Monthly Archives: June 2021

Training bond schemes misused by employers to exploit workers – Newsroom

Posted: June 2, 2021 at 5:31 am

JUNE 2, 2021 Updated 15 hours ago

Employment

Last week a major McDonald's franchisee lost four restaurants for asking staff to sign illegal bonded labour agreements. But training bond schemes are more common than you would think because sometimes they're actually legal.

Bonded labour or forced labour sounds like it should be completely illegal,and it is for the most part.

But in some cases, employers can use legitimate training bond schemes to ensure their investment in a worker is paid off.

However, the issue isemployers are misusing legitimate training bond schemes to illegally secure workers intoterm agreements.

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Dundas Street Employment Law partnerRosamund Webby says training bond agreements,colloquially known as "bonding arrangements"are not uncommon.

Typically these training bond scheme involve acompany paying for the training of a legitimate course or apprenticeship under the premise the worker will be bonded to that employerfor certain period it could be a year, or a year and half.

However, Webby says,these arrangements tend normally to be in respect of added extras to the actual employment.

"Such as expensive professional development or training in things that arent actually required to competently perform the basic job an employee is employed to undertake."

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She says generally, the amount thats repayable also reduces the longer the employee remains in employment.

What is not allowed and in breach of the Wage Protection Act is charging aworker or prospective employee a premium for giving them employment.

In the case of McDonald's former franchisee owner Prakash Hira asked staff topay him $3000 total as a bond agreement for the entire hiring/on boarding & training cost, and for time spent throughout the onboarding processes such as orientation/follow up orientation, training plans and time spent training, uniform costs as well as several administrative costs.

Webby says all of these costs are incurred simply in employing and ensuring a person can perform the basic job.

They are not added bonus extras that the employer doesnt really need to offer.

Hence that contract isn't "worth the paper its written on", Webby says, as the arrangement is likely unlawful, and if its signed, it is likely to be entirely incapable of being enforced.

Workers' rights advocate Nathan Santessohas worked on thousands of exploitation cases and says while illegal training bonds are not common, about onein 20cases he deals involvesa dodgy bonded labour agreement.

He says they were especially common in industries like beauty and massage clinics.

Santesso says he is currently dealing with an employment dispute involving abeauty therapyworker bonded to her employment for two years over a sham training course on laser hair removal.

He says bonds are allowed if there is an actual qualification the employer is paying for, usually to a third party, for the worker to attend, such as flight training.

This protects the employer if the worker decides to take a free training course andleave without working.

Hospitality worker's advocate Chloe Ann King says vulnerable migrant workers whose visas are tied to their employers are often victims of illegal bonded labour arrangements.

"Workers are asked to pay a premium and given a false sense of hope about getting residency. It's totally cruel," Ann King says.

She says exploitative employers often think their contracts trump employment law.

According to MBIE,workers being asked to paypart or all their wages back to employers and payingpremiums for getting employment were among of the most common forms of migrant exploitation.

There have been calls from businesses and worker's advocatesfor the government to act fast on having a modern slavery law in New Zealand, like Australia, the United Statesand United Kingdom already have.

All three countries also have dedicated modern slavery laws, designed to make businesses report on the potential risks of forced labour in their supply chains and what they are doing to address them. New Zealand has no such legislation.

"Workers are asked to pay a premium and given a false sense of hope about getting residency. It's totally cruel." Chloe Ann King,Raise the Bar

Ann King says while this legislation is necessary, current employmentlaw took exploitation seriously. Employers who exploit migrants can be imprisoned for up to seven years and fined up to $100,000.

But the problem was, theLabour Inspectorate and the Employment Relations Authority, where employment disputes are heard, have been underfunded and did not have the resources to enforce the law.

She says both departments were overlooked in this year's Budget.

Disputes are facing up to two years of wait time before they are heard at the ERA due to a backlog of cases post-Covid.

As for Hira, the former owner of four McDonald's restaurants, the union representing the workers of his stores say it will not take further action against the company, Hira Corporation.

