A recent fact I read: there are more than 169,000 law offices in the United States. And, just like any profession, most of the lawyers operating out of those offices are doing the right thing. Put all the jokes aside — for now. Lawyers play a critical role in many aspects of everyday business and life.

But there are, just like any profession, some wishing to take shortcuts to get the job done or utilize their knowledge for their own personal gain. And when the legal system allows that abuse to occur, watch out.

That’s why there has to be an Institute for Legal Reform and an occasional publication from the Heartland Institute titled Lawsuit Abuse Fortnightly. You hear about one of these "cases too bad to be true" and you might not give it a second thought. Check out these resources and you get a litany of those "bad" examples, enough to make you a little queasy.

The latest Heartland offering has its usual array of bizarre court cases — each carrying a price tag in time and resources no matter the outcome. This issue includes a contribution from the Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse and their "top five looniest lawsuits" of 2008.

Check it out, shake your head and feel free to let your representatives in Washington know that change is long overdue.

The Indiana Chamber believes the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (S. 181) will do serious harm to America’s businesses in a time when they need anything but more burdens.

The bill recently passed the U.S. Senate, with Indiana’s Senators splitting their votes (Bayh in favor, Lugar against). Our position is that the bill effectively removes the statute of limitations for the vast majority of discrimination cases and would make it easier to sue employers — even decades after the fact.

This legislation responds to the Supreme Court’s decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, 550 U.S. 618, 127 S. Ct. 2162 (2007). Lilly Ledbetter was a Goodyear employee from 1979 to 1998. Around her retirement, Ledbetter filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging pay discrimination because from time to time over the course of her career she received lower pay increases than male co-workers. The Supreme Court ruled that she was required to bring suit within 180 days of the act of discrimination (each decision by her employer to pay her less) and rejected her argument that each paycheck should restart the clock with respect to filing her discrimination lawsuit involving events that happened many years prior. Now, S. 181 would overturn the Ledbetter decision and specify that the statutes of limitations under four discrimination statutes – protecting classes such as age, disability, race, color, religion, sex and national origin — begin anew each time an individual is compensated (if the compensation was affected), essentially eliminating time limits for many claims.

If enacted, this legislation would virtually eliminate the statute of limitations for pay discrimination claims, increase potential damages for employees, limit employer defenses and expand class-action lawsuits. It would make it very difficult to resolve cases in a timely manner and make it more expensive to hire new workers (due to increased litigation costs).

The U.S. Chamber also opposes the measure. Check out their response here.

UPDATE: It’s official as President Obama signed the Ledbetter Act into law on January 29. If you visit its page on Whitehouse.gov, you can view the full text and let the administration know your opinion about this law.

The Indiana Chamber is no stranger to the conference and seminar business, averaging nearly one event a week throughout the year. Pair the Chamber with several strong allies, however, and what you have is a signature event in the 2009 Indiana Safety and Health Conference & Expo.

The partners include the Central Indiana Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers, the American Industrial Hygiene Association Indiana Section and INSafe (a division of the Indiana Department of Labor). The event is February 23-25.

We’re not going to cover all the details here except to say myriad safety and health topics are on the agenda. National keynote speaker Michael Melnik and the Governor’s Workplace Safety Awards luncheon are among the special features.

Check it out and register online. Hundreds of your colleagues — and competitors — will be there.

You might be interested to check out the changes made to www.whitehouse.gov this week when President Obama formally took office. The site looks pretty sharp and please note the blog on the home page. Likely useful for those hoping to keep tabs on the new administration.

Also notice the site features a contact form if you have a respectful critique of an Obama policy, or maybe even of his fist bump technique. I’ve already offered an inquiry regarding an issue dear to me, but have yet to hear back. And no, sorry, it wasn’t pertaining to an official national pie.

Sixty-nine percent of first-generation college students believe they can’t afford college. The fact is that most of them are wrong. There are millions of dollars available to help Hoosiers pay for college. It all starts with FAFSA — the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Filing the FAFSA is a must-do to qualify for most federal grants and loans, resources provided by the state of Indiana and support provided by colleges and universities. There is no cost to apply; it never hurts to try; it is the only way students can know their full financial aid eligibility.

Learn More Indiana doesn’t want any students unnecessarily missing the March 10 filing deadline. Human resource professionals should make sure their associates with college-bound students are aware of the opportunities. If you don’t play, you can’t get paid. Students and parents can learn more through the following:

• College Goal Sunday, February 15 at 2 p.m. (local time), provides free assistance at 36 locations throughout Indiana for students and parents filling out the FAFSA. Hoosiers can submit their FAFSA online at any site. For more information, visit www.collegegoalsunday.org or call 1-800-992-2076
• Learn More Indiana offers online step-by step instructions on how to fill out the FAFSA. In addition, Hoosiers can order a free publication, Indiana’s Guide to Paying for College: Step-by-Step Tips To Help High School Seniors Apply for Financial Aid, by calling 1-800-992-2076 or visiting www.learnmoreindiana.org.
• FAFSA Friday is an additional push for families needing assistance with filling out the FAFSA prior to the March 10 deadline. On Friday, February 27, Learn More Indiana will connect Hoosiers to financial aid advisors through a statewide webinar. Students, counselors, teachers and parents can view the presentation and chat with financial aid advisors by logging onto www.learnmoreindiana.org/FAFSAFriday between the hours of 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. 

The Indianapolis Convention Center ballroom was filled to capacity yesterday afternoon as famed political satirist P.J. O’Rourke took the Economic Club of Indiana stage.

O’Rourke’s penchant for making people laugh, even during less than promising economic times, was not lost on the audience. The humorous tone was set early as one of O’Rourke’s more famous quotes was read by the emcee during his introduction: “Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."

True to form, O’Rourke mixed humor with the expert analysis of someone who has studied politics and government for over 40 years – delving into controversial topics of spreading freedom through fighting and public education reform. He is known for poking fun at the absurdity found in all political ideologies, and remarked on former President George W. Bush as well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He even riffed on the concept of democracy, noting that with daughters and dogs at home, dinner would likely consist of Fruit Loops and rotten meat if put to a vote.

To view the upcoming Economic Club of Indiana lunch event schedule, please visit its web site.

The article we’re going to link to at the end of this post is from the Des Moines Register, generally regarded as a strong newspaper. The author, Staci Hupp, is a former education reporter for the Indianapolis Star who did an admirable job covering education issues while here in Indiana. (Both are Gannett publications, but we’ll save the fate of newspapers for another day.)

Staci writes a thorough story explaining why an Iowa school district wants a waiver to go to a four-day school week. Money is driving the move, with past questionable budgets and a bookkeeping error putting the district in financial trouble.

While saving money is good, this isn’t the proper route. The absolute most important two sentences of this story are the last two (at least in the online version; we’re sure the research box was a more prominent sidebar in print). They read: 

"Students in Asia and Europe typically attend school an average of 220 days a year. The U.S. average is 180 days, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures."

We can’t afford less classroom time. We’re already falling behind the rest of the world in educational achievement, particularly in the math and science areas.

Iowa, and Indiana, are at that 180-day figure. There are several bills in the Indiana General Assembly that, while not taking the four-day-a-week approach, would also dilute the education effort. The focus should be on more dollars to the classroom, expanding school choice and more. Instead, we’re fighting back gimmicks that would serve no useful purpose and, in fact, prove detrimental to our competitiveness and our young people’s futures.

Here’s the Iowa story. Read to the end as it also references a previous IU study that disputes the potential savings.