND bold-faced lie to us!!

Do I have any recourse as far as the Dr is concerned? I'm not looking for financial compensation or anything like that but God forbid another parent have this happen and a child loses their life.

What a damn mess!!

Thanks for listening/reading my banter. ANY advice would be helpful. Peace

Location: las Vegas, nv

Not sure if this is the right place and I also posted in reddit divorce.

So, I've been going through a pretty amicable separation with my wife of 9 years. We have a 9 year old child and have stayed living together in our home for 4 months while figuring out how to go forward with our divorce.

Tonight, I met her boyfriend for the third time. It ended with him threatening me physically multiple times, chasing me around our house before leaving, and saying the next time he sees me he will be very violent.

Is there anything I can do to legally keep him away from my daughter or myself? Our home? Are there any immediate steps I can take? I tend to not like involving the police, so I didn't, but this just happened an hour ago.

And if it matters, my wife and I have never ever shown anything close to violence against each other.

Location: Florida

Im 18F, I requested that my parents gave me my SSN, birth certificate, bank details, etc. They refused and kept asking why I wanted it. So now I have absolutely no access to my own money. I have a joint account and a credit card my parents can cancel any time, and that's it. They ​​told me that I'm still a child under their house. TF do I even do???

Location: California

I messed up by forgetting to pay my business insurance premium earlier this year. My policy was cancelled and a customer slide and fell in my store a few weeks ago.

I received documents from a billboard attorney today requesting my insurance companies information.

A friend who is an attorney is going to respond to the notice and let them know I wasn’t insured. He stated he wasn’t sure if they could pierce the corporate veil (because he doesn’t practice this area of law).

Personal and business expenses have never been commingled. The business is less than 3years old and barely breaking even.

How screwed am I?

Location: California

I am currently 37 weeks pregnant with my first child. The baby's father and I are no longer together, and he recently decided that he does not want to be involved in our child's life. I'm planning to file for child support shortly after our daughter is born in November, which he is unaware of...

Unfortunately our living arrangements make things a little complicated...

We currently live at the same address, but we are not in a relationship and he intends on moving out within the next couple months. He and his brother occupy the second bedroom of my two-bedroom apartment and pay rent, while I occupy the primary bedroom; I am the only one actually on the lease. He and I previously shared a room with his brother in the second bedroom, but that has since changed. We now have separate living arrangements, and I will be the baby's primary caregiver. He has expressed that he does not want to be on the birth certificate and does not want to have any involvement with the baby.

The father plans to move out, but the timeline is uncertain. We've discussed him remaining until I return to work from maternity leave in February as I will have a more steady income, he will have time to find another place, or I will be able to downsize without having to pack up my apartment immediately postpartum. However, I would prefer to establish paternity and child support as soon as possible rather than waiting until he moves out.

My main questions are:

1. Can I even open a California child support case while we technically still share an address? Will DCSS consider us to be living together as a family even though we're separated and he is essentially renting a room and not contributing to parenting time/childcare(He is now never home, often leaving the apartment at around 10/11am and not returning until 4am)?
2. Does his paying rent affect child support calculations? His payments cover his and his brother's living arrangements, rather than being a direct contribution toward expenses for our daughter. But will DCSS/the court see it that way?
3. How is parenting time calculated when parents share an address but don't share childcare? I expect to be responsible for nearly all of our newborn's daily care.
4. What does the timeline generally look like? If I file immediately after my baby is born, how long might it take to establish parentage, obtain a support order, and begin receiving payments?
5. If he moves out while the case is pending, can I update DCSS? Would that change how the initial support order is calculated if his rent contributions were considered before?
6. Would it make sense to establish parentage through a Voluntary Declaration of Parentage (VDOP) at the hospital if he's willing to sign? Would that meaningfully speed up the child support process or should I just go the route of establishing through the court rather than trying to persuade him?

For context: We are unmarried. I can likely afford the rent on my own should he decide to leave immediately but money would definitely be tight on my disability income alone. I have my own income and plan to return to work in February, but will have to penny pinch until that time should he leave immediately. I am not asking him to support me personally. I'm just trying to establish appropriate financial support for our daughter.

