CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS ON EMPLOYEES CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS ON EMPLOYEES It is not a new development in employment law that many employers take into account an applicant’s or employee’s criminal history information, including arrests or convictions, when making employment decisions. Nor is it unprecedented for the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to come out

U.S. SUPREME COURT: ARBITRATION IS THE NEW EMPLOYMENT LAW The employment law component of the docket during the most recent term of the U.S. Supreme Court was dominated by decisions on arbitration. Some of the cases have the potential to affect large numbers of employers and employees.   Allocation of Power In the most significant

LITIGATION OVER NONCOMPETE AGREEMENTS Agreements between employers and their employees prohibiting or restricting competition by a departing employee are nothing new, but their use is growing—and not just for the highest levels of management. This trend makes it all the more important to understand the limits that courts have placed on such agreements, with a

CAREGIVER BIAS IN EMPLOYMENT Today, it is commonplace for workers to handle both work and caregiving responsibilities for spouses and children, parents and other older family members, or relatives with disabilities. Women still are disproportionately more likely to exercise primary caregiving responsibilities but, in increasing numbers, men also have assumed the dual roles of caretaker

E-MAILS CAN MODIFY CONTRACTS   We send e-mails so casually and with such informality, even in the business environment, that it is easy to forget that they may carry significant legal consequences. It is only prudent to bear in mind that even e-mails written in the most conversational style may create legal obligations no less

REAL ESTATE ROUNDUP   No-Show Mover Must Make Mortgage Payments A family hired a moving company to pack up their belongings in their home and move them to a new house in another state. The mover packed up everything, but failed to come back for the loading and moving. This was more than merely inconvenient,

BUSINESS START UP CHECKLIST   Both heart and mind must be working well if the owners of a new small business are to experience success. While it is only human nature, not to mention fun, to indulge one’s imagination about what a new business started from scratch could be like, would be entrepreneurs need to

GET IT IN WRITING When an Internet executive held a meeting with the chairman of a telecommunications company, the agenda was a new business idea that the Internet executive had. The discussion was transformed into a recruitment when the telecommunications executive suggested that the idea should be pursued within the company he headed. For two

REAL ESTATE ROUNDUP   Flood Zone Fraud A jury recently gave a hefty damages award to homeowners who sued a real estate company for falsely representing that the home they were buying was not located in a flood zone. When the rains came after the homeowners had moved in, the front yard, backyard, and a

FAMILY RESPONSIBILITIES AND THE WORKPLACE There is no federal law called the “Family Responsibilities Discrimination Act” or the “Caregiver Discrimination Act.” Nonetheless, there has been an increase in claims brought under a variety of federal statutes on behalf of job applicants or workers who assert discrimination by an employer on the basis of family-related decisions.