Tag: Pennsylvania

Criminal Background Checks: Cautious Employers Could Cost Their Company

As a cautious employer, let’s say you run a criminal background check on all of your applicants. Your latest candidate’s report comes up with an arrest record from just a few months ago for theft but no conviction. What do you do? In a situation like this, it is best to call counsel because the […]

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Addressing Unconscious Bias

There was nationwide outrage in April of this year when two black men were arrested in a Starbucks in Pennsylvania. A Starbucks employee had called the police, claiming that the two men were loitering without paying for anything, and the two men stated that they were waiting for someone else to arrive.

Pennsylvania Employer Violates FMLA After Terminating Employee

By Gregory J. Wartman, Saul Ewing LLP A Pennsylvania federal court recently ruled in favor of an employee who was terminated after taking leave to care for her sick parents. The court ruled that an employee does not have to use magic language in requesting Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave and rejected the […]

Not so fast—Judge strikes down Pittsburgh’s paid sick leave ordinance

by Gregory J. Wartman In November, we reported that Pittsburgh had enacted a paid sick time ordinance for employees working in the city that was scheduled to take effect January 11, 2016 (see “Pittsburgh passes ordinance requiring paid sick time”). On December 21, 2015, a Pennsylvania judge struck down the ordinance, ruling that it is […]

Working while on vacation, home office injuries, and tandem lay-off meetings

Employees go on vacation, but business doesn’t stop. So sometimes workers are asked to put in time when they’re expecting to be kicking back at the beach. Working from home is a popular arrangement, but what are the workers’ compensation implications when an employee is injured in a home office? Lay-off meetings are never easy, […]

2010 Census Results

The Constitution mandates that the United State’s residents be counted every 10 years to determine the number of seats each state receives in the U.S. House of Representatives. The U.S. Census Bureau has begin releasing the results from the 2010 Census, and here are the first strokes in the “new portrait of America” it paints: […]

Employers Facing Increased Scrutiny over Worker Classification

by Robert C. Nagle Employers can expect increased enforcement efforts from federal and state labor and tax authorities over what’s believed to be a rising tide of misclassification of employees as “independent contractors.” There can be significant payroll savings associated with classifying workers as contractors. For example, employers typically aren’t required to withhold or pay […]