By: Jacqueline M. Woolley, Esq. Employees and employers alike need to be aware of their rights and obligations under the new Federal legislation which provides for paid leave under several circumstances related to the coronavirus. They are described below. If you have questions or concerns, either as an employee or employer, regarding these new requirements you can reach us for legal advice at 610-660-5585. Families First Coronavirus Response Act On March 18, 2020 the United States Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) Continue reading →

By: Michelle D. Patrick, Esq.   On March 18th, 2020 the “Families First Coronavirus Response Act” (“FFCRA”) was signed into law. The goal of the FFCRA is to provide relief to workers during this unprecedented pandemic. Essentially, the FFCRA requires that covered employers, private employers with less than 500 employees and government employers, provide covered employees with emergency sick and/or Family and Medical Leave Act leave (“FMLA”) leave if they are unable to work due to COVID-19 illness or restrictions. For example, the FFCRA applies Continue reading →

By: Michelle Patrick, Esq. Sadly, the answer is “it depends.” The employment laws in our country do not require that employees treat each other nicely or with respect. Nor do they specifically outlaw bullying. What they do provide is that an employee not be treated differently from other employees because he/she is a member of a protected class. Protected classes include race, age, sex, religion, national original, pregnancy and disability, and under some laws, sexual orientation. Take, for example, a male manager who excludes a Continue reading →

  By: Michelle Patrick, Esq. January 2020 New Jersey has joined the ranks of a handful of states to prohibit discrimination based on hairstyle. In December 2018 video surfaced from South Jersey of a trainer cutting off an African-American high-school wrestler’s dreadlocks. We learned that the teenager was forced to choose between cutting off his dreadlocks or forfeiting his match. One year later to the day, December 19, 2019, the “Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair Act” (“CROWN Act”) was signed into Continue reading →

Have you ever been tempted to, or did in fact, secretly record a conversation between you and your boss or another employee? Did you do it thinking that you were protecting yourself? The fact is that if you recorded a conversation without the other party’s knowledge or consent you have committed a criminal act in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is a “two-party consent state” meaning that, under Pennsylvania’s Wiretap Act, 18 Pa.C.S. §5701 et seq., recording a telephone call or conversation without both parties’ consent is illegal. Continue reading →

In Pennsylvania, medical marijuana may be an option for those with a “serious medical condition.” The Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act contains a list of serious medical conditions including cancer, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and PTSD. Employees certified to use medical marijuana cannot be discriminated against “solely on the basis of such employee’s status as an individual who is certified to use medical marijuana” in the hiring process or during their employment. The Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act, Section 2103(b)(1). Does this mean that an Continue reading →