Saturday, December 20, 2008

Lawyer reprimanded for sex with client (Arkansas News Bureau)

By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A committee that regulates the conduct of Arkansas lawyers has reprimanded a military lawyer from Jacksonville for having sex with a client and lying about it.

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[Source: Yahoo! News Search Results for lawyer]

Lawyer arrested for giving client a piece of candy (The Times of India)

PRESCOTT, ARIZ: A lawyer has been arrested after he reportedly ignored orders not to give his shackled client a piece of candy in court, a Yavapai County sheriff's official said.

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[Source: Yahoo! News Search Results for lawyer]

Lawyer Arrested For Giving Client A Piece Of Candy (CBS News)

A lawyer has been arrested after he reportedly ignored orders not to give his shackled client a piece of candy in court, a Yavapai County sheriff's official said. Damon Rossi, 38, was arrested at his home on Thursday, a day after he asked two detention officers if he could feed his client a piece of candy, sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn said on Friday. Rossi went ahead and gave the inmate ...

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[Source: Yahoo! News Search Results for lawyer]

Lawyer: O.J. evidence headed to eBay (CNN)

O.J. Simpson may be sitting in a Nevada prison, but the drama continues with hearings today in two states. It's all about sports memoriabila. Witness Al Beardsley is ordered to surrender a Hall of Fame ring Simpson gave him. Was it a bribe? A lawyer calls the saga 'Lord of the Rings in an Orange Jumpsuit.'

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[Source: Yahoo! News Search Results for lawyer]

NLJ Lawyer of the Year: DOJ's Glenn A. Fine (Law.com)

The National Law Journal has named Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine as lawyer of the year. During a year in which the DOJ's reputation suffered several black eyes, Fine emerged as a beacon of nonpartisanship and independence. Fine's investigation into the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys may be the "flagship" report of 2008, notes former boss Michael Bromwich, but Fine's ...

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[Source: Yahoo! News Search Results for lawyer]

Lawyer ordered to leave grandma's former home (San Antonio Express-News & KENS 5)

The San Antonio lawyer jailed this fall for contempt of court in a bizarre case involving her grandmother's estate and allegations that she had embezzled from it was ordered by a Bexar County probate judge on Friday to leave the Monticello Park home she bought with the fortune, even as her own lawyer raised questions about her competence.

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[Source: Yahoo! News Search Results for lawyer]

Lawyer arrested for giving client a piece of candy (AP via Yahoo! News)

A lawyer has been arrested after he reportedly ignored orders not to give his shackled client a piece of candy in court, a Yavapai County sheriff's official said.

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[Source: Yahoo! News Search Results for lawyer]

French court allows "Les Miserables" sequel: lawyer (Reuters via Yahoo! News)

Modern-day sequels to Victor Hugo's classic "Les Miserables" have been allowed after a French court threw out a suit from the 19th century master's descendants, a lawyer for publishers Plon said on Friday.

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[Source: Yahoo! News Search Results for lawyer]

Pioneering environmental lawyer dies at 92 (Austin American-Statesman)

Dallas environmental lawyer and activist Edward C. Fritz, who proved in federal court in the 1970s that illegal logging was occurring throughout the national forests of Texas, died Friday at age 92.

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[Source: Yahoo! News Search Results for lawyer]

Obama Nominates Hilda Solis for Labor Secretary

 President-elect Barack Obama has chosen California Democratic Rep. Hilda Solis as his labor secretary.  Solis, 51, was first elected to Congress in 2000.  She is Hispanic and represents a district dominated by Latino voters in Southern California.



The daughter of a union shop steward from Mexico and an assembly line worker from Nicaragua, Solis has led on both labor and environmental issues.  Little is known about Solis by the employment law community at large so I have...




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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Blagojevich's Lawyer: Taking the 'Unwinnable' Cases (Time Magazine)

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is going to fight hard to hold onto his job and freedom with help from veteran Chicago defense lawyer Edward Genson

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[Source: Yahoo! News Search Results for lawyer]

Thursday, December 18, 2008

ADA Restoration Bill Passed

The New York Times is reporting that the U.S. House has passed a major civil rights bill on Wednesday that would expand protections for people with disabilities and overturn several Supreme Court decisions issued in the last decade.  We previously addressed this bill here. 



The bill, which was approved 402 to 17, would make it easier for workers to prove discrimination. It would explicitly relax some stringent standards set by the court and says that disability is to be...




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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

ADA Amendments Act Working Its Way Through Congress

A large, bipartisan group of senators signed on as co-sponsors of the ADA Amendments Act (S.3406) which was introduced August 1. The bill will strengthen the protections of the original Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed in 1990.



