Indiana Employment Contracts Legal Questions

Absent a contract or statute which prohibits a certain action (for example, by statute an employer can't discriminate against you based on your religion, or pay you less than the minimum wage set by the statute, or require you to work without safety equipment set by law), the employer can make such workplace rules as it desires.  For example, your employer can require you to wear a uniform, or to answer the work phone a certain way, or to have a college degree, regardless of whether you think it's silly or has no bearing on your job performance.... Read More

Except for California (where such agreements are almost always invalid), in the U.S. some are valid, some are not, depending on a myriad of factors.  Some of these factors include: whether the person sought to be restrained from competing with the business sold the business with which he now seeks to compete, or an interest in it; how long the restriction runs for; how broad is the restriction geographically; does  the provision bar all competition or is it more limited (e.g. cannot solicit the business' customers, can't work with customers with whom the employee worked within the past month of his employment with the business, etc.); whether the employee has special skills or is unskilled labor; whether the employer invested money and time to train the employee; whether the employee received extra pay or other consideration for signing the non-compete agreement; whether the competition would necessarily involve using the employer's trade secrets or proprietary information; whether the employee quit or was fired and, if fired, whether for cause or not; whether the employee had equal bargaining power when agreeing to the non-compete; whether the employer enforces the covenant against all employees or only selectively, etc. Also, in some cases, a Court may "blue pencil" a non-compete agreement.  For example, if the Court thinks that a covenant which bars all competition within 30 miles for two years is overbroad, it may revise it so that only solicitation within 10 miles for 1 year is prohibited. ... Read More

I think you're using the wrong terminology.  "Harmless error" is a term used primarily by appellate courts.  It means that while a lower court erred, it did not affect the verdict below and therefore was harmless error and there is no need for a new trial.  What you are talking about, it seems to me, is simply a lack of damages caused by the tort.  For example, if I breach a contract to deliver oranges to your supermarket, but the evidence shows that you had not sold any oranges in the past three months, it could be argued that, although there was a breach, there were no damages.  In a defamation situation, if I falsely tell the prospective employer of an acquaintance that he had stolen $1 million from his former employer, I may have slandered him by deliberately publishing a defamatory falsehood.  However, if it turns out that my acquaintance did not have the educational background or work experience that other candidates did, he may not be able to show any damages from the defamation (I won't get into defamation per se, where the law does not require the plaintiff to show damages, and per quod, where it does) because he wouldn't have gotten the job anyway.... Read More

It is not possible to answer this question from the manner in which the facts are presented. An attorney would need to look at the express terms of the collective bargaining agreement and understand the specific facts relating to what is proposed to be "taken away," including any course of dealing or precedent with respect to those matters.... Read More

In most jurisdictions, absent a contract specifying how much an employee is to be paid, an employee is employed at will, which means that he can be fired at any time for any reason that is not statutorily prohibited (such as on the basis of race, religion, etc.) This means that an employee can be fired for refusing to accept a cut in pay.  The contract does not have to be an individually negotiated one.  For example, it can be a union contract, or sometimes the terms of an employee manual.  However, absent some sort of binding agreement, the terms of compensation can be changed. The employer cannot rescind benefits which have already been earned, however.  If your trainees had already earned paid vacation, the employer cannot now rescind it, although it may be able to require the trainees to give up that vacation as a condition of future employment.... Read More

Yes, they can make you sign the agreement.  The bargained for benefits for each side is that you continue to be employed and the employer is protected should you leave.  You can contact a local attorney to determine the extent that non-compete agreements are enforceable in your state, as the contracts should be restrictive to protect the employer, but not overly burdensome to the employee. This is not intended to be legal advice, and is general in its nature. No attorney-client relationship exists or is formed by this information. Furthermore, this does not represent the views or opinions of LexisNexis or its affiliated companies.... Read More

If the job is casting actors for a performance, it would be.  Otherwise, the last thing a prospective employer wants is pictures of people before making the hiring decision.  Most, if not all, reputable employers would send back a resume, etc., if there were a picture.  This is so hard to believe that I am curious as to why this is being asked.  A plaintiff's employment lawyer would have a field day with a discrimination case.  I am salivating. Maybe I should get admitted to practice in Mo.  Seriously, there has to be something I am missing.... Read More