Employee Relations & Management Issues

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Imagine this scenario: you’re excited about your new job with a large payroll processing company, and as a part of the employment offer, you’re directed to a company website that contains the terms of a stock award program. You quickly skim through it, check the box indicating that you’ve read and accept the terms, and click submit. As you skimmed through it though, you missed that the terms included a non-solicitation clause that restricts you from soliciting clients and prospective clients for one year after you leave the company.

Are you bound by that non-solicitation clause buried in the terms of the stock award program?   
Continue Reading Employment Law Update: Court Holds Internet-Based Noncompetition Agreement Enforceable

Matt Grosh recently talked about Cam and Mitchell from Modern Family as a backdrop to the IRS’s recent revenue ruling. That ruling recognized same-sex marriages for federal tax purposes even when a couple resides in a state that does not permit same-sex marriages.  The couple must only have been validly married in a state that recognizes same-sex marriage.

After last summer’s Supreme Court decision analyzing the Defense of Marriage Act, numerous questions arose regarding legal treatment of same sex couples.  Employers were confused about their obligations regarding benefits such as health insurance and retirement plans.  After consultation with the Department of Justice and the Department of Treasury (Internal Revenue Service), the United States Department of Labor (DOL) issued Guidance to Employee Benefits Plans on the definition of spouse and marriage.

The DOL advised that employers are to recognize "spouses" and "marriages" based on the validity of the marriage in the state where the couple was married rather than the state where they reside.  The DOL concluded that such an interpretation would make it easier for employers to uniformly administer benefits to all employees, in addition to offering more protection to same-sex couples.  In effect, the Department of Labor Regulations, Rulings, Opinions and Exemptions will assume that the term "spouse" refers to any individual who is legally married under any state law. Consistent with the IRS ruling, the terms "spouse" and "marriage" will not include individuals in domestic partnerships or civil unions.  Continue Reading From ‘Philadelphia’ to ‘Modern Family’

I recently read an article on MSNBC.com, Feds settle case of woman fired over Facebook comments, which discussed a settlement in Connecticut which will have a significant long-lasting impact on employers’ policies regarding their employees’ conduct on the internet. The National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") reached a private settlement with American Medical Response of Connecticut, Inc. for the termination of an emergency medical technician who posted what the article called an expletive-filled posting which referred to the employee’s supervisor as the company’s code for a psychiatric patient. The ambulance company had an employment policy which prohibited employees from disparaging the company over the internet or depicting the company in anyway.Continue Reading National Labor Relations Board Says Employee Facebook Posts About Employer Protected

In tough economic times, businesses tend to focus on larger issues such as their bottom lines, falling profit projections, and the streamlining of production. However a key component in the health of a business is often overlooked – the effects that economically stressed employees can have on their employers. Such effects include personal bankruptcies, wage attachments, theft…

References may be the first and last thing you think about in an employment relationship. Are employers required to provide them, and what information regarding former employees may be communicated? 

There is no statute or law requiring employers to provide references. As a result, and due to fear of providing the "wrong" information, many employers…

We have all witnessed dangerous driving maneuvers by individuals talking on cell phones. What if this driver is one of your employees? What if the employee causes an accident while conducting company business on a cell phone?

Employers may be liable for accidents where an employee’s job-related cell phone use contributed to the accident. Whether the cell phone…