Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Florida Might Prohibit All Cell Phone Use in Vehicles (Accidentally)
How would you like to be pulled over by the Florida Highway Patrol for talking on a cell phone while driving. That might happen if the 2010 Florida Legislature adopts HB 323 in its present form.
The bill is intended to stop drivers from texting while driving. However, it defines texting rather broadly as “any digital communication manually created by a person to be transmitted electronically between physical devices”. Oops. I think your dragnet picked up cell phones in that definition.
So even if you used a headset (which would be required if a different bill, HB 333, passes), you would not be allowed to use a cell phone at all.
Jim Martin 3/13/10
FLORIDA BAR STATEMENT The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. Before you decide, ask the lawyer to send you free written information about the lawyer’s qualifications and experience.
My Wife, The Job Whisperer
This is a plug for my wife, The Job Whisperer, Cathy Martin. She gives non-legal advice on how to get a job, how to write a resume, how to interview for a job, and how to stay sane through the process. The Job Whisperer is a coach for anyone who wants to quit a job, find a new job, find a better job, do better in their job, or just talk about their job.
For most of her career, The Job Whisperer has worked for corporations. She started in personnel and worked her way up to VP of a multimillion dollar corporation with over a thousand employees. She oversaw a recruiting department hiring hundreds of employees a year and outside recruiting firms hiring corporate executives. She has coached presidents of corporations, and managed HR departments. She has insight into what employers want and don’t want in employees. She has seen the tricks and trevails of all kinds of job applicants and knows what to do and what not to do.
Check out her blog at www.thejobwhisperer.com where she gives free tips and free advice on jobs, resumes, and interviews. You’ll be surprised to find that things you thought were good ideas really aren’t. And you’ll find many practical ideas that never occurred to you. You might even want to hire her to help you figure something out or give specific tips for you.
So, if you’re looking for a new job or a better job or a change in job, you can’t do better than ask The Job Whisperer, my wife. (Just don’t ask her for legal advice. She’s not a lawyer. She’s an MBA.)
Jim Martin 2/17/10
Termination at Will Means Every Day Is “Be Nice to Your Boss Day”
When a Florida employer terminates a Florida employee, the employee will join the ranks of the unemployed. The unemployment rate is at its highest in 26 years. The employee might not find another job in time to meet monthly obligations and might not have enough money to pay for subsidized COBRA health insurance. Other than collecting unemployment, the employee might not have any rights against the employer.
Florida follows the doctrine of termination-at-will employment. This means the employee can quit work at any time. It also means the employer can fire the employee at any time. There are some exceptions.
One exception is if there is an employment contract for a specified term. If so, it might be a breach of that contract for the employee to quit or the employer to fire before expiration of the term. Most employment contracts include provisions allowing termination for cause, and “cause” is defined in various ways. For example, “cause” might include theft, insubordination, failure to meet specified objectives, failure to pay compensation, etc. Most employees in the workplace do not have employment contracts so this exception is not for everyone.
Another exception to termination at will is when an employer terminates employment in violation of federal, state or local law. If it can be shown that termination was based on certain types of discrimination or retaliation, then the employee might be entitled to remedies that include damages from the employer. Sometimes the damages include one or more of the following: past compensation and benefits, future compensation and benefits, emotional distress, medical expenses, punitive damages, interest, and attorneys fees.
However, not all discrimination entitles an employee to remedies against the employer. The discrimination must relate to a protected class, such as race, national origin, ethnicity, sex, gender, pregnancy, religion, age, color, disability. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) website includes an online assessment feature to assist employees in determining whether they have a claim under federal law: https://egov.eeoc.gov/eas/.
For most forms of discrimination, the employer must have a certain number of employees before being liable under federal equal employment laws, but there might be state and local (city or county) laws that are triggered with a lower number of employees. In addition, state and local laws might also protect additional classes of persons, such as discrimination based on sexual preference.
The bottom line on termination-at-will in Florida depends on who we are talking about:
The bottom line for an employer is to be sure termination does not violate a contract or a federal, state or local law. This is complicated. Get legal advice.
The bottom line for an employee who has been fired is to consider whether termination violates a contract or a federal, state or local law. This is complicated. Get legal advice. Also see The Job Whisperer for ideas on getting a new job.
The bottom line for an employee who has a job is to keep it. Use common sense. Be nice to your boss. Be nice to your co-workers. Be thankful for employment.
Jim Martin 10/4/09
FLORIDA BAR STATEMENT The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. Before you decide, ask the lawyer to send you free written information about the lawyer’s qualifications and experience.
Florida May Create a New Category of Nonprofit Corporations: Mutual Benefit Corporations
A new type of nonprofit corporation will exist in Florida if House Bill 1311 is enacted by the 2009 Florida Legislature. It would amend Florida Statutes Chapter 617 to create a new category of nonprofits known as “mutual benefit corporations”. This is not something that would be elected by the incorporators in the articles of incorporation. Instead, this new class of nonprofits is defined in the negative as corporations that are not for religious purposes, are not 501(c)(3)s, and are not for public or charitable purpose that is required to distribute its assets on dissolution to the government or another 501(c)(3). They do not include condo or other homeowner associations. Legislative committee analysis indicates they would include private clubs, such as country clubs organized as nonprofit corporations, but the definition is broad enough to cover other nonprofits.
Categorizing nonprofits is something new in Florida. For 25 years I wrote the nonprofit corporations volume for West’s Legal Forms, so I know that a number of other states have done this. However, it also seems to make things more confusing. Nonprofits are difficult enough to categorize because there are as many different kinds of nonprofits as there are ideas about what is good for the public. Many nonprofits have been formed in the last decade by those whose wealth was created by the technology boom. While all of their business corporations had a common goal of maximizing the bottom line, each of their nonprofits has a different goal. It is not easy to categorize all nonprofits.
The proposed Florida law does not merely define mutual benefit corporations. It places restrictions on all nonprofit corporations including mutual benefit corporations. For example, it creates a new law that prohibits transfer of a nonprofit corporation membership, unless it is a mutual benefit corporation. It creates another new law that prohibits terminating a membership without a procedure that is fair and reasonable and is carried out in good faith. It generally allows distributions only by mutual benefit corporations.
One can debate whether or not this is good law and whether or not it will create more litigation within nonprofits, but it is certainly clear that this change will require a great deal of study and thought by nonprofit corporation lawyers in Florida. First, they will need to analyze whether their clients are mutual benefit corporations. Second, they will need to analyze whether their clients’ existing practices are still allowed under the new law.
If enacted, the law would take effect October 1, 2009.
Jim Martin 4/2/09
FLORIDA BAR STATEMENT The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. Before you decide, ask the lawyer to send you free written information about the lawyer’s qualifications and experience.
Future Technology: Microchips to Nanotubes
The 3/09 Scientific American article “The World’s Smallest Radio” by Ed Regis talks about using carbon nanotubes as super miniature radios that could be used as a communication element for nanothings like pills that seek out cancer cells in the human body or devices for search and rescue in collapsed mines. The nanotube radio has the potential to change the world around us in the same way the microchip computer processor changed it. The computer chip’s phenomenal impact on society was anticipated 30 years ago by Christopher Evans in The Micro Millennium . Evans predicted the computer chip would change the world, and it did. The same thing might happen with the nanotube radio. Who knows? Maybe future businesses will be using nanotube technology the way businesses today use microchip technology.
Jim Martin 4/2/09
FLORIDA BAR STATEMENT The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. Before you decide, ask the lawyer to send you free written information about the lawyer’s qualifications and experience.