Be careful employers, your promises can be understood as contractual obligations! Your words can create a contract obligating you to do something – or prohibiting you from doing something – that the law otherwise would not require. In a recent South Carolina case, a long-term employee was asked by the company’s Board to describe an… More
Agreements
Lowe’s Takes a Blow with Seven Figure Settlement of Independent Contractor Misclassification Suit
Lowe’s Home Centers agreed to a maximum settlement amount of $6,500,000 plus an additional 25% for attorneys’ fees to settle a class action suit brought by its installation contractors alleging they were misclassified as independent contractors instead of employees. Lowe’s, which offers contractors to install products purchased at its stores in customers’ homes, classified these… More
Collusion on No-Poaching May Not Be OK
We often encourage companies to have employees sign non-compete and non-solicitation agreements to protect the employer from unfair competition by former employees. Executives at Google, Apple, Adobe, and Intel took this one step further, however, and proactively agreed amongst themselves not to poach employees from each other’s companies. End result– salaries were purportedly artificially suppressed… More
Charging for a Free Promise Can Land You in Court
As many of you know, we are not fans of the free ride on severance. If you want to offer your employee a softer landing and some severance at termination — you might as well get a release for your money. But as an employer in Tennessee recently learned, you cannot promise the money and… More