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The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue had a nice surprise in tax collections this year. Its projection of sales tax revenue from online retail sales in the current fiscal year was $50.5 million. As of March 31, however, three-quarters through the fiscal year, revenue already surpassed $151 million. The amount of sales tax revenue collected from online sales can be expected to grow even further due to the Department’s interpretation of its expanded authority to collect tax on such sales under current law… Read On
In 1963 the Equal Pay Act was passed with the noble intention of eliminating pay inequality by making it illegal to pay men and women unequally for equal work. Although an initial step in the right direction, over fifty years have passed, and America still struggles with the gender pay gap. According to a study done by the National Women’s Law Center… Read On
Lately there has been an uptick in litigation surrounding website compliance under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). These cases are coming to light in part because blind plaintiffs are suing website owners for better access to their online marketplaces. People with sight disabilities have special tools that can read underlying code from websites out loud… Read On
Railroad workers who successfully sued their employers for lost wages under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) used to be able to retain the full amount of those recoveries assigned for lost wages without paying taxes under the Railroad Retirement Tax Act (RRTA). After a recent United States Supreme Court opinion, however, railroad workers may be seeing smaller settlements or decreased lost wages awards under the FELA… Read On
An increasing number of individuals are relying on more than one job to handle the economic realities of making ends meet for their households. Recently, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals considered the legal implications of employees working “side gigs” and found that, for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), some workers, although labeled as independent contractors… Read On
Late last year, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a decision imposing a new duty on employers to protect employees’ personal information. The ruling permitted employees of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) to maintain a lawsuit to hold UPMC liable for a data breach. From an employer’s perspective, the most significant impact of the case is the limitation of the economic loss doctrine… Read On
On January 30, 2019, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf reiterated his goal for an increased state minimum wage, putting pressure on the state legislature to raise low income workers’ salaries to $15 per hour. Twenty states across the country chose to increase their minimum wages last year with changes set to take effect at the beginning of 2019… Read On
In January 2018, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, launched investigations into several fast food chains utilizing no-poach agreements between franchisees as violative of antitrust laws. These agreements prevented employers within the same franchise chain from soliciting employees to work in another location for higher pay or increased benefits. The agreements could also follow employees for up to six months after the termination of their employment… Read On
In June of 2018, the Supreme Court decided a case in favor of a South Dakota law allowing the state to collect sales tax from sales to its citizens from out-of-state online retailers.[1] A South Dakota statute provided for the collection of sales tax on sales by out-of-state retailers who sold more than $100,000 in sales or who completed 200 or more transactions annually… Read On
On August 17, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) publically released a private letter ruling[1] stating that employers wanting to help fund student loan repayment for their employees are able to do so without violating the contingent benefit prohibition in § 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code. This seems to indicate a willingness from the IRS to consider other programs which would benefit employees’ efforts to repay student loan debt… Read On
Unless a business owner or manager has been subject to an EEOC investigation previously, the first emotions upon learning that the business is the defendant against an employee complaint are usually anger, fear, and confusion. The bad news is that the business is involved in a serious investigation by a Federal agency. The good news is that… Read On
In 2017, Pennsylvania legislators proposed new bills, House Bill 1590 and House Bill 1938, seeking to reform the laws surrounding covenants not to compete. More commonly known as non-compete agreements, these documents are contracts preventing an employee from working for a competitor in a similar market after leaving a job. This issue is on the minds of Pennsylvania legislators… Read On