"We complained and head office acted quickly on the complaint and [Hira] lost his company. That's a win for us," Unite Union national director Mike Treen says.

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Why We Need to Democratize Wealth: the US Capitalist Model Breeds Selfishness and Resentment – CounterPunch.org – CounterPunch

Posted: at 5:31 am

Throughout its historywherever it arrived and settled in as the dominant economic systemcapitalism provoked struggles over the redistribution of wealth. In other words, this system always distributes wealth in a particular way and likewise produces dissatisfaction with that particular distribution. Those dissatisfied then struggle, more or less, consciously or not, peacefully or violently to redistribute wealth. The struggles are socially divisive and sometimes rise to civil war levels.

The French Revolution marked the end of French feudalism and its transition to capitalism. The revolutionaries slogans promised the transition would bring with it libert, galit, fraternit (liberty, equality and fraternity). In other words, equality was to be a key accompaniment to or product of capitalisms establishment, of finally replacing feudalisms lord-serf organization of production with capitalisms very different employer-employee system. Transition to capitalism would erase the gross inequalities of French feudalism. The American Revolution likewise broke not only from its British colonial master but also from the feudal monarchy of George III. All men are created equal was a central theme of its profound commitment to equality together with capitalism.

In France, the United States and beyond, capitalism justified itself by reference to its achievement or at least its targeting of equality in general. This equality included the distribution of wealth and income, at least in theory and rhetoric. Yet from the beginning, all capitalisms wrestled with contradictions between lip service to equality and inequality in their actual practices. Adam Smith worried about the accumulation of stock (wealth or capital) in some hands but not in others. Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton had different visions of the future of an independent United States in terms of whether it would or would not secure wealth equality later dubbed Jeffersonian democracy. There was and always remained in the United States an awkward dissonance between theoretical and rhetorical commitments to equality and the realities of slavery and then systemic racist inequalities. The inequalities of gender likewise contradicted commitments to equality. It took centuries of capitalism to achieve even the merely formal political equality of universal suffrage.

Thus, there should be no surprise that U.S. capitalismlike most other capitalismsprovokes a widely troubling contradiction between the actual wealth inequality it produces and tendentially deepens (as Thomas Piketty has definitively shown) and its repeatedly professed commitment to equality. Efforts to redistribute wealthto thereby move from less to more equal distributionsfollow. Yet, they also disturbingly divide societies where the capitalist economic system prevails.

Wealth redistributions take from those who have and give to those who have not. Those whose wealth is redistributed resent or resist this taking, while those who receive during the redistributions of wealth develop rationales to justify that receipt. Each side of such redistributions often demonizes the other. Politics typically becomes the arena where demonizations and conflicts over redistribution occur. Those at risk of being deprived due to redistributions aim either to oppose redistribution or else to escape it. If the opposition is impossible or difficult, escape is the chosen strategy. Thus, if profits of capitalists are to be taxed to redistribute wealth to the poor, big businesses may escape by moving politically to shift the burden of taxation onto small or medium businesses. Alternatively, all businesses may unite to shift the burden of such redistributive taxation onto higher-paid employees wages and salaries, and away from business profits.

Recipients of redistributions face parallel political problems of whom to target for contributing to wealth redistribution. Will recipients support a tax on all profits or rather a tax just on big business with maybe some redistribution flowing from big to medium and small business? Or might low-wage recipients target high-wage workers for redistributive taxation?

All kinds of other redistributions between regions, races and genders display comparable strategic political choices.

Conflicts over redistributions are thus intrinsic to capitalism and always have been. They reflect but also deepen social divisions. They can and often have become violent and socially disruptive. They may trigger demands for system change. They may function as catalysts for revolutions. Because pre-capitalist economic systems like slavery and feudalism had fewer theoretical and rhetorical commitments to equality in general, they had fewer redistribution struggles. Those finally emerged when inequalities became relatively more extreme than the levels of inequality that more frequently provoked redistribution struggles in capitalism.

