Category: Business Law

Probably not if you’re like any other business.  After all, ‘tis the season to boost company morale and show appreciation for staff with parties and time off and bonuses too!  Below I offer a few tips for mitigating clean-up of the post-holiday legal mess these issues have the potential to create. Away with that Manger. Decorations are key to a festive atmosphere and there is no reason you should stop decking your office halls out of fear...

The unexpected election of Donald Trump to the Presidency on Tuesday raises many questions for employers and employment lawyers.  At the federal level, Mr. Trump has indicated in one form or another that he intends to change the American workplace.  What follows is by no means an all-inclusive list, it merely reflects some of the areas on which Mr. Trump has commented.  Time will tell what he will accomplish with Congress or by executive order. ...

Kollman & Saucier is pleased to announce that four of its partners made the annual list that is published each year by SuperLawyers: Frank Kollman, Pete Saucier, Darrell VanDeusen, and Eric Paltell (who was also, once again, named one of Maryland’s Top 100 attorneys).  Each of these attorneys was selected for his or her practice in management labor and employment...

According to an article in today's Washington Post, the District of Columbia Council is considering legislation that would provide every full-time and part-time employee in the District with 16 weeks of paid family and medical leave.  If passed by the Council, the law would be by far the most generous family leave law in the country. Under the  proposed legislation, an employee making up to $52,000 a year would get 100% of their pay for 16 weeks...

Tomorrow we will move out of the house we have lived in for 20 years. Its the place we raised our children, and, for the most part, the only home they have ever known.  Times like this make one reflect, and an experience moving out a chair yesterday made me contemplate the impact of  government benefits on motivation.  Here's how. We have a two year old cat who, when she was little, obsessed with her catnip-filled stuffed mouse. She would chase...

You may recall a April 7, 2015 blogpost where I discussed the NLRB’s decision that an employee who called his boss a “motherfucker” and wrote on Facebook to “f--k his mother and his entire f--king family!!!!” had engaged in protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) since that “colorful” language was related as a part of a union campaign. Pier Sixty, LLC, 362 NLRB No. 59 (March 31, 2015). Just when you thought it...

If you were doing what tens of millions of others around the world were doing  yesterday, you logged on to the internet, clicked on this  link, and then argued with whoever was with you about the color of a dress.  That's right -- the color of dress (please click on the link and I promise it will make sense, kind of).   Here's how the conversation between me, my wife,  and my daughter went: Daughter: "What color is the dress, Dad? Me:...

The Protecting Pregnant Workers Fairness Act of 2014 took effect January 6, 2015. The Act requires all employers in the District of Columbia, regardless of size, to make reasonable accommodations for employees affected by childbirth, pregnancy, and related medical conditions, unless the employer can show that doing so would cause an undue hardship (significant difficulty or expense to the employer’s business.) An employer’s duty to engage in an...

In Maryland, and in approximately twenty states, the answer is “yes.” In an unusual (though modern) move, the Anne Arundel Medical Center (the “Hospital”) recently announced that starting in July 2015 it plans on no longer hiring smokers. Like a growing number of health systems, universities and other businesses, the Hospital will require a urine test for nicotine use for all job applicants. The policy will not affect existing employees,...