by Josh Scharff | May 31, 2016 | Public Sector Employees, Social Media
Earlier this month, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper authorized Security Executive Agent Directive Five, which permits the federal government to consider information from social media sources in background checks for security clearances. This new policy...
by Mark Gisler | Dec 22, 2015 | Arbitration, Dispute Resolution, Employment Law
Good employment agreements have clear dispute resolution provisions. These provisions inform the parties about the process of adjudicating contractual disagreements. They should set specific and realistic expectations about what will happen if the dispute resolution...
by Jean Marc Favreau | Nov 4, 2015 | Employment Law, Restrictive Covenants, Restrictive Covenants (Non-Compete Agreements)
Given how frequently our clients have questions concerning restrictive covenants, we’ve devoted several past blog posts to issues related to non-competes and similar employment agreement provisions. Often, individuals entering into employment agreements...
by Michael Gan | Oct 14, 2014 | Employment Law, Restrictive Covenants, Restrictive Covenants (Non-Compete Agreements)
I’ve probably gobbled up 800 inches (67 feet) of Jimmy John’s turkey subs in the last five years (that’s 100 sandwiches). But no more. Sometimes a company’s employment practices will cause me to say, “no thank you.” After reading Neil Irwin’s piece in today’s New...
by Josh Scharff | Jul 31, 2014 | Clergy Employment Issues, Employment Law
Employees of certain religious institutions, which can include religious schools, congregations, and faith-based nonprofit organizations, are sometimes confronted with a “morals clause” in their employment agreements. In the context of a religious employer-employee...
by ADeleon | Jul 3, 2014 | Labor Law, Public Sector Employees, Supreme Court
In Harris v. Quinn, a small group of health care workers sued the governor of Illinois claiming that an agency fee arrangement violated their right to free speech and free association under the First and Fourteenth Amendment. The workers argued that as personal...
by Josh Scharff | Jun 30, 2014 | Labor Law, Public Sector Employees, Teachers' Unions
Teachers’ unions in California suffered a significant setback earlier this month when Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu ruled in Vergara v. California that certain statutory job protections for teachers were unconstitutional. Although the final...
by Josh Scharff | Nov 26, 2013 | Clergy Employment Issues, Employment Law, Supreme Court, Title VII
The Supreme Court Does Not Further Define “Religious Institution” in Hosanna-Tabor In it’s 2012 Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Church & School v. EEOC decision, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the validity of the “ministerial exception,” a common law...
by Josh Scharff | Oct 16, 2013 | Employment Law, Social Media
State lawmakers have had an active year enacting laws that prohibit employers from accessing applicants’ and employees’ private social media sites. As we reported earlier, Nevada recently joined the growing list of states with such protections. This past...
by Josh Scharff | Sep 19, 2013 | Employment Law, Free Speech, Public Sector Employees, Social Media
Bland v. Roberts Reverses District Court’s Take on the Facebook “Like” Button. The Fourth Circuit ruled yesterday that a public employee’s decision to “like” a candidate’s Facebook page amounted to free speech that is protected under the First...