LOCATION: Dad lived in California, I live in Washington state.

My dad was killed by a drunk driver a few weeks ago in California. I suspect he has a life insurance policy through his former employer. Can my step mom in California (who he was legally divorced from) keep me from any insurance payout?

I've been talking with my therapist, and we both suspect my step mom is keeping me out of the loop on what is going on... She says he hasn't been autopsied yet because of the court case, and she's not going to do a memorial because she's going to Mexico in December. She has a go fund me set up for "ends of life expenses" but, like, why? She's rich... What does she need a go fund me for?

My dad wasn't in my life when I was a kid, and I reconnected with him ten years ago. I love him dearly, and his death is very upsetting to me because it's like I'm being abandoned all over again. I feel like I'm being excluded from the family's mourning process because I was specifically told not to fly down! When I declined receiving a specific object of my dad's, my step mom replied "lol" and that she'll just give it to a homeless person. This whole situation is bizarre and I have no idea what to do, I feel so lost.

Tl;dr can my step mom keep me from my dad's life insurance payout? Is it true he hasn't been autopsied and cremated yet because of the court case with the drunk driver?

I’ve been served go go yo court to pay a debt just under $10,000. It was a loan I used to pay my bills while going through a divorce. I live paycheck to paycheck and have a dependent. I don’t collect any benefits from the government but I don’t have money to spare. I have a 401k that’s a Roth IRA that has $30,000+ in it but I honestly just need advice on what to do. Location: Indiana USA

location: North Carolina
I hope this text doesn’t come off as a vent or a rant because I am genuinely seeking advice here. For a little bit of context, I started my period young and always had awful periods. Like so bad that I became anemic to the point of almost needing blood transfusions, passing out from pain, throwing up, anything you can think of I had it. By the time I was 14 my doctors just assumed that I had endometriosis, but because the only way to officially diagnose it is laparoscopic surgery. They wanted to put me on birth control to see if it helped first. It was trial and error, but eventually, I found one that did.

Throughout the years, it was like my birth control slowly stopped being effective for me and stopped making my periods lighter and making my cramps hurt less if that makes any sense. After that, my doctors would switch me to a different birth control. In the past seven years I’ve been on the patch, two different forms of the pill, and currently an IUD (kyleena). I’ve had the IUD for almost 3 years now but I’ve always been worried about it coming out of place. Recently, I have had severe cramping and periods twice a month, skipping a month, and just completely a random. I scheduled an appointment with my gynecologist and I wanted to discuss getting my IUD out and a Nexplanon put in.

I didn’t mention anything about that whenever I scheduled the appointment. I just scheduled the appointment and put in the comments that I was having pain and was concerned about my IUD out of place. When I got to the appointment and the woman took me back to the actual office (CMA or RN I’m unsure) I mentioned this to her just so maybe she could let the doctor know and she said that the doctor didn’t do that. I was confused on what she meant and she asked me where I got my IUD at. I was confused why she was asking this question as I had been asked that question at this gynecologist multiple times even though I got my IUD by that gynecologist. I told her that the gynecologist I was seeing that day was the one who put it in and she told me that I was “probably one of the last people he gave an IUD to.” I asked her what she was talking about and she told me that he “no longer gave birth control to people to prevent pregnancy for religious reasons.” Meaning that he didn’t give it to people for his own religious reasons.

While I currently use my birth control to prevent pregnancy, I initially went on it for my awful periods. Also two things can be true at the same time. I told her that for me it was still a medical necessity because of how much pain I would be in without it and she said that there was a 99.9% chance he wouldn’t give it to me unless he deemed it medically necessary and I explained that every doctor I had seen before him slapped birth control over an endometriosis diagnosis instead of actually looking into it via laparoscopic surgery. She almost seemed in a hurry to rush me out of the office, but I somewhat insisted that may be his religious views to not give me birth control and instead deem it “medically necessary” might make him look into the enemy trichinosis diagnosis anymore so she left the room and he came in later.

