Facebook Firing

It is popular for employers to check the Facebook and MySpace pages of current employees and/or potential employees. However, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has taken action to limit an employer’s ability to make decisions based on an employee’s social network site posts. Recently, the NLRB charged a company for illegally firing an employee for criticizing her supervisor on her Facebook page. The company, American Medical Response of Connecticut, maintained a policy prohibiting employees from depicting the company “in any way” on social networking sites in which the employee posts pictures of themselves. As a result of the employee’s criticisms of her supervisor on Facebook, her employer terminated her employment.

The NLRB is taking the position that the employee’s criticisms constitute “protected activity.” The NLRB argues that employees have a right to discuss working conditions and form unions under the National Labor Relations Act. Thus, the employee should not have been terminated for discussing her boss on a social networking site. The NLRB argues that her post on Facebook was no different than having a discussion with other employees around the water cooler… if employees can discuss these items in person, why should they be prohibited from doing so on a social networking site.

Ultimately, this matter is far from resolved. It pits the employers’ right to set guidelines and standards for employees against an employee’s right to organize. This matter should be near and dear to the hearts of both employers and employees as it effects the rights of both. Until this matter is decided by the court, employees will need to be careful what they post on social networking sites and employers will need to be careful with the information that they obtain about their employees (and potential employees) from social networking sites.

If you would like to find out more about this case, you can go to www.nlrb.gov.

Feel free to ask us if you have any legal questions regarding Employment Law.

R&D Tax Credits for Your Company

I recently came across an article written by Robert Celaschi for Comstock Magazine that may interest many tax conscious business owners. He writes that many business owners do not seek research and development tax credits due to the fact that the former tax laws made it too difficult to obtain the credit. However, the law changed and eased the requirements for obtaining R&D tax credits. According to Celashi’s article, “as long as a company sets out to improve the performance, reliability or quality of a product or process, it has a good shot at the tax credit.” The limitation… the research and development must be technology based, relying on physical, biological, engineering or computer sciences.

I urge you to check out Celaschi’s article and discuss these items with your tax accountant. You can find Celaschi’s article at http://www.comstocksmag.com/Articles/1110_F_Return-to-Sender.aspx. You never know, you may be missing out on a tax savings.

Feel free to contact us if you would like any legal advice for your business.

Radlaw Completes Two Separate Trials

Our firm just completed a three week fraud trial in the Sacramento Superior Court. Frank Radoslovich and Jason Smith presented our clients’ case before Judge Judy Holzer Hersher. The case involved many aspects of the law, including construction, commercial leases, issues of fiduciary duty and accounting matters. Like many cases, the trial did not necessarily end when the testimony finished. Once the oral testimony was completed, we submitted written briefs to the court arguing our contentions. We expect the court to issue a decision within the next 90 days. We will keep you posted.

Also, during the month of October, Shawn Krogh and John Whidden participated in an unlawful detainer matter trial. In this matter, we represented a landlord who was seeking to evict a tenant from a commercial property. The matter was not just a simple eviction, as it presented property tax issues as well. Ultimately, our clients prevailed and received a decision that will allow them to evict the tenants. What is more, the court awarded our clients $41,132.00 in damages.

Let us know if we can help with your legal issues.

The New Radlaw Blog

We now have a new blog here at www.radlegal.com. Our attorneys are going to take turns taking time to write blog posts. Our goal is to keep you informed on events at our firm, legal issues as well as other current events. Every once and a while, one of our attorneys may go off subject on any topic they find interesting. We hope to be informative, yet we will try to add a little humor as we understand many people find the law boring. We hope that you are interested and provide us with feedback on items that interest you.

Business and Corporate Law - Sacramento, CA

Radoslovich Law Corporation has the knowledge and experience to handle almost any legal issue your firm may encounter. Our attorneys provide a sophisticated array of legal business services to an ever-growing multistate client base.

We know every facet of business operations from formation to dissolution.

• Advice on launching a company or development
• Solid arrangements for financing and lending
• Innovative work on corporate structuring
• Reliable filing of licenses and permits
• Pragmatic advice on day-to-day operations or issues
• Thoughtful guidance through mediation or arbitration
• Zealous representation in court
• Experienced general counsel or outside counsel

It is difficult to operate in today’s business climate. Do not let legal issues interfere with your business operations. Radoslovich Law Corporation attorneys can handle the legal questions in a cost effective manner, allowing you to focus on your primary goals.

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Tort Reform Is Dead. Now What?

