By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney Written employment contracts come in all shapes, sizes and forms. Some even have the unambiguous words “Employment Contract” typed in bold words at the top of the first page. But not all do. Under Idaho law there is no magic form that in and of…
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney Generally speaking, in Idaho, there are few statutory limitations for disciplining an employee for off-duty misconduct worth mentioning. The only one worth mentioning is contained in the Idaho Civil Service Act (See I.C. §§ 50-1601 et seq.) Pursuant to the Civil Service Act, each city…
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney Opening scene from the movie Swordfish: STANLEY (Referring to the changes to the movie Dog Day Afternoon, Gabriel just suggested) You know, this movie of yours, I don’t think it would have worked. GABRIEL Really? How come? STANLEY (shrugs) Audiences love happy endings. GABRIEL Pacino…
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney Scene from the movie Atlantis: The Lost Empire HELGA: You said we were in this together! You promised me a percentage! COMMANDER ROURKE: Next time, get it in writing. The terms of an employment contract must be considered any time either the employer or the…
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney The Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA) forbids discrimination by employers based on age when providing employee benefits, like severance. The OWBPA also ensures that no employee is coerced or pressured into signing legal waivers of rights under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).…
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney Employment ends for positive reasons such as a new job, a resignation or retirement. Employment also ends for more negative reasons such as layoffs, downsizing, job termination or firing. Assuming that you have taken all possible steps to help an employee improve their work performance,…
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (abbreviated as FLSA; also referred to as the Wages and Hours Bill) is a federal statute of the United States that changed employment relationships dramatically. The FLSA introduced the forty-hour workweek, established a national minimum wage, guaranteed “time-and-a-half”…
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney In a perfect world an employer would never have to terminate any employee. All employees would work hard, be profitable and be worth keeping as an employee. However, the reality is quite different. There are often employees that are poor workers, or whose personalities are…
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney COMPENSABLE TIME Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), an employer must pay an employee for all hours that are legitimately worked. However, sometimes there is a dispute about whether certain activities are work and therefore whether the time spent doing these activities is…
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney A job offer letter is an opportunity to start the employment relationship off on a positive note. In this letter, the employer has an opportunity to describe the job and its responsibilities. As with any type of letter, a job offer letter should be direct…