Harman Law - January/February 2021

Harman Law - January/February 2021

January/February 2021

THE HARMAN HEADLINE

HARMAN LAW

Personal Injury, Workers’ Compensation, and Employment Lawyers

WHAT ELSE CANWE DO FORYOU?

Our Team of Tortoises Is Ready for Duty!

Do you remember the story of the tortoise and the hare? It’s one of Aesop’s most popular fables and dates back to ancient Greece. The story is pretty basic. It stars a hare who thinks he’s all that because he’s very fast and a tortoise who is sick of the hare’s bragging. The tortoise challenges the hare to a race, and the hare is so cocky that he takes a nap halfway through. When

On the flip side, workers who weren’t fortunate enough to have a considerate employer reached out for help with claims, some of them COVID-19 related. A lot of these people had lost their jobs or been furloughed or mistreated by their employers. As tough as it was to hear their stories, helping them as much as we could gave our whole team the drive and purpose we needed to get through the pandemic.

he wakes up, he realizes that the tortoise’s slow, steady pace has taken him across the finish line. I’ve always thought of Harman Law as a tortoise in the law firm race to success. I’m not a New Year’s resolutions guy, but my main goal for the firm every year is to continue our slow and steady growth. Looking back at 2020, I’m proud to say we accomplished that even though COVID-19 made us pump the brakes in a lot of ways.

Christina Hill and Luca Amarca came on board part time to help with marketing, and Debbie Wisniowski took over as our primary personal injury paralegal. I’m excited to have so many new pairs of hands on deck to better serve our clients. We’ve always devoted as much time as we can to every case, but now we’ll be able to pay even closer attention to current and future clients. To accommodate our caseload and the slow and steady growth of the firm, we even moved into a bigger office in Huntersville on Jan. 4! You can read more about that on Pg. 3.

The year started strong. We’d just opened our Hickory office, and I was excited about the opportunity to serve even more people. Then, the pandemic hit and with it came a lot of uncertainty. Thankfully, we were well-positioned for those challenges. We didn’t skip a beat when we shifted to remote work, and against all odds, we’ve continued to grow. Some of that growth is a direct result of COVID-19. Our employment-related cases ticked up during the pandemic as both small businesses and workers reached out for help. The companies we worked with were trying their best to do right by their employees. They wanted us to help them create a fair, equitable workplace that was also safe during this challenging time. We offered all of the advice, hand-holding, and counseling we could.

It’s amazing to look back on 2020 and see how Harman Law thrived, even in such a tough year. We’re still focusing on the same main practice areas (employment law, car accident cases, and workers’ compensation), but we have more bees in the hive and we’re busier than ever. If you have a friend or family member who has been in an accident, is facing unfair treatment at work, or wants to double-check that their business is meeting its legal obligations, now is the time to send them our way. Our team of tortoises is ready to help!

–Michael Harman

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Unwavering Client Experience. Outstanding Results. – Call Us Today 704-885-5550

Let That Fresh Air FuelYou

4 TIPS TO MAKE GETTING OUTSIDE EASIER

Hunkering down and waiting for the dark and chilly winter season to pass sounds pretty nice. But the reality is, if we deprive ourselves of time outside, we do ourselves a big disservice both mentally and physically. Staying indoors all day affects your energy and mood, which makes it hard to get anything done, so here are four easy tips to make it easier to get a little fresh air.

light helps decrease your melatonin production, which means you feel ready to face the day sooner. So, set yourself a second alarm to head outside and take a quick walk around the block just after waking. Don’t even wash your face or grab coffee. Just get out there. Take your work outside. If you’re working from home, take some work outdoors. Phone and virtual meetings are a great outdoor option, especially if you’ll just be an active listener and aren’t required to do any work simultaneously. Attach a note to your meeting reminders to get yourself set up outside five minutes before you start. Create a schedule. It might feel strange to set reminders throughout the day to step outside, but you easily get

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Make it a priority. Getting outside means making the conscious effort to do so. If you want to reap its benefits, you have to decide to make it a priority in your day-to-day schedule. If you make the act important to you, you have more motivation to actually do it. Use mornings effectively. Waking up and getting the day started can be hard. But studies have shown that natural

wrapped up in activities and overlook breaks, and these reminders are exactly what you need. Start with 10-minute blocks three times a day. If you stick to them, soon you won’t need a schedule to get outside anymore. Winter weather may be cold, but even when you’re bundled up under a jacket and scarf, just 5–10 minutes outside can do wonders for your mood and energy for hours.

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Are You in Physical Pain From the Holiday Rush at Work?

You Could be Eligible for Compensation

The holidays are the most wonderful time of the year — unless you work in a factory or make a living as a delivery driver. These two dedicated groups are often worked past endurance during the holiday season to get presents put together, packaged,

injuries (RSIs) — aches, pains, and fatigue caused by doing the same task over and over.