No solution to divisive struggles over wealth redistribution in capitalism was ever found. Capitalisms keep reproducing both theoretical and rhetorical appeals to equality as self-celebrations alongside actualities of deep and deepening wealth inequalities. Criticisms of capitalism on grounds of wealth inequality dog the system everywhere. Divisive social conflicts over capitalisms unequal wealth distributions persist. Endless efforts to find and implement a successful redistributive system or mechanism continue. The latest comprises various proposals for universal basic incomes.

To avoid divisive social conflict over redistribution, the solution is not to distribute unequally in the first place. That can remove the cause and impetus for redistributive struggles and thus the need for endless and so far fruitless efforts to find the right redistribution formula or mechanism. The way forward is to democratize the decision about distributing wealth as it emerges from production. This can be accomplished by democratizing the enterprise, converting workplaces from their current capitalist organization (i.e., hierarchical divisions into employerspublic or privateand employees) into worker cooperatives. In the latter, each worker has one vote, and all basic workplace issues are decided by majority vote after a free and open debate. That is when different views on what distribution of output should occur are articulated and democratically decided.

No redistribution is required, necessitated, or provoked. Workplace members are free to reopen, debate and decide anew on initial wealth distributions at any time. The same procedure would apply to workplace decisions governing what to produce, which technology to deploy, and where to locate production. All workers collectively and democratically decide what wage the collective of workers pays to each of them individually. They likewise decide how to dispose of or allocate any surplus, which is above the total individual wage bill and replacement of used-up inputs, that the enterprise might generate.

A parable can illustrate the basic point. Imagine parents taking their twinsMary and Johnto a park where there is an ice-cream vendor. The parents buy two ice creams and give both to Mary. Johns wails provoke a search for an appropriate redistribution of ice creams. The parents take away one of the ice creams from Mary and hand it to John. Anger, resentment, bitterness, envy and rage distress the rest of the day and divide family members. If affection and emotional support are similarly distributed and redistributed, deep and divisive scars result. The lesson: we dont need a better or right redistribution; we need to distribute more equally and democratically in the first place.

This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

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Examples of Victimless Crimes | LawInfo

Posted: at 5:30 am

Is there such a thing as a victimless crime? Yes. Criminal justice laws are created by the government to restrict unwanted behavior and actions. Many of these criminal laws are meant to protect others, such as laws against assault or abuse. However, a number of laws criminalize consensual behavior or actions where there are no victims. This may include laws against recreational drug use or prostitution.

Unfortunately, the courts and judges do not always take into account whether a crime is victimless when enforcing laws. However, your criminal defense attorney may be able to negotiate a reduced sentence or lesser penalties by showing the court that there was no identifiable victim. Talk to an experienced criminal defense lawyer for legal advice in your case.

A victimless crime is generally an illegal criminal act that does not have an identifiable victim. This generally includes actions that only involve the perpetrator or something voluntary between consenting adults. Victimless crimes are also known as crimes against the state that do not harm society.

The police may claim that there is no such thing as a victimless crime, but is that really true? There are laws in other countries that prohibit criticism of the government, which criminalizes free speech. Other countries criminalize consensual behavior like same-sex relationships or drinking alcohol. Many of the laws that criminalize harmless behavior are based on opinions about morality.

There is no set definition of a victimless crime, and each person may have a different opinion about whether a criminal offense is actually victimless. Some of the common examples of actions that may be called victimless crimes include:

There is often a fine line between what is considered a crime or not. For example, going to Las Vegas and playing poker for money is legal. However, playing a poker game for money in another state may be illegal gambling. Smoking recreational marijuana is legal in states like California andOregon, but doing the same thing in Alabama could get you thrown in jail. State criminal laws and regional attitudes can make a big difference in whether victimless activities are against the law or permissible.

