The Library

Things just got a little easier for employers with tipped employees. Under previous U.S. Department of Labor rules dating back to the late 1980s, employers who used a tip credit to pay less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 had to carefully track time employees spent performing side duties. If that time exceeded 20 percent of the employee’s hours, those duties might be considered a dual job requiring full minimum wage rather than the $2.13 an hour for tipped employees. (Employers always have to ensure that tipped employees earn enough tips to make at least minimum wage, or make […]

For more than 130 years, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has offered a set of standardized contracts for architects, contractors, building construction owners and developers that have become the most widely used agreements for commercial construction projects. Every ten years, AIA updates the contracts and, after about 18 months, phases out the previous versions. The latest updates to the most highly used sets of contracts were released in 2017, with the 2007 contracts no longer available online after Oct. 31, 2018. Properly drawn construction contracts are vital to ensure that major projects can overcome issues or conflicts that arise […]

Travis Graham represents both plaintiffs and defendants in the state and federal courts of Virginia and Tennessee, and focuses on trust and estate litigation, product liability, medical malpractice, and complex commercial litigation. He is a frequent writer, lecturer, and consultant on issues of federal and state civil procedure. In Virginia State Courts, there are three basic deadline rules. First, when you calculate a deadline from the occurrence of some event, you never count the day that the event occurred. So, ten days from January 1 is January 11. Ten days before January 20 is January 10. Second, per Rule 1:7, […]

The Fourth Circuit recently explored the contours of what constitutes “protected activity” under Title VII (and by implication other similar civil rights laws). The employee argued that her unauthorized review, copying and disclosure of confidential personnel files in order to gain support for her race and religious discrimination claims constituted a protected activity under Title VII.  The Fourth Circuit disagreed.[1] The employee, a black Muslim woman, worked for the local Sheriff for a number of years with an unblemished disciplinary record until she received a disciplinary sanction which barred her from testing for a promotion. She filed an EEOC Charge […]

On November 16, 2018, the Department of Education published its proposed new Title IX regulations, as well as a one-page fact sheet and six-page background and summary document. You can find the DOE’s Press Release here.  The proposed regulations (also referred to as a “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” or “NPRM”) were formally published in the Federal Register on November 29, 2018.  The DOE requests comments through January 28, 2019. As you may recall, in September 2017 the DOE advised the public that these proposed new regulations were coming. On September 22, 2017, the DOE rescinded previous guidance issued by the […]

The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that state and local government entities must comply with the Age Discrimination and Employment Act (“ADEA”) even if the entity employs fewer than twenty (20) employees. For the past forty (40) years, lower courts have disagreed on whether the ADEA’s requirement for an employer to have at least twenty (20) employees applied to small local government agencies. Many courts have held that government agencies with less than twenty (20) employees were not covered by the ADEA. This decision issued on November 6, 2018 involves a case brought after a local fire […]

Pursuant to new regulations, employers must disclose additional information to applicants and employees before conducting background checks. In May 2018, Congress enacted the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (the “Act”). The Act requires consumer reporting agencies to provide “national security freezes” to consumers free of charge. The Act also extended the 90-day period to one year for which national consumer reporting agencies must include an initial fraud alert in a consumer’s file. The Act also provides that whenever the Fair Credit Report Act (“FCRA”) requires an entity to provide a consumer with a “Summary of Consumer Rights,” […]

Commercial landlords and tenants should be aware of a Virginia law that could invalidate long-term leases in Virginia. The Supreme Court of Virginia recently ruled that a 15-year commercial lease was unenforceable because it did not include a seal or seal substitute. See, Game Place, L.L.C. v. Fredericksburg 35, LLC, 295 Va. 396 (2018). The Court reviewed the applicability of a Virginia law that requires leases with a term longer than five years to be in the form of a deed and include either a seal or a seal substitute. Seal substitutes include, among other things, an imprint or stamp […]

While its name may suggest it is a vestige of Virginia’s legal history, a motion craving oyer remains a powerful, but limited tool in Virginia practice. When a plaintiff sues based on a written contract or other document but fails to attach it to his complaint, a defendant should consider “craving oyer” of the document. “[A] motion to crave oyer is a request of the Court to require that a document sued upon, or a collateral document which is necessary to the Plaintiff’s claim, be treated as though it were part of the Plaintiff’s pleadings.” Ragone v. Waldvogel, Poe and […]