What is Occupational Disease? Many people think of workers’ compensation law as addressing people who hurt their back or their knee. However, the legislature has created laws to protect people who have contracted diseases from their work environment. As an example, workers who have been exposed to toxic work environments or other hazards may suffer from disabling diseases. Occupational Disease is a special category of Workers’ Compensation law that was designed to protect these people.

The Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Act makes compensable claims for diseases such as asbestosis, pneumoconiosis, or silicosis. These diseases are historically caused by conditions in the work environment.

Under Occupational Disease law, the worker who contracts a disease at work may even benefit from a presumption that the condition is related to work. This differs from regular workers’ compensation law, which demands that a worker prove his injury was related to work.

Landlords who fail to respond legitimate complains from tenants about housing conditions is a serious problem, especially in cities like Reading, Allentown, and Easton.  Landlords are mandated by the Supreme Court to provide tenants with rented properties that are livable.  If landlord fails to respond to notice from the tenant in a reasonable amount of time, the tenant has a right to self-help remedies.  Please see our blog article on the Implied Warranty of Habitability for more information.

Tune in to see Attorney Hovey tonight at 6:00pm on WFMZ-69!

In August of 2010, The FireArms Import-Export Roundtable (FAIR) Trade Group submitted a petition to the ATF requesting that the period of validity be extended from one year to two years, because this would be beneficial to the Industry and ATF, without having any impact on public safety or compliance with the laws. FAIR stated in its Petition,

[E]xtending the period a license [permit] is valid could reduce the workload for [ATF] examiners by lowering the number of renewals submitted to ATF and reduce the uncertainty importers face when dealing with long-lead time deals. [Many licensed and/or registered importers import the same defense articles year after year. ATF processes these ‘‘renewal’’ permits.]

Renewals are a relatively common procedure—whether for items stored in a CBD [sic] or for transactions that take longer than a year to complete—that the industry must undertake at this time. Renewals of existing permits are perfunctory processes that consume the valuable resources of both the industry and the ATF. The time necessary to log, process and approve these permits does not appear to provide any additive compliance or enforcement value to the importation process.

FAIR also submitted information showing that approximately 50% of the granted Import Licenses, of the 9,000, per year, require renewal. Hence, by changing the time period from one year to two years, the ATF would have approximately 4500 less applications to review and, in essence, re-approve; thereby, reducing expense. The ATF estimates that it currently takes an an Importer’s employee approximately 30 minutes to review and complete a Form 6 –Part 1 application, where the average hourly wage of an employee is $26.50. This would result in approximately a $59,625 annual savings for Importers. Furthermore, the ATF spends approximately $28, for two hours of a data entry contractors time, having the information from each Form 6–Part 1 entered into its systems and reviewed; plus, $97.88 for four hours of an examiner’s time to review and approve each Form 6–Part 1. This equates to an approximate total annual savings of $571,320 for the ATF.

Because this change to the current regulation would greatly benefit the Industry, as well as the ATF, I am highly suggesting that you take the time and write a comment regarding this change. Remember, typically Administrative Agencies only receive negative comments, which can greatly hurt positive changes, because the agency cannot show the Congress that any individual is supporting the change. The easiest way to submit a comment is to go to the  Federal eRulemaking Portal and follow the instructions for submitting comments; or, here is a direct link. If you rather send it via US Mail, send it to: Deborah G. Szczenski, Industry, Operations Specialist, Mailstop 6N–602, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, 99 New York Avenue NE., Washington, DC 20226; ATTN: ATF 43P. Written comments must appear in minimum 12-point size of type (.17 inches), include the commenter’s mailing address, be signed, and may be of any length. You can also fax it to (202) 648–9741.

Isn’t that nice? ATF acknowledges that the format does not match the “exact wording of the regulation,” yet, all FFLs are suppose to be clairvoyant as to the interpretation that the ATF is going to impose. Nevertheless, the language of 478.125(e) does state that the manufacturer and importer are to be listed. Frequently, FFLs will inquire whether they have to list Glock/Glock. Under ATF’s interpretation of 478.125(e), you must list Glock/Glock. Moreover, if one entity is an LLC and the other is Inc., you must distinguish the difference.