Prostitution is legal in many countries. Its even legal in parts of Nevada. However, in the rest of the U.S.,solicitationof sexual acts in exchange for money is against the law. Criminalizing sex work does not eliminate the act but drives it underground. When treated as a crime, sex workers may be less willing to come forward to report more serious offenses, like violence or sexual assault.

There are many terminal diseases or debilitating conditions that leave patients suffering needlessly. For many of these people, suicide may be the best way to die with dignity. In states with assisted suicide laws, these people can make the decision to die on their own terms instead of continuing to suffer. However, in most states, suicide and assisted suicide is against the law. Prohibition of end-of-life care decisions can end up victimizing the person the laws are meant to protect.

The attitudes toward drug use are changing in the U.S. Not long ago, drugs like marijuana were illegal in all forms in all states. Now, a majority of states havemedical marijuanalaws, and a number of states are also legalizing marijuana for recreational use. More states are beginning to decriminalize drug possession, treating drug offenses as a substance abuse problem rather than a crime. Categorizing drugs as medically useful or harmful is not always based on science. However, in some states, the victimless crime of marijuana possession can still lead to a prison sentence.

Gambling is one of the most common criminal activities that people do not consider a crime. Betting on a March Madness bracket or Super Bowl pool at work may technically be against the law. A poker game between friends seems harmless, but it may violate state anti-gambling laws. However, state-sanctioned gambling may be totally legal, including the buying of lottery tickets. Many states have exceptions for charitable gaming or tribal casinos.

Homelessness is a major concern in many states. The simple response for many states is to criminalize the actions associated with homelessness instead of addressing the underlying issues. This includes laws against:

Homelessness may be the result of substance abuse, mental health conditions, domestic violence, or even an unexpected medical emergency. Criminalizing homelessness is a temporary measure that does not do anything to help those in need.

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Does Victimless Crime Exist? | LawInfo

Posted: at 5:30 am

There are some laws on the books that dont seem to harm anyone, but violating those laws is still illegal. Some people consider credit card fraud or insurance fraud to be victimless because the only real victims are big corporations. However, other crimes seem to leave no victims behind because everyone involved is consenting. While you may think of these as victimless crimes, the courts disagree.

A victimless crime is an illegal criminal act that only involves participants who consent to the activity. The views on these crimes are often based on social standards or community standards of what should or should not be against the law. However, the fact that no one was harmed against their will is not generally a legal defense.

Who is the victim when someone grows their own marijuana, never sells or shares it with anyone, and only consumes it at home? Who is the victim when two consenting adults agree to have sex in exchange for some money? The police and prosecutor may argue that society is somehow the victim or there are indirect victims of the crime. Even if the offense does not seem to harm anyone, the law allows for the arrest and prosecution of the offender.

Also known as complaintless crimes, police officers still crack down on minor offenses that do not have any direct or identifiable victims. Some examples of victimless or complaintless crimes include:

Historically, many acts were illegal because they were considered immoral. Past laws considered immoral included criminal laws against homosexuality or interracial marriage. These victimless crimes only changed after legal challenges and a change in social attitudes. However, the laws vary by state, and some states allow activities that other states still consider illegal. This includes criminal law regarding:

Some states may selectively criminalize unlawful acts, based on the situation or setting. For example, a group of friends playing a poker game may be committing illegal gambling, but the state may allow gambling as a commercial enterprise in a casino or through the state lottery.

Many people in the U.S. still consider some of these victimless offenses to be wrong or immoral. It is much the same in other countries, where it also seems clear that politicians create these laws to criminalize behavior without real consideration of justice or whether anyone was being harmed. In other countries, it may be a criminal offense to:

In most cases, you can not put forward the defense that there were no other victims of the crime. However, entrapment may be a defense if police enticed you into participating in criminal activity and you would not have done so otherwise. Entrapment is an often misunderstood legal defense, so it is important to understand how it works before relying on thisdefense strategy. Talk to your criminal defense attorney for advice on the best legal defense in your case.

