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... x No Thanks Loading.. Firing Without Fear 4/30/2013 by CompleteMarkets Editor , Beth Schroeder This content has not been rated yet. FIRING WITHOUT FEAR: AVOIDING WRONGFUL TERMINATION LAWSUITS by Beth Schroeder and Andrew Kaplan Historically, the basic rule in this country has been that an employer could discharge an employee at any time, for any reason or for no reason, with or without giving the employee prior notice. This practice is called at-will' employment or is referred to as the at-will employment rule. However, in recent years, legislatures and courts have established a number of exceptions to the at-will employment rule. The adoption of new laws and recent court decisions have radically altered the way an employer may discharge an employee. Even employers with only a few employees can become involved in ... , the employer is more likely to prevail. The suggestions made in this article are designed to help an employer develop employment practices that are equitable to both the employer and its employee. The opinions and ideas contained in this article are offered as general guidelines to employers concerned with the possibility of the wrongful discharge lawsuit, and are not intended as specific legal advice. An employer should consult with a lawyer knowledgeable in the area of employer/employee relations about the particular application of these ideas to its business. The preceding material is excerpted from the Risk Management Letter, a subscription information service of risk and insurance topics. Copyright © 1996 by Griffin Communications, Inc. and Warren, McVeigh & Griffin, Inc. Login or Register (for FREE) to ...

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... and state policies are ambiguous at best and meaningless at worst. The rules are certain to have precedents, interpretations, and differing criteria. Add to this the possibility that the auditor might not read well or suffer from dyslexia. You are left on uncertain ground. If the IRS decides you are in the wrong, the fines can be overwhelming. An auditor looks for the amount of control the employer asserts over the contractor and his or her work. The greater the control, the less independent' the contractor looks. The IRS is concerned only with the contractor's results, not with the manner in which the tasks are performed. FICTIONS ABOUND Not every IRS rule and standard is easily understood or uniformly applied toward a business, although Uncle Sam would prefer that people thought otherwise. The following ... especially since certain sophisticated tax shelters were done away with. So it makes sense that independent contractors are now prime game for bounty hunters. Businesses with the most to gain from using independents are the most likely targets for auditing. These would include travel agencies; construction companies (which have their own maze of conflicting laws); franchises; auto body and auto-repair shops; hair salons; physician and lawyer firms; businesses that employ janitors, truckers, and consultants; and even some candlestick makers. The IRS is always about two years behind in audits, and the large state agencies are usually not much quicker. A business could suffer over long-forgotten episodes. Have your tax advisors, an outside CPA, or the IRS itself examine your relationship to your independent contractors. If the contractor does not pass ...

... and state policies are ambiguous at best and meaningless at worst. The rules are certain to have precedents, interpretations, and differing criteria. Add to this the possibility that the auditor might not read well or suffer from dyspepsia. You are left on uncertain ground. If the IRS decides you are in the wrong, the fines can be overwhelming. An auditor looks for the amount of control the employer asserts over the contractor and his or her work. The greater the control, the less independent' the contractor looks. The IRS is concerned only with the contractor's results, not with the manner in which the tasks are performed. FICTIONS ABOUND Not every IRS rule and standard is easily understood or uniformly applied toward a business, although Uncle Sam would prefer that people thought otherwise. The following ... especially since certain sophisticated tax shelters were done away with. So it makes sense that independent contractors are now prime game for bounty hunters. Businesses with the most to gain from using independents are the most likely targets for auditing. These would include travel agencies; construction companies (which have their own maze of conflicting laws); franchises; auto body and auto-repair shops; hair salons; physician and lawyer firms; businesses that employ janitors, truckers, and consultants; and even some candlestick makers. The IRS is always about two years behind in audits, and the large state agencies are usually not much quicker. A business could suffer over long-forgotten episodes. Have your tax advisors, an outside CPA, or the IRS itself examine your relationship to your independent contractors. If the contractor does not pass ...

... INSURANCE PRODUCERS &# 160 Insurance producer contracts frequently have alternate dispute-resolution clauses requiring arbitration of certain disputes. These clauses should be re-examined in light of recent legal developments. &# 160 Former favored status of arbitration clauses &# 160 Arbitration clauses in contracts have been recognized and even encouraged under federal [1 ] and California state [2 ] arbitration acts. Until recently, it was commonly felt among employers that mandatory arbitration clauses in employment agreements were a wise precaution. Often such clauses included statutory causes of action, such as claims for violations of civil rights laws, as well as purely contractual disputes. Stock exchange-member companies and banks have made widespread use of such clauses, and they're frequently used in insurance producer contracts. &# 160 Recently, a number of developments have cast serious doubt on ... Calif., 1997) . &# 160 11. Wright v. Universal Maritime Serv. Corp. (4th Cir 1997), cert. Granted 118 S.Ct. 1162 (1998) . &# 160 12. Broughton v. Cigna Health Plans of California Co., 98 CDOS 7550 (1998) . &# 160 13. Drapkin and Moscato, Employee Arbitration Agreements, Calif. Lawyer, Sept 1998. Login or Register (for FREE) to gain access to thousands of other great articles. Need more reasons to join? Need insurance for you, your business or your family? Get quality appointments - Save yourself a whole lot of time & money when you use our directory of carriers, wholesalers and service providers. Negotiate lucrative contracts with carriers and wholesalers. Net result ...

... imposed by the lenders and their lawyers. An agency with a reasonable lender ...

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... Brought For Hostile Environment'2/24/2015 12:00:00 AM by Don Phin This content has not been rated yet. ADA CLAIMS BEING BROUGHT FOR HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT' by Donald Phin Courts across the country are now starting to grant hostile work environment' claims under the ADA, even under circumstances in which the employee was given a reasonable accommodation and wasn't otherwise discriminated against by the employer. While the ADA doesn't expressly provide a claim for hostile environment, many courts have reasoned that such a right can be inferred because the statute is modeled on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. As this legal trend develops, we can expect to see many parallels being drawn between sexual harassment and hostile environment claims. Here are examples of hostile-environment ADA claims being allowed (taken from Lawyers ... USA): An obese truck driver claimed his supervisor called him Shamu' and the Goodyear Blimp, ' and said his shirt was as big as a nightgown (New Jersey) . An automotive designer with diabetes claimed that his supervisor did not believe his diabetes caused him to be late for work, called him useless, ' and said he would find a way to fire him (Michigan) . A store manager with a back injury claimed that his boss berated him in front of other employees, told him that he had to work every minute of his shift' no matter what his doctor said, and that he would ride him until he quit' (Georgia) . A hair salon manager with AIDS claimed he wasn't allowed to return to work because his co-workers had threatened to walk ...