Five Fact Friday – May 22, 2020

Five Fact Friday – May 22, 2020
May 22, 2020 Site Admin Five Fact Friday 0 Comments

There’s a rumor going around the internet that says if you go to the grocery store, tell them that you have a disability that says that you can’t wear a mask and they refuse you entry, that you can sue them for a lot of money. Is that right? Well we got all the answers.

Welcome back to Five Fact Friday, I’m Victor Medina, and I’ve got a series of great links for you this week. I wanna start with what it is that I’m reading, and I’ve got two links over here, they’re both articles that I think you’re gonna really enjoy. The first one is about what is opening up in New Jersey. We’re coming up on Memorial Day, can you believe it’s Memorial Day already? And there are things that are opening up in New Jersey like the Jersey Shore. And so for a complete list of what’s being opened, follow that link and at the same time, we all want an opportunity to celebrate, and one of the best ways that we can do that is by having a drive by parade, and so I wanted to include a link about how that’s being pulled off across the nation, and thought you might enjoy that.

Next is what I’m watching, and so there is a fantastic documentary on the life and career of Michael Jordan, the basketball player, and it’s called The Last Dance. And if you haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, I encourage you to check it out. You’re gonna find out some incredible new information like this little nugget, it’s long rumored that he had one of his most fantastic games called the flu game, and it was a game that he played clearly underneath the weather, and everyone suspected that he had the flu. Well, as it turns out, he didn’t have the flu at all. Someone delivered to him a bad pizza that he ate all by himself, that got him sick. So for more information like that including a never before seen look into what went on in the career of Michael Jordan, check out that documentary.

Next on to what’s on my home screen. You know, people are suffering Zoom fatigue, and that is that they’re tired of going onto Zoom and everything that’s on there. Well there are a couple of alternatives, one that’s being produced by Google, and another by Facebook. So if you’d like to learn more about one of those alternatives, check out that link.

Which brings me to the last two links of this week, and the one that I teased before we got to this video which is, can you go to a grocery store, tell them that you’ve got a disability, and if they refuse you entry, without wearing a mask, that you can sue them for a whole bunch of money? Well the clear answer is no, and I wanted to break this down for you, because after all, I am a lawyer. So what are they really talking about here? Well if you’ve checked out all of the internet memes, what they’re saying is that HIPAA prevents the grocery store from asking questions about your disability. Well that’s clearly not the case.

HIPAA is a privacy rule that says that those people that are in possession of your medical information can’t disclose it, that’s not the grocery store, that’s your medical provider, that’s your health insurance. So that one doesn’t stand up. The next one they’ll say is that if they refuse entry to you, under the Americans With Disability act, then you can sue them because they’re not giving you accommodations. Well the trick is into that little word right there, accommodations. They don’t have to let you into the store, especially if you present a danger to the other people who are there shopping, and all they have to provide you with is reasonable accommodations, and they can do that in any number of ways. They can offer to do the shopping for you, they can give you a time and place where other people might be able to congregate, but they don’t have to let you in just because you don’t feel like wearing a mask.

And look, I’ve got a personal something invested into this because I’ve had a number of clients die due to coronavirus, and I’ll tell you this, while the chances might be low that you’ll ever get it, and the chance is even lower that you might even suffer or die from it, if you could lower the chance that you might infect somebody else, even by a small percentage, I’d have to encourage you to do that. And so our firm has taken on the mask challenge, which is that if you come to visit us, we’ll be wearing masks, and we’re gonna ask you to do the same thing. We think it’s important enough to make sure that everyone is as healthy as they could be, and prevent the spread of this terrible, terrible disease.

Now, the last link for this week on what’s in retirement is gonna talk about how COVID-19 has affected the timing for other people’s retirement. People who were on the verge of thinking that we’re going to retire, now have to investigate whether or not that’s the right decision for them. Now, the link is gonna talk to you about some things that you can do in order to make sure that you’re still in a great position for retirement. But if you’ve got specific questions about your situation, realize that we are retirement planners, and so if you’d like to come and visit with us and make sure that you’re still on the path for retirement, or that retirement might be appropriate, it’s as simple as reaching out and setting up an appointment to see us.

And finally, I wanted to remind you about a couple of webinars that we’ve produced that we think that might be helpful to you or someone that you know or love. The first one’s on powers of attorney, and we produced a webinar that’s short, about 20 to 25 minutes, that will walk you through all the important elements of a great power of attorney, why it’s necessary, what makes a great one, and you might enjoy watching that free webinar. And we’re gonna give you another webinar on how to take control of your finances in this crazy, crazy atmosphere. So we’re gonna give you three strategies to regain control over your investment future, and if you’re interested in signing up for that webinar, you can do that in the link as well.

So let’s go for a quick recap. We’ve got the Memorial Day openings, the other things that’s going on in New Jersey, we’ve got the drive by parades, we’ve got the Michael Jordan documentary, we have the Zoom alternatives, then why the grocery store can decide not to let you in if you don’t wanna wear a mask, and finally, what you can do to make sure that you’re still on the path and your timing for retirement. Well, hope you enjoy those links, have a great Memorial Day weekend, and we’ll catch you in a couple weeks.

Links:

Reading: bit.ly/3bHSVgr & bit.ly/2AGILjl
Watching: bit.ly/3g5wrtk
Home Screen: cnet.co/36b8U5k
Legal: bit.ly/3gc61pG
Retirement: bit.ly/2ygFCWH