Entrapment occurs when a law-abiding person is convinced to commit a crime they would otherwise not have committed. Entrapment can occur through threats, coercion, harassment, or fraud. However, an undercover officer offering the opportunity to commit a crime is generally not considered entrapment.

For example, if an undercover officer tells you that they knew where to get drugs and you gave the officer money to buy drugs, this is not entrapment. However, if the officer told you to sell drugs for them or the officer would harm your family, that could be considered entrapment.

Another criminal defense may include a defendants lack of knowledge about the criminal activity or victims. For example, receiving stolen goods is generally only against the law if you know or reasonably should have known the goods were stolen. If you did not know the goods were stolen, you never would have thought whether there might be a victim.

It may not seem fair that you are being punished for something that didnt cause anyone any harm. Even if it involves a victimless crime, you may still face serious consequences. You may have several criminal defense options to help you avoid a criminal conviction, however. Contact acriminal defense lawyerfor legal advice and assistance.

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Calgary man wanted on 100 warrants arrested and charged with 3 years’ worth of crimes – CBC.ca

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A Calgary man wanted on more than 100 warrants has been arrested and charged with crimes dating back three years.

Six days after he was released from jail, Justin Taylor Hartland, 38, was suspected in a downtown break-and-enter.

Hartland is accused of breaking into a lockbox to steal the master keys to a downtown apartment building on March24. The keys were then used to break into the mailroom.

At the time, Hartland was also wanted on more than 100 outstanding warrants.

On May 22, Hartland was arrested and charged with the break and enter.

Police also added more than 100 other charges related to fraud, property offences and breaches of court-imposed conditions.

"Property crime offences are not victimless crimes;they affect our citizens' sense of safety in our communities," Staff Sgt. Kurt Jacobs said in a release.

"Our analysts work hard to identify property-crime trends and associated suspects that can then be located and charged."

The Calgary Police Service says its offender management unit works closely with parole officers to identify the city's most prolific offenders who can then be monitored to ensure they're obeying their court-ordered release conditions.

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Paedophile had so many indecent images that police stopped counting – North Wales Live

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A paedophile had so many indecent images of children on his phones that police stopped counting.

The images - mainly of girls aged one to 15 - were only discovered after Stuart Roy Kearn, 47, failed to tell police about a new relationship he was having with a woman and that he stayed with her some nights.

A previous court order obliged him to do so, Caernarfon Crown Court heard.

Officers swooped and found his two phones with the 1, 279 indecent images and movies on them.

Kearn, of Bath Road, Wrexham, was found guilty of possessing indecent images of children, and admitted breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and also failing to comply with notification requirements.

A judge jailed him for a total of three years and four months.

The prosecution said Kearn and the woman began a relationship and he would stay with her every other evening.

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We'll send you a roundup of the latest cases from our reporters in the courts at Caernarfon, Llandudno and Mold.

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But he didnt tell police about his change in circumstances.

He had been given an 18-month jail term and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) in June 2016.

Caernarfon Crown Court heard Kearn had only given his new partner a sanitised version of his crimes and had not told her about the SHPO.

When police arrived at his own home in 2019, they found a black Samsung smartphone - which they knew about - but also a white Samsung smartphone which they didnt.

Police analysed the devices and found 1,279 indecent images and movies of children.

The prosecutor said they stopped counting after that but there were many thousands more.

Andrew Green, defending, said his client has yet to take full responsibility for his actions.

But he said: The life he was starting to build in a settled relationship, with a woman he was very fond of - that life is now in tatters. That relationship has finished.

He added: Since his convictions for these offences hes lived in a hotel. Hes back to square one.

Judge Nicola Jones said there had been a large number of different victims in the images, with some "in discernible pain".

She told Kearn: These are not victimless crimes. Children are abused, raped and tortured.

She jailed Kearn for two years and six months for possessing indecent images in Category A, the most serious.

He also got 16 months and four months imprisonment for possessing indecent images of children in Category B and C, respectively. Both those terms are to run concurrently with the main sentence.

