The U.S. Supreme Court recently handed down a decision in Gross v. FBL Financial Services. The Court ruled that a plaintiff bringing a claim under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) must show by a preponderance of the evidence that age was the "but for" cause of the employer’s adverse employment decision, and
Employment Law
Casey’s General Stores Settles Wage Lawsuits for $11.7 Million
By Rush Nigut on
According to the Wall Street Journal, Iowa-based Casey’s General Stores agreed to pay $11.7 million to settle two class action wage lawsuits.
According to the Department of Labor and industry experts, it is believed that 70 percent (or more) of businesses are out of compliance with wage and hour laws. How can your…
Iowa Employment, Training and Benefits Conference
By Rush Nigut on
I’ll be speaking about the dangers and pitfalls of the electronic workplace this afternoon at the Iowa Employment, Training and Benefits Conference sponsored by HR-One Source.
Matt Brick and Doug Fulton of Brick Gentry are also presenting at the conference. Matt is providing the employment law update and Doug will present on FMLA basics.
Importance of Employee Non-Solicitation Agreements
A few weeks ago I attended a conference relating to venture capital in Iowa. During the talk several of the panelists commented that they would not sign a non-disclosure agreement prohibiting them from discussing a potential business idea they learned about from someone seeking capital. The venture capitalists did not want potential liability for ideas that…
Guest Blogger: Mike Colwell of BIZ on Background Checks
By Rush Nigut on
Posted in Business Law, Employment Law
This is a guest post from Mike Colwell, Executive Director of the Business Innovation Zone (BIZ).
Why bother doing a background check on a potential employee? Well, not too long ago a friend of mine did not and ended up with a new credit card in his business’s name he knew nothing about. …
Dangers Lurking in the Electronic Workplace
By Rush Nigut on
A terrific post from employment attorney Ellen Simon discusses the potential liability and hazards when an employer accesses the personal emails of an employee. The actions of the employer described in the post were extreme but every employer should think twice before accessing an employee’s personal email.
I have discussed the dangers of the electronic…
More on Twitter and the Workplace
By Rush Nigut on
Read my post on IowaBiz for More on Twitter in the Workplace. Twitter is a micro-blogging application that is quickly becoming the new "thing" for business networking and marketing. Chances are you may already have an employee in your business on Twitter. Don’t get left in the dark.
Don’t believe it’s a big deal?
State of Iowa to Step Up Contractor Misclassification Efforts
By Rush Nigut on
The State of Iowa recently announced that it intends to step up efforts to enforce independent contractor misclassification. It is anticipated these enforcement efforts could bring in millions to the state coffers.
For more information on this topic please see my recent post on IowaBiz and another post from August of 2007 warning about independent…
The Workplace is All a Twitter
By Rush Nigut on
Twitter is one of the hottest social networking tools. President-elect Barack Obama even used it during his recent campaign. But is it a good idea to allow Twitter in the workplace?
Read my post on IowaBiz to learn more.
Insurance for Employee Lawsuits: Don’t Forget to Check Coverage
By Rush Nigut on
Good article on IowaBiz regarding insurance for employee lawsuits. Most businesses would be smart to explore this type of insurance coverage, especially in today’s slumping economy.
I think many small businesses are under the mistaken believe that they are covered for employment lawsuits through their ordinary business liability coverage. This is usually not the…