At the beginning of a new year, decisions are made to end relationships that are not working; whether it is in one’s personal or business life. For employers January is often one time during the year to terminate employment of underperforming employees. Sometimes the worst underperforming employee also complains to others about how unfair he thinks the company is on…
When determining a measure of discipline for an employee’s misconduct or failure to adequately perform her duties, it is extremely important to consider the source of the information received by the decision-maker and whether or not that source has any bias. The importance of such an analysis was illustrated in the recent November 3, 2015 decision by a New Hampshire…
New Hampshire Wage and Hour Law require employers to provide written notice to their employees of their compensation and benefits and therefore who, what, when, and how of sales commissions need to be put in writing. Companies often clarify in writing to a salesperson that he will not be paid commissions until the customer pays. However when the commission is…
Politics are on the minds of many of all of us now, yet we should be cautious about if and how we share our political opinions in the workplace. Most employees in New Hampshire and Massachusetts are at-will employees, which means they can be fired with or without cause and with or without notice except for certain limited reasons under…
Employees have limited rights in keeping their social media and private emails secret from their current or potential employers under New Hampshire statute RSA 275:73 through 75, which provides that employers cannot require job candidates or existing employees to allow them access to their social media or private e-mails, including requiring the employee to provide a password or “friending” on…
Some employees, including many executives have, in addition to confidentiality requirements with the current employer, non-compete or non-solicitation obligations. A non-compete obligation is generally one that restricts the ability to work for a competitor for a period of time after leaving the current employer. A non-solicitation obligation usually addresses the inability of the employee to solicit customers or employees of…
An individual who is sales representatives of a number of companies may not be an employee of any of them, but is an independent contractor. For example, a manufacturer’s representative for furniture companies may have a lamp line, a dining room table line, and an upholstery chair and couch line, and sells all of these types of furniture from different…
On June 5, 2015, an Administrative Law Judge for the National Labor Relations Board, a federal board that addresses cases of union and non-union employment under the National Labor Relations Act, addressed an issue of racist comments from a picketer. In the case of Cooper Tire & Rubber Company and their union, a worker was fired after he, while on…
In a June 25, 2015 decision of Jane Doe v. Bernabei & Wachtel, PLLC, et al, from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the court agreed with the trial court’s dismissal of employee’s claims related to public disclosure of private facts, false light, misappropriation, negligent infliction of emotional distress and intentional infliction of emotional distress all resulting from her…
At-will employees who have not signed a non-solicitation or non-competition agreements are generally free to go into competition with their former employer, yet are prohibited from revealing confidential and proprietary information. A recent Massachusetts case illustrates that confidential and proprietary information which cannot be used by a former employee in competition with their former employer needs to truly be confidential…