Korean War Memorial Copyright Infringed By U.S. Postal Service
July 29, 2010
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has held the U.S. Postal Service liable for copyright infringement for its use on a postage stamp of an image of a number of sculptures created by Frank Gaylord for the Korean War Veterans Memorial.
Employer's Review of Text Messages on Company Pager Reasonable
July 29, 2010
In a closely watched case and in a nearly unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the City of Ontario, CA, Police Department did not violate the Fourth Amendment privacy rights of its employee when it audited text messages he had sent and received on a department-issued paging device.
DOL: Same-Sex Partners May Qualify For FMLA Leave
July 29, 2010
In an Opinion Letter issued on June 22, 2010, the U.S. Dept. of Labor (DOL) clarified who may be a parent under the Family and Medical Leave Act, including same-sex domestic partners who stand <i>in loco parentis</i> to a child.
Employers Beware
July 29, 2010
Employee mobility, coupled with the exceeding ease with which confidential and proprietary trade secret information can be stored and transported, creates the perfect platform for trade secret theft. And it's not just a hypothetical problem.
Supreme Court Blockbuster Decision
July 29, 2010
On June 24, the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in <i>New Process Steel, L.P. v. NLRB</i>, ruling that the National Labor Relations Board (does not have the authority to issue decisions without at least three members currently sitting on the Board. The decision invalidates in one fell swoop some 600 decisions that had been issued by the Board during a recent 27-month period in which the Board had only two members.
Valuing Payments in Lieu of WARN Notice
July 29, 2010
Employers often fail to take into account all elements of compensation and benefits when valuing payments in lieu of notice. This article addresses certain elements of such payments that are often overlooked.
Conducting an Effective and Preventative Compensation Review
July 29, 2010
With the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the EEOC's and OFCCP's increased focus on compensation discrimination, and the government's increased budget for these agencies, compensation decisions are destined to come under increased scrutiny from employees, their attorneys and the government.
Online Board Games
June 30, 2010
Nostalgia for board games whose outcome meant nothing more than bragging rights and an opportunity to have fun made the online versions top hits in the dawn of the Internet era. Today, the children who once played those games ' and their parents ' have grown up and done serious, responsible things, like forming e-commerce companies. Unfortunately, many of them are still playing board games when they fail to see the benefits of having a traditional board of directors, but they're now playing a game with much more potentially serious consequences.
To Provide Health Insurance or Not? That Is the Question
June 21, 2010
The new healthcare bill will require employers to make a major decision: should they provide employees with "sufficient" healthcare coverage, or should they just pay the penalties? The decision will require a serious cost-benefit analysis.
Telecommuting and the Virtual Workplace
June 21, 2010
The virtual workplace and telecommuting arrangements create a number of potential pitfalls for employers that do not follow the "traditional" workplace model. When employers have employees who do not "power off" and leave work at work, there are a number of important issues they must consider to manage the virtual workplace.
