Blogs

Business and Financial Services

First Amendment Protections For Internet Company / AI “Speech”

Freedom of speech has long applied beyond the spoken and written word. The Supreme Court has held that it applies to conduct, such as burning a flag, and it is currently considering whether it applies to the baking of wedding cakes in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. But what about internet search engine…

May 17, 2018

Employment Law

5 Steps to Limit Liability for Sexual Harassment at Work

A previous blog post discussed sexual harassment in the workplace in the age of the #MeToo Movement. This post discusses steps that an employer can take to avoid liability for harassment, or at least minimize legal exposure. Have a Sexual Harassment Policy An employer should have a clearly articulated sexual harassment policy that: expressly prohibits…

March 16, 2018

Divorce and Family Law

Do You Have a Pre-Nuptial Agreement that Has a Provision for Alimony?

If you have questions concerning this article, please contact one of the attorneys listed here. Then you need to read this. The new Federal income tax law could affect you in a big way. For divorces after December 31, 2018, alimony will no longer be tax deductible by the person who pays it. Nor will it be taxable to the person who receives it. Everyone hopes that their marriage will last forever, but in the event yours ends in divorce, alimony – also called spousal support – could be an issue.…

March 2, 2018

Employment Law

DOL Adopts More Flexible Test to Determine When Interns Must Be Paid Under The Fair Labor Standards Act

Just as many employers are heading into the 2018 summer-intern recruitment season, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced that it has abandoned the rigid six-factor test in use since 2010 to determine whether interns of for-profit entities must be treated as paid employees. Under the DOL’s previous six-factor test, an intern was deemed to…

February 13, 2018

Employment Law

Maryland Paid Sick Leave Law Goes Into Effect on February 11, 2018

On January 12, 2018, Maryland became the latest state to require employers to provide paid sick leave to employees, when the Maryland General Assembly overrode Governor Larry Hogan’s veto of the bill last year. The bill – known as the Healthy Working Families Act – will become law on February 11, 2018, unless the General…

January 26, 2018

Employment Law

What Is Sexual Harassment in the Workplace?

Recently, the #MeToo movement has cast a spotlight on sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. Despite the media focus on sexual harassment, there still seems to be a fair amount of confusion about what is and is not sexual harassment. Simply put, sexual harassment is harassment based on an individual’s sex. For legal purposes,…

January 19, 2018

Business and Financial Services

How Tax Reform May Impact You

Congress has passed tax reform and President Trump has signed the bill into law. Consequently, the tax code will be dramatically changed for many. Although there are many uncertainties in how the implementing regulations and rules will look, many businesses and certain industries will significantly benefit. There will be ample tax planning opportunities, and we…

January 2, 2018

Business and Financial Services

REMINDER – Electronic Registration of DMCA Agent Required By December 31

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) provides safe harbors from copyright infringement liability for certain kinds of online service providers — for example, websites that allow users to post or store material on their systems. If a provider is in compliance with the statute, it will be shielded from liability for infringing materials posted by…

December 21, 2017

Business and Financial Services

Is Your Business Website ADA Compliant?

The remarkable interconnectedness of our world through the internet has exponentially increased consumer access to information, goods, services and people. This nexus has also created some uncertainty regarding the application of many laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Congress clearly could not have anticipated widespread consumer use of the internet or the dramatic surge in e-commerce in recent years, when it passed the ADA more than twenty-five years ago. If you…

December 18, 2017

Employment Law

California Joins States Banning Employers from Asking Job Applicants about Salary History

In October 2017, California became the latest in a growing list of states and localities to ban employers from asking job applicants about their salary histories, a list that includes: Massachusetts, Delaware, Oregon, Puerto Rico, San Francisco, Philadelphia and New York City. Similar legislation is currently under consideration in other states, including: Virginia, Maryland, New…

December 4, 2017