Cathleen Renner had a desk job that resulted in an inactive lifestyle (I think most of us can relate). After 25 years with AT&T, however, the obese Renner died of a blood clot right there at her desk after a 10-hour work shift at her home office. Even more unusual, a New Jersey appellate court ruled that Renner’s husband was entitled to workers compensation benefits. How?

AT&T contended that Renner’s work was no more a threat to her health than her day-to-day lifestyle, the ruling states. The company also said many factors besides her work contributed to her death. A lawyer for AT&T did not return a message seeking comment. Dr. Leon Waller, who testified on behalf of the 47-year-old Renner, acknowledged the mother of three had other risk factors like obesity and the use of birth control pills, the ruling states. But Waller found that Renner’s clot developed while she was working.

The court found that although Renner led a sedentary life both inside and outside of work, evidence showed that her work inactivity was greater than her non-work inactivity.

This is a first of its kind for workers comp cases. But will it have an effect on on future workers comp cases of the same nature? ”I could see another judge with those same factual circumstances deciding otherwise,” said Gerald Rotella, chairman of the workers’ compensation committee for the New Jersey State Bar Association.

Working from home has become popular in today’s workforce; it boosts employee morale, cuts down transportation costs and in some instances, increases employee productivity as a result of diminished distractions. But what happens when an employee takes on too much without the supervision of a manager? Though a lethal outcome is rare, other health risks could easily surface.

How do you keep an eye on those working from home?

Companies there have evacuated and closed plants in the aftermath of the world’s fifth-largest earthquake since 1900. Because Japan is the destination of so many global businesses, the economic effect of the earthquake will be felt throughout the world. From the Wall Street Journal:

• Volvo
  The automobile company was among the worst hit. Its main facility in Japan that produces heavy-duty trucks was forced to halt production. Volvo employs 10,000 people in Japan.

• Daimler
  One of the company’s facilities in Kawasaki was slightly damaged. Production is continuing with all employees accounted for.

• Nestle
  The Swiss food giant has reported damage to two of its buildings, one of which was closed and production halted. The company says all employees are safe and accounted for.

• GlaxoSmithKline
  Operations at one of its manufacturing plants is suspended for several days as damage is assessed.

• Procter & Gamble
  A company spokesperson has reported that the majority of the consumer product company’s employees have been accounted for. It has suspended operations at its fabric care products plant.

• Autoliv
  The world’s biggest producer of car safety products reported that it was forced to halt operations at one of its plants due to infrastructure damage.

Some telecom companies are also reporting damage to underseas cables.

An official from Chunghwa Telecom, who asked not to be named, said the affected cable belongs to the Asia Pacific Cable Network 2, which is owned by a consortium of 14 telecom operators led by AT&T Inc.

Though the emotional effects of such a devastating natural catastrophe will be felt for years to come, it is hoped that the economic effects won’t be so long-lasting. It’s hard to be optimistic when you see the damage, however. Below is a frightening video of the earthquake and tsunami as it unfolds.

These public figures make up only a fraction of the victims in Apple’s worst security breach. This week, FBI agents arrested the two men responsible for stealing the personal information of 120,000 iPad users last summer. Federal officials charged Andrew Auernheimer and Daniel Spitler with fraud and conspiracy to access a computer without authorization, and both face up to ten years behind bars if convicted.

In June of 2010, Auernheimer and Spitler used a script called the “iPad 3G Account Slurper” to attack AT&T customer information and “slurp” up thousands of email addresses, which they attempted to leak to internet spammers. The fiasco has caused AT&T quite a few headaches. The company has already paid $73,000 to clean up the mess, not to mention the blow this incident must have inflicted on AT&T’s exclusive relationship with Apple. (Could this be a contributing factor to the budding alliance between Verizon and the iPhone?)

