Attorneys at Law
Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled that agency fee charges to public sector labor unions violate the Constitution. On a 5-4 vote, the justices overturned a 1977 Supreme Court precedent that had allowed the so-called agency fees or “fair share” fees that are collected from millions of non-union workers in lieu of union dues to fundRead More
You can’t protect what you don’t know you have. And if any of it’s on a computer, it could disappear or be taken before you know it if steps aren’t taken to protect it. So, in addition to the advice we provided in the article that just went out on cybersecurity, here is a sisterRead More
In preparation for the Central Maine Human Resources Association’s program on what employers need to know about IT, we wanted to get everyone thinking about IT policies that any company might have. Most companies use computer-based equipment for some number of tasks, even if they don’t think of themselves as dependent on tech. For example,Read More
Following the tax law changes made by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, many of our clients who are S corporation owners are getting advice to convert to C corporations or reading about possible advantages of doing so. This may not be such a good idea and needs to be considered very carefully. TheRead More
If you want to have a non-compete agreement, you can do that with an employee . . . but not an independent contractor. Remember, you can’t control an INDEPENDENT contractor. Moreover, a truly independent contractor must have their own company doing their own work separate from your own company. If you have people working forRead More
AUBURN, Maine – Skelton Taintor & Abbott attorney Jordan Payne Hay will present at a roundtable discussion being hosted by the Oxford Hills SCORE and Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce on May 16. The topic is Branding and Trademarking: Legal Considerations. These monthly events feature topics relevant to local small business owners. The roundtable willRead More
When an employee is injured at work, competing interests make it easy for an employer to improperly handle the injury on the front end. An employer’s compliance mistakes and taking a “wait-and-see approach” to work injuries can give rise to expensive claims of workers’ compensation discrimination under the Maine Workers’ Compensation Act (the Act). DespiteRead More
Every person over the age of eighteen should have a will. A will allows you to decide who will receive your assets upon your death. If you do not have a will, the State of Maine decides who receives your assets. The rules the State of Maine established to distribute your assets may not beRead More
Unfortunately, we live in an age where we all must worry for the safety of our children when they go to school. School shootings have been in the forefront of our collective awareness more than any other issue in our political discourse over the last several years. The national conversation, from holiday dinner tables toRead More
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)’s general counsel ruffled a few feathers last month by finding that employees who skip work to protest could be protected from termination under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). This has the potential to be a pretty startling finding for employers with politically active employees . . . soRead More
© 2018 Skelton Taintor & Abbott, Attorneys At Law