Employment sexual harassment is illegal under New Hampshire and federal law. All employee claims of sexual harassment need to be taken seriously and employers would be making a huge mistake to make a broad application of principles related to sexual harassment. For example, employment sexual harassment can occur when the accused and the accuser are of the same sex or…
Recently in the news there has been coverage whether certain Bedford School Guidance Counsellors should keep their job after he wrote letters of support for a former Exeter High School Guidance Counsellor, Kristie Torbick. Ms. Torbick pled guilty to sexually assaulting a 14-year old student in Exeter, although she previously worked in Bedford. Bedford, in noting its decision not to…
State and federal employment discrimination laws require employers to reasonably accommodate employees with disabilities in order to enable them to do their job; however, employee misconduct does not usually afford any reasonable accommodation. By way of example, if an employee threatens violence against a coworker, employers may generally fire that employee. The employee has no constitutional freedom-of-speech rights in the…
There are legal benefits in operating your business through a corporation or a limited liability company (hereinafter “LLC”). If you have a corporation or an LLC and you enter into contracts in your representative capacity, you are often not personally liable for that obligation. For example, if you sign your office lease “Jim Jones, Member, ABC Realty, LLC”, your LLC…
It is not uncommon to use e-mails and texts as casually as a regular conversation, however, once sent, those e-mails and texts could be saved in perpetuity. Under some circumstances, deleted e-mails could be revived by a computer forensic expert and the extra steps an employee takes to erase those e-mails may be revealed. New Hampshire is an employee at…
It is not uncommon to use e-mails and texts as casually as a regular conversation, however, once sent, those e-mails and texts could be saved in perpetuity. Under some circumstances, deleted e-mails could be revived by a computer forensic expert and the extra steps an employee takes to erase those e-mails may be revealed. New Hampshire is an employee at…
While on occasion we hear in New Hampshire and Massachusetts news of a bookkeeper who has embezzled money from a company, many such embezzlements are resolved by private restitution agreements and therefore do you get to the public eye. Theft by employees does occur in the workplace and employers should take steps to curtail the opportunity for employees to steal. …
Under state and federal discrimination laws, employees cannot have adverse employment actions taken against them or be harassed due to certain protected classes such as race, disability, and age. However, merely because you fall within one of those protected classes it does not give you the ability to act unprofessionally and insubordinate. That reality was discussed in the March 26,…
When considering a new hire from a competitor, the company should learn what, if any, restrictions that potential new hire may have on employment. Those restrictions could be in the form of an agreement that contains provisions related to: confidentiality; non-solicitation of customers and employees; and a non-compete in the industry for a period of time in a geographical area.…
Sales commissions to employees are considered wages under New Hampshire’s wage statute, RSA 275 which allows for an employee who has not been paid wages to file a claim up to three years from when they are owed their commission; either through the New Hampshire Department of Labor or the state Superior Court. If the employee files with the New…