More than a few state Supreme Courts have overturned tort reform laws in the past year. The concept is that everyone is entitled to a trial by jury, and that the courts, not legislature, should decide how much is enough. Oddly enough, the legislative branches are often opposed to tort reform as well. Whether we agree or not is irrelevant. Enough Supreme Courts have spoken that we concur that tort reform certainly in jeopardy.

What’s the next step? Do we just “stay the course,” continue the trend towards increasingly extensive defensive medicine? That is a waste of the physician’s resources as well as the patient’s time and money. The insurance companies can’t care very much for it either, since raising rates to compensate for such costs is easier said than done these days.

In a perfect world, it would be possible for a patient to agree not to sue in exchange for lower rates. As the aforementioned Supreme Court decisions have demonstrated, though, our nation’s courts don’t take kindly to being told they cannot make whatever awards they deem justified. This goes along with the foundational concept that one cannot sign away basic rights. In that case, the physician is left only two choices: Continue to pay in myriad ways, or fight back against the attacks.

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Gaines bills signed into law by Schwarzenegger

Marking the signing deadline for legislation passed this year, Assemblyman Ted Gaines, R-Roseville, today announced that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed three of his bills that will help lower costs to consumers, protect homeowners from devastating natural disasters and streamline government.

“I applaud Governor Schwarzenegger for signing my measures that will help increase government efficiency, lower costs and protect local homeowners from underinsurance,” Gaines said. “By acting today, California homeowners can now make sure their homes are adequately insured in the event of a devastating natural disaster and business owners can save time and money with a much-needed update to California’s banking law. Domestic insurers can also keep jobs here and cut costs by being able to provide their own administrative services.”

During his short time in the Assembly, Gaines has been successful working across party lines and has had 19 bills signed into law since he was elected to the Assembly in 2006.

The bills signed by Governor Schwarzenegger:

Department of Insurance Disclosure
Assembly Bill 2022 will make it easier for California families to see for themselves if their homes are underinsured prior to a catastrophic event. The bill makes required insurance disclosure forms easier for homeowners to understand, so more Californians will be able to take proactive steps to insure themselves from a potential devastating wildfire, flood or earthquake.

Banking Modernization
Assembly Bill 1268 makes much-needed updates to portions of California’s banking law, which hasn’t been changed since 1951. The measure consolidates many provisions of the law into a single chapter of financial code and deletes several obsolete and out-dated components, helping streamline regulatory oversight and increase consistency in the law.

Insurance Transactions
Assembly Bill 1837 helps level the playing field for California domestic insurers by allowing them to provide their own administrative services to a local affiliate for surplus lines placements in the state. The bill also helps insurers reduce their operational expenses by keeping these jobs local.

Courtesy of Rocklin & Roseville Today News

What Happens When Your HOA Becomes Hostile?

In condo complexes, the Home Owners Association, or HOA, can be a great relief: major expenses are shared; rules agreed on makes everyone's life easier.

On the other hand, a hostile HOA can be a bit like the mafia.

The following cases illustrate the power an HOA can have. This power should give anyone considering a home with an existing HOA pause, since those people making up the association may or may not be like-minded, friendly, or even reasonable.

Even with your closest neighbors, it's all business

In 2007, a Texas couple fell behind in their HOA dues. The husband had suffered traumatic brain injury at his railroad job; the wife had a skin condition causing swelling and open sores on her body. With bills piling up in every corner, HOA dues lost priority in the couple's life. But instead of taking the usual route by filing a lien on the property, meaning that Dan and Elaine Lambert would not be able to sell their home until they paid their dues, their HOA evicted them and seized their home.

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California Supreme Court upholds Prop. 209 affirmative action ban

Tackling Proposition 209 for the first time in a decade, the California Supreme Court on Monday left intact the state's ban on affirmative action in public programs.

In a 6-1 ruling, the Supreme Court upheld the 1996 voter-approved law, in the process invalidating a 7-year-old San Francisco ordinance designed to aid minority- and women-owned businesses in the contracting process. The majority opinion, written by Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar, reinforced past state and federal court rulings that have kept Proposition 209's tight limits on public affirmative action programs in place across California.

The justices left open the possibility that San Francisco officials could still salvage the law in the trial court if they can prove it is the only possible way to fix entrenched discrimination in the city's contracting programs, but overall rejected San Francisco's argument that Proposition 209 is unconstitutional, the first time the state's high court has addressed that question directly. Justice Carlos Moreno dissented, concluding that laws such as San Francisco's should be permissible to correct discrimination, given the political difficulty of overturning or curtailing Proposition 209 at the ballot box.

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