E-Mailed Documents Allowed
Shortly before he left the employment of a residential treatment center for addicted persons, an employee e-mailed some of his employer’s documents to his and his wife’s personal e-mail accounts. The employee operated two consulting businesses of his own concerning addiction rehabilitation services. The employer’s documents, including its financial statement and the names of past and current patients at the center, could have been useful to those businesses.
When the employer discovered that the documents had been e-mailed, it sued the then-former employee under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). The CFAA provides civil (and criminal) remedies for knowingly accessing a protected computer without authorization or for exceeding authorized access. A federal appellate court ruled in favor of the employee.
Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments
The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA), which went into effect last year, was a legislative response to U.S. Supreme Court precedent. The ADAAA generally makes it easier for some employees to establish themselves as “disabled” and to require accommodations from their employers. Recently, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) fleshed out the import of the ADAAA when it issued new regulations and an interpretive guidance.
The following are some of the important ADA issues addressed by the ADAAA and its implementing regulations.
Reliable and Free Legal Advice from the State Bar of California
An excellent and organized body of legal information highlights is available on the most popular areas of California Law that we want all of you to know about. This information is contained in a body of Consumer Education Pamphlets that are created, updated and published by The State Bar of California.
This Information is free and it is available online at: www.Calbar.ca.gov or in print by your sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the State Bar of California, 18 Howard St., San Francisco, CA 94105, Attention: Pamphlets.
The following is a list of these legal facts of life pamphlets that you may be interested in:
FDIC Insurance Update
In October 2008, Congress increased the basic limit on federal deposit insurance coverage from $100,000 to $250,000. The limit is scheduled to return to $100,000 on January 1, 2014.
The temporary limit now in effect has not changed the fact that a customer has various means by which to effectively raise the applicable limit for the customer’s collection of deposits at any one institution. The basic limit applies separately to different ownership categories. A single account in one name is insured up to $250,000; a joint account for two or more people is insured up to the same limit, per owner; certain retirement accounts, such as IRAs, are covered up to the limit; and deposits meant to pass on to named beneficiaries on the death of the owner can be protected up to $250,000 for each named beneficiary. This last category of deposits is a revocable trust account.
Charitable Remainder Trusts
As the name implies, a charitable remainder trust involves the transfer of assets to a trust with the income going to an individual or individuals (which can include the owner of the assets) and with a charity receiving the assets at the expiration of the trust period. Such a trust device benefits the individuals who are the objects of the property owner’s generosity, it transfers assets to the property owner’s preferred charities, and it yields tax savings for the property owner.
$200,000 for Identity Theft Victim
Nicole discovered that someone with a name very similar to hers had stolen her identity and opened fraudulent accounts in her name and under her Social Security number. This was only the beginning of a long and arduous saga in which she took all of the recommended steps to rectify the problem, but nonetheless was beset by financial and emotional stresses over several years before the matter was finally resolved. Ultimately, she secured some relief in the form of a substantial jury verdict against a credit reporting firm. The firm bore no responsibility for the identity theft itself, but it had repeatedly compounded the impact of the theft by mishandling information about Nicole. Nicole sued the firm under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
Life Insurance Policy Rescinded
A business executive was answering questions for an application for a $3 million life insurance policy that named as the beneficiary a company he had started with others. He answered in the negative when asked the common question as to whether he “[e]ngaged in auto, motorcycle or boat racing, parachuting, skin or scuba diving, skydiving, or hang gliding or other hazardous avocation or hobby.” In fact, on about 20 occasions, the executive had gone heli-skiing, which involves skiing down remote mountain trails after being dropped off by a helicopter.
Bonus Plan May Trigger Overtime
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides that employers may not require their employees to work more than 40 hours per workweek unless those employees receive overtime compensation at a rate of not less than one and one-half times their regular pay. The FLSA contains certain exemptions from the overtime compensation requirement, one of which is for employees working in a “bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity.” In other words, if an employee works in such a capacity, the employer is exempt from the general requirement of paying overtime pay. Under the FLSA regulations, an employee’s position must satisfy three tests to qualify for this exemption: (1) a duties test, (2) a salary-level test, and (3) a salary-basis test.
Caregiver Bias in Employment
Today, it is commonplace for workers to handle both work and caregiving responsibilities for spouses and children, parents and other older family members, or relatives with disabilities. Women still are disproportionately more likely to exercise primary caregiving responsibilities but, in increasing numbers, men also have assumed the dual roles of caretaker and breadwinner.
Our Economy and the Wisdom of Thomas Jefferson
I recently wrote an email to clients and made known my frustration with the fact that neither Candidate for President voiced the obvious disdain they should have over the $700 Billion Bailout Bill. Why were neither of them critical of this bill being only for the wealthiest of the wealthy with “0″ benefits to the poor and the middle classes?
Where was the outrage with the original draft of this Bailout Bill being a total of 3 pages long, demanding immediate payment and with no accountability on its spending by this administration. Add to this, the un-heard of: demand for a vote without a single Congressional or Senate hearing on this monstrous new liability for our U.S. Citizens and several future generations as well.
