The Library

On May 11, 2016, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA) which amends the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (EEA) (18 U.S.C. § 1831, et. seq.). The EEA has allowed federal prosecutors to bring criminal charges for the theft of trade secrets, but until the DTSA, there was no federal civil claim for damages or equitable relief. The DTSA addresses this problem and grants private companies (and other trade secret owners) the right to bring a civil suit to protect their trade secrets and recover damages, so long as the trade secret relates to a product […]

Happy (almost) summer. Before you head to the beach for a well-deserved vacation, we post this short article to update you on several substantive developments in the employment law world. New Overtime Regulations Effective December 1. As you know, the DOL has published its new overtime regulations that will take effect December 1,2016.  The key provision is that an employee needs to earn at least $47,476 per year to be exempt from the federal overtime requirements.  Gentry Locke recently hosted a webinar on the new regulations.  Please contact us if we can assist your organization in any way. EEOC Publication on […]

In 1986, Virginia adopted a version of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (VUTSA),[1] and employers have relied upon the VUTSA for years to protect some of their most important and sensitive intellectual property and know-how. As business operations have expanded outside of Virginia and the United States, differences in how trade secret laws have been applied have often resulted in an ineffective patchwork of protections.[2] As a result, many employers have continued to rely on written employment agreements that not only protect confidential information and trade secrets, but also limit the solicitation of customers and co-workers, and in some cases, […]

For at least 110 years, Virginia has followed the at-will doctrine that employees working under an agreement that does not specify its duration or require cause for termination may be separated from employment simply by being given “reasonable notice.”[1]  An open question in recent years has been “what constitutes reasonable notice under this at-will rule?” On June 2, the Supreme Court of Virginia decided this issue. The case involved a claim by a long-term employee (17-year tenure) who was abruptly terminated without any advance notice. The former employee argued that she should have been given some reasonable period of advance notice before the […]

Finally, the much anticipated changes to DOL overtime regulations have been issued. Most significantly, the new overtime regulations will double the salary threshold effective December 1 and will be increased incrementally every three years. Here is the down and dirty on the new rules: Mercifully, the new regulations are not effective until December 1, which is at least longer than the 60-day period the DOL previously indicated.  The salary threshold is doubled to $47,476 per year or $913 per week. Currently, workers earning more than $23,660 per year are not eligible for overtime, if they also meet the various duties […]

Paul Klockenbrink contributes to the “Virginia Hospitality Law Blog” and is a frequent lecturer on employment law issues. A recent decision by a federal appeals court has sent minor, if not significant, shockwaves into the restaurant and hospitality industries that use tip pooling as part of their employees’ income. Under Section 203(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), restaurants and other hospitality industry employers are permitted to utilize a limited amount of employees’ tips as a credit against their minimum wage obligations by using tips as “wages.” This practice is known as taking a “tip credit.” An employer can pay […]

For many apartment dwellers, a deck or balcony is their version of a backyard — a place they can privately savor a sunny day or cool evening. Occupants and visitors alike should be able to enjoy a deck or balcony with confidence in its stability. Over the last twenty years, however, there has been a massive race to build structures which included decks and balconies. Unfortunately, many of those decks and balconies were not built to appropriate building codes or were negligently constructed using inferior products or inadequate nails/fasteners. In some cases, owners and managers of properties have failed to […]

What is due diligence? As an essential element of commercial transactions, due diligence is the process of investigating the target company or real estate prior to completion of the acquisition. For all forms of a business acquisition (or merger), the due diligence process will equip the buyer with additional knowledge, including but not limited to management, operation, financial perspective, structure, existing liabilities and contractual relationships, tax compliance, customer base, employees, and litigation or claims against the business. For real estate transactions, due diligence may include a review of the property’s title history, consideration of current and former uses and impacts […]

It sounds like the most simple and innocuous thing. Who could mess up the parties’ names on a contract? And, what’s the big deal if the name is not exactly right? Under Virginia law, it is a bigger issue than you might think. In particular, it is an issue that can rear its head when one or more of the parties is a corporation or limited liability company. Getting the name correct – that is, using the officially-registered corporate name – is necessary, and failure to do so can impact legal rights. For example, in Berglund Chevrolet, Inc. v. Thor […]