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Employment Contracts

SF Chronicle employees ratify contract concessions

04/17/2009

The California Media Workers Guild has announced that its members voted to accept concessionary amendments to their collective-bargaining contract with the San Francisco Chronicle.

Supreme Court: Collective-bargaining agreements can force workers to arbitrate discrimination claims

04/17/2009

Siding with employers, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that union contracts could bind employees to arbitrate discrimination claims under federal law. The court ruled against a group of fired night watchmen in New York who wanted to pursue age discrimination lawsuits in court.

Craft broad settlement language to thwart 2nd lawsuit

04/14/2009

Employers that decide to settle harassment and discrimination claims, take note. The broader the settlement agreement language, the less likely the employee will turn around and file a new lawsuit. Always have an attorney approve settlement terms to make sure they are as broad as possible.

Carefully word draw-against-commission contracts—or be prepared to lose money

04/09/2009

If you pay employees on a commission basis and allow them to draw against those commissions, be very careful how you word the contract language. If you don’t specify that employees must repay any draws they do not earn back with commissions, they won’t have to.

Can we cut employee pay to reduce costs?

04/09/2009

Q. We are considering layoffs but would like to avoid them. Can we cut employees’ pay because of tough economic times?

Settlement agreement may be binding even without signature

03/30/2009

Here’s something to consider when deciding whether to settle a case. An oral agreement may be binding even if the parties never actually signed a written version. It’s a contract as long as the parties clearly agreed to the essential terms.

Court upholds WaMu’s arbitration agreement

03/30/2009

According to her complaint, former Washington Mutual Bank assistant branch manager Michelle Williams was fired after she made an “anonymous” call to a company hotline with concerns about a co-worker’s immigration status …

Settling case? Double-check the dollar amount

03/30/2009

Alert for employers settling workers’ comp lawsuits—or any other kind: When negotiations are completed, make sure the dollar amount written into the agreement is the one everyone agreed to!

Seek attorney’s help to draft noncompete agreement

03/30/2009

What’s worse than not having a noncompete agreement? One that doesn’t meet North Carolina’s strict requirements—and gets tossed out of court. Avoid this problem by having a North Carolina attorney draft agreements.

School district pulls salary scale bait-and-switch

03/26/2009

A hearing examiner for the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board has ruled the Loyalsock Township School District engaged in an unfair labor practice when it failed to release the salary scale the district and teachers’ union agreed upon in the final contract.