Now, as you are likely aware, the manufacturer and importer enrgavings must be placed on the firearm. Hence, all the information that you need must be depicted on the firearm. If the manufacturer/importer has obtained a variance to the marking requirements, you are to list the markings, as engraved on the firearm, in your Acquisition and Disposition book.

In January of 2012, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued an Order that allows lawyers to be certified as Specialists in Workers’ Compensation. As a result, the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Law Section will now be the organization that certifies lawyers as Workers’ Compensation Specialists in the Commonwealth.

In order to qualify to take the four-hour test, at least 50% of an attorney’s practice must be devoted  to workers’ compensation cases.

While certification is optional, both Karl Voigt and Tom Beveridge from Prince Law Offices will be taking the test at the first sitting in Spring of 2013. Their mutual goal is to distinguish their practices from those other attorneys who simply dabble in workers’ compensation cases.

It is important to note that this certification will be available to defense attorneys as well as claimants lawyers. If you have a workers’ compensation case, consider how important it is to you that your attorney also be a specialist.

Available to the public are titles like “Workers’ Compensation and the Injured Worker” (available in English and Spanish) and “Remember: It is important to tell your employer about your injury.”

Also available is a 2010 Department study to determine whetherPennsylvania Workers’ Compensation law allows for adequate access to medcial care for injured workers. The results may surprise you.

The Department also publishes “News & Notes”, its quarterly newsletter, online. These updates contain sometimes valuable and interesting updates about the state of Workers’ Compensation in Pennsylvania.

You may access these works by going to: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/publications/10443

Slowly, they began building upper assemblies. Within a year, they were producing so many assemblies that they had to build a 1,000-square foot steel building to accommodate the growing business. But, little did they know that by 2007, they would need a 4,500-square foot building to accommodate their needs! But that too was outgrown by 2009, when they acquired a 10,800-square foot building. Now, they have released the 4,500-square foot building, as a back up, because the 10,800-square foot building is already too small! Carrying more than 1,600 products, which they expect to expand shortly, Del-Ton is an example of how you can build your own dream and be part of the firearms industry.

If you are interested in starting a business or acquiring an FFL, contact me today, so that we can discuss your needs. We have tailored operating agreements for FFLs and other business-types in the firearms industry. When it comes to seeing your dream come true, we are ready and able to help you make that dream become a reality.

With regards to the ATF Town Hall, the big issue discussed was the impending changes to the residency requirements for an alien. On December 22, 2012, the ATF issued an open letter to all FFLs regarding changes to its interpretation of of the residency requirement for aliens. Currently, 27 CFR 478.11 provides that residency be determined differently for US citizens than for legal aliens. As the letter states, “A U.S. citizen’s State of residence is the State in which he or she is present with the intention of making a home; while an alien is considered a resident of a State if he or she has resided in that State for a period of at least 90 days prior to the date of transfer with the intention of making a home.”

ATF is now entering into rulemaking to remove the 90-day residency requirement for legal aliens. However, until rulemaking is complete, the current regulation still applies. Nevertheless, ATF stated that no Industry Operations Inspector (IOI) should cite an FFL for not complying with this documentation requirement. Accordingly, if you are cited for an failure to comply with this requirement, contact me immediately to discuss your options.

Also discussed was the fact that all manufacturers will have until April 2nd, 2012 (not April 1, 2012) to file their annual manufacturing report. While ATF will mail you out a copy, if you don’t receive a copy or want to be ahead of the curve, here is a copy of the ATF Form 5300.11. For those who are unaware, you can file this report via email by emailing it to AFMER2@atf.gov. You will receive a confirmation email of their receipt of the form within several days. If you have questions about filling out the 5300.11, most of your questions can be answered here. And yes, even if you did not manufacture a single firearm, you must submit the form.

