Employment Contracts Legal Questions

If you relied detrimentally upon the representations of HCA, you may have a case for breach of contract. Your damages would be the amounts you paid or lost due to your reliance. Of course, all of this would be subject to the facts. You may want to consider sending HCA a list of your damages and demand that they pay you those amounts. If they refuse, then you may want to consider legal action. ... Read More

Assuming that the non-compete is held to be enforceable there is no reason of which I am aware that it would not be enforced in Canada.  Although non-competes are more likely to be enforced the more narrowly they are drawn (i.e. a provision barring a former employee from competing for 4 months within a mile of his former employer is more likely to be enforced than one barring the employee from competing for 4 years anywhere within 200 miles) but, under certain circumstances, a worldwide non-compete might be enforced.... Read More

It is true that, while most jurisdictions look closely at non-compete provisions in employment and refuse to enforce them if they are deemed overbroad, California prohibits them altogether except in circumstances which do not seem to apply to you.  It can even be considered wrongful under California law to include one in an employment contract - your employer could get in trouble, apart from not being able to enforce the provision.  Frankly, I doubt very much whether any jurisdiction in the country would enforce a covenant which prohibits a intern from working in the event planning industry for 5 years.  However, regardless of the contract, you could not use any trade secrets belonging to your employer, any you owe your employer a duty of loyalty while employed by her.... Read More

Do you have a contract which specifies how much you must be paid and for how long you must be employed, or otherwise limiting your employer's right to fire you?  Do you believe that your pay was cut for some reason prohibited by statute (e.g. race, gender, religion, etc.?)  If not, you have no guarantees that the terms of your employment will remain the same.  Your employer is essentially telling you that it is no longer willing to pay you the same compensation, which, assuming your answer to the above questions was no, it has every right to do.  You have the choice of whether to accept the new compensation your employer is offering or quitting.... Read More

The employer cannot pay less than minimum wage. Minimum wage for untipped positions is $8.10 per hour in Ohio beginning in January 2015. The minimum wage for tipped employees is $4.05 per hour. Please call my office for a free consultations. Our office handles minimum wage violations and other wage and hour violations.   Ohio unpaid wages attorney www.mcoffmanlegal.com ... Read More

Do you have a contract which limits your employer's right to terminate you, or provides that it can't change the conditions of your employment?  If not, you can be fired for any reason not prohibited by statute (e.g. because of your race, religion, etc.)  Your employer has no obligation to keep the conditions of your employment unchanged forever.  It is now changing those conditions to require that you use your personal vehicle.  If you refuse to accept the change, you can be fired.   BTW, I'd be surprised if your employer's insurance didn't cover any accident you got into while using your car for business purposes.  If it doesn't, your employer is at serious risk, since it can be liable for damages caused by your negligence in the course of your employment and, even if your insurance provided coverage, it could very well not be enough to cover everything.... Read More

I assume that you have this question because pot has been legalized in Washington, but this makes no difference.  It's legal to drink scotch, but you could certainly fire someone for drinking it while on duty, especially if the employer had a no alcohol policy. Do you have a contract with this employee (could be a union contract, or implied from the terms of an employee handbook) which limits the reasons why they can be fired or requires that certain procedures be followed first?  Even then, you would be able to fire the person for using pot (unless the contract specifically said you couldn't, which is unlikely in the extreme), you just might have to go through some procedural hoops first. Absent such a contract, you can fire an employee for any reason not prohibited by statute, such as for his race, religion, gender, etc.  If you had discovered other employees, of a different race, smoking pot and had not fired them, the employee might have a colorable claim that he was being discriminated against unlawfully.  If the pot was being used medicinally, the employee might claim that he was being fired for a medical disability that didn't affect his job performance, but I don't think this argument will fly.... Read More

There is no such thing as a standard yearly raise for all businesses, in all industries.  Absent a contract which so provides, you have no right to a raise, annually or at any other time (unless your wages fall below the minimum wage requirements, or you are being discriminated against for unlawful reasons, i.e. all men in the same position got a raise but women did not.)  I know many people whose compensation has decreased over time as conditions in their businesses have changed.... Read More

There is nothing illegal about paying someone in cash per se.  However, usually the reason employers pay in cash is to cheat the taxing authorities, either so the employer will not have to pay various costs (such as unemployment insurance, etc.) and/or so that the taxing authorities will not know that the employee has earned income and the employee will not have to declare it or pay income tax on it.  If your employer did not properly report, and pay the necessary charges on, the money he paid you and others, he broke the law, and you may be able to get him in trouble by reporting him to the IRS, state taxing authority, and/or local Department of Labor.  Sometimes the IRS pays a reward to a whistleblower who reports a tax cheat. However, I don't believe that you can sue your employer personally, because you were not damaged by being paid in cash.  Moreover, you may want to think about whether your own house is in order before you take any action - did you declare and pay taxes on the cash you received from your former employer?... Read More

