Every business is consistently looking for new talent and the next employee that can be the difference maker to the business. One underrated and forgotten aspect of hiring new talent is Employee Applications. Almost every employer in the country uses Employee Applications. They can seem innocuous, but they contain a number of minefields of which employers should be aware.

As the old saying goes...."Never do business with....

When parties enter into a domestic commercial contract, their focus is typically on memorializing their agreement and getting the deal done; unfortunately, rushing to meet an end goal doesn’t mean a party truly met the end goal. As a result, they may not think critically enough about what will happen if the relationship goes south and how the contract provisions that they chose to include—or did not choose to include or accepted without negotiation—will affect how and where they resolve a dispute and shape the remedies to which they may be entitled.

As the New Year approaches, people begin to think about money making ventures and perhaps starting a new business to see where that great idea can take them. Despite the positivity in aiming for business success, from a relational standpoint, people enter closely-held businesses in the same manner as they enter marriage: optimistically and often ill-prepared

Employers often face the dreaded claim against their company, a claim that the entity, in some form, discriminated against an employee.  Aside from worrying about a claim coming, employers often do not understand the process involved in dealing with these claims and the deadlines and process an employee goes through that can affect an employer’s responsibility to deal with a discrimination claim.

If you are a corporation, you undoubtedly have a board of directors – or at least the hope is that you do. 

So you've incorporated. Now what?

You may not be aware, but the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) has opined on numerous occasions that various common handbook provisions are unlawful under the NLRA (National Labor Relations Act) because they may have the effect of inhibiting employees from engaging in protected activities, such as discussing wages, criticizing management, publicly communicating about working conditions and discussing unionization.

Clients often ask me about the application of non-competition agreements because they seem to be everywhere. An employee is subjected to a non-compete agreement, or an employer is trying to subject its employees to a non-compete agreement. 

The age-old requirements of contract law continue to stand the test of time: offer, acceptance, and consideration are the necessary elements to create a contract.  

As any legal counsel should do, legal advice regarding any security measure for a corporation’s private information is paramount. Advising the board of directors of a company to pay close attention to data security issues cannot be forgotten since the stakes are too high for a board to ignore. 

Employers are always looking for the most effective way to maintain integrity in time keeping of employee hours for work performed. Several companies now offer time and attendance solutions that incorporate the use of fingerprint identification technology and purport to eliminate a term called “buddy punching” for hourly employees. 

If you don’t already know, a trademark is a recognizable sign, design, or unique expression related to products or services of a particular source from those of others, although trademarks used to identify services are usually called service marks. The trademark owner can be an individual, business organization, or any legal entity. A trademark may be located on a package, a label, a voucher, or on the product itself. For the sake of corporate identity, trademarks are being displayed on company buildings. 

The legal requirement of the parties to a contractual agreement to execute their signatures effectuates not only the execution of the agreement, but identification and proof of enforcement against the parties to be charged to the agreement. As important the signature requirement is for agreements across the world and in all areas of commerce, it is not always easy or convenient to get signatures; in fact, waiting for signatures on a contract can delay business transactions. To avoid delays and keep up with the ever-changing world of technological advances, digital signatures are becoming an accepted practice.