I am frequently contacted by persons who are astonished that they have lost their jobs for what they allege is retaliation for complaining about their supervisors, complaining about some company policy or complaining about their work conditions. What they have in common is that they all believe that their right to complain in general is somehow legally protected. That is certainly not the case for the most part, unless there is some type of law which provides this protection, usually known as a whistleblower law, or there is some legal protection for reporting waste or fraud to a government agency, ...
I suspect what has happened to make the law so complicated is that more and more laws, rules, regulations, etc. (referred to in this article as “laws”) have been, and continue to be, added daily by every governmental entity, as it is easier to create new laws then thoroughly examine or repeal existing laws. This is much like the process when Presidential candidates pledge on the campaign trail that if elected, they will eliminate or consolidate government departments and cabinet positions. This rarely happens because of the enormity of the task, the power struggles between the various departments, and because ...
Upcoming Social Security Seminar on 2/14/12!
Faye Riva Cohen, Esquire will be among the presenters at the upcoming seminar: http://www.nbi-sems.com/SemTeleDetails.aspx/R-58069ER%7C?ctname=SPKEM
The Law Office of Faye Riva Cohen, P.C., Legal Research, Inc., and Faye Riva Cohen, Esquire wish you all a very happy holiday season and a wonderful New Year! Thank you very much for following us and reading our blog entries and articles and we hope to bring you more great information and insights in the next year! As always, if you have any legal issues, questions, cases, or problems, please contact us as soon as possible and we would be happy to discuss it! You can find this post and more on Faye Riva Cohen’s blog, Toughlawyerlady here.
The Internet and the Law The Internet is a two edged sword when it comes to the law. On the one hand, I am often pleasantly surprised to learn how much knowledge a current or potential client has received from the many hours they have surfed the Internet. On the other hand, much of that knowledge is not relevant to their issue, raises expectations of their case beyond what the facts of their case would deliver in a court of law, and often has no relevancy to the laws ofPennsylvania, where I practice and where ...
A “hot button” topic these days is whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee. This topic arises both in work and tax arenas, and is not a simple issue. In the work arena the issue often arises when someone applies for unemployment compensation benefits. In Pennsylvania someone who is an independent contractor is not eligible for unemployment compensation benefits, and is considered self-employed. Pennsylvania Courts use a two-part test to make this distinction. It is: (1) whether the worker was free from control and direction in the performance of the work; and (2) whether the business is one ...
DEBUNKING COMPLAINTS AGAINST LAWYERS Follow me at my official Blog Site, Toughlawyerlady for this and all of my blog posts! I frequently receive calls from potential clients complaining about other lawyers who represent them, have represented them, or they have called to represent them. Below are some of my favorite call topics, and my responses to them. Comment: “I have called or e mailed many lawyers and no one but you have returned my calls or e mails.” Response: A lawyer does not want to talk to someone who is fishing around for free advice, and calls 15-20 lawyers or more in the ...
Follow me at my official Blog Site, Toughlawyerlady for this and all of blog posts! A hot issue currently is an employee’s ability to keep their job when they have to take time off due to an illness or disability and the duty of an employer to accommodate them while maintaining a productive workplace. Although the Americans with Disability Act (“Act”) has been in effect for some years, its provisions became muddled and diminished through various court decisions. As a result of the confusion, and what many people considered to be a deliberate attempt to undermine the spirit of ...
Faye has started her new Blog: ToughLawyerLady! Check it out here.
Pennsylvania is one of the states which adheres to the “employee at-will” doctrine. This means that employees can be terminated for nearly any reason, but it also means that employees can leave their employment for almost any reason. Most employees are not impressed when they learn that they can leave their jobs for any reason, as most of them want to keep them. However, there have been times in our country’s history when that was not the case, such as in the days of slavery or indentured servitude, or when employees owed so much to a company that they couldn’t ...