I'm not sure what sort of employer/employee confidentiality you're referring to, but if the employer is saying untrue things (that is, false facts, not matters of opinion) which are damaging your friend's reputation, your friend may be able to sue the employer for defamation (libel is written defamation; slander is oral defamation.)... Read More

An employer is not required to provide a reason for terminating an employee's employment.  If you want to find out why you were terminated, you could file for unemployment benefits.  If the employer wants to challenge those benefits (assuming you are otherwise eligible) it will have to state a reason that it fired you.  On the other hand, if the employer chooses not to challenge the unemployment benefits, it will not be required to state a reason for the termination decision.... Read More

Despite the common practices involved in paying per diem in various industries, there are actually some very specific rules employers are required to follow when they pay per diem.  In concept, per diem is for the reimbursement of work-related expenses that the employee pays out of his pocket.  Some employers do not pay any per diem and instead require employees to turn in actual expense receipts from which the employer reimburses the employee for the exact amount of those receipts.  Because this process can be burdensome for both the employer and the employee, the IRS sets a per diem rate (usually by county) and permits employers to pay up to this amount in per diem in lieu of reimbursing actual expenses.  Per Diem is also usually reserved for employees who live and work away from home and most of the time it is improper to pay employees any per diem if they are not incurring any regular work-related expenses. Assuming that you are eligible for per diem payments and what your employer is paying is not enough to cover your work-related expenses, you could try turning those additional expenses in for reimbursement and if the employer refuses to pay them, you may be able to deduct those additional expenses on your income tax returns. Also understand that unless you have a contract, your employer can reduce your pay or per diem, demote you, transfer you, or change your job duties any time it wants to.  You can either accept the change or quit.  If you work after being notified of the change, you are deemed to have accepted it.  One exception to the above, the change in pay or reimbursements can only be for the future.  An employer cannot change pay or reimbursement for work already performed or expenses already incurred.... Read More

Non-competes are legal in California, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the non-compete in your agreement is enforceable. Non-competes that are unreasonably restrictive may at times be thrown out and if your contract was cancelled the non-compete may not survive either. I would need to review the contract and get a  bit more detail to give you clearer guidance about your situation. Thanks, Jon... Read More

Was the employer the individual, or was "the company" a separate legal entity.  If "the company", your employer, was a separate legal entity like a corporation or llc, it survives its owner's death, and you can collect on your judgment by levying on its assets, restraining its bank accounts, and garnishing its income.  If the individual was your employer, i.e. "the company" was just a sole proprietorship, you will probably have to file a claim against his estate in the Surrogate's Court.  If no estate proceeding has been commenced, you may have to start one.  However, you may have waited too long, and all of the decedent's assets may already have been distributed.  I'm not sure of the time constraints.... Read More

It is legal unless your employer targeted you for termination for an unlawful reason, such as discrimination (based on age, race, gender, disability, pregnancy, etc.). If you believe there was another reason behind your termination, you should speak with an employment attorney immediately.   Ohio wrongful termination attorney www.mcoffmanlegal.com ... Read More

A Non-Compete Agreement is a contract usually between an employer and an employee.  These contracts are enforceable if they meet certain criteria of reasonableness, even if you were terminated.  Courts judge reasonableness by examining the length of time that the employee is restrained, the geographic scope of the agreement and whether the agreement was supported by consideration.  Even if some of the provisions are not enforceable, others may be.  Each agreement must be judged on its own merits and the facts and circumstances leading to the agreement. Generally, Courts don't like agreements that unfairly restrain an employee from earning a living.  When you have been in a particular industry for 25 years you have a strong argument for a shorter duration.   ... Read More

I feel that it would be termination of your employment, which could be relevant to your right to unemployment benefits.  However, you have no right to severance unless you have a contract which provides for it, in which case it would be the contract's terms which would define your rights.  For example, if you have a contract providing that any employee who is terminated shall receive two weeks' severance pay, the relevant definition of "terminated" would be whatever the contract provided.  If the contract provided that refusal to sign a non-compete constituted a resignation, you would have no right to severance under that contract.... Read More

It is not illegal to discriminate on any basis other than those prohibited by statute, e.g. race, religion, age, nationality, etc.  I know of no statute which prohibits discrimination on the basis of smoking, although it could possibly be argued that this really equates to discrimination on the basis of a medical condition (employers not wanting to pay the higher health insurance premiums they may have to pay for employees who are smokers), which is prohibited under certain conditions.  In other words, you may have a claim, but it's a stretch.... Read More