The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden and worldwide shuttering of large and small businesses may be felt for a long time. One of the resulting issues is the applicability of a force majeure clause, or common law impossibility, frustration of purpose or commercial impracticability excuses for contract performance and obligations. Force…
Release of Trustee from Liability for Retaining an Investment
Trusts It is not uncommon for trustees of trusts to encounter beneficiaries that pressure them into retaining a particular asset or investment even though the retention thereof might pose an unreasonable risk with respect to the performance of the overall portfolio and subject the trustee to potential liability to the beneficiaries for breach of the…
RECENT LEGISLATION PROVIDES CORONAVIRUS RELIEF FOR THE AMERICAN WORKFORCE
On March 18, 2020, the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020 (Families First Act) [Pub. L. No. 116-127] was signed into law. The measure is the second in a series of recent legislative attempts to ameliorate the adverse health and economic effects of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 in the United States. The Act…
When Can an Employer Require an Employee to Undergo a Medical Exam Under the ADA?
Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), 42 U,S.C. §§ 12111-12117, makes it unlawful for an employer to “require a medical examination” or to “make inquiries of an employee as to whether such employee is an individual with a disability or as to the nature or severity of the disability, unless such examination…
Estate Planning: Lifetime Gifts of Closely Held Business Stock to Family Members
“Rather than disposing of stock in a closely held business (by sale or corporate reorganization) at retirement the retiree may decide to transfer all or a portion of the stock by gifts to various family members.” Streng & Davis, Tax Planning for Retirement 7.05[1] (Thomson Reuters Tax and Accounting 2018). Three important objectives can be…
Disability Discrimination in Employment: Health Care Employer Could Condition Employment on Health Screening and Vaccination
The Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) prohibits covered employers from discriminating against qualified individuals on the basis of disability in regard to job application procedures, the hiring, advancement, or discharge of employees, employee compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. 42 U.S.C. § 12112(a). This prohibition against discrimination can apply to…
Employment: Arbitration – ‘Gateway Issues’
When an arbitration agreement is in effect, who decides whether an employment dispute, or any dispute for that matter, is arbitrable? The Supreme Court recently released a pair of decisions that address this issue under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer & White Sales, Inc.,_ S. Ct._, 202 L. Ed. 2d…
Employment: Age Discrimination – Breach of Fiduciary Duty and Unfair Competition
An employer may proceed with its unfair competition suit asserting contract and tort claims against a former employee and the employee’s current employer, a federal district court sitting in Pennsylvania has held. The employer adequately stated claims of common law breach of fiduciary duty and unfair competition against the employee, and of aiding and abetting…
Employment: Age Discrimination – Public Employers
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA” ) applies to all public employers, including those with fewer than 20 employees, a unanimous Supreme Court held in its first merits decision of the October 2018 term. Thus, the 20-employee minimum that applies to private employers does not apply to a state or its subdivisions. The 8-0…
Contracts: The Importance of Distinguishing a Contracting Party from a Stranger
Although the law generally does not allow a contracting party to bring a tort claim against another party to the same contract, this protection does not extend to persons or entities that are classified as “strangers” to the contract. Thus, a contracting party may maintain a viable claim for tortious interference with contractual relations against…