The full archive in alphabetical order, across every desk.
Survivor benefits are payable to a widow or widower, to certain divorced spouses, to dependent children and in limited cases to dependent parents, calculated as a percentage of the deceased worker's benefit amount. A separate one-time lump-sum death payment is available to a qualifying spouse or child but must be claimed within two years.
Stop-work orders halt construction where work proceeds without a permit, departs from approved plans, or presents a safety hazard. They are lifted by curing the violation and paying fees, sometimes after a hearing. Costs fall on the owner through delay, standby charges and schedule loss rather than through the fine itself.
Workers' compensation is the exclusive remedy against the employer, but a separate negligence claim may lie against a third party. That claim can recover pain and suffering and full wage loss, and the compensation insurer holds a lien or subrogation interest in the recovery.
Temporary permits bridge the gap between an application and a decision, while emergency authorizations allow out-of-state practitioners to work during a declared disaster. Both are conditional, time-limited and tied to defined circumstances, and neither converts into a full license by the passage of time.
Staffing agencies and host employers share responsibility for temporary workers, with the host controlling site-specific hazards and training and the agency responsible for general training and for checking conditions. The borrowed employee doctrine may extend compensation immunity to the host, which affects whether a third-party claim exists.
The media classification admits representatives of foreign press, radio, film and other information media whose home office is abroad, for work that is informational or news gathering in character. It is applied for directly at a consulate, is subject to reciprocity, and does not cover commercial, staged or entertainment production.
Applicants for permanent residence and immigrant visas must be examined by a physician designated by the government — a civil surgeon inside the United States or a panel physician abroad — using a fixed protocol tied to the health-related grounds of inadmissibility. The report is submitted sealed, and Class A findings must be resolved by treatment, vaccination or a waiver before the case can be approved.
The Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman is an independent office within the Department of Homeland Security that assists individuals and employers with problems in benefit requests and makes recommendations on systemic issues. It has no authority to decide cases, reverse decisions or speed up cases that are progressing normally, and it expects the agency's own channels to have been used first.
Where an applicant is otherwise inadmissible as likely to become a public charge, an officer may in discretion permit admission on the posting of a bond securing against the receipt of specified public benefits. The bond is not automatically returned: it remains outstanding until it is canceled on a written request following naturalization, permanent departure, death, or the passage of the period the bond specifies.
Certain exchange visitors must reside in their country of nationality or last residence for two years before becoming eligible for particular immigration benefits. Five statutory waiver bases exist, each requiring a favorable recommendation from the Department of State before the benefits agency can grant relief.
Vessel registration is issued by the state of principal use, with titling required in most but not all states. Moving a boat's home water usually triggers re-registration within a set period, and a state that did not receive the sales tax will often assess use tax on the same boat.
Vehicles pass by survivorship, by transfer-on-death designation, by small estate affidavit or through a personal representative, depending on how the title was held and the value involved. Most states provide a simplified route that avoids probate entirely for a limited number of vehicles.
