When employees resign or are fired from employment, that is often the time that they may challenge their prior compensation or benefits, whether out of spite, greed or often because there is ambiguity. It is important to put employment terms in writing. Under New Hampshire Wage and Hour laws, all employment compensation and benefits must be in writing and provided…
New Hampshire follows the employee-at-will doctrine which means that an employee can be fired with or without cause and with or without notice unless the employer fires the employee due to his or her protected class or for doing a certain protected activity under statute. For example, under state and federal law, employees cannot be fired because of their race,…
We are weeks away from the presidential election. There is a lot in 2020 to have a political opinion about; whether it is POTUS, his opponent, the pandemic, healthcare, immigration, or other topics. You do not have a constitutional right of freedom of speech in the private workplace. The First Amendment restricts to a degree the government’s regulates your speech…
Recent changes in estate tax laws have caused many couples to review the appropriateness of their estate plan. The most significant change is the substantial increase to the Federal Estate Tax Exemption. The new exemption is $11.2 million per taxpayer, adjusted annually for inflation. Many estate plans using the A/B (Marital/Family) trusts as an estate tax avoidance tool were written…
The recently enacted SECURE Act has made changes to the laws affecting retirement accounts, which are both good and bad for taxpayers. In this blog I will cover the highlights of the negative changes for taxpayers. The biggest “bad” change imposed by the SECURE Act, is the attempt to close-down or at least minimize the advantages of Inherited “stretch” IRAs…
The recently enacted SECURE Act has made changes to the laws affecting retirement accounts, which are both good and bad for taxpayers. In this blog I will cover the highlights of the positive changes for taxpayers. Beginning in 2020, the SECURE Act changes the require beginning date (RBD) for required minimum distributions (RMD) from retirement accounts from April 1 of…
Generally, employees do not have job protection when refusing to return to work due to fear of contracting COVID-19 unless they have a health condition that creates high risk of serious health complications if they were to get COVID-19. The employee cannot just conclusively state he has such a health condition and the employer is entitled under the Americans With…
The wave of law suits against employers claiming the employee contracted the COVID-19 virus at work have begun in several states including claims against Walmart, Tyson, certain nursing homes, and other businesses. Some lawsuits are claiming that the employers were grossly negligent resulting in the employees getting very sick or dying of COVID-19. The New Hampshire Workers’ Compensation Statute provides…
On July 10, 2020, the New Hampshire Supreme Court, in the case of In re: Kamil, issued an order that could have far-reaching implications in contested custody hearings. In Kamil the wife was allowed supervised contact with her children. However, she would need to demonstrate to the satisfaction of a mental health professional that she first acquired the skills necessary…
Under certain circumstances, contracts that create an agency relationship such as a real estate broker agreement may end at the death of the property owner. The Massachusetts Appeals Court in the case of Newton Centre Realty, Inc. v. David R. Jaffe, Personal Representative, in June 2020, decided that a real estate broker, who had an exclusive listing agreement to real…