If this sounds all too familiar and you were injured or mistreated at work this holiday season, you could be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. To qualify for benefits in our state, your situation has to meet these six criteria: 1. You were on the clock at the time of your accident. 2. The injury took place on company property/while you were on duty. 3. You weren’t under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of your accident. 4. You reported your injury to your employer. 5. You were treated by a company-approved doctor. 6. The injury wasn’t caused by some outside factor or preexisting condition. Can you check off all six? If you can, call us today at 704-885-5550. You can also call on behalf of a loved one in this situation or direct them to our firm. Our team of workers’ compensation and employment law attorneys are experienced in North Carolina state law, and if you have a case, we’ll do everything in our power to get you the compensation you deserve.

and delivered. And because 2020 was a record year for online shopping, the stress on Amazon workers, UPS drivers, and others in the field was higher than ever. According to the Adobe Analytics Holiday Forecast for 2020, online holiday spending jumped 33% last year to an eye-opening $189 billion. When our team looked at that number, we were happy for businesses but concerned for workers, who are at greater risk of workplace injuries when things get crazy in factories and on loading docks. More accidents happen when people are stressed or in a hurry, and when workers push themselves to meet deadlines, they can fall victim to repetitive strain

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Unwavering Client Experience. Outstanding Results. – HarmanLawNC.com

Our Huntersville Office Has Moved

SUDOKU

We Can’t Wait to Show You Our New Home

As you read on Pg. 1, our Harman Law team grew a lot this year. In fact, we added so many new faces that we outgrew our old office building! To make space for our expansion, we moved our Huntersville office about a mile down the road on Jan. 4. You can find our new, roomier office at this address:

Harman Law–Huntersville 16507 Northcross Drive, Suite B Huntersville, NC 28078

Our old office served us well for five years. Those were the rooms and hallways where Michael started Harman Law in 2016, back when all he had was his experience, his name, and a dream. Over the years, it came to feel like home for all of us. Moving out was bittersweet, but the space was bursting at the seams, so we knew it was the right thing to do. That said, we’re all really excited about this new chapter! Our new space is beautiful, and we can’t wait to use it to help more clients and close more cases than ever before. When Michael founded Harman Law, he had two goals: He wanted to prioritize a healthy work-life balance for everyone and put his clients first. Our office is bigger now, but those aims are the same. No matter where we move, we’ll keep working hard, playing hard, and getting you the aid and justice you deserve.

Solution on Page 4

Korean Beef Rice Bowls

INGREDIENTS:

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1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce 2 tsp light brown sugar

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2 tbsp gochujang sauce, or more if desired

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1 tsp sesame oil

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3 cups cooked brown rice 1 small cucumber, sliced 1/2 tbsp sesame seeds, plus more for topping 2 scallions, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes 1 lb lean ground beef 1/4 cup yellow onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

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DIRECTIONS:

1. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, 2 tbsp water, brown sugar, sesame oil, and red pepper flakes. 2. Spray a deep, nonstick skillet with cooking oil and place over high heat. Add the ground beef and cook until browned. Break up the meat with a wooden spoon as it cooks. 3. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger to the meat and cook for 1 minute. 4. Pour sauce over the beef, then cover and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. 5. Divide rice evenly into four serving bowls. Top each with scant 2/3 cup beef, cucumber slices, sesame seeds, scallions, and gochujang, to taste.

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Unwavering Client Experience. Outstanding Results. – Call Us Today 704-885-5550

16507 Northcross Drive, Suite B Huntersville, NC, 28078 Offices in Lake Norman, Charlotte, and Hickory 704-885-5550 HarmanLawNC.com

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HARMAN LAW

Inside This Issue

New Hires, Fresh Starts, and Tortoises on Duty 1

Sudoku Solution

Give Yourself the Boost of Getting Outside

How to Win Compensation for Your HolidayWork Injuries 2 Korean Rice Beef Bowls Huntersville Office Has Moved! 3 How College Bowl Games Determine National Champs 4

BATTLE OF THE BOWLS Roses, Chariots, and a College Football National Champion

December and January are prime months for college football greatness. Each year, the top teams in the nation duke it out in more than 40 bowl games during this two- month span. In its 130-year history, the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) bowl games have changed a lot, but the competition is just as fierce now as ever. The origin of bowl games has nothing to do with football. On Jan. 1, 1890, the Valley Hunt Club in Pasadena, California, adorned their horses and buggies with flowers and paraded around the city before squaring off in athletic competitions that included polo, greased pig catching, and chariot races. By 1902, the organizers for the Tournament of Roses saw potential in America’s fast- growing collegiate football leagues and scheduled the much-anticipated Tournament East-West game between the nation’s top two teams on Jan. 1. That game was a dud though. Michigan University toppled Stanford University 49-0, and Stanford forfeited the game with just eight minutes left on the clock. Admitting defeat, organizers went back to their athletic competitions of yore until 1916, when Washington State took on Brown College in the second Tournament East-West game. In 1923, this competition was dubbed the Rose Bowl.

The name “bowl” comes from the shape of the Rose Bowl Stadium, and other collegiate leagues across the nation have adopted their own versions. The widely accepted original bowl games include the Rose Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, and the Sun Bowl, and each is played on New Year’s Day. Over time, the number of bowl games grew, which resulted in teams with as few as five wins claiming titles in smaller bowl games. Experts began to ponder how to determine the “true” national champion when there were so many championship games. In the 2014–2015 season, the NCAA sought to answer that question. The championship semifinal games between the top four teams are rotated each year between pairs of the six top bowl games. The winners of the two semifinal bowls then face off in a college football championship. The other bowl games are still played and unofficially determine runners-up. While bowl games may take on a different flair this season, the time-honored tradition of friendly competition and bragging rights is still just as powerful today as it was 130 years ago in Pasadena.

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Unwavering Client Experience. Outstanding Results. – HarmanLawNC.com