United States: Social Media Watch: Illinois Federal Court Lowers Bar For SCA Claims

Social media privacy cases continue to grow under the Stored Communications Act (“SCA”) (see our prior alert on theEhling decision). The SCA provides a private right of action for unauthorized, intentional access of another’s communications held in electronic storage, allowing the plaintiff to recover actual damages, plus any profits made by the violator, in an amount no less than $1,000.

In a recent social media privacy case—Maremont v. Susan Fredman Group, Ltd., No. 10 C7811, […]

By | January 30th, 2015 ||

United States: District Of Columbia Passes Two New Non-Discrimination Laws Impacting Employers

Earlier this week, D.C.’s Mayor signed two new measures amending the D.C. Human Rights Act (“DCHRA”) to prohibit (1) discrimination against employees of religiously-affiliated educational institutions on the basis of sexual orientation; and (2) workplace bias related to reproductive health decisions.

The DCHRA includes an exemption—called the Armstrong Amendment—enacted in 1989 that permitted “any educational institution that is affiliated with a religious organization or closely associated with the tenets of a religious organization” to “deny, […]

By | January 30th, 2015 ||

United States: Employee Or Independent Contractor: Why It Matters?

Christopher Boman and Boris Sorsher article “Employee or Independent Contractor: Why It Matters?” was featured inHVACR Business magazine on January 15, 2015.

Of course your employees matter. If they didn’t, you wouldn’t hire them, trust them to do important work or keep paying them week after week. And if you think about it at all (which you probably don’t), you assume they realize that. It’s only logical.

Every employer eventually tackles the question of whether its […]

By | January 29th, 2015 ||