Hassler, Kondras, Miller LLPFindLaw IM Template2026-06-24T13:07:34Zhttps://www.hkmlawfirm.com/feed/atom/WordPress/wp-content/uploads/sites/1200759/2019/07/cropped-site_icon-32x32.jpgOn Behalf of Hassler Kondras Miller LLP<![CDATA[Is your paycheck missing hours you actually worked?]]>https://www.hkmlawfirm.com/?p=483892026-06-19T13:08:04Z2026-06-24T13:07:34ZA short paycheck can feel personal when you know exactly how many hours you put in. You stayed late, came in early, answered work messages after your shift or kept working after someone told you to clock out. If those hours keep disappearing from your pay, the issue may involve more than a payroll mistake.
Look for work outside your paid shift
Unpaid work can happen in small, easy-to-miss ways. It may involve setting up equipment before clocking in, closing down after a shift, loading materials, finishing paperwork or answering calls from a supervisor after you get home.The U.S. Department of Labor explains that hours worked may include time an employer requires or allows an employee to work. A company generally cannot avoid wages just because the work happened before or after the scheduled shift.
Check whether overtime should apply
Under federal and Indiana state guidelines, non-exempt employees generally must receive overtime pay after working more than 40 hours in a single workweek. When that rule applies, the extra time usually must receive one and one-half times the worker’s regular rate.This matters if your paycheck always shows 40 hours even though your actual week runs longer. Workers in warehouses, construction, restaurants, factories, health care and retail often lose pay this way when small amounts of time add up.
Keep your own record of hours
Do not rely only on the company’s timekeeping system. If your check looks short, start writing down when you arrive, when you leave, when you take breaks and who asked you to keep working.Save schedules, texts, emails, pay stubs and photos of time sheets when you can. Those records may help show a pattern if your employer later disputes what happened or claims the missing time never occurred.
Question common payroll excuses
Some employers say overtime must receive advance approval, salaried workers never qualify or quick tasks do not count. Those explanations can be misleading because wage rules depend on the facts of the job, not just workplace habits.Pay rules usually look at what work you performed, how your job functions and how much control your employer had over your time. A title, salary label or informal workplace habit does not always decide the answer. If the problem continues, learning more about wage hour claims can help you understand whether your missing pay may point to a larger wage issue.
Take missing pay seriously
A few unpaid minutes may not seem worth a fight at first, but repeated shortfalls can turn into hundreds or thousands of dollars over time. The sooner you track the problem, the easier it becomes to understand what your paycheck should show and what documents may support your position.If missing hours keep appearing, an employment law attorney can review your records, explain your options and help you decide how to pursue the wages you earned without relying only on the employer’s version of your schedule.]]>On Behalf of Hassler Kondras Miller LLP<![CDATA[How to request medical records in Indiana after a medical error]]>https://www.hkmlawfirm.com/?p=483842026-05-22T13:09:44Z2026-05-27T13:09:13ZYour legal right to your complete charts
Federal privacy regulations and Indiana laws secure your right to see these files. Healthcare facilities cannot withhold records just because you suspect a medical mistake. A complete timeline includes doctor notes, nursing logs and imaging results. These details show exactly what occurred during your treatment.
How to submit an official request
To get these details, you must submit a formal, written request instead of a verbal query. Indiana providers must follow specific timelines once they receive your official submission.
To speed up the process, take these direct steps:
Submit in writing: Write a formal letter or use the specific disclosure forms from the hospital registry.
Demand electronic formats: Request digital copies of health records to avoid high paper printing fees.
Request complete documentation: Ask for the complete electronic health record set to make sure you see every medical entry.
Hospitals must respond to these written requests within distinct time limits.
Managing administrative hospital delays
When facilities delay responses past legal limits, patients face major barriers. Some administrators blame backlogs or missing approvals to slow down the disclosure process. Indiana law sets clear boundaries. Facilities have 30 days to produce the files, though they may seek a single 30-day extension with written notice. If a facility refuses to cooperate, regulatory agencies can step in to penalize the provider.
Protecting your medical history moving forward
When you resolve record delays, you protect your ability to verify your treatment timeline. Unexplained worsening of health creates major strain for families in Terre Haute. Reviewing the possibility of medical malpractice with a qualified attorney can help clarify your options when files remain missing.]]>On Behalf of Hassler Kondras Miller LLP<![CDATA[What should you do after a hit-and-run crash in Indiana?]]>https://www.hkmlawfirm.com/?p=483822026-05-08T15:39:14Z2026-05-13T15:38:40ZStay safe and report the crash
After a hit-and-run, move to a safe location if traffic creates a danger. Avoid chasing the fleeing driver. A pursuit can put you and others at greater risk.
