Pennsylvania Blog
Posted on May 1, 2012 By Charles V. Curley
Can you imagine employing a first round draft pick? It is estimated that Andrew Luck, who has not played an NFL game will sign a four year contract with the Indianapolis Colts for about $22 million A ...
Continue reading "Employment Agreements: Treat Your New Employees Like an NFL Draft Pick" »
Posted on Apr 26, 2012 By Charles V. Curley
As the economy slowly begins to improve you should expect to see a shift in employment cases. The focus will go from discharge cases to enforcement of restrictive covenants (i.e. non-competes) and a ...
Continue reading "Confronting the Failure to Hire Case" »
Posted on Apr 22, 2012 By Charles V. Curley
While the United States Supreme Court wrestles with interpreting the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), maybe you need to do the same. The case of Michael Shane Christopher v. ...
Continue reading "Overtime Pay for Your Salespeople?" »
Posted on Apr 16, 2012 By Charles V. Curley
Recently, the Miami Marlins suspended their controversial manager, Ozzie Guillen after he offered his favorable opinion of Cuba’s Fidel Castro. For the Marlins this was as much about selling ...
Continue reading "Lessons in the Workplace from Ozzie (not that Ozzie)" »
Posted on Apr 9, 2012 By Charles V. Curley
There is a new poster requirement to add to the list effective April 30, 2012. By that date employers (with very limited exception) must comply with a National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") ...
Continue reading "More Poster News for Employers" »
Posted on Mar 28, 2012 By Charles V. Curley
There is an initiative in the Pennsylvania House to expand the Pennsylvania Code to allow employees leave to time to care for an ill sibling. The federal Family Medical Leave Act ("FMLA") ...
Continue reading "Adopting and Adapting to the Family Medical Leave Act in Pennsylvania" »
Posted on Mar 25, 2012 By Charles V. Curley
Spring time is great for doing some office clean up. And if you make it to the employee kitchen take a look and see if those old coffee-stained posters could use a little refreshing. In Pennsylvania ...
Continue reading "Getting your Postings Right in Pennsylvania" »
Posted on Mar 20, 2012 By Charles V. Curley
It was widely reported that back in 2011 Smith Barney paid a $500,000 settlement for a deadly accident caused by a Pennsylvania employee who was making sales calls on his cell phone at the time of the ...
Continue reading "Employers in the Pit Crew: Getting your Employee Drivers Off the Phone" »
Posted on Mar 15, 2012 By Charles V. Curley
Distinguishing between an improper rant and one that is protected under Federal Law is not easy but it is helpful to understand your rights. Under the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA") ...
Continue reading "Can You be Fired for a Facebook Rant?" »
Posted on Mar 14, 2012 By Chuck
The Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") requires employers to pay non-exempt employees for overtime work. Many employers avoid overtime by mistakenly misclassifying the employees. Another way ...
Continue reading "Employers Must Develop an Overtime Policy" »
Posted on Mar 8, 2012 By Charles V. Curley
What's the point? Can we ever win one of those things? I hear these questions all the time from my employer clients. They are convinced that the fix is in and they cannot possilbly win an ...
Continue reading "Should you Fight an Unemployment Compensation Claim?" »
Posted on Mar 6, 2012 By Charles V. Curley
I recently rented the movie Horrible Bosses on demand. Now I'm no movie critic and my teenage children disagree with me but I thought it was, in a word, horrible. But that doesn't mean that ...
Continue reading "Is it Illegal to be a Horrible Boss?" »
Posted on Feb 28, 2012 By Charles V. Curley
The Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law, 43 Pa. Stat. Ann. 260.1 et seq ("WPCL") is a powerful tool for employees but to be successful an employee must prove that the money he did ...
Continue reading "Is it a Wage? Understanding Pennsylvania's Wage Payment and Collection Law" »
Posted on Feb 23, 2012 By Charles V. Curley
Many small businesses have been shocked when they learn that they have been victimized by a trusted employee's embezzlement. But after the shock it is time to put all efforts toward recovery of as ...
Continue reading "Recovering from Embezzlement: Coordinating Restitution" »
Posted on Feb 22, 2012 By Charles V. Curley
These days small businesses are looking for all sorts of ways to cut down on expenses. When you pull up your Quickbooks pie chart it is no surprise that one of the biggest expenses is labor. Although ...
Continue reading "Independent Contractors or Employees: It's Not Up to You" »
Posted on Feb 27, 2011 By Charles Curley
On February 11, 2011 the Construction Workplace Misclassification Act went into effect in Pennsylvania. The Act is designed to prevent construction employers from labeling certain employees as ...
Continue reading "Construction Companies Beware of Misclassifying Independent Contractors" »
Posted on Feb 5, 2011 By Charles Curley
One of the first things to consider when you are on either side of a non-compete case is whether there is a clause in the agreement that awards attorney fees to the prevailing party. There is no doubt ...
Continue reading "Attorneys Fees: The Big Hammer in Employment Cases " »
Posted on Jan 20, 2011 By Charles Curley
One of the first considerations for an employee under a restrictive covenant (or non-compete) is whether he should quit and start his new job as quietly as possible; or whether he should discuss it ...
Continue reading "Weighing Your Early Options in a Non-Compete Case " »
Posted on Jan 19, 2011 By Charles Curley
A recent decision out of the Federal District Court in Pennsylvania reminds employers how difficult it can be to properly classify employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"). In Cuttic v. ...
Continue reading "Interpreting the Fair Labor Standards Act Is Not Always as it Appears " »
Posted on Jan 9, 2011 By Charles Curley
A recent case decided out of the Federal District Court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania demonstrates the importance of strictly following administrative procedure to preserve an employment ...
Continue reading "Following Procedure and Preserving Your Discrimination Case " »
Posted on Dec 27, 2010 By Charles Curley
Winding down a company during these tough economic times can be quite difficult. A company's decision makers need to be careful to use any available cash for the best interest of the company and its ...
Continue reading "Personal Liability under Pennsylvania's Wage Payment Law " »
Posted on Dec 24, 2010 By Charles Curley
With so many employee discrimination cases decided by what's in the personnel file, you would think that employers would take better care at ensuring accuracy. Sure, you can be certain to have the ...
Continue reading "Tis' the Season: Year-End Employee Evaluations" »
Posted on Dec 13, 2010 By Charles Curley
It's a tough spot for employers. The concept of "free speech" even if it doesn't really exist in a constitutional sense in a private workplace, is very much a part of American culture. So, companies ...
Continue reading "Disciplining Employees over Social Networking " »
Posted on Dec 8, 2010 By Charles Curley
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) offers a lot of coverage. At least that is the way that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sees it. In a recent case the EEOC took up a ...
Continue reading "A Broad Interpretation of the Americans with Disabilities Act " »
Posted on Nov 30, 2010 By Charles Curley
Over the holidays you may get a call from a friend or a relative looking for some work for her college aged son or daughter to (let's be kind) boost the resume. The closer is: he'll work for ...
Continue reading "Make Sure Your Volunteer Workers are Real Volunteers " »