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The U.S. Department of Labor enforces regulations covering everything from wage and hour laws and union activity to workplace safety statutes and workers’ compensation benefits. And while not every employer will fall under the Labor Department’s purview, those that do will notice that DOL regulations impact almost every aspect of the employee-employer relationship. That means a lot of work for startups and small businesses to make sure they are compliant with federal labor laws, and it could mean extra expense if you need to respond to a complaint regarding your employment policies or practices....

To the chagrin of many a traveler, airlines continue to insist on overbooking flights, i.e., taking reservations and payment from more passengers than there are seats on the plane. And there are better and worse ways for airlines to handle these dilemmas of their own making. The first and generally the best way is to bribe ticketholders out of their reservations: waive enough cash, free tickets, airline miles, or hotel rooms at a passenger, and they’ll agree to be bumped to a later flight....

Do you know the legal implications of March Madness? Especially when it comes to keeping your job and possibly getting fired? March Madness begins this week, and pretty soon everyone in your office will be filling out brackets. While tournament time is a fun time, if you go too far in the workplace, you may be setting yourself up for termination. You may be violating the law as well. Companies report that they lose millions of dollars in productivity each year as employees discuss, watch, and bet money on March Madness....

With a Thanksgiving storm set to affect large parts of the country, it’s a good time to remind yourself about some safe winter driving tips. A wintry storm that hit parts of the southwest and southern plains over the weekend is being blamed for at least 10 traffic fatalities so far, CNN reports. Snow and freezing rain are in the holiday forecast for many states. Because many drivers may be unprepared for this early blast of winter, here are five winter driving tips to help keep you and your family safe:...

The world is watching as Japan tries to keep its nuclear plant from entering meltdown mode. Already leaking radiation, the nuclear plant would cause severe damage if the situation were to get any worse. For U.S. energy activists and officials, the situation with the Japanese nuclear reactor raises a lot of questions. With local plants built in a similar fashion, there’s a lot of speculation about whether the United States is destined for the same fate....

Congress has passed a “fiscal cliff” deal that will temporarily avert severe tax hikes and spending cuts. The agreement can be considered a victory of sorts for President Barack Obama, who had promised to address the country’s severe budget issues by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, reports the Chicago Tribune. But while the tax deal was touted as taxing the richest Americans, the rest of us may also see a higher tax bill in 2013....

January 23 is National Handwriting Day. So to mark this occasion, let’s discuss how to authenticate handwriting in court. In order to get handwritten evidence admitted into court, state and federal rules of evidence generally require that you first establish its authenticity – in other words, you must prove to the court’s satisfaction that the handwritten document was genuinely written by the person you’ve identified as the writer. Here are five ways you may be able to authenticate handwriting in court:...

Layoffs are an unpleasant task for any small business, and if they can be avoided, all the better. That may have been a discussion within Microsoft prior to its announcement that the company would be cutting 18,000 jobs. The New York Times reports the tech giant will be making the lion’s share of cuts from its Nokia-acquired groups – about 12,500 jobs. Severance pay and other layoff costs add up for any company, and Microsoft estimates it will dole out between $1....

If you have 50 or more employees, your business is probably covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This means your business now has obligations under the federal law to do certain things including posting requirements and providing certain forms to your employees. The different FMLA requirements for employers can be confusing, and can overlap with state leave law requirements. Here, we provide an overview of some of the important steps that covered employers should take....

We all remember being young and having a curfew set by our parents. You’d be out having fun with your friends and then your curfew would be approaching, so you’d have to cut your fun short and go home. While you may have thought your experience with curfews would end once you moved out of your parents’ house, there are still curfew laws that everyone must abide by. In fact, there are a variety of curfew laws, including juvenile curfew laws, emergency curfew laws, and business curfew laws....

Sadly, far too many motor vehicle accidents happen between cars and pedestrians. In most of these cases, the driver is at fault, and an injured pedestrian will sue the driver for damages. But in some cases, the pedestrian acted negligently and may have contributed to an accident. When that happens, can a motorist sue a pedestrian? Standard Negligence Liability in all traffic accidents is based on negligence. Because pedestrians are a particularly vulnerable segment of traffic, motorists must yield to people crossing the street or crossing the paths of automobiles....

Entrepreneurs are optimists. And even those with a long-term view on their startups often don’t envision leaving those companies, much less failing or being forced to close. But ending a business is as much a reality as starting one, and planning for the worst is as essential as hoping for the best. So here are five legal considerations if you’re looking to end or exit your small business, from our archives:...

No one goes to a concert or festival expecting to get injured. However, at times concerts can get out of hand and injures do happen. While some might think that concert goers are assuming the risk of concert related injuries, they would be mistaken. At the 2016 Riot Fest in Chicago, one festival goer was injured when a crowd surfer fell on top of her, fracturing her ankle. The injured attendee has recently filed a lawsuit as a result of her injury....

Wondering if you need to disclose your foreign bank accounts with your IRS tax return? If you have foreign assets, it might be time to start working with your tax attorney. You might be obligated to disclose these assets in an attachment to your tax return this year. And the process isn’t exactly painless. Form 8938 is in addition to any foreign bank account reporting (FBAR) reporting that you may have to do on Form TD F 90-22....

Your landlord must make reasonable accommodations for an assistance animal or service dog under the Fair Housing Act. For the purposes of the FHA, any animal that serves a person’s disability is an assistance animal. The Fair Housing Act definition is much less restrictive than the one for service animals in the context of the American with Disabilities Act. The ADA governs accommodations to disabilities in the public context – work, government buildings, etc....

As Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan is being treated at a Dallas hospital, his family has been quarantined. But compliance with public health orders hasn’t been complete. The Houston Chronicle reports that Duncan’s relatives attempted to leave their Dallas apartment in opposition to official requests to stay home. The family’s quarantine is now being enforced by police officers posted outside their apartment. Where do Texas authorities get the power to impose a quarantine, and what legal consequences could the family face?...

If you “like” the First Amendment, you’re in luck, because a Facebook “like” is protected free speech, according to a new ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The “like” lawsuit stemmed from Daniel Ray Carter, a sheriff’s deputy in Hampton, Virginia, who was fired after “liking” the campaign page of the sheriff’s election challenger – otherwise known as his boss’s opponent. The deputy claimed his “like” was protected by the First Amendment....

A jury in an infamous Silicon Valley sexual harassment case issued a partial verdict on Friday, clearing the venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers of gender discrimination. Ellen Pao, a former female partner at the firm, had claimed that she was not promoted because of her gender and that her working environment was hostile to women. Pao also claimed the firm retaliated against her after she filed her suit against in 2012....

Small business owners in Georgia and South Carolina are the latest to gain access to Google’s “Get Your Business Online” program. Launched in July, the program is designed to increase small businesses’ online visibility. Google, along with its partners, will help small business owners build a free 3-page website; provide a free custom domain name and hosting for one year; and list the business on Google Places at no cost....

Your doctor will want to ask a lot of questions in order to get a complete picture of your medical history and potential health risks. Any family history of heart disease? Do you smoke or drink? Any allergies to medication? Do you have any guns in the house? That last one, although recommended by the American Medical Association, ruffled a few patients’ feathers, so Florida legislators sprang into action, passing the Firearms Owners’ Privacy Act in 2011, prohibiting doctors from asking about gun ownership....