Kearn was jailed for a further ten months for failing to comply with notification requirements - to run consecutively - plus a concurrent, seven-month term behind bars for breaching the SHPO.

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Man Charged With Possession of Child Abuse Material After Uploading It to Google Drive – TechNadu

Posted: at 5:30 am

If you thought that you can upload anything on cloud storage services without having to worry about the content and whether anyone will bother to check if it violates the usage terms, heres a story that proves this notion wrong. A 52-year-old man in South Australia has uploaded 156 media files containing child abuse material onto Google Photos and Google Drive. Soon, he was arrested and charged for possession of material that violates section 474.22A of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth).

This means the man is now facing a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, which is to be decided by the Port Pirie Magistrates Court. As Detective Superintendent Gail McClure stated, this arrest is another warning that law enforcement can reach online resources that users consider private and safe and that the power that comes from international law enforcement collaborations is enough to aid them in locating anyone involved in devastating crimes. In this case, the report came from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

Indeed, Google doesnt have the capacity to thoroughly check every possible term infringement on services like Photos and Drive, as users upload huge volumes of files there every day. We discussed this problem again in January when Google Drive was apparently turning into an atypical pirate haven, freely offering or selling access to movies, porn videos, personal images, software, etc. These repositories were also being indexed by Google Search, so finding them isnt hard, neither for users nor for the police as it seems.

During the arrest, the South Australia Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (SA JACET) also seized a laptop, two desktop computers, a mobile phone, and a notebook containing handwritten passwords. By using these credentials to access the devices and other online accounts of the charged man, the investigators found a significant amount of additional abuse material.

Even if one is not producing this material yourself but merely buying or downloading and sharing it, it is not a victimless crime, and one is by no means innocent. Every piece of child abuse image or video that is out there amplifies the trauma for the child, and as long as abusers see demand for this material, they continue to have the incentive to produce more.

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Intro signals: E.g., See, See also, Cf., etc. – Bluebook …

Posted: at 5:30 am

Bluebook Rule (21st): 1.2(a)

Law Review Typeface For Introductory Signals:Italics

Signals indicating that the cited work is supportive of the author's text are the most commonly used type of signal. There are six supporting signals:

The most frequently used are probably [no signal], E.g., See, and See Also.

[no signal]

No signal is necessary if a cited authority:

E.g.,

"E.g.," is the abbreviation for the Latin phrase "exempli gratia," and can loosely be translated to mean "good example." "E.g." is used when the cited authority states the proposition and when citation to other authorities also stating the proposition would be unhelpful or unnecessary.

NOTE: "E.g." can be combined with other signals, such as "See." When communed with another signal, the other signal should be given first, separated by an italicized comma but ending with a non-italicized comma:

See, e.g.,

See

See is probably the most frequently used (and abused) introductory signal. It is used when the cited authority clearly supports a proposition but there is an inferential step between the proposition as stated and the cited authority. Although not a catch-all signal, it is often inappropriately used as such.

See also

"See also" is used to cite to additional materials and authority that supports a proposition but when other authority has already been cited to using either See or [no signal]. An explanatory parenthetical stating the relevance of the additional material is strongly encouraged.

NOTE: It is not appropriate to use See also for general background-reading materials; in that case, the signal "See generally" should be used (rule 1.2(d)). Again, an explanatory parenthetical explaining the relevance of the material is strongly encouraged.

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Sweat Test | CF Foundation

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The Gold Standard

The sweat test is considered the gold standard for diagnosing cystic fibrosis. Sweat tests should be done at a CF Foundation-accredited care center, where guidelines are used to help ensure accurate results. The sweat test is performed by a trained technician and the results are evaluated in an experienced and reliable laboratory.

Did You Know?

The sweat test is the gold standard for diagnosing cystic fibrosis.

The sweat test can be done on an individual of any age. However, some infants may not make enough sweat to do the test. If an infant does not produce enough sweat the first time, the test should be repeated.