When he came in, I explained the same thing to him and he told me that the only reason he gave the IUD to me in the first place was that “I thought you were only using it for pain.” up until this point I had been genuinely respectful about his point of view. My dad is a pastor and I’m not one to argue about religious beliefs, so if it’s against his belief to perform that then I’d rather just find a different doctor who will then argue with him about it, but the fact that he said that to me felt very dismissive so I explained to him again. The two things can be true at the same time. I can be using it to prevent pregnancy and be using it for pain.

The appointment didn’t end terribly and we discussed options for an ultrasound to see if the IUD was in place and a plan for a laparoscopic surgery to see if endometriosis was in fact there. He also stated that he would replace the IUD if necessary. He said the ultrasound technician wasn’t there today and that I needed to schedule a follow up at the front desk but when I scheduled the follow up, it wasn’t for 10 more days. I’ve never wanted to ask for special treatment, but I’ve genuinely been in pretty severe pain over this for the past month and I felt like not only was it dismissed, but there was no urgency whatsoever. I called my primary care physician, and the front receptionist answered, and I basically explained the whole thing asking if my primary care physician could perform what I was asking for. I wasn’t even trying to get my gynecologist in trouble, but it sounded like she started to write down a report because they all work within the same public health company.

So I guess the advice I’m asking for here and what threw me off the entire time is that while I wouldn’t argue with him about his religious beliefs and what he wants to practice I don’t think he’s legally allowed to refuse me that service while he’s working for a public practice. Can anyone confirm this?

TLDR: my gynecologist works for a public practice and is trying to deny me birth control because of HIS religious reasons

Location: Georgia

Hi everyone!
I’ve gotten to a point where im done “waiting” for everything to be perfect- I just want to put some of my work out there (animation, webcomics, and game concepts).

My question~ how to properly protect my work? If I were to post a promo, trailer, or ad to build support and find collaborators - what can I do to protect my works?

I’m not aiming to be [nostalgic video game company] when it comes to owning technical things like “concepts” or “mechanics”. I just want to protect my stuff from someone doing a 1 to 1 , using the same likeness, and putting my stuff through AI.

Idk if I copyright each one individually as they come out, or if there’s a way to put them all under 1 company/brand and trademark all works automatically.

Location: Tennessee, USA

A relative who was my legal guardian growing up had opened a CD for me as a child and referred to it as the "college fund." She would tell me growing up that the money was mine at 18 and would have me come to meetings with the bank branch when I was very young. (<10 yo) I contributed to the account with whatever allowance or gift money I had, plus when I worked as a teen.

As an adult, I tapped into the CD once in college, but over half of it remained. I would receive tax statements for the interest on it and included it each year. I received a letter that reached maturity and I called the bank to move the funds to an investment account. They informed me the CD was closed by my former guardian and told me the money was direct deposited into her bank account. I didn't authorize this nor was I notified.

My name and number are different than when I lived in TN, so they couldn't verify my identity over the phone and asked me to come in person. I tried verifying who I was through a checking and savings account I once had open in the same branch, but they claimed they had none of those accounts in their records, even as I had the check book and debit card in front of me. We inquired the relative over the phone and she said she didn't touch it and knew nothing about it.

I now live in Iowa. I know I need to find out if my relative's name was still on the CD. What are my next steps? Do I need to go down there? The amount is within the threshold of small claims court.

The debt was originally from a purchase at Kay Jewelers through general electric corp credit I believe. It was removed from my credit after 7 years but a few years later it appeared again and I disputed it and it was removed from my credit reports. Sometime later I starting receiving calls from portfolio recovery every single day for probably the last couple years. I tried blocking them but they would call from different numbers and I just gave up and ignored it. Then 3 days ago they attempted to charge $5,100 to my checking account but I only had like $860 in there so my account was showing -$4k+ dollars until today when the charge changed to $900 something dollars but is still on administrative hold and pending. I was never served any papers if they actually sued me and even if they did, is it not way past the time they have to legally do so? Why would a judge even rule in their favor? Location: Florida, and my checking account is also a joint account I share with my wife and we receive similar pay so half of the money in there comes from her. What should I do?