Contact local law enforcement as soon as possible, especially if anyone is hurt, traffic is blocked or the other driver cannot be identified. A police report can help document the crash and may support your insurance claim.
Get medical care even if symptoms seem minor
Seek medical care immediately. Even minor symptoms can escalate, and a medical record is essential to connect your injuries directly to the crash for insurance purposes.
Preserve details before they disappear
If you can do so safely, write down or photograph details that may help identify the other driver. Try to collect:
The make, model and color of the fleeing vehicle
A partial or full license plate number
The direction the driver traveled
Contact information from witnesses
Photos of vehicle damage, debris, skid marks and the crash scene
Nearby businesses, homes or traffic cameras may also have footage. Acting quickly may help preserve video before someone erases or overwrites it.
Review uninsured motorist coverage
Indiana auto policies typically include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage unless the insured rejects it in writing. If your policy includes uninsured motorist coverage, it may help with injury-related losses after a hit-and-run, subject to your policy terms and limits.
Property damage can involve different rules. State law requires insurers to offer uninsured motorist property damage coverage, but hit-and-run property damage claims may depend on whether the other driver can be identified and what your policy requires. Review your policy and report the crash promptly.
Watch Indiana’s filing deadline
State law typically gives injured people two years to file a personal injury lawsuit. Missing the deadline can make it much harder, or impossible, to bring a claim in court.
A hit-and-run can complicate a crash claim, especially when the other driver remains unknown. If you are unsure what your policy covers or how to protect a possible claim, consider speaking with a legal professional about your situation.]]>On Behalf of Hassler Kondras Miller LLP<![CDATA[How to deal with age discrimination in the workplace]]>https://www.hkmlawfirm.com/?p=483792026-04-28T14:50:47Z2026-05-01T14:49:57ZPractical ways to respond when concerns arise
Federal law protects workers age 40 or older from age-based workplace decisions. This framework provides a solid starting point when you need to address age discrimination at work. Consider the following steps:
Track specific incidents: Record remarks, altered duties or missed opportunities. Include dates, names and context so the timeline shows what changed and when.
Review workplace rules: Examine internal policies on fair treatment. Federal law, including the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), along with state protections, sets standards that employers must follow.
Raise the issue internally: You can report the situation through human resources or another designated channel. Most organizations rely on formal reports before taking action.
Seek legal insight: An employment attorney can explain how documented events align with legal standards and outline available options.
Escalate through formal channels: In Indiana, you may file a complaint with the Indiana Civil Rights Commission or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission if internal efforts fall short.
Taken together, these actions may help preserve important facts before memories fade or workplace decisions become harder to trace.
How these situations can shape your position
Age-related bias can affect job stability, income and long-term plans, often in ways that are not immediately obvious. Paying close attention to how events unfold may influence how employers, HR staff or reviewing agencies later understand your role and experience.
Strong records and a steady approach help keep important details intact. This foundation supports a fair review of workplace discrimination and how it may have affected your position.]]>On Behalf of Hassler Kondras Miller LLP<![CDATA[Can passengers file injury claims after an Indiana car crash]]>https://www.hkmlawfirm.com/?p=483762026-04-20T08:51:14Z2026-04-23T08:50:01ZA car crash can raise immediate questions if you were riding as a passenger in Terre Haute or anywhere in Indiana. You may not have been driving, but you could still face medical bills, missed work and uncertainty about what comes next. One of the most common concerns involves whether passengers can file a claim and how courts or insurers decide responsibility after the crash.
This blog looks at when passenger claims may apply, how fault gets evaluated and what situations often affect recovery after a collision. From there, attention usually turns to how the crash happened and who may be responsible.
Passenger rights after a crash
If you get injured while riding in a car in Indiana, you do not need to be the driver to have a valid claim. Passenger injury cases usually center on who caused the collision rather than your role in it. That means attention often shifts to the actions of the drivers involved, whether it was the driver of your vehicle, another motorist or more than one party contributing to the impact.As investigators and insurers begin reviewing the facts, the question of fault starts to take shape. Since Indiana follows comparative fault rules, even small details about each driver’s actions can affect how courts and insurers divide responsibility and calculate compensation.