If your baby had a positive newborn screen (NBS) or you received a positive prenatal genetic test, its important to schedule a sweat test as soon as possible once your newborn reaches 10 days of age. At the latest, babies with a positive NBS or prenatal genetic test should have a sweat test performed by the age of 4 weeks to ensure that any health issues or changes can be found early and treated quickly.

The sweat test measures the amount of chloride (a component of salt) in the sweat. There are no needles involved in this test. In the first part of the test, a colorless, odorless chemical (pilocarpine) and a little electrical stimulation is applied to a small area of the arm or leg to encourage the sweat glands to produce sweat. A person may feel tingling in the area, or a feeling of warmth. This part of the test lasts about five minutes.

The sweat is then collected on a piece of filter paper or gauze or in a plastic coil. This step lasts for 30 minutes. The collected sweat is then sent to a hospital laboratory to measure how much chloride is in the sweat. The sweat test usually takes about an hour, but it may take longer. When you schedule the test, ask how long it will take and when you can expect to learn the results.

Watch a video that further explains the sweat test and shows how it is done.

There is no activity limit or special diet needed before the sweat test. However, you should not apply creams or lotions to the skin 24 hours before the test. You can continue all regular medications. These will have no effect on the test results.

Babies should be fed their usual amount at their usual times.

Read theCF Foundation's guidelines for sweat testing.

People with CF have more chloride in their sweat than people who do not have CF.

For a child who has CF, the sweat chloride test results will confirm the diagnosis by showing a high chloride level. A baby has to sweat enough to do the test. Full-term babies usually produce enough sweat by 2 weeks of age. The test should be done as soon as possible between 10 days and, at the latest, 4 weeks of age for babies who have had a positive NBS or prenatal genetic test.

Typically, sweat chloride values do not change from positive to negative or negative to positive, as a person grows older. Sweat test results also do not vary when a person has a cold or other brief illness. If a sweat test is done correctly, then results that are positive will show a high chloride level.

To understand what the sweat test results mean, a chloride level of:

When sweat chloride test results fall between the range of 30-59 mmol/L, the sweat test is usually repeated.

If your child received a positive NBS and has sweat test results that fall into the intermediate range and one or no CF-causing mutations, he or she will be classified as having CF-related metabolic syndrome (CRMS), also known as CF Screen Positive, Inconclusive Diagnosis (CFSPID). This designation also applies to children who have a positive NBS, a sweat test result less than or equal to 29 mmol/L, and two CFTR gene mutations, with at least one that does not cause any physical CF symptoms. A CRMS/CFSPID designation is only applicable to those who had a positive NBS.

Further testing may be recommended for those whose sweat test results fall into the intermediate range and whose genetic analysis determines unknown mutations or that their CFTR genotype is undefined. If further testing is unavailable or found to be inconclusive, the diagnosis cannot be resolved, and they may be considered to have CF-Related Disorder. A positive NBS is not required for this classification.

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Exclusive: How Carlos Kremer Became The Voice Of BRAVE CF – LowKick MMA

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BRAVE CF touches down in Minsk, Belarus, this Friday (June 4) for BRAVE CF 51. The Eastern European country will be the 22nd nation BRAVE CF has staged an event in, an impressive figure considering the promotion only launched five years ago.

Carlos The Roaring Lion Kremer, the promotions indefatigable cage announcer, has been with the company since the start, holding court for every event from the moment Atif Mohammad and Sunny Khatri walked into the cage for the opening bout of BRAVE CF 1.

LowkickMMA caught up with Kremer recently to discuss his start in MMA and how he ended up working with the Middle Easts premier MMA promotion. MMA is a tough industry to break into regardless of what side of the cage you want to be on, and Kremers story is a testament to the importance of creating opportunities rather than waiting for them to appear.

