A temporary employment agency that supplied workers to companies in the telecommunications and natural gas industries had the following clause in its temporary employment contracts:

Employee… understands that the terms of this employment, including compensation, are confidential… Disclosure of these terms to other parties may constitute grounds for dismissal.

After an employee was placed with a company named El Paso his paychecks and expense reimbursements were not timely made. He complained not to his employer, but to the person he was contracted to, El Paso, and then El Paso notified the temp agency. That agency then terminated the employee.

The employee filed an unfair labor practice charge and the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the NLRB finding that the confidentiality agreement was too broad. An employee is entitled to certain rights such as engaging in activities concerning their pay and benefits and the confidentiality policy would chill those employee rights if it is not enforceable against the employee under these circumstances.

If you have a situation where you think your rights are being violated, please contact us as we represent employees in private and public employment. Call us at 1-800-240-1988 or fill out our Contact Form online.

A woman tells her employer that she is pregnant and that her doctor has told her that she should not work, or that her work duties should be restricted, due to her pregnancy or due to associated medical conditions. Her employer tells her that it will not grant her leave, or that it will not accommodate her restrictions, due to company policy.

Is this legal? Not under New Hampshire law.

New Hampshire law extends greater protections to pregnant employees than federal law. Under federal law, employers must only give the same protections and benefits to their employees as they do to other employees afflicted with temporary disabilities. New Hampshire law goes further. New Hampshire employers must give pregnant employees leave, and must keep their jobs open for them, for so long as they experience medical conditions associated with their pregnancies that render them unable to work or that restrict their ability to perform certain job duties. The employer can only avoid liability for breach of this duty if it can prove “business necessity” to replace the pregnant employee.

An employer who violates a pregnant woman’s rights under New Hampshire law can face liability for lost wages, emotional distress, humiliation and inconvenience, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and attorney’s fees.

If your employer has fired you due to your inability to perform some or all of your job duties due to a pregnancy-related medical condition, you should consult a New Hampshire attorney experienced in employment discrimination law. We only represent employees in employment cases so please contact us to help you. Call us at 1-800-240-1988 or fill out our online Contact Form.

For whatever reason, many injured workers harbor the mistaken belief that, once they begin receiving workers’ compensation disability benefits, they will receive them forever. This is not the case. There are several ways disability benefits may terminate. First, there is a 5-year cap on temporary partial disability benefits–the type of benefits that injured employees may receive if they have a light duty work capacity or if they are working a job that pays less than what they earned at the job in which they were injured. No such cap exists on temporary total disability benefits–the type of benefits injured employees receive if their injury renders them completely unable to work any job for which they are suited. Temporary total benefits may be suspended if a carrier schedules an employee for a medical examination and the employee fails to attend it. Such benefits may also be terminated through an RSA 281-A:48 petition filed by the carrier with the Department of Labor. When a carrier files such a petition, the Department of Labor holds a hearing attended by the employee and a carrier representative, usually an attorney. The carrier bears the burden to prove at the hearing that the employee has work capacity and that benefits should be discontinued. Benefits stop immediately if the Department finds that the carrier has met this burden.

Due to the risk of benefits being terminated, it makes sense under appropriate circumstances for employees to explore lump sum settling their claims. Disability benefits stop when the Department approves a lump sum settlement, but the employee can walk away with a sum of money to help to compensate for their injury and allow them to move on with life.

We can assist in negotiating a lump sum settlement and assessing your workers’ compensation rights. Benjamin King at Douglas, Leonard & Garvey, P.C. is experienced in representing employees in workers’ compensation matters. Call us at 1-800-240-1988 or fill out our online Contact form.

Has your employer or a prospective employer asked for your Facebook password? Insurance companies and defense lawyers mine social media sites such as Facebook to find information and now employers are using these sites in making hiring and firing decisions.

Two recent events may change an employer’s ability to ask for your password to access your Facebook account. First, because Congress is alarmed over stories of employees being fired for Facebook postings, it is considering a new law to limit an employer’s ability to request your password. (READ MORE). Now, in response to recent news stories, Facebook is changing its policy to protect passwords for snooping employers. The new policy makes it a violation of Facebook’s terms of service to share or ask for passwords. (READ MORE)

These efforts are an attempt to prevent employers from accessing and then misusing such information because an employer can learn information about an employee or prospective employee (age, pregnancy or other information) that they can use (improperly) in making employment decisions. However, please keep in mind any personal information you post may be difficult to keep private.

Please contact Douglas, Leonard & Garvey P.C. for any employment law issue you may have. You can reach us at 1-800-240-1988 or complete our online Contact Form.