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Employment Contracts

Court rules some arbitration agreements are enforceable

05/15/2009

Employers sometimes can’t get arbitration agreements to stick in California. Now an appellate court has finally upheld such an agreement.

Texas Supreme Court upholds noncompete agreement

05/06/2009

Texas courts ordinarily reject noncompete agreements that require employees not to disclose confidential information if the employer has failed to provide the employee with that confidential information. But now the Texas Supreme Court has modified that stance.

Navigating the complexities of a layoff to avoid unnecessary risks

05/04/2009

In today’s down economy, nearly every termination and layoff is fraught with risk. Layoffs are supposed to be blind on issues of race, sex, age, etc. But, if you are making these decisions in the dark, you are making a big mistake that could prove very costly. Before implementing a layoff, it’s crucial to review the demographics of who is staying and who is leaving.

Have attorney draft class-action waiver so it’s enforceable in court

04/17/2009

Employers naturally want to stay out of court. That’s one reason so many organizations have their employees agree to arbitrate claims rather than take them to federal or state court. But if those arbitration agreements aren’t carefully worded, they may be useless.

SF Chronicle employees ratify contract concessions

04/17/2009

The California Media Workers Guild has announced that its members voted to accept concessionary amendments to their collective-bargaining contract with the San Francisco Chronicle.

Supreme Court: Collective-bargaining agreements can force workers to arbitrate discrimination claims

04/17/2009

Siding with employers, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that union contracts could bind employees to arbitrate discrimination claims under federal law. The court ruled against a group of fired night watchmen in New York who wanted to pursue age discrimination lawsuits in court.

Craft broad settlement language to thwart 2nd lawsuit

04/14/2009

Employers that decide to settle harassment and discrimination claims, take note. The broader the settlement agreement language, the less likely the employee will turn around and file a new lawsuit. Always have an attorney approve settlement terms to make sure they are as broad as possible.

Carefully word draw-against-commission contracts—or be prepared to lose money

04/09/2009

If you pay employees on a commission basis and allow them to draw against those commissions, be very careful how you word the contract language. If you don’t specify that employees must repay any draws they do not earn back with commissions, they won’t have to.

Can we cut employee pay to reduce costs?

04/09/2009

Q. We are considering layoffs but would like to avoid them. Can we cut employees’ pay because of tough economic times?

Settlement agreement may be binding even without signature

03/30/2009

Here’s something to consider when deciding whether to settle a case. An oral agreement may be binding even if the parties never actually signed a written version. It’s a contract as long as the parties clearly agreed to the essential terms.