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When Your Brick-and-Mortar Customer Files Bankruptcy: A Brief Analysis of Preference Actions and Common Defenses
Posted by Attorney David J. Espin in Bankruptcy / Comments
The proliferation of online retailers like Amazon has come at the expense of many traditional brick-and-mortar stores. As a result, many are turning to chapter 11 reorganizations in an effort to prolong the inevitable slide towards shutting their doors for good. This poses unique challenges for many of these stores' suppliers, especially when it comes to the complicated issues surrounding preference actions.For anyone that has been on the receiving end ...
Read MoreThe NLRB Invalidates More Employee Handbook Policies
Posted by Attorney David McClurg in Labor Relations / Comments
Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act grants employees the right to engage in “concerted activity" for the purpose of “mutual aid and protection." Section 8 of the Act makes it unlawful for an employer to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of those rights. Over the past several years, the National Labor Relations Board has relied on these provisions to invalidate a number of common ...
Read MoreReceivership or Chapter 11: Which One is Right for Your Company?
Posted by Attorney David J. Espin in Bankruptcy / Comments
If your business has hit a rough patch, it's facing a big judgment, or if the bank is calling its loan due, you may be wondering what options are available for your company. Assuming you don't want to hand the keys to the bank and move on to a new venture, two options exist for Wisconsin business owners: (1) a receivership under chapter 128 of the Wisconsin statutes, or (2) ...
Read MoreThe Winding Road of Wisconsin Non-Compete Law
Posted by Attorney David J. Espin in Non-Competes / Comments
If you're a Wisconsin business owner looking to protect your company's confidential information, customers, or personnel with a non-compete agreement, it can sometimes feel like the legal ground is constantly shifting beneath your feet. In a sense, it is. There may be no other area of law in which the guidelines on what is and is not permissible changes so often. A short review of recent Wisconsin court decisions demonstrates ...
Read MoreTheft by Contractor Claims and Dischargeability
Posted by Attorney David J. Espin in Theft by Contactor / Comments
One of the industries hit hardest by the financial crisis was the construction industry, which includes many prime contractors and subcontractors. In addition to the effects of the slowdown in housing construction, contractors are particularly vulnerable to recessions due to their reliance on payments from other contractors up and down the construction chain. When one contractor goes under, they will often drag others down with them. This leads to contractors ...
Read MoreAppellate Court Restricts Wisconsin's "Substantial Fault" Disqualification Standard for Unemployment Benefits
Posted by Attorney David McClurg in Human Resources, Unemployment Law, Unemployment Disqualification Standards / Comments
The Wisconsin Court of Appeals recently narrowed the scope of the "substantial fault" disqualification standard, added to Wisconsin's Unemployment Act in 2013, by broadly interpreting the exceptions to that standard.
Read MoreOBAMA INCREASES EXECUTIVE ACTION ON LABOR & EMPLOYMENT ISSUES
Posted by Attorney David McClurg in Labor Relations / Comments
After years of gridlock, President Obama declared in his State of the Union address that he would move forward on employment issues “with or without Congress.” His first Executive Order tied to this threat increased the minimum wage for workers under new federal contracts from $7.25/hour to $10.10/hour, in part to “help build momentum for a minimum wage hike for all Americans.” This Order applies to new contracts and renewals ...
Read MoreSTATE BUDGET BILL SUBSTANTIALLY CHANGES WISCONSIN’S UNEMPLOYMENT LAWS
Posted by Attorney David McClurg in Human Resources, Business Management / Comments
The 2013-2015 biennial budget bill, recently enacted as 2013 Wisconsin Act 20, included many significant changes to Wisconsin’s unemployment insurance (“UI”) law. Although some of these changes took effect immediately after the effective date of the Act 20 (such as increasing work search requirements from 2 to 4 contacts per week) most will first apply to unemployment determinations issued or appealed on or after Jan. 5, 2014. Several of the ...
Read MoreThe Affordable Care Act – The Act’s Effect on Small Business (Part 7 of 8), by Barbara Halpin
Posted by Attorney Roger L. Pettit / Comments
This week I’m going to discuss some of the effects of the Affordable Care Act on small businesses. It’s obviously still uncertain what the full ramifications will be. The Act exempts small businesses (fewer than 50 full-time employees) from the Employer Responsibility Provision of the Act (i.e. The Act does not require small businesses with fewer than 50 full-time employees to provide health insurance for their employees). As a result of ...
Read MoreInvalidation of President Obama's Recess Appointments Undermines NLRB Actions, by David A. McClurg
Posted by Attorney Roger L. Pettit / Comments
The efforts of President Obama’s appointees on the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) to push a decidedly pro-employee agenda have run up some significant judicial barriers. On January 25, 2013, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, in Noel Canning v. NLRB, that the three “recess” appointments President Obama made to the National Labor Relations Board on January 4, 2012 were invalid, and that the Board, thus being without a ...
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