New Hampshire’s worker compensation law provides an employee with a work related injury to reinstatement to his prior job for up to 18 months from the date of injury once the injured employee has recovered enough to return to work. This obligation is to all New Hampshire employers who have five or more employees. Obviously, that is a long time…
New Hampshire’s Wage and Hour Statute RSA 275 applies to employees. Only employees are able to go to the New Hampshire Department of Labor to seek unpaid sales commissions as wages. Employees may get up to twice the amount of commissions owed, a hearing much quicker than in court, and reimbursement of attorneys’ fees. Independent contractors who are salespersons are not…
Under New Hampshire’s Worker’s Compensation Law employees with work-related injuries have a reinstatement right up to 18 months from when they had the injury. However, in 2016, that statutory right is clarified in New Hampshire Supreme Court Decision of Appeal of Marti in which the Court held that a worker who was legitimately terminated from employment for cause is not…
Sexual harassment is getting its due attention as revelations of sexual harassment by politicians, news reporters, actors, and others have surfaced. Employers under New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and federal law have an obligation to prevent sexual harassment in the work place. Employers should take any claim of sexual harassment seriously. However, it would be a major mistake for the employer to “err…
A recent New Hampshire Supreme Court decision confirms that employers must be extremely careful in clearly defining their ability to modify a bonus or commission under New Hampshire law. In the New Hampshire Supreme Court December 21, 2017 decision of International Business Machine Corporation (IBM) v. Gary Joseph Khoury, the Court confirmed a trial court’s ruling that Khoury is entitled…
Throughout the year, and particularly during the holiday season, coworkers may be interacting socially off the clock. While employers do not have an obligation to monitor a worker’s off-the-clock activities, what happens between coworkers after hours can affect their employment. If coworkers get together during the holidays, whether at: a company-sponsored holiday party; a local pub; or a coworker’s house,…
Notwithstanding diligent screening in the application process, sometimes employees are not found to have the same capabilities or work ethic they purported to have during job interviews or their situation changes and their job performance suffers. Many employees when fired for job performance reasons understand the boss’ reasoning even if they disagree, but others file discrimination suits. Claims the employer…
A September 22, 2017 decision from the New Hampshire federal trial court of Karen Mead v. Fairpoint Communications, Inc. illustrates what an employee needs to prove when she sues her employer for wrongful termination when, in fact, the employee resigned. This is what is called a constructive discharge claim and the employee making such a claim must show that a…
One way for a business to protect its competitive edge is to take steps to prevent former employees from using confidential and proprietary information and good will in competition against the company through a non-disclosure, non-solicitation and non-compete agreements with their employees. New Hampshire courts will generally enforce an agreement’s: (i) nondisclosure provision that prevents employees and former employees from…
There are federal and state statutes prohibiting employment discrimination, including based upon race, or national origin, and firing an employee to protect him from the racial hatred of coworkers could result in a valid claim under those statutes but perhaps not under New Hampshire’s non-statutory wrongful discharge law as noted in the July 18, 2017 New Hampshire federal trial court…