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Employment Contracts

Carefully craft an escape clause in all job contracts

11/01/2006

If you use employment contracts for independent contractors or senior-level managers, make sure those contracts contain enough "wiggle room" to terminate for cause based on your subjective performance assessment …

Contracts should agree to litigate disputes in N.J.

11/01/2006

If you use independent contractors or have your employees sign any type of employment contract, make sure those agreements state that both parties agree to litigate any disputes in New Jersey. If the contract is silent on the issue—or, worse, says the lawsuit forum must be California or another inconvenient place—you may end up spending thousands of dollars on travel and lost time …

Go After ‘In-House Hackers’ Using State and Federal Law

10/01/2006

The so-called paperless society ushered in by the computer age may mean fewer file cabinets and storage rooms full of paper records, but storing company records on hard drives has its own set of problems …

Attorneys’ Fees Added to Award in Wage-Collection Case

10/01/2006

The Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collections Law, the state law that requires you to pay workers on time, also says you must pay employees’ legal fees when you violate the law …

Court Reversal Preserves ‘Ministerial Exception’

10/01/2006

If you’re a religious organization, don’t be intimidated by employees invoking anti-discrimination laws as a way to protest your legitimate religious mission. When it comes to how you manage religious staff, government must keep its hands off …

Are mandatory arbitration agreements legal?

09/01/2006

Q. We require, as a condition of employment, that our employees agree to resolve all disputes by binding arbitration, rather than going to court. One of my friends said a lot of the government agencies don’t like those kinds of arbitration policies and one agency even decided that they were illegal. I know lots of employers have binding arbitration, so I don’t think that could be right, but thought I better check. —S.T.

Business interference is tough to prove in Pennsylvania

09/01/2006

Pennsylvania law makes it easy to enforce noncompete contracts. But trying to make a business-interference claim against an ex-employee is almost a lost cause …

Add early-Termination clauses to all employment contracts

09/01/2006

If you use employment contracts to ensure that you have specially trained employees for a predictable time period, make sure the contract gives you "wiggle room" to terminate the employee …

New arbitration pacts should cover ‘Old’ job disputes

09/01/2006

More organizations are establishing mandatory arbitration agreements that require employees to arbitrate employment disputes rather than go to court. But if you’re considering such agreements, make sure they contain language that covers events that occurred before you put the arbitration policy in place …

You can’t push contract-Breach case to federal court

08/01/2006

If you’re a Texas employer that agrees to settle an on-the-job injury case out of court, be prepared to follow through. If you don’t, you just may find your organization in a less favorable Texas court defending itself against breach-of-contract claims. And that can mean a big, fat award from an angry Texas jury …