Employment Contracts Legal Questions

Unless the harassment and bullying is because of your age, race, gender, pregnancy, disability, religion, etc, then you do not have a legal claim. Unfortunately employers can be jerks and employees cannot do anything unless they can prove the basis of the harassment and bullying is unlawful.   Ohio employment attorney www.mcoffmanlegal.com ... Read More

You employer may not alter the pay rate once the work has been performed.  The policy you cited would likely be ignored by a court or by the Texas Workforce Commission.  You should file a Texas Payday Act Complaint with the Texas Workforce Commission - Labor Law Department within 180 days of the short check.  The forms for the complaint and their contact information are on their website.  ... Read More

New Jersey courts do not favor restrictions on employment and non-compete clauses. To properly answer your question, I would need to be with you the contract that you signed with the consultant. We would then determine how this contract interacts with the contract that the consultant as with the potential employer. My sense is that your problem lies with the consulting agreement. In addition, please send us via email a timeline of what occurred from the beginning of the contract through this problem. I will immediately review both the timeline and the consulting agreement. Please call to discuss.... Read More

You don't have to sign any agreement that you don't want to, although, if your former employer is giving you something in exchange for your agreement (e.g. severance pay, etc.), it may be in your best interest to do so.  Moreover, agreement or no, you have a legal obligation to maintain the confidentiality of your former employer's trade secrets.... Read More

Unless you work for the government, there are no legally required appeals processes.  A company can voluntarily choose to have a process for appealing a termination, but, even if it does, it is not legally required to follow the process.  There is no anti-bullying law in North Carolina.  The conduct is only unlawful if it directed to you on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, disability or age 40 or older and meets several other requirements.  North Carolina is an employment-at-will state and you can be fired for any reason even if the reason is a lie. In many situations standing up for yourself is a good thing.  However, standing up to your boss is reason to be terminated in this state.... Read More

You received unemployment benefits because the Division of Employment Security determined that you met the qualifications for the benefits.  The DES does not determine whether or not you were unlawfully terminated.  Additionally, whether you were terminated unlawfully or not, you are entitled to your 401k benefits pursuant to the terms of the 401k plan.  It is impossible to know for sure, but generally there is a vesting period during which you may not be entitled to some or all of your benefits.  As such, you may not be entitled to any employer contributions for 2014 although you would be entitled to the money you contributed.  You will need to review the 401k plan or summary document to determine whether you should receive any of the money in the 401k.... Read More

Contact an Ohio wage and hour attorney to discuss what services you are performing. Depending upon your job duties, you may be entitled to overtime compensation. My office offers free consultations and we represent employees throughout the state of Ohio.   Ohio unpaid overtime attorney www.mcoffmanlegal.com ... Read More

To properly answer your question, we would need to review the noncompete agreement. New Jersey does not like noncompete agreements. They must be tightly drawn and have a purpose that makes sense. We would also have to review the industry into which you were going. For example, if it is small industry, he would make a mistake by leaving the training program. This behavior with spread through the industry and tarnish your reputation. Please call... Read More

To properly answer your question, we should review the specific language in the contract. This review will set forth the legal merits of the respective positions. After the merits of the legal positions are established, we can decide if your position is a strong one or a weak position. If you are in a weam position, we would help you negotiate with the employer  so that you do not pay $15,000 back to the employer. we would represent you from behind the scenes so that you avoid the lawyer versus lawyer which would increase your legal costs. Please call to discuss.... Read More

The key to success is the terms and conditions set forth in your employment contract. If the employer violated the terms and conditions, you will be successful. The devil is in the details. If the employer promised a specific level of support, for example, three senior people with certain amount of experience, you will be successful if the three senior people were not provided to you. If the employer provided in writing that you were to receive a certain dollar amount of support for a particular effort, and this dollar amount was not provided,you will be successful.The key is the written detail. Please call to discuss.... Read More

Although this would be an unfair and wrong termination, there does not appear to be anything unlawful about your manager's decision to terminate you. However, you should receive unemployment benefits since the analysis for such benefits is whether your employer had just cause to terminate your employment.   Ohio employment attorney www.mcoffmanlegal.com ... Read More

To properly answer your question, we would need to be with you employment contract and the circumstances surrounding your employment. Please email the employment contract. Please email the specific circumstances surrounding your employment. We can review the employment contract and circumstances surrounding the employment and provide you with a written opinion as to the Barrett's of your position. The legal cost would be done on a hourly basis.... Read More

You are in a difficult position. I am of the opinion that you need to use a vacation day. The business was closed. As such, no vacation day was required. However, going to head to head with your employer is a challenging task. You should work with the HR department and see if you can't reach a compromise. Please call if we can help.... Read More

If you lived anywhere else in the US, I would ask you "what does your contract say?"  However, California Business and Professions Code section 16600 et seq prohibits non-compete covenants except under unusual circumstances which don't seem to apply here.  In fact, it can be considered an unfair labor practice for an employer to try to enforce a non-compete covenant against a California employee.... Read More

While I'm not familiar with Virginia law in particular, in every jurisdiction of which I am aware, an employee can be fired for any reason, unless that reason is barred by statute (which may include not only such things as race, religion, etc. but also whistleblowing and possibly other things, but none seem applicable here) or by contract.  The contract can be a personal one, or a union contract, or can even arise through an employee manual (for example, if your employee manual provided that an employee could only be fired after a hearing with a three member team from management, you would probably have a good case) or possibly through the course of conduct, i.e. if you had been allowed to do this many times before, your employer might not be allowed to fire you over it now.  From what you've written, it seems as if your firing was unfair, but not illegal.... Read More

If you are being paid as a tipped employee, you must be eligible to receive tips. Employers must provide employees with more information before claiming a tip credit. If proper notice is not given, the employer will not be able to use a tip credit. The notice does not have to be in writing, but smart employers will want to document that they have complied with the law. A tipped employee must now be provided with the following information, before the employer takes a tip credit:     1.  The amount of the cash wage the employer pays the employee, which must be at least $2.13 per hour;     2.  The additional amount the employer is using as a credit against tips received, which cannot exceed the difference between the minimum wage ($7.25) and the actual cash wage paid by the employer to the employee;     3.  That the additional amount claimed by the employer on account of tips as the tip credit may not exceed the value of the tips actually received by the employee;     4.  That the tip credit cannot be applied to any tipped employee unless the employee has been informed of the tip credit provisions of the FLSA; and     5.  That all tips received by the tipped employee must be retained by the employee, except for valid pooling of tips.        http://www.orlandoovertimepay.com/Articles/tip-credit-overtime-under-FLSA.html  ... Read More