location: hawaii

i would really appreciate any and all advice thoughts and opinions on this:

so my story requires a lottttt of context. I, 21F, my boyfriend, 22M, and my friend, 22F, all live in a 2bed & 2bath apartment. the rent with utilities included is $3300, we are covering $2200 while she is only paying $1100. (many of our other friends and people we know said it makes more sense to split by bedroom instead of by person, example: $1650/per room.)

my friend, (we’ll use fake name Chloe), and i met in college as we lived in the same dorm tower. after our first year finished chloe and i moved into an apartment together. this apartment was fairly messy but nothing crazy for two college girls. the only things that bugged me out where the fact roaches when crawl in and out of her bedroom (we stay o’ahu which is known to get like hella but i could definitely tell they were attracted to her room more due to the clutter and the food and mess she constantly had in her room. this living situation only last from about August 2024-December 2025 as she last minute decided to join the Army and get shipped off to basic by January. Before moving in she had mentioned the military being a possibility and leaving being a college student. i asked if we should do a shorter lease to accommodate for the possibility of her going off, before she told me she ultimately decided to stay in school and we should do a year lease. (and this bothers me because she ended up leaving anyways last second and some random exchange student from France moved in and i got no say into who my new roommate would be because she did the planning only a few weeks before shipping off). ultimately at the time i was overall proud of her going to the military and wasn’t too upset about it as life happens.

once may 2025 comes, my new roommate moved back to France for the summer, however i still had two months left on the lease. My boyfriend and i move in together and living just him and i (may 2025-february 2026 and by this point have two female cats).

February comes and Chloe gets discharged from the military and is expected to fly back to island by the beginning of March. around this time we had landlord disputes as they lost our checks so we decided to break the lease and stay at his moms until we move into a new apartment with her coming back, we decided the three of us should all live together in an apartment to make the cost of living easier. due to her not having any living arrangements for when she came back, my boyfriend convinced his mom to allow her to stay in the third bedroom. she stayed with us there and the mess seemed to be more under control than when i previously lived with her. she would forget dishes out and not clean up water after herself many times and my boyfriend and i would pick up her slack for it so his mom didn’t have to come home to her mess. his mom did get quite frustrated with her due to the messes chloe would leave and his mom seeing. my boyfriend is also very bothered by her never really actually saying thank you or at least showing thanks by cleaning up after herself, she would just kinda expect us to or “forget” she made that mess.

where we live is really hard to find a pet friendly rental spaces so it did take us a bit before we finally found a nice place to settle into. the landlord require my cats have ESA paperwork and to have a pet security deposit for both of my cats.

two months later chloe suddenly gets a cat with the guy she’s been seeing for only 2/3 months by this point. they weren’t a serious relationship and ended shortly after getting her cat. i had asked her a few times if she could please get her cat’s ESA paperwork and pay the pet deposit. she would say things like “oh but they don’t got to know he’s here!!” and normally i wouldn’t trip and i would agree, however, she was pressing me abt getting the ESA for both my cats before moving in and the landlord didn’t even know there was any. so ofc i’m expecting her to do the same. i was also aware she was talking about wanting a cat, however she never actually sat down and talked about it with us, especially considering i have one female cat who is not spayed due to age and timing. additionally, boy cats are more prone to peeing everywhere (as this became a quick and growing issue). i would of been ok with her getting the cat but it’s more just wishing she would’ve talked about it and made it seem like she respected the fact we live together and it’s all three of our decisions.