When the ATF was asked the status of the Chief Law Enforcement Officer signature being removed from the Form 1 and Form 4, ATF would only acknowledge that it was aware of the request, that the request had merit, but that it was still being reviewed internally at ATF and there was absolutely no time frame established for a determination, since even if ATF was in agreement, it would require them to go through rulemaking, which would seem to indicate that we are at least a year away from any change.

The issue of ATF Form 1 and Form 4 processing was also brought up. ATF’s response was that they are under the hiring freeze of the DOJ and while they have attempted to bring in temporary employees and move people around from different departments, due to the increase in NFA applications, the wait time of 4 – 6 months is not likely to change anytime soon.

During the NFATCA meeting, it was disclosed that the ATF, as of last week, has changed its opinion regarding the proper procedure for deactivating a barrel for importation. Previously, ATF issued a letter stating that drilling three holes into the barrel was sufficient. While destroying the functionality of the barrel, it allowed for the barrel to be used in a dummy-gun for a collector, who basically desired a non-functioning replica of a particular firearm. ATF has now announced that it is requiring any such imported barrel to be torch cut in three locations.

Also, ATF has now stated that after having the Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) review 18 U.S.C. § 922, it has been decided by OLC that a manufacture may stockpile as many post-86 machineguns as that manufacturer sees fit; however, only the manufacturer may manufacture the post-86 machinegun. What this means, is that it is no longer acceptable or legal, even if the manufacturer has a variance approving the following, for one manufacturer to manufacture the receiver, register the receiver on a Form 2, and then transfer the receiver on a Form 3 to another manufacturer for completion. The OLC has determined that the only transfer of a post-86 machinegun is to a law enforcement agency. There are clearly other concerning issues with regards to this that I will not address, in the hopes that they have eluded ATF.

Lastly, the NFATCA informed everyone that ATF is under specific direction that anything less than 100% during a compliance inspection must result in some form of administrative action. ATF will be conducting compliance inspections of all dealers within 36 months; the days of not having a compliance inspection for 10 years are a thing of the past.

And that is pretty much all the hot topics from the ATF Town Hall meeting and NFATCA meeting.

A couple of the exhibitors which I visited today deserve special mention.   First, I stopped by the KRISS Arms exhibit to take another look at the Vector weapons system.   If you haven’t seen this gun, please take the time to check it out.   The design of this gun (the KRISS Super V System) allows the shooter to maintain better control and on-target accuracy by redirecting recoil and the resultant muzzle climb.   Such allowances are extremely important when you are shooting a 230 grain, .45 ACP round at 1,200 rounds-per-minute.

On Media Day, I had an opportunity to fire the gun in semi, two-shot bursts and full auto.    I was amazed by the overall stability and recovery, but was also puzzled by the two rather than three shot burst rate.  When I inquired about this nuance, one of the representative explained that testing revealed greater accuracy with the two round burst, and also that the third bullet was not providing significant damage to its targeted area given the destruction initiated by the first two.   On full auto, the control and accuracy were clearly enhanced by the new system.

Another exhibitor that offered some interesting products was Law Enforcement Targets (LET).  This company sells targets in a host of variations from terrorists to hostage situations to zombies – both in the human and cartoon forms.  Also, several of the targets provide challenging shots calling for complete visualization of the entire situation.  For example, one target displayed a perpetrator holding a gun on an intended victim while in the background several people were standing nearby.   The target called for very specific shot placement to disarm, rather than kill, the perpetrator.  A true kill shot would have injured, if not killed, one or more of the bystanders.

LET also offered Pink Mist Reactive Bloodpacks.  Placing these packets on a target leaves no question of hit or miss.  They may also surprise your unsuspecting shooting partner. Of course, LET also provides more traditional targeting options and other items such as weapons storage cabinets, gun locks and a variety of gun cleaning equipment.

We ended the day with an excellent meal and made our plans for another great day at the Show.  Of course, we will continue to bring you the latest developments.