Fault in focus
As fault becomes clearer, specific driving situations often determine how a passenger injury claim moves forward. These real-world examples show how liability may arise in Indiana crashes:
A driver running a red light at a Terre Haute intersection and striking your vehicle
A distracted driver texting on I-70 and failing to stop in time
A rideshare driver speeding through wet roads and losing control
A multi-vehicle pileup on a highway where several drivers contribute to the crash
An uninsured driver causing injuries without enough coverage to fully pay damages
As these examples show, more than one insurance policy may come into play, especially when multiple drivers share responsibility. As the claim develops, reviewing crash reports, witness accounts and medical records can help connect your injuries to the specific actions that caused the collision. At this stage, legal assistance can help by organizing this evidence and identifying all potential sources of compensation so you are not left dealing with gaps in coverage on your own.
What comes next
As your recovery continues, the focus often shifts from the crash itself to how insurers and other parties address your losses. Passenger injury claims depend on clear evidence, timely documentation and a careful look at how all involved drivers assign fault. As these pieces come together, you may gain a clearer picture of what compensation could apply to your situation, including medical costs and lost income tied to the crash.]]>On Behalf of Hassler Kondras Miller LLP<![CDATA[What assets are you more likely to keep in a divorce?]]>https://www.hkmlawfirm.com/?p=483752026-04-10T11:59:54Z2026-04-15T11:59:28ZHow courts sort marital and separate property
Indiana follows a one-pot approach, which means courts place all property into the marital estate, including assets acquired before the marriage. Judges begin with the presumption that an equal division is just and reasonable, but they may order a different result when the facts support it.
Because of this framework, no asset automatically stays with one spouse. Nonetheless, certain facts can support a larger share going to one party. Courts may consider these:
Property owned before marriage: Assets you brought into the marriage still go into the marital estate in Indiana. Even so, the court may consider that history when deciding if an unequal division would be fair.
Gifts and inheritances: Courts include these assets in the marital estate. However, judges may consider that they were acquired by gift or inheritance when deciding how to divide property fairly.
Funds kept separate: Money you keep in individual accounts can strengthen your position, especially when you do not mix those funds with shared accounts. When you commingle funds, such as by placing an inheritance into a joint account, courts may treat that money as shared.
These categories show how courts look at both the source of the property and how each spouse handled it during the marriage. Since courts weigh these factors together, it becomes important to consider how the outcome may affect your next steps.
What to keep in mind as you move forward
Property division can shape your financial stability long after the case ends. Each decision connects to long-term plans and your ability to proceed with greater stability. Even small differences in how assets are divided can affect your housing, savings and future opportunities, so careful decisions matter.
As you move through the divorce process, legal help can guide you with clarity and care. Clear advice can help protect your interests and support more informed decisions at each stage.]]>On Behalf of Hassler Kondras Miller LLP<![CDATA[When does unpaid training time count as wage theft in Indiana?]]>https://www.hkmlawfirm.com/?p=483712026-03-30T09:09:11Z2026-04-02T09:08:20ZMany Indiana workers attend training sessions, orientations or workshops without receiving pay. Some employers treat this time as unpaid because they consider it optional or outside the scope of the job. But federal law sets clear rules about when training time counts as hours worked, and failing to pay for it can amount to wage theft.
The four-part test for unpaid training
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) treats training time as compensable unless the employer can show that all four of these conditions apply:
The session falls entirely outside the hours the employee normally works
The employee faces no negative consequences for choosing not to attend
The subject matter does not connect to the employee's current role or duties
The employee does not do any work that benefits the employer during the session
If even one of these conditions is not met, the employer must pay the employee for that time. The training hours must also count toward the 40-hour weekly threshold for overtime pay.
When "voluntary" training is not really voluntary
The word "voluntary" does more legal work than most employees realize. If an employer hints that skipping a training could lead to a poor review, a schedule change or any other negative outcome, the training is not voluntary under the FLSA.The same is true if the employer requires certain certifications to keep the job and then offers unpaid sessions to earn those certifications. Framing something as optional does not make it so if the employee has no real choice.
Common situations where training should be paid
Several workplace scenarios regularly lead to unpaid training disputes. These include:
New hire orientations that cover company rules, safety procedures and job-specific tasks
Required safety or compliance sessions held before or after a shift
On-the-job training where an employee shadows a coworker while learning the role
Mandatory online courses completed at home on the employee's own time
Each of these situations involves training that is either required, directly job-related or completed during work hours. Under the FLSA, the employer should be paying for that time.
