If your employer has decided to end its relationship with you, you should hire an expert employment attorney to help you part ways with dignity, grace, and financial and career security.  Often, employers offer what is called a “separation agreement” or “severance agreement” that will govern your exit from the company and your mutual obligations after your exit. There are ten very good reasons why you should hire an employment lawyer to review and negotiate your separation agreement prior to …
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Ever gotten bored during the workday and picked up your smartphone to play around on Twitter?  Ever tempted to complain about your company or your boss? Beware.  It could cost you your job. Social media is as much a part of our social fabric now as interpersonal communication.  And people are using it while at work and to talk about work.  Ask yourself… if you walked out to the sidewalk in front of your company and announced to everyone how …
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“Sign now, read later” is usually a bad plan with Employment Agreements as it can have particularly awful consequences. I often meet with clients shortly after they have resigned or have been terminated from their job. At the exit interview the client may have been advised by the company that all of their “restrictive covenants” remain in effect. Generally speaking, “restrictive covenants” relate to activities that the former employee is NOT allowed to do post-employment. Some examples may be to …
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Generally, your employer may maintain a dress code that applies to all employees within a certain job category, even if it means that, coincidentally, the dress code happens to conflict with some workers’ ethnic or religious beliefs.  However, your employer’s policy can’t single out groups of people based upon factors such as national origin or religion.  For example, the company can’t ban employees from wearing traditional African head wraps while allowing other employees to don western-styled hats (cowboy hats, fedoras, …
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Sure, you have a great relationship with everyone at work. You trust your boss. You love your coworkers. Never had a problem with Susan from HR. Everything is just hunky-dory. Nobody expects an employment relationship to sour. But it happens, even to the best employees. That’s why you should put everything important in writing, and where possible, ask to get everything promised to you or expected of you in writing. If you get called into a meeting with your managers …
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In North Carolina, the employment relationship is described as “at-will.”  That means that an employer can terminate you for any reason, even an unreasonable one, as long as it’s not one forbidden by law or express agreement.   While this is a relatively simply statement to make, it is a lot less simple to understand in the real world.   We often  find ourselves explaining to frustrated employees why a terribly unfair workplace situation is not necessarily the basis of a law …
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Given the horrible winter we’ve been having, I’m not surprised that I’ve been asked this question more than once in recent weeks.  “My office was closed for one day due to the weather and road conditions.  Now, they are telling me that I have to burn a vacation day for my “day off”.  It was hardly a vacation and it wasn’t my choice to stay home.  Can they do this?” Before I answer the question, I’m going to make some …
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