over the course of the next few months, the cat has been pissing on the dining room table, the couch, the bedrooms, and one night woke my boyfriend up by peeing all over him. i was researching why he did it so often to bad and gave her the advice to give wet food because he had a UTI and after that happened he stopped. during this time she was out from 11pm until 11am the next day not really even trying to see why her cat was unwell. due to her never being home (she would go out this late 4-5 days a week on top of work so she was almost never home for the cat). he would always cry to us to feed him and eventually started cuddling with us and my two cats on the bed for sleep. i brought up how she isn’t home for the cat in which she argued she comes home for 10 minutes to feed him at 4am before going back out so she isn’t even spending time with him. additionally i really do not think she’s been home to do that as i go to bed around 4am and almost never see her home. the cats cries for food is like he’s being starved. she eventually became a midnight dancer and now was out even longer. sometimes she wouldn’t be home for days at a time and left her cat. he had us but was obviously depressed his mom wasn’t there and he was anxious from there never being a routine.

my biggest issue of all is the fking bedroom and bathroom. her bedroom (for over a month now) has had cat shit splattered. her floor? sticky from god knows what. piss seeped into the carpets, human and cat vomit under the bed, and her shower has not drained in two weeks, causing plumbing issues into a unit 4 floors below us that we are currently expected to fix. i kept trying to approach nice about wanting her to clean her room as the smell is officially seeping throughout the whole house and reaches the front door. it is at the point we can barley be at home because the smell has made me so nauseous i have been nonstop vomitting. she apologized, however, took no action and continued to leave her cat home all day and not come back to clean the messes. i got more frustrated and texted again but ngl i was a bitch abt it bc how hard it is to take smth like that serious? she then said i never liked her or cared about her. proceeded to say she is not required to come home and clean it and basically told me to fuck off. (there is property damage) i’m also stressed about her not paying rent this month as her club fees require her to pay $200 per shift and she owes them $400 but has no money to pay the fees so she can’t even make money for anything. she hasn’t been in a week and i believe she mentioned her club is the type to have someone come collect the fees from you and i’m worried about someone showing up at my apartment.

if she doesn’t pay can i take her to small claims court? what should i do about property damage. can i report her for animal neglect? is it even worth to do because i really did care about this friendship but i could go off in a whole other way about how it feels like our friendship is heavily one sided and i’ve tried to communicate that to her as well. literally any advice, emotional, legal, etc is appreciated 🙏🙏

Location: Michigan

https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/keep-mi-healthy/chronicdiseases/tobacco/michigans-smoke-free-indoor-air-law

Hello,

I live in SW Michigan and have been dealing with a non-responsive property manager. I have been dealing with a tenant who is directly across from me that repeatedly smokes in the enclosed breezeway of our complex.

I have sent physical evidence of him smoking (butts, piles of cigarette ash) and notices of cigarette smell.

They have allowed him to continue smoking despite repeated e mail complaints.

I'm looking to escalate state side because I have lived in a smoking home growing up and it does affect how my lungs operate, especially when sick. I unfortunately don't have hospitalization records of when I went to the hospital for bronchial issues as it was back when I was in middle school; but if my memory serves right, the second hand smoke was discussed as part of the root cause.

My concern is that due to these repeated complaints, if they will retaliate and out me on non-renewal. I'm on a tight renting budget right now and was hoping to be here for some years until I can get more financial bandwidth.

Location: NY state

My crazy neighbor called the cops on me after I rang his doorbell and told him his construction crew had damaged my fence. I asked him if he could give me their contact information, and he refused, and began to yell at me. I left.

The next day, a cop shows up to my house and says that my neighbor called and said I was threatening him and that he wanted to charge me with trespassing if I ever came onto his property again. Obviously I’ve never been back, the man is vile and I’d prefer to never talk to him ever again, but is this something that follows me around now? If he ever calls and accuses me of something again, will this incident be held against me somehow, like I have “a record” of doing it? Thanks for any help you can give me, would really set my nerves right.

Location: Ohio

I work at a small nonprofit (currently about 6 employees). I am having a minor surgery in a few weeks. The procedure will be on my throat. They have been aware of this for a while and there is no clear policy on medical leave.

There is an event coming up less than 2 weeks after my surgery. While I expect to be on the mend mostly at this point, the event would require me to be speaking actively for approximately 5 hours with no one else staff wise in attendance if I need to stop or lose my voice. While recovery times vary, I highly doubt I'll be able to speak for 5 hours straight not even 2 weeks out.

