The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure govern how we exchange information with our opponents in a lawsuit. Even before a lawsuit is filed, you have an obligation to preserve information that may be relevant if you have reason to expect that a lawsuit may be filed (based on a government inquiry or a nasty letter from a lawyer).
In the past, that...
Fierce competition epitomizes today's global business environment. Companies strive to maintain every possible competitive advantage over their competitors. Similarly, they seek to ensure the maximum return from their investments—whether in new products, new customers, or employee training.
The loss of any of those advantages, no matter...
Noncompete agreements are little more than a memory in several states, including California and Colorado. Legislative measures there have all but eradicated employment agreements that restrict an employee's ability to work for a competitor after leaving his job. These states view noncompetition agreements as unfair restrictions on trade that are...
With the onslaught of social networking tools, it's no wonder that social media has become an increasingly popular litigation topic for employers. Courts began addressing the issue by deciding whether social media can be used in lawsuits and whether employees can be terminated because of their Internet postings. Now, the new wave of social media-...
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has the ability to subpoena a broad array of documents and records from third parties. Responding to such a subpoena can impose a costly burden on third parties.
EEOC's broad subpoena powers
An employer's dealings with the EEOC typically stem from an administrative charge filed by a current...
Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby were right — kids say the darnedest things. Unfortunately, some of those "things" may not be as cute, innocent, and humorous as Linkletter and Cosby thought. In fact, some of the things kids say may be outright boorish and malicious. A former private school headmaster in Miami found that out the hard way....
An at-will employee can be fired for any reason as long as the reason doesn't violate a statute or North Carolina public policy. The North Carolina Court of Appeals recently decided that the firing of a small town police chief violated public policy. As a result, the court upheld a jury award of $100,000.
Background
Timothy Blakeley was hired...
This was an interesting year for employment law issues in the Tennessee General Assembly. Despite early rumblings about amendments to last year's "guns in trunks" law that would've provided clarification about whether Tennessee employers may lawfully fire employees who violate broad "no weapons" policies, the only changes to that law at the end of...
HR professionals are frequently asked to do more with less. Moreover, these are challenging times, with companies facing increased employment litigation but having fewer resources for programs to strengthen the quality and longevity of the workforce. Exit interviews represent an effective and inexpensive, albeit little-used, tool for spotting and...
In response to an inquiry from a U.S. senator, the California attorney general (AG) released an opinion in February on the lawfulness of an employer's practice of videotaping its truck driving employees, allowing the videotapes to be inspected by a third party, and using the videotapes as grounds for imposing employee discipline and for training...
