The first step is to know what “stalking” is in Maine. In Maine, a Protection from Harassment Order is a civil means to get someone who is harassing you to stay away from you. 5 M.R.S. § 4651. You do not need to have a prior relationship with the person to qualify for protection. IfRead More
Resources
Reasonable Accommodation for Marijuana Users
Reasonable Accommodation for What?? Although there are many arguments supporting medical use of marijuana, the problem for employers is the impact on safety in the workplace and the risk of violating federal law, which still lists marijuana as illegal. So what happens when an employee with a disability comes to you and requests a “reasonableRead More
Unionized Workplaces May Be Able to Recover Fair Share Fees Paid in Past
Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled that agency fee charges to public sector labor unions violate the Constitution. On a 5-4 vote, the justices overturned a 1977 Supreme Court precedent that had allowed the so-called agency fees or “fair share” fees that are collected from millions of non-union workers in lieu of union dues to fundRead More
Don’t Join Joni Mitchell and Not Know What You’ve Got Till It’s Gone
You can’t protect what you don’t know you have. And if any of it’s on a computer, it could disappear or be taken before you know it if steps aren’t taken to protect it. So, in addition to the advice we provided in the article that just went out on cybersecurity, here is a sisterRead More
Like a Stephen King Novel, IT Scares Us
In preparation for the Central Maine Human Resources Association’s program on what employers need to know about IT, we wanted to get everyone thinking about IT policies that any company might have. Most companies use computer-based equipment for some number of tasks, even if they don’t think of themselves as dependent on tech. For example,Read More
Don’t Be In a Rush to Change to a C Corporation
Following the tax law changes made by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, many of our clients who are S corporation owners are getting advice to convert to C corporations or reading about possible advantages of doing so. This may not be such a good idea and needs to be considered very carefully. TheRead More
Don’t Compete and Don’t Tell
If you want to have a non-compete agreement, you can do that with an employee . . . but not an independent contractor. Remember, you can’t control an INDEPENDENT contractor. Moreover, a truly independent contractor must have their own company doing their own work separate from your own company. If you have people working forRead More
Avoiding Workers’ Compensation Discrimination Claims in Maine
When an employee is injured at work, competing interests make it easy for an employer to improperly handle the injury on the front end. An employer’s compliance mistakes and taking a “wait-and-see approach” to work injuries can give rise to expensive claims of workers’ compensation discrimination under the Maine Workers’ Compensation Act (the Act). DespiteRead More
The Importance of a Will
Every person over the age of eighteen should have a will. A will allows you to decide who will receive your assets upon your death. If you do not have a will, the State of Maine decides who receives your assets. The rules the State of Maine established to distribute your assets may not beRead More
Arming Teachers in Maine as a Municipal Policy Response to Prevent and Minimize School Shootings
Unfortunately, we live in an age where we all must worry for the safety of our children when they go to school. School shootings have been in the forefront of our collective awareness more than any other issue in our political discourse over the last several years. The national conversation, from holiday dinner tables toRead More