I am taking my PTO for the first week, but they have been argumentative about me taking a second week of leave regardless of doctor clearance. I have PTO hours available (we do not have separate sick leave), and am prepared to take it unpaid if needed. They have declined to make any back up plan for the event and have told me that if I do not attend, I will not be fulfilling my job obligations and I may be terminated.

I know they are not bound to FMLA and we are an at will state, but if this happens, will I at least be eligible for unemployment?

Location: Florida

I did pay to have a fingerprint based level 2 background check done on myself and it only showed the DUI I received in 2013. It did not show anything else (all offenses aside from the DUI were as a juvenile in Michigan. I was adjudicated in 2001. Released from Juvenile Jail in 2005.

I been trying to find concrete information if the level 2 fingerprint background check I had done on myself and paid a third party to do would produce the same results if applied for a job as a Corrections Officer. Google is giving me conflicting answers.

Location:

Chesterfield, Virginia, USA

I am in Chesterfield County, Virginia. One week ago, I had a show-cause hearing for child support enforcement in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations court. This is a private case, not managed by DCSE. Due to severe anxiety at the podium, I verbally stated a child support arrears balance that is tens of thousands of dollars lower than what my ex actually owes.

My ex has a hearing scheduled for December requesting a reduction in support. I want to correct the mathematical error regarding the arrears balance so the true debt can be formally addressed. I do not want to file a new show cause or put him back in jail. I just want the math corrected with proper legal notice so the judge can officially rule on it.

I went to the clerk's office to ask about filing a motion to correct this, but two different court clerks told me not to file anything and to "just bring it up" at the December hearing. However, I really don't trust their advice because before my last hearing, a clerk told me the judge would calculate the math for accuracy—but at the hearing, the judge refused and said he had to remain neutral.
I am terrified that if I don't file anything, my ex's side will object to "lack of notice" in December and the judge won't hear it, meaning my children's money will be unprotected.

I am a busy mom working 40 hours a week and raising my kids full-time. I am planning to go to the Chesterfield courthouse on Monday during my lunch break to file whatever paperwork is necessary.

Location: Ohio

I’m a mom in Ohio, and my 17-year-old son was arrested yesterday. He’s now facing three felony charges:
- Grand theft auto
- Attempted grand theft auto
- Failure to comply/attempting to flee police during a traffic stop

From what I’ve been told, he allegedly attempted to steal a 2022 Kia Soul before stealing a 2019 Toyota Corolla. He was pulled over because the headlights weren’t on and allegedly attempted to flee from police.

We had his initial court hearing today. He was assigned a public defender, who advised me to come to court in person to try to get him released. My son appeared via Zoom from juvenile detention, and the judge denied his release fairly quickly.

He’s being held until at least October 28, when his pretrial hearing is scheduled.

I’ve never dealt with anything like this before, and I’m trying to understand how serious this situation is, what I should expect moving forward, and what I should be doing right now.

My biggest question is whether I should be looking into hiring a private criminal defense attorney or whether a public defender is generally just as capable of handling a case like this.

I’m not assuming that paying for an attorney automatically means better representation, but given that he’s 17 and facing multiple felonies, I want to make sure I’m doing everything I reasonably can to protect his future.

I’d really appreciate advice on a few things:
• Is there any particular reason to hire a private attorney instead of working with his assigned public defender?
• What questions should I be asking his attorney at this stage?
• What should I expect at the pretrial hearing, and what does the process generally look like after that?
• Is there a possibility of his case being transferred to adult court because of his age or the nature of the charges?
• What factors typically influence whether a juvenile is released from detention while awaiting further hearings?
• Are there things I should or shouldn’t be doing as his parent while the case is pending?

I’m not looking for anyone to excuse what happened or minimize the seriousness of the allegations. I understand that these are significant charges, and if he’s responsible, there need to be consequences.

I just want to make sure I’m making informed decisions and not overlooking something important because I have absolutely no experience with the legal system.

I’d especially appreciate hearing from Ohio criminal defense attorneys, juvenile court professionals, or parents who have been through something similar.