Constitutional Law › Criminal Law › Labor & Employment Law

Using the Privilege: Fifth Amendment Fundamentals for Corporations

Most in-house lawyers, if they're fortunate, haven't bumped up against the Fifth Amendment and its related issues since the bar exam. After all, the so-called "nickel" typically arises solely in the criminal context, and...more

Tennessee Passes Guns in Trunks Law

On March 14, 2013, Tennessee Governor Haslam signed the so-called “Guns in Trunks” law, which will go into effect July 1, 2013. The new law, which will be codified as T.C.A § 39-17-1313, states that handgun-carry permit...more

Escalating Penalties: Alberta OHS Convictions For 2012 – What Can Employers Expect For The Year Ahead?

A person who contravenes Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety Act, Regulations or Code is liable, for a first offence, to a fine of not more than $500,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months and, for a...more

Records of Potential Off-the-Clock Work Violations: GPS Tracking Devices

Along with the ubiquitous nature of smart phones, employers are increasingly using GPS technology to track company vehicles to determine if employees working on remote job sites are where they are supposed to be and to locate...more

Supreme Court of Canada Decision Demonstrates the Importance of Workplace Computer Policies

In R. v. Cole, 2012 SCC 53, the majority of the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that it was unconstitutional for the police to search the workplace computer of a high school teacher without a warrant. The Supreme Court held...more

Can Your Boss Tell You Whom To Vote For?

With Nov. 6 drawing closer, the nation waits to see who will win the upcoming presidential election: Barack Obama or Mitt Romney. Debates, campaign commercials and bitter rants on Facebook all compete for people’s attention...more

Changes in the Minnesota “Time Off to Vote” Statute

Minnesota employers should know that Minnesota’s “Voting Time Off” statute (section 204C.04) has changed since the last presidential election. Previously, employees who were eligible to vote were allowed up to two hours of...more

Supreme Court Ruling on Arizona Law Has Broad Impact

When the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling on the Arizona immigration law last week, public scrutiny of the decision was short-lived because it was eclipsed by the subsequent ruling on the Patient Protection and Affordable...more

Supreme Court Bars Arizona, Other States From Criminalizing Alien Employment

The key takeaway for employers from the Supreme Court's ruling yesterday on Arizona's controversial Senate Bill (SB) 1070 law is that states cannot make criminals out of those in their jurisdiction who work or seek employment...more

Ariz. Immigration Ruling May Save Cos. From State Law Hassles

Originally published in Law360, New York (June 25, 2012, 8:49 PM ET) The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that several portions of Arizona's controversial immigration law were preempted by federal law will likely stanch the...more

Rassegna Giurisprudenziale

Si riporta di seguito una breve rassegna dei provvedimenti maggiormente significativi emessi negli ultimi mesi in materia di responsabilità amministrativa degli enti ex D.Lsg. 231/2001. CORTE DI APPELLO DI BRESCIA –...more

Can You Go to Jail for Lying on Facebook?

During last week’s oral argument before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on the case of U.S. v. Nosal, 642 F.3d 781 (9th Cir. 2011), reh’g en banc granted (Oct. 27, 2011), members of the Court, including most...more

City Of Redondo Beach's Day Laborer Ordinance Is Unconstitutional

Comite de Jornaleros de Redondo Beach v.City of Redondo Beach, 657 F.3d 936 (9th Cir. 2011) (en banc) In May 1987, the City of Redondo Beach adopted an ordinance that prohibits any person to "stand on a street or highway...more

Weekly Law Resume - September 15, 2011: Qualified Immunity Does Not Apply Where Officer Mistakenly Pulls Gun Instead of Taser

Maria Torres, et al. v. City of Madera, et al. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (August 22, 2011) This case is an important progression in stun-gun-related police liability law, establishing how mistaken-draw cases should...more

Sound Investigation Policy and Employer Liability in Race and Sex Harassment Cases

Implementing policies prohibiting race and sexual harassment in the work environment is not enough. Too many employers I come across in my work as a lawyer do not have any form of investigation policy attached to their...more

Child Porn Found In the Workplace: Affirmative Duty to Report

Misbehaving by sending inappropriate text messages, or by striking up inappropriate internet relationships is not limited just to politicians. A hazard of our ever-present connection to the internet is the flood of...more

Where Are the Lines in Employee Surveillance?

A reader asks: I have had theft of trade secrets in my office. Can I install video cameras or other surveillance measures to view the activities of my employees? Answer: While spying on your employees happens all the...more

Preliminary Injunction Granted for Parts of New Indiana Immigration Law

As predicted in our prior Legal Alert on this topic on May 13, 2011, Indiana’s recently enacted immigration law has been challenged in court. On June 24, 2011, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana...more

Connick, et al., v. Thompson

Brief of Amici Curiae Alliance Defense Fund and CATO Institute In Support of Respondent

If a man is wrongfully convicted and held on death row for 18 years — 14 in solitary confinement — because prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence in his case, is there any reason that courts should keep him from recovering...more

Class Actions

In its noteworthy 2004 decision in Klay v. Humana, Inc.,1 the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit appeared to veer from its own precedents in affirming certification of a nationwide class asserting a claim...more

Immigration Insights (April 2010)

In this issue: *Arizona Immigration Law Sparks Debate and Reminder to Foreign Nationals Inside and Outside Arizona *USCIS Still Accepting H-1B Petitions for Fiscal Year 2011 *May 2010 Visa Bulletin - EB-3 India and...more

Appellate Court Reinstates Employee Gun Rights

On February 18, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued a long-awaited decision regarding the right of Oklahoma employers to ban firearms from their property. Reversing a lower federal court...more

A imputação jurídico-penal no Direito Penal Econômico

O ordenamento penal e processual penal brasileiro vem enfrentando um processo de adaptação ao fenômeno da crescente criminalidade econômica, que tem deitado suas raízes nomeadamente na...more

Employer Firearm Policies: Parking Lots, State Laws, OSHA, and the Second Amendment

On June 25, 2008, night-shift worker Wesley Higdon was escorted out of a Kentucky plastics factory by his supervisor following an altercation over his cell phone usage and failure to wear eye goggles. Higdon then allegedly...more