The Maryland Healthy Working Families Act now requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide paid sick and safe leave for certain employees. Employers with 14 or less employees must provide unpaid sick and safe leave for certain employees. Up to this point, Maryland Employers have not been required to offer earned paid or unpaid sick leave. The governor actually vetoed this bill, but it was overridden and passed anyway. Employees can now earn sick and safe leave in Maryland. Beginning February 11th, 2018 or whenever an employee starts a job after that date, an employee begins to collect sick and safe leave. At least one hour is earned for every 30 hours an employee works, but no Read More
Category Archives: Business Law
Does Your Company Have a Sexual Misconduct Policy?
There is no time like the present for companies to review their sexual misconduct policies. The first step in such a review is to take a look at your employee handbook (assuming your company has one). In the handbook, among other things such as vacation and sick time procedures, your company’s sexual misconduct policies and reporting procedures should be clearly explained. It simply isn’t enough for an employer to have a blanket policy prohibiting sexual misconduct in the workplace (which should be a given). You must also have clear procedures for handling workplace harassment claims. What should be included in your policy? -How sexual harassment would be handled within the company. For example, a confidential investigation, no retaliation on the Read More
The Pitfalls of Online Legal Forms
There are many forms online now. You can find just about any contract simply by googling it: -Deeds -Wills -Divorces Many people use online legal forms to save money. They can sometimes work, but not always. So why even talk to a lawyer about your contract? There are risks in relying solely on online legal forms, without talking to a lawyer. At the bottom of a popular online legal form website, they even say: “We are not a law firm or a substitute for an attorney or law firm. We cannot provide any kind of advice, explanation, opinion, or recommendation about possible legal rights, remedies, defenses, options, selection of forms or strategies.” This disclaimer is here for a reason. Take, Read More
Golf Course Law: How inaccurate yardage markers cost one golf course millions
There are numerous potential hazards on golf courses – which don’t involve water or sand. Your golf course may be ripe with legal hazards, which will be far more expensive than a 2-stroke penalty. Have you ever thought about potential liability regarding your distance markers? In a recent case, a golf course owner was deemed responsible for making sure that yardage markers embedded in the fairway or painted on the cart path were accurate. What happened? In this particular case, one golfer hit another golfer standing on the green with his ball. The golfer on the green sued the golfer that hit him (because golfers are just about always responsible for damages incurred from their ball). In turn, the golfer Read More