Sens. Tom Harkin, D. Iowa, and Orrin Hatch, R. Utah, led the effort to sign on 66 senators as co-sponsors of the bill.  With so many co-sponsors, there is a good chance that the Senate leadership will bring the bill to the floor to a vote.



The...




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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Plaintiff Awarded $46 Million Dollar Verdict in Retaliation Case

An Ohio jury recently awarded the largest verdict in Ohio history -- $46.7 million -- to a man who they said was wrongfully fired last year.  This is the largest employment verdict I have seen, possibly ever. 

Ronald Luri, 55, accused Republic Services Inc. of retaliation and of forging documents critical of his job performance after he refused to fire three of his employees -- all about 60 years old -- on the grounds that such actions would constitute age-discrimination.

The jury...




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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Disability Advocates Working with Business Leaders to Achieve Compromise on ADA Restoration Act

House Leaders are working on H.R. 3195, the ADA Restoration Act, a bill that had prompted a lot of concern with the business associations.



Disability activists and business representatives have come together to agree on language that helps clarify the Americans with Disabilities Act, protects and strengthens the protections for the disabled — covering people who should be covered – while seeking to avoid the more onerous and expensive rules that employers fear.

According to...




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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

A Holiday for Workers

How Labor Day Came About



"Labor Day differs in every essential from the other holidays of the year in any country," said Samuel Gompers, founder and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor. "All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day...is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or...




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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Guest Post: Ask Wise Questions Before Terminating An Employee

Lessons From a Hotel Lobby



We think we shape life. That’s wrong. Life shapes us. All

readers know how they first learned this. Here’s my story,

one that will help corporate counsel when it comes to decid-

ing whether to impose the equivalent of capital punishment in

employment: termination.



It was 1975. Much to my mother’s dismay, I dropped out of

college, moved to Washington, D.C., and started to work at a

large, 800-room convention hotel as a desk clerk. Working...




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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Inability of Small Company Employees to Get Health Insurance Gains Attention from Congress

As the number of people without health insurance continues to rise, many states and Congress have begun to focus on one of the biggest causes: the growing number of small business owners and their workers who are unable to afford coverage.

Congress, in response, is considering legislation that, among other steps, would make it significantly easier for small businesses to organize insurance-buying pools. Despite bipartisan backing in both the House and Senate, it is uncertain whether the bills...




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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Obama on The Dignity of Work

Barack Obama recently spoke at some length regarding his views regarding labor and workplace issues.  The video of his remarks is included below.  Leave a comment and tell us what you think.

P.S. I am looking for video of McCain addressing work-related issues and will post it up as soon as I find it.   

 




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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Friday, December 12, 2008

Bad Economy Turning Employment Agreement Practice into Severance Agreement Practice

One of the staples of practicing HR Law is reviewing and drafting employment agreements for employees and employers.  Another is reviewing or drafting separation or severance agreements.  As a result, the primary way I gage how the economy is doing is by looking at whether I'm doing more employment agreements or severance agreements.  Care to take a guess at which way the tide has been shifting over the last six months?

One of the first areas you see such a shift is in...




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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Some Lawyers Warn that New FMLA Rules May Create More Confusion and Litigation

The Family Medical Leave Act has undergone major changes for the first time in its 15-year history. (We posted previously about the amendments & the Department of Labor's new regulations here.)  Some attorneys fear that these changes may cause a great deal of  confusion and litigation.

This week issued new rules for the amendments, which take effect on Jan. 16.  The new rules were a response to complaints by employers and employees alike.  Employers have long argued...




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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Some Lawyers Warn that New FMLA Rules May Create More Confusion and Litigation

The Family Medical Leave Act has undergone major changes for the first time in its 15-year history. (We posted previously about the amendments & the Department of Labor's new regulations here.)  Some attorneys fear that these changes may cause a great deal of  confusion and litigation.

This week The new rules, which take effect on Jan. 16, were a response to complaints by employers and employees alike.  Employers have long argued that workers are abusing FMLA, especially in...




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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Department of Labor Working to Make Regulation of Workplace Toxic Environments More Difficult

While there may only be a few weeks left for the current administration, it certainly has not given up efforts to effect the country's HR laws.  Specifically, the Department of Labor is rushing its rule-making process to issue a rule making it more difficult for the government to regulate workers' exposure to toxic chemicals at work.  Here is an excerpt from a recent story in the New York Times:


The Labor Department is racing to complete a new rule, strenuously opposed by...




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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]