THIS PRANK WENT UP IN FLAMES AVOID COSTLY APRIL FOOLS’ DAY JOKES LIKE THIS ONE
Most April Fools’ Day jokes are harmless. Making caramel onions (instead of apples) for your family or setting a spider next to your coworkers’ mouse is sure to elicit a few laughs from everyone watching, and only egos are hurt. It’s when the jokes end in ambulance rides, hospital visits, and lawsuits that the situation is no longer a laughing matter.
person set on fire sustained serious injuries as a result and rightfully sought compensation for their medical bills and pain. However, who was at fault wasn’t clear. The plaintiff sued their employer, Commercial Bodyworks Ltd., for workers’ compensation, claiming that since their injuries occurred on the company’s property, the business was liable. However, the court of appeals didn’t agree. In fact, the court found that the company cannot be held liable for “frolicsome but reckless conduct” that occurs between employees during employment. In other words, an employer is not responsible for your injuries if one employee sets you on fire during the course of a prank that isn’t related to your work.
However, that doesn’t eliminate the employer’s responsibility should a coworker injure you. Every situation and interpretation of that moment is different. So, if a coworker injures you while doing work-related tasks, your employer is likely going to be liable. They may also be the responsible party if, during the course of your employment, they tolerated or encouraged reckless behavior that could have resulted in an injury. Your employer cannot condone dangerous behavior in one instance and shrug off responsibility later. The interpretation by the courts can be vague, but the lesson here is simple: You have a right to compensation when you’re injured, but perhaps it’s best if you keep your workplace pranks to a minimum — and stay away from fire.
Furthermore, it can complicate who’s liable.
Take the case of Graham v. Commercial Bodyworks Ltd. In 2015, two employees of Commercial Bodyworks were having some fun when their joke went up in flames — literally. One of the employees set their coworker on fire using a cigarette lighter and a flammable liquid. The
What’s the Difference? CHILD SUPPORT VS. ALIMONY
In Tennessee, every legal parent has an obligation to support and care for their child’s physical needs until the child is 18 years old or their class graduates from high school. Child support payments are used to supplement the costs associated with the care of a child. It’s often paid by the noncustodial parent — the parent the child lives with the least. Determining how much the custodial parent needs to care for a child involves a simple formula. In Tennessee, the child support guidelines and child support work sheet are utilized to calculate a monthly child support obligation. The main piece of data used in this module is the gross monthly income of the mother and father. The second most important piece of data used to calculate child support are the number of days out of a 365-day calendar year that each parent spends with the minor child(ren). In the event that a parent incurs monthly costs for work-related child care or insurance for the minor child(ren), this data will also be included in the child support worksheet as a credit to the parent incurring the cost. Entry of this data gets plugged into a child support worksheet, which is essentially run as a computer formula, used to calculate a monthly child support obligation. While there are other case-specific factors that may be entered into the child support worksheet to upwardly or downwardly deviate the child support obligation, for the most part, child support is based off of objective criteria and typically the child support obligation is “what the child support worksheet says it is.”
Alimony is commonly awarded to an economically disadvantaged spouse in need of spousal support in situations where an economically advantaged spouse has the ability to pay it. The courts utilize a laundry list of factors when deciding if alimony is appropriate. These factors include, but are not limited to: the length of a marriage, the standard of living during the marriage, the situations surrounding
the divorce including the fault of a party, a spouse’s educational background and/or work history, etc. There are also several different types of alimony. For example, alimony in solido may be a lump-sum one-time payment to the spouse in need, whereas rehabilitative alimony is intended for spouses who need temporary support as they re-establish themselves in the workforce. Depending on the specific type of alimony awarded to a party, the alimony obligation may or may not be modifiable. There are a variety of different types of alimony, and each particular case presents different circumstances. Alimony and child support payments can often be a point of contention in divorces. For that reason, you need an experienced attorney guiding you through this process to ensure the results are fair. Learn more about Douglass and Runger’s family law offerings and our other practice areas at DouglassRunger.com
Alimony, on the other side, is often times more nebulous. Alimony is a payment from one ex-spouse to another, but it does not benefit dependent children.
2 • DouglassRunger.com
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