As Pennsylvania’s stay-at-home restrictions slowly lift, many employers will be welcoming back employees temporarily laid off since March. So let’s go through the unique employment law requirements created by one of Congress’s first COVID-19 responses, the Families First First Coronovirus Response Act. (We’ll call it the “Families First Act,” for short.)
The federal government has taken significant steps over the past weeks to provide relief to individuals and businesses struggling to manage their finances during the COVID-19 crisis. The first of these, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), went into effect on April 1.
Most notable of the provisions in FFCRA were the requirements
Due to the economic impact caused by COVID-19, hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania residents have found themselves unexpectedly unemployed or underemployed. The federal and state governments have responded with changes to the unemployment compensation system to provide some additional economic assistance to qualifying employees. This article summarizes the changes, the process for applying for
Wrestlemania was this past weekend, and Linda McMahon is rumored to be stepping down as the head of the Small Business Administration. I have a rule that when those two things happen in the same week, it is time to link back to my favorite blog post: How Your Small Business is Like Professional Wrestling.
My son and I are still watching wrestling. And there are even more lessons you can learn from wrestling. Here are more to add to the list:
Continue Reading Your Small Business is STILL Like Professional Wrestling
Every business has those key employees who you really do not want to lose. A common risk for this is when your customers see how well an employee performs and decides it would be even better to bring them in-house (cutting out you and your profit margin). Many businesses protect themselves against this risk with a “no-hire” clause in customer contracts where they agree not to poach employees from you. But that may no longer be possible here in Pennsylvania.
Continue Reading Keeping Your Employees from Being Poached Just Got Harder in Pennsylvania
Back in July, Matt Landis updated us on several of the stories confirming Lancaster’s technology sector continued to thrive in 2018. As we close out the year, let’s look at a few more that made the news in our area during the second half of the year!
A few months ago I wrote about the Third Circuit Court of Appeal’s avoidance of ruling on whether employers have a duty to protect their employees’ personal information. We now have an answer to that question (at least in this Commonwealth) from Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court: Yes, yes it does.
On the eve of Thanksgiving the Pennsylvania Supreme Court released its decision in Dittman v. UPMC. This lawsuit was brought by employees of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center over a data breach that leaked the employees’ names, birth dates, social security numbers, and bank account information. But the existence of a duty by UPMC to protect this personal information remained in doubt. The Court ended this debate by ruling:
an employer has a legal duty to exercise reasonable care to safeguard its employees’ sensitive personal information stored by the employer on an internet-accessible computer system.
For employees, this is a decision that should be heralded as an important protection against identity theft. After all, what choice does an employee have but to give personal data to their employer? That the employer must protect that information is just common sense.
Continue Reading PA Supreme Court Finds Employers Must Protect Their Employees’ Personal Data
As I’m sure you’re aware from the constant barrage of political advertisements, we are less than a week away from Election Day in 2018 which is Tuesday, November 6. As an employer, what are your legal obligations to your employees with respect to time off for voting?
To regular readers of the Lancaster Law Blog
If you’re thinking about starting a business in Pennsylvania, an important part of the financial side of your business plan is to evaluate the impact of taxes on your new business. Your lawyer and your accountant are key members of your business team that can help you evaluate what type of entity to form, how that entity should be taxed, and the taxes applicable to your business.
Part three of this series discusses taxes associated with ownership of real estate and employment taxes. Part one discussed sales and use taxes and others that may apply based on the nature of the goods you sell or the services you provide. Part two discussed taxes that may apply depending on the way your business is organized.
This post is not intended to be a substitute for legal or tax advice from your lawyer or accountant – you should talk to them in order to obtain advice to address your specific situation. Need a lawyer or an accountant? We might be able to help you with that!
Continue Reading Pennsylvania Business Taxes – Property and Employment Taxes
With all the uproar about Facebook’s use of our data and businesses bracing to deal with the EU’s GDPR, it is easy to forget there is no general obligation to protect your personal information. The Third Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision last week in Enslin v. Coca-Cola, et al. is the latest reminder of that fact.
Shane Enslin is a former employee of Coca-Cola. As part of his employment, he submitted, as we all do, personal information including his social security number. Coca-Cola discovered that one of its IT staffers was stealing company laptops and taking them home for his own use or giving them to others. Among the devices stolen were machines used by human resources employees that contained sensitive personal information, like Enslin’s social security number. After the devices were stolen, Enslin was the victim of identity theft.
Continue Reading Third Circuit Avoids Ruling on a Duty to Protect Employees’ Personal Information