Author: Elf
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Business Is Business: Recognizing Referral Relationships as Legitimate Business Interests Protectable by Restrictive Covenants in Florida
Your client built a successful medical equipment business by earning the trust of doctors who referred patients to his company. He hired a trusted employee to help with the referrals, but she left and started her own competing business. She used the information she had about the doctors’ preferences to win them over. Now, the…
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Availability of Class Actions in Arbitration, Part 1
Some rights given by law can’t be given up, even if someone agrees to give them up. The Supreme Court said that the law to protect workers from low wages can’t be waived. This means that workers can’t agree to not get the wages they’re supposed to. The Supreme Court also said that workers can’t…
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Availability of Class Actions in Arbitration, Part 2
Part one of this article looked at the reasons for and against class action lawsuits and arbitration in legal cases. It found that arbitration agreements are usually upheld, but there are exceptions for cases with very small amounts of money at stake. Part two will look at more cases where waivers were upheld, how courts…
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Employment Verification: Then and Wow!
ICE is cracking down on businesses for immigration violations, like not having the right paperwork for employees. They’re making big arrests and fines, causing chaos and panic. This is happening in different states, and it’s a big deal. In 2008, five managers of IFCO Systems North America were charged with hiring and harboring illegal immigrants.…
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Preparing the Workplace for a Pandemic
Florida employers need to prepare for possible pandemics like avian influenza, SARS, or bioterrorism by taking steps to ensure their workplaces are safe. The risk of a pandemic illness is significant enough to warrant the time and resources needed to keep business operations running. Employers should promote quarantine effectiveness, social distancing, and preventative hygiene to…
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Technical Amendments to SAFETEA-LU Reaffirm Overtime Protection for Light Weight Truck Drivers
In June 2008, Congress changed the law to make sure that certain workers who help with trucks and other vehicles can get overtime pay. This change applied to the time between 2005 and June 2008. When Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1938, its main goal was to protect workers from low…
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Distinguishing Chicken Little from Bona Fide Whistleblowers
Whistleblowers are important for holding companies accountable, but they should be protected from retaliation. Florida has a law to protect whistleblowers, and there are also federal laws. This article compares the different laws and suggests some changes that could be made. The Florida Whistleblower’s Act protects private employees who report their employer for breaking the…
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Employment Law for Law Firms: Do the Shoemaker’s Children Need New Shoes?, Part 1
Make sure you’re not breaking any laws when it comes to how you treat your employees. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) has rules about overtime pay that you need to follow. If you don’t, you could get in trouble. As a law firm, it’s important to make sure you’re following all the rules when…
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Employment Law for Law Firms: Do the Shoemaker’s Children Need New Shoes?, Part 2
Policies and training are really important for employers. They help protect the company from legal issues. If the company has clear policies and trains employees, it can defend itself against claims of harassment. Some important policies for law firms include having language in the handbook that says employees can be fired at any time for…
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The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967: Issues Litigated at the Supreme Court Level
In 2000, the U.S. Census estimated that 12.4 percent of the U.S. population was 65 or older. Between 2010 and 2030, that number is expected to go up to 21.8 percent because of the retirement of the baby boom generation. With fewer jobs available and more people looking for work, older Americans may face discrimination…
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Taking the Fight to the Bullies: Tortious Interference Liability for Both Employer and Attorney on Baseless Restrictive Covenants, Part I
If a lawyer hears the words tortious interference, they will likely think of an ex-employee being sued for taking their former employer’s customers or for breaking a non-compete agreement. But in Florida, employees can also sue their former employer if the employer unfairly causes them to lose their new job by threatening legal action over…
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Taking the Fight to the Bullies: Tortious Interference Liability for Both Employer and Attorney on Baseless Restrictive Covenants, Part II
Filing a claim against a lawyer is risky because it can get personal and the lawyer will do everything to fight back. In a case about a noncompete agreement, both the former employer and the lawyer could be sued. The lawyer may have to consider if they can still represent the employer fairly, and if…
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Raising Arizona Law in Florida? Part I
Former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano signed the Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA) in 2007 to stop employers from hiring people who are not allowed to work in the United States. If a complaint is made, the Arizona attorney general or a county attorney can investigate and ask the federal government about the employee’s status. If…
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Raising Arizona Law in Florida? Part II
E-Verify is a program that helps employers check if their employees are allowed to work in the US. It was created in 1996 and is run by the US Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. It started as a voluntary program but is becoming mandatory in some places. The director of the…
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The Times They Are a Changing: The Impact of Technology and Social Media on the Public Workplace, Part I
Technology has a big impact on the workplace. The internet, computers, and cell phones have changed the way we work. We can communicate more easily, access information quickly, and work from anywhere. Social media sites like LinkedIn help professionals connect and find jobs, while video-sharing sites like YouTube have lots of content for people to…
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The Times They Are a Changing: The Impact of Technology and Social Media on the Public Workplace, Part II
The law is struggling to keep up with technology and social media. The things we do and say online are always there, and it’s harder to keep our private lives private. This was a concern even over a hundred years ago, and it’s still a big issue today. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) was…
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Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc.: Time to Apply the But For Burden of Proof to FCRA Discrimination Claims
In short, a law firm helped a client win a big case by proving that the other company broke their contract. It was a complicated process, but the law firm worked hard and was able to help their client win a lot of money. In Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc., the Supreme Court made…
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The Unsettled State of Pregnancy Discrimination Claims Under the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992
In Florida, employment discrimination laws protect workers from being treated unfairly because of their sex, but there is a debate about whether this includes protections for pregnant women. Federal law specifically prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy, but Florida’s law does not. This has led to a disagreement among courts about whether women can sue for…
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Marching Orders: When to Tell Your Boss No
This article discusses when a new lawyer can rely on the instructions of a more experienced lawyer, even when faced with an ethical dilemma. It explains that new lawyers must still follow their professional responsibilities, even if their supervising lawyer gives them conflicting instructions. The article also mentions that there are resources available to help…
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Mooting the Mootness Issue as Moot?: Symczykâs Impact on FLSA Litigation in Florida and Beyond
There were a lot of lawsuits about wages and hours under a law called the Fair Labor Standards Act. The number of cases went way up because the law says that the winning side gets their lawyer fees paid, it’s strict about following the rules, and it lets one employee sue for a group of…
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Breaking It All Down: Employers’ Sanctions Under Immigration Law and OCAHO Litigation
In 2012, the U.S. added about 151,000 jobs each month, which means a lot of new employees had to prove they could work legally. This can be complicated and if done wrong, employers can get in trouble. OCAHO is a group that deals with cases where employers didn’t follow the rules. If ICE thinks an…
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Interpreting the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992
Laws like the ADA and the FCRA make it illegal for employers to discriminate against people based on things like their age or disability. These laws use the phrase “because of” to show that discrimination was a significant factor in the employer’s decision. Similar laws at the federal and state level have the same purpose…
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When Must a Dispute Be Submitted to Arbitration? Who Makes the Call?, Part I
If you have a legal case but signed an agreement to resolve disputes through arbitration, it’s possible to challenge that agreement in court. The Federal Arbitration Act allows for some exceptions to enforceability, so not all arbitration agreements will be upheld by the courts. The decision on whether the agreement is enforceable will be made…
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When Must a Dispute Be Submitted to Arbitration? Who Makes the Call?, Part II
The question of who gets to decide if a dispute should be resolved through arbitration often comes up in court cases. In a famous case, the court decided that it should determine whether a contract required arbitration. However, in another case, the court ruled that an arbitration panel should decide if there was fraud in…