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Mixing Business with Pleasure:
February 20, 2012, 11:44 am
Does an employer have an ownership interest in the social media accounts and activities of its employees? Federal district courts in Pennsylvania and California say…maybe. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn has made the world a smaller place by allowing people to connect and communicate with the click of a button. Many social media users strongly identify with their social media accounts and may even consider them a virtual extension of their person. It is not surprising that as the popularity of social media has skyrocketed, businesses have recognized the potential for social media to be used to conduct and solicit business. Many businesses have jumped on the social media bandwagon to market products and services, or to develop professional networks. Many businesses prefer to communicate via social media because it is relatively inexpensive and can lend an air of grassroots authenticity to a business’ message. &nbs...
Wage Theft Prevention Act-A Simple Guide for Employers
January 30, 2012, 9:52 am
On December 14, 2010, the Wage Theft Prevention Act was signed into law in New York. The Act aimed at providing greater protections for employees by establishing more stringent wage notification procedures for employers. Among other things, the Act explicitly requires employers to provide written notice containing information pertaining to an employee’s wages. The notice must be provided to new hires as well as every employee after January 1 but no later than February 1 each year. Additionally, the notice must be provided to employees both in English as well any language an employee identifies as his or her primary language. Included in the notice must be an employee’s rate of pay, including overtime, the manner in which the employee is paid (i.e. hourly, salary, commission etc.), the typical day on which employees are paid, and any deductions taken from an employee’s minimum wage. Furthermore, the Act requires that the notice also provide the name of...
New York's Highest Court Holds that Final Settlement of a Check Must Occur Before Depos...
January 25, 2012, 12:45 pm
By: John K. Rottaris, Esq. with the help of Amy E. Belmont. The New York Court of Appeals issued a decision in Greenberg, Trager and Herbst, LLP v. HSBC Bank USA, 17 N.Y.3d 565 (2011) which could have serious implications for law firms and other businesses. The plaintiff “GTH,” a law firm, received an email from a Hong Kong company seeking legal representation in collecting a debt owed to it by one of its customers. GTH requested a $10,000 retainer, and was informed that the customer of the company owing the debt would be sending a check to GTH. GTH was instructed to deduct the retainer fee from the total amount and wire the remaining balance to the Hong Kong company. GTH subsequently received a “Citibank” cashier’s check in the amount of $197,750, deposited the check into its attorney trust account, and wired the balance to the company after being notified by a bank representative that the check had “cleared.” However, the ban...
To mitigate or not to mitigate, that is the question
January 13, 2012, 1:32 pm
A relatively recent case from the State of New York’s Second Department holds that residential landlords need not mitigate damages by seeking a new tenant when the prior tenant breaks the lease in order to collect unpaid rent – but, in at least some situations, it’s probably still a good idea. By: John K. Rottaris, Esq. with the help of Lawrence C. Bice. In 1995, New York State’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, ruled in Holy Properties Ltd. v. Kenneth Cole Productions that a commercial landlord is under no duty to his or her tenant to re-rent or attempt to re-rent the premises when the tenant walks away from the lease. Under Holy Properties, when a tenant breaches a lease, a commercial landlord, in theory at least, may do nothing, allow the premises to sit vacant and still collect full rent from the tenant. In the years following the Holy Properties case, lower courts split on whether the “no-duty-to-mitigate” rule laid down in...
IRS CONTINUES TO ROLL OUT REPORTING REQUIREMENTS UNDER THE FOREIGN ACCOUNT TAX COMPLIAN...
January 10, 2012, 3:16 pm
By Teia Marie Bui, Esq. Despite a litany of complaints from tax professionals, dual status citizens, US resident aliens, and foreign banks,[i] the IRS revealed the final version of Form 8938 Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets, complete with a set of instructions, on December 19, 2011. The requirements are effective for the 2011 tax year and therefore must be adhered to during the 2012 tax filing season. More importantly, although FATCA closely mirrors the Foreign Bank Account Reporting (FBAR) requirements, FATCA does not replace a taxpayer’s FBAR filing obligation. FATCA was enacted in 2010 as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act.[ii] It is intended to aid the U.S. in its effort to combat tax evasion through the use of offshore accounts. FATCA requires both U.S. taxpayers and foreign financial institutions (i.e. banks) to file annual reports disclosing the existence of foreign assets to the IRS. ...