How unpaid training affects an employee's total pay
Unpaid training does not just mean lost wages for those specific hours. When an employer leaves training time off the clock, it can push an employee's actual hours past 40 for the week without triggering overtime. That means the employee loses both the base pay for the training and the overtime premium they should have earned. Over weeks and months, the total can add up to a significant amount of unpaid compensation.
Why keeping records matters
Employees who suspect they are not being paid for required training should start tracking their hours independently. Writing down the date, start and end time and the name of each training session creates a record that can support a claim later. Pay stubs and any written communication about the training, such as emails or memos, are also worth saving. The stronger the paper trail, the easier it is to show what happened.]]>On Behalf of Hassler Kondras Miller LLP<![CDATA[Proving liability in multi-vehicle crashes]]>https://www.hkmlawfirm.com/?p=483682026-03-13T10:13:13Z2026-03-18T10:12:37ZCar accidents are stressful under any circumstances, but collisions involving several vehicles can feel especially overwhelming. When multiple drivers are involved, figuring out what exactly happened and who may be responsible is not always simple.
In the moments after a chain-reaction crash, confusion can be rampant. Drivers may have completely different versions of events, and damage patterns can make the situation even harder to untangle.
How liability is determined after a multi-vehicle crash
When several vehicles are involved in a crash, determining liability usually requires a careful review of the sequence of events. Investigators often examine police reports, witness statements and vehicle damage to piece together how the collision unfolded.It all starts with evaluating negligence. To determine whether a driver may be at fault, investigators often ask a series of questions: Did the driver owe a duty of care to others on the road? Did they breach that duty by speeding, tailgating or ignoring traffic laws? And did that breach directly cause the crash and the resulting injuries? These questions help establish whether a driver failed to act with the level of care that a reasonable person would use under similar circumstances.In many multi-vehicle crashes, the first impact plays an important role in determining responsibility. The driver whose actions triggered the initial collision may bear primary responsibility if their negligence set the chain of events in motion. To understand what happened, investigators look closely at the first driver’s behavior, reviewing factors such as traffic violations, road conditions and whether the driver reacted reasonably to the situation.If you were injured in a multi-vehicle crash, speaking with a legal professional can help you better understand your options and what steps may help protect your interests, making it easier to move forward and focus on recovery.]]>On Behalf of Hassler Kondras Miller LLP<![CDATA[Can employers punish workers for discussing their pay?]]>https://www.hkmlawfirm.com/?p=483662026-02-27T07:06:07Z2026-03-04T20:34:47ZWage discussions have legal protection
The ability to transparently discuss current wages and benefits is critical to effective organizing. As such, there are legal protections for such conversations at the federal level. Employers can include policies that claim that discussing wages is prohibited in training materials and handbooks.
However, they cannot actually enforce those palaces. Punishing workers for engaging in protected workplace activities, such as working to organize with coworkers, is unlawful employer retaliation. If companies demote or fire workers because they disclosed their wages or asked others about their pay, those actions could provide the grounds for a lawsuit.
Keeping records of wage discussions and how a company responds can help workers assert themselves when employment law violations occur. An employment lawsuit can potentially compensate workers who have been unfairly punished for discussing their wages or engaging in other attempts to organize with their co-workers.]]>On Behalf of Hassler Kondras Miller LLP<![CDATA[When do workers have a right to overtime pay?]]>https://www.hkmlawfirm.com/?p=483632026-02-13T08:25:59Z2026-02-18T08:25:13ZWorking more than 40 hours
Overtime pay obligations begin once a worker has performed more than 40 hours per workweek. Employers can choose when the workweek starts and ends, but it should be consistent from one week to the next. Workers must show that they put in more than 40 hours to be eligible for overtime pay.
Receiving hourly pay or a low salary
All hourly employees are theoretically eligible for overtime pay. Regardless of what they make per hour, they should receive 150% of that rate for any time worked past the 40th hour.
The rules are different for those who receive a salary. They must receive a low salary to be eligible for overtime wages. Currently, the federal threshold for a non-exempt salary is $684 each week or an annual salary of $35,568.
Anyone earning less than that may be entitled to overtime wages. Even when employers have policies limiting overtime availability, they have an obligation to pay hourly and non-exempt workers if they work overtime. The failure to do so is a violation of federal and state employment laws.
When employers refuse to uphold overtime wage laws, workers may have the option of filing a wage and hour lawsuit. Documenting time worked and consulting with a lawyer can help employees pursue the overtime wages that they deserve.]]>