Some 5,000,000 white-collar workers who are currently exempt from overtime compensation may soon be entitled to such pay. The effect on your payroll could be significant if changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) are allowed to take effect, per a recent proposal from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The impact will arise…MORE
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Many employers routinely include mandatory arbitration agreements for resolving employment disputes with their employees. To the surprise of many employers, such clauses are often ruled invalid. To help assure that your agreement requiring arbitration of employment disputes is enforceable, be aware of the following factors: Consider using a separate, stand-alone agreement. Especially in the context of…MORE
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On June 23, 2015, the Montgomery County Council significantly altered your obligations as an employer by passing the Earned Sick and Safe Leave Act. You will now be required to provide paid sick leave to your employees at new, higher levels. It is estimated that this will affect as many as 90,000 private-sector employees who…MORE
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A family in Maryland recently learned the hard way a lesson about contracts that businesses can never afford to forget. If you sign a contract with terms you don’t understand, that’s no defense if the outcome isn’t what you expected. In this family’s case, it was their auto insurance policy (though we don’t often refer…MORE
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Does your business rely on information that you wouldn’t show to your competitors? If you don’t have a secure grasp on such trade secrets, you are at risk of losing these valuable assets with no way to recover them. The good news? You can easily protect a trade secret under Maryland and/or D.C. law, if…MORE
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You’re an entrepreneur. You’re deal-focused. You’ve got your eye on the prize, and you can’t be bothered with unnecessary details. You are driven by the desire to get things done. So when you establish a relationship with a partner, a supplier, an employee, or a client, it’s easy enough to imagine you can skim over…MORE
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You’re an entrepreneur. You’re deal-focused. You’ve got your eye on the prize, and you can’t be bothered with unnecessary details. You are driven by the desire to get things done. So when you establish a relationship with a partner, a supplier, an employee, or a client, it’s easy enough to imagine you can skim over…MORE
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A growing issue involves what happens to our digital assets upon death. On a daily basis, we create vast quantities of “digital assets” in the form of text messages, as well as images such as photos and media. Common examples include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, websites, contact lists, Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, electronic books (such as Kindle),…MORE
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You’ve chosen a contractor to perform your home remodeling or renovation, you’ve settled on the plans for the work, and you’ve planned how to rearrange your life around the work. But what if all doesn’t go according to plan? If not, you might find yourself in an uncomfortable and expensive situation. The Maryland Home Improvement…MORE
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Watch out. Some of our business clients are receiving official-looking documents that cite state laws about holding and documenting annual meetings. The pitch is for a service that will manufacture meeting minutes for $125, an unnecessary fee for a product of questionable value. Ignore this misleading mailing, but take it as a timely reminder. Like…MORE
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