Your trusted source for Iowa business and franchise law insights.
Your trusted source for Iowa business and franchise law insights.
New York Small Business lawyer Imke Ratschko presents a helpful e-book on her blog "Small Business Guide to Risk Management – A complete guide for business decision-makers" published by the Association of Small Business Development Centers.
This easy to read guide discusses the many risks that businesses face and provides checklists to assess those risks…
The new federal electronic discovery rules become effective December 1, 2006. Fed. R. Civ. P. 26, 33, 34, 37, and 45 are being amended to take into account the importance of electronic records in the discovery process.
Here are the pending rules amendments.
Thanks to the Minnesota Business Litigation blog for the reminder.
Lawyers…
Many companies have policies covering Internet use, email, cell phones and other technologies. But does your company have a policy covering blogs? If not, you need to consider it. Kevin O’Keefe of LexBlog posted an interesting article that appeared in Scotland’s National Newspaper regarding the need for companies to rewrite their employment contracts to cover…
Iowa patent and technology lawyer Brett Trout recently posted about a couple of cases where bloggers were hit with big verdicts. One of the verdicts included $11.3 million awarded to a Florida woman after being called a "crook", "con artist" and a "fraud" in an online post.
This just points out that businesses must look…
Is it acceptable to request the birth date of an applicant on the job application?
It is generally NOT advisable to request an applicant’s date of birth on an employment application (except to ask whether an applicant is over the age of 18). The Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of…
Corporate Law Notes Blog recently posted an interesting article which should cause employers to carefully consider their policies concerning monitoring of personal email and other technologies in the workplace.
A Massachusetts trial court ruled that the employer did not adequately put the employee on notice that his personal email account (Yahoo in this case) would…
A recent Iowa Supreme Court case, McVey v. National Organization Service, Inc., stresses the importance of developing a drug-testing policy that complies with Iowa law and making sure that policy is delivered to each employee.
McVey lost her job after testing positive for marijuana during a random test. The employer notified her over the phone…
Employers are usually cognizant of discrimination and harassment claims. However, they are often blindsided by retaliation claims. The successful resolution of a discrimination or harassment complaint means you are only halfway home. Supervisors and employees must not retaliate against the employee who complained. This is even more important now because of a recent United States…
Rush Nigut is a featured speaker at the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives (IAEC) Human Resource Seminar this Tuesday, September 19, 2006 at the Wildwood Lodge in Clive, Iowa.
Rush’s topics include defamation, wage and hour issues, retaliation and discrimination in the workplace.
In a decision described as a "blockbuster" and a "bombshell", the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ruled the IRS may not tax emotional distress or professional reputation damage awards unrelated to lost wages or earnings.
The case began when Marrita Murphy sued the Department of Labor…