The Paley Rothman Blog
Paley Rothman shares this library of resources with clients and friends of the firm to help them stay ahead of legal and business developments and trends. Here, you will find helpful tips and tools written by our attorneys. The information in the blogs and articles is not a substitute for legal advice and should not be relied on as such. Should you have any questions or want legal advice, please contact the attorney who wrote the blog or article.
January 18, 2013
On December 21, 2012, the Supreme Court of Iowa decided that a female employee, viewed by her male boss as an “irresistible attraction,” and terminated because the boss’s wife perceived the employee as a threat to her marriage, could not state a claim for gender-based discrimination. The case was widely reported by the media, but the decision is not particularly remarkable and, in fact, follows established federal law.
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January 18, 2013
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), beginning in 2014, will require that employers with 50 or more full-time employees provide each one with health insurance–or face a potentially steep fine. With the Treasury Department’s recent announcement that employers’ 2013 staffing levels will be used to determine the mandate’s application, a recent Wall Street Journal article discussed the hiring of independent contractors as one tactic that many small businesses might consider in an effort to avoid the ACA’s employer mandate.
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January 7, 2013
Congress and President Obama finally reached an agreement to prevent the fiscal cliff, which returned many of the estate tax provisions to the 2012 levels. For example, all individuals are allowed to give - during life and at death - a total of $5,250,000 (to be indexed for inflation) of assets without incurring federal estate or gift tax. In addition, under the so-called “portability” rules, a married couple can shelter assets totaling $10,500,000 from federal estate tax with no estate planning. The primary change to the pre-2013 estate tax laws is that the rate is increased to 40% (up from 35%).
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December 18, 2012
By
Jessica Summers on December 18, 2012
In a move supported by many local business leaders, the District of Columbia City Council on December 4, 2012, rejected a bill to amend the D.C. Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination in employment, housing and education based on arrest and conviction records. Among other things, the bill (available here), would have prohibited employers from considering an applicant or employee’s arrest or conviction record unless it was directly relevant to the job sought. In rejecting this bill, the council approved a more moderate measure that will encourage employers to hire individuals with criminal records and provide certain ex-offenders with certificates of good standing (available here).
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December 3, 2012
By
Jessica Summers on December 3, 2012
In a decision that is certain to raise hairs on the back of the neck of any boss, the Virginia Supreme Court concluded for the first time that, under certain circumstances, a supervisor or manager can be held personally liable for wrongfully firing an employee. The Court’s decision in VanBuren v. Grubb (full opinion here) is one of the first in the Commonwealth’s legal history to open the door to claims against individual managers and supervisors and has the potential to change the way in which Virginia plaintiffs approach and present their claims.
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