I was living in San Diego and was hungry to get involved in mixed martial arts. I started doing interviews at different MMA functions in Ventura and Los Angeles, and just bidding my time and doing it for free, and [ it was my] passion, Kremer said, speaking to LowkickMMA

The former marine captain began working for the San Diego promotion Epic Fighting, run by Jason Stewart. Kremers love of MMA and drive to establish himself in the industry saw him dip into his own pockets to hire camera operators and an editor to start EpicTv.

You have to think big picture, and the marketing alone from those early days came back to me tenfold, Kremer explained.

To those outside looking in, it was a risky move, but it was one that has since paid dividends in ways Kremer could never have foreseen at the time. After being offered an opportunity to be Epic Fightings cage announcer, his career trajectory was set on a course that would lead him to BRAVE CF.

Once I hit that cage, you know I have always loved drama, Ive been in plays, Ive been an actor in Hollywood, and I wanted to bring that broadway show style feel, like a major Hollywood, Bollywood production into the cage of mixed martial arts. And give the fans an experience they would never forget, he said.

Kremers busy schedule also included hosting a podcast, and it was when he had Manolo Hernandez and Alex Soto on as guests that the next chapter of his career began taking shape. Hernandez was matchmaking for the BRAVE CF and mentioned to Kremers wife, Teca, that the promotion was still in the process of deciding who would be their cage announcer. She immediately recommended her husband, footage made its way to Bahrain, and the rest is history.

I started with BRAVE CF 1. The Kingdom of Bahrain has taken me in like family, one of their own, Kremer said,

Its been a whirlwind, and its just been an unbelievable journey.

Cage announcer positions are sought-after roles regardless of the market a promoter is operating in. The choice of Kremer to be the announcer for BRAVE CF, a Bahrain-based company, did not pass without a few obstacles, especially given the fact that, at the time, he was an unknown figure in the Middle East.

There are so many Arabic speaking celebrities, announcers, so many quality amazing individuals that they[BRAVE CF] were pressured to put someone like that on their show, and rightfully so, Kremer said.

But they had the belief in me and said, wait, just watch, listen, see this guy in the cage. See how the fighters relate to him, and sure enough, it happened.

I am very grateful because there were so many other people deserving in the area, so I had to come through with the biggest, most grand extraordinary performance, night after night, to not only secure my job but to make history together.

The Roaring Lion is not the only one at BRAVE CF leaving everything inside the cage. The company has created a platform for fighters from regions other promotions have often overlooked. Kremer believes that for the athletes, knowing the company that they compete for has complete faith in their talents results in even better performances from the fighters.

Ill tell you what when you watch BRAVE and you watch our fighters because his High Highness [ BRAVEs founder Sheikh Khalid Bin Hamad]believes in them and Mohammed Shahid [BRAVEs president] believes in them, these guys fight like no one else in the world, in my opinion.

Kremer adds that it is not just the fighters that BRAVE CF forms a bond with, but also the countries they visit.

What Brave Combat Federation does is form relationships with countries, not for one event but forever. We want to help their economy, we want to help their businesses. We want their fans and their people to take pride in whats happening and that we include them on this incredible mission.

He references a moment from BRAVE CFs early days that left a lasting impact on him to highlight his point. The promotion had just wrapped up its inaugural show, and Shahid was fielding questions from the assembled media. Reporters began asking what would happen if BRAVE CF did not become as financially successfully as the company hoped it would. Shahids reply, Kremer says cut straight to the core of the values that BRAVE CF represent.

[He said] We dont care about any of that. We are here to create a global imprint on MMA for the entire world to see. Its like how can you compete against someone who said that ?

He wasnt talking about money, he wasnt talking about revenue. He was talking about His Highness wants to make a global imprint on MMA period, and that is what were going to do.

Since BRAVE CF 1, Kremers career has gone from strength to strength. His success mirroring that of the company he calls home. There are still many fights to announced and events to be held, but Kremer, like BRAVE CF, looks set to leave a lasting legacy on the MMA landscape.

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Exclusive: How Carlos Kremer Became The Voice Of BRAVE CF - LowKick MMA

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