Stories like these sound familiar, and they gradually change with the times. First there was credit card identity theft. Now we worry about Facebook security. The cyber world is quickly evolving to become more interconnected, and unfortunately, it is increasingly difficult to enjoy the luxury of privacy. With the surging popularity of advanced technology and social media sites, we seem to be trading in our anonymity for easy access. Although avoiding new media doesn’t appear to be an option anymore, small steps like checking privacy settings and watching what material you post on public websites can provide some protection.

Be safe out there.

Launched by DeWitt Stern, the 110-year-old risk management and insurance brokerage firm, the coverage will work to protect brands, corporate entities and advertisers against losses spawned by reputational risk crises.  The company’s managing director had this to say in the Insurance Business Review:

“The Tiger Woods scandal shows how quickly reputations can become tarnished in today’s fast-paced media environment,” said LeConte Moore, managing director of DeWitt Stern’s New York City office. “All the planning in the world cannot protect a brand manager against the unforeseen. Reputation Risk Insurance will provide those forward-looking brand managers and advertisers with a smart and attractive way to protect their investments.”

And protection of investments they will need. If Woods sticks to his break from professional golf, it is reported that TV audiences could shrink by up to 50% — which could stick Nike with a $30 million loss in sales. So far, only Accenture, a Dublin-based consulting company, has ended its business relationship with Woods.

The following sponsors (courtesy of Bloomberg) remain supportive:

• AT&T
• Electronic Arts
• Pepsi
• Procter & Gamble
• Golf Digest
• Nike
• The Tiger Woods Dubai
• TLC Vision
• Upper Deck
• TAG Heuer
• NetJets

However, Bloomberg reports that AT&T is “evaluating its advertising relationship with Woods, according to a Dec. 12 e-mailed statement,” Gillette (a Procter & Gamble company) will stop running print and broadcast ads with Tiger, and Pepsi is “talking to his people regularly at this point.”

On the other hand, Nike, Golf Digest and Upper Deck will all rhetorically plan to continue their Tiger-related operations as if nothing happened.

Says Upper Deck:

“Upper Deck will maintain its exclusive agreement with Tiger in both our sports cards and memorabilia categories, and we look forward to his eventual return to the PGA Tour,” Richard McWilliam, chief executive officer, said in a statement Dec. 15. “Tiger and his family have our full support.”

Reputational risk coverage may be too little too late for these companies, as not just Nike, but every Tiger Woods sponsor stands to lose some amount of money from his foolish actions. And as his number of reported mistresses grows every day and talks of divorce swirl, it remains to be seen if Accenture will be the only company to cut their losses . . . and their reputation risk.

In the past week alone, multiple thefts have been reported with thieves stealing wiring for highway lights in Reno, Nevada, AT&T phone lines in Atlanta and grounding wire for a hydro-electric sub-station in Canada. Thieves even took an entire bus station roof in Virginia.

While the thefts seem to yield only a few hundred dollars at a time, authorities are concerned because they can cause thousands of dollars worth of damages in the process. For instance, Reno authorities have had to struggle to repair the lights in darkened highways while AT&T has been so disrupted by phone line thefts that it has instituted a $3,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of copper thieves. And economic damages are not the only problem. Many thieves are not the most sophisticated and are willing to cut wires with little regard for the current running through them, risking severe burns and even death.

Although it seems somewhat mundane, copper theft has been a big problem for a while now. According to the Electrical Safety Foundation International’s 2008 Copper Theft Baseline Survey of Utilities:

81.4% of utility companies were concerned about copper theft;

95.1% had experienced copper theft in the past year;

86.6% had a process in place to track incidences of copper theft;

Over the previous 12-month period, an estimated 50,193 incidences of copper theft occurred;

7,919 of those incidences involved energized equipment;

The value of copper material stolen in the 12-month period was an estimated $20,167,738; (including the value of copper material, the impact of the copper thefts from utilities nationwide cost $60,397,818);

The number of outages due to copper theft was an estimated 456,210 minutes; 52 injuries nationwide; and 35 deaths.