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The average cost for employers of a court case brought under the California Private Attorneys General Act was $1.1 million in 2021, according to the CABRIA Foundation. But the insurance policies that business owners would expect to cover legal costs, settlements and judgments for these claims may not provide much coverage.

Workplace distractions are ever-present, posing risks of lost productivity and even injuries.

Employees who are interrupted while working with machinery or dangerous materials may see their concentration lapse, resulting in an injury, or worse. And productivity can be hit when office workers are regularly distracted, interrupting their workflow. Here are some of the biggest workplace distractions and what to do about them.

Although you may not hear much about it on the evening news, according to the FBI, cargo theft is on the rise and the gangs (it's usually gangs pulling off these heists) are using new techniques to dupe their targets.

Thieves are focusing on riskier but more valuable loads, and they are increasingly focused on full truckloads. Additionally, to thwart any tracking devices on stolen trucks, the thieves will sometimes move the stolen loot to another truck.

Although there is no magic bullet that guarantees you will never experience a cargo theft, there are steps trucking companies can take to reduce the risk.

Material handling accidents account for thousands of injuries and a number of deaths each year on construction sites.

They are one of the top injuries in the construction trade and can result in serious injuries and death depending on the material, weight of the load and distance it falls. Safe material handling practices can help prevent these accidents from happening in the first place.

The Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division in February 2023 issued a guidance letter noting that employees with a serious illness may use intermittent leave under the Family Medical Leave Act to work a reduced schedule for "an indefinite period." That is a significant departure from the typical FMLA scenario where workers will take days, weeks or months off from work for a qualifying reason under the law.

The ruling paves the way for workers with serious health conditions that may limit how many hours they can work in a day to do reduced hours, which will count towards the law's leave limit of 12 working weeks per 12-month period.

One of the daunting issues that hangs over many people's picture of their ideal retirement is the tax implications when they start withdrawing funds from their 401(k) plan or IRA.

If you've been diligent about socking money away in your retirement plans, your income distributions will be taxed at the going rate at the time. If you've been especially dedicated to saving, you could end up retiring at your current marginal tax rate or a higher one.

If you are in this category, you may want to set time aside to study the tax efficiency of your portfolios in order to gauge how much you'll be paying the feds and if you have some wiggle room to reduce your tax obligations.

Many homeowners who are renovating their homes, or building a new one, make the expensive mistake of not securing additional coverage during the construction phase.

A fire may destroy your materials and equipment, or thieves clean you out in the dead of night. When you call your homeowner's insurer, you find out it doesn't cover your home when it's under construction. If you are embarking on a home construction project, don't start until you secure vital extra coverage if you want to avoid the same fate.

For employees, being able to enroll in an insurance product through a workplace voluntary benefits program offers them the advantage of group pricing, the convenience of paying through payroll deduction, and perhaps access to insurance that would be difficult to get on an individual basis.

For employers, offering a range of voluntary insurance products can help increase employee satisfaction and attract and retain talent. But how do you decide which voluntary benefits to offer?

Truckers, delivery drivers, farmers, firefighters and workers that drive or ride in large commercial trucks and vans, farm equipment and fire apparatus, regularly injure themselves when entering and exiting their vehicle.

Usually, they get hurt because they are in a rush, too lazy to use the steps and handhold devices, slip on a wet step or are not paying attention. These falls from trucks can result in strains, sprains, broken bones — and even death. Here's how to train your drivers to not fall victim to these very avoidable injuries.

Employee theft and fraud is a perennial problem for businesses and one rogue employee can do serious damage to the finances of a company ― and in many cases put them out of business. 

Shockingly, 75% of employees admit to stealing at least once from their employer and employee theft costs U.S. businesses $50 billion a year, according to a report by the career planning website Zippia. Whether it's a result of entitlement or just general dishonesty, employee theft comes in many forms and at varying degrees.

Too many families and small business owners overlook the foundational financial planning step of getting sufficient life insurance protection in place. Studies have found that about 48% of U.S. families are significantly underinsured, and about 37 million Americans have no life coverage in place at all.

Here's how not having life insurance can be financially devastating to your family.

Having a life insurance policy is a must for anyone with a family reliant upon their income. If you were to die without a life policy to protect your family, they could very easily find themselves in an insurmountable financial crisis. 

A life insurance policy's death benefit can be tax-free and far exceed the premiums you've paid every year for the policy — that is if it's set up correctly. On the flipside, the death benefit could be taxed so severely that your loved ones would only receive a fraction of it if you don't ensure that ownership and beneficiary designations are properly set up.