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The National Labor Relations Board’s General Counsel has ruled that McDonald’s is jointly responsible for treatment of workers at its franchisees’ restaurants. The ruling comes amidst the NLRB findings that of the 181 unfair labor practice complaints filed against the fast-food chain and its franchisees over the last 20 months, at least 43 had merit, reports The New York Times. Complaints in these cases include allegations that workers were fired and threatened for pro-union activities....

It can be hard to find romance in today’s busy world, and sometimes your office has the most available dating pool. Plus, it’s almost Valentine’s Day; everyone’s looking for love. But while the workplace is a convenient spot to look for a date, it may not be your best option. Many employers discourage interoffice relationships, and some go so far as to ban co-worker romances as well. But the heart wants what it wants, and that may be the cutie who sits a few cubicles away from you....

Three California men have been arrested and removed from Cambodia for alleged sexual exploitation of Cambodian children. Their arrests represent the fruit of increased efforts to crack down on Americans travelling abroad to exploit children. According to the Department of Justice, the three are currently in transit back to the US, after being arrested and removed from Cambodia. They will be the first to be charged as a result of Operation Twisted Traveler....

Guest post by Jennifer K. Halford, Esq. Siri, take this dictation : “IBM allows its employees to use personal iPhones. But IBM does not allow its employees to use you. Find out why that is.” IBM recently banned its employees from using Siri while at work due to privacy concerns from Apple’s collection and storage of personal information from the user. Using Siri or Dictation results in the collection of recorded information in a text format....

You are enthusiastic and energetic and you believe in your new business. In fact, you believe in it so strongly that you’re too busy working to protect it legally. That’s a mistake. In the beginning stages of a startup venture, you may rely on goodwill and drive. But don’t leave yourself or your business vulnerable to changing winds. A vesting agreement protects new businesses and individual partners, ensuring that dedication to the company really does pay and that no one can walk away early and still get rich....

Stay-at-home moms may need to reset their expectations about alimony after divorce; it might not be a given. A Forbes contributor writes that many women going through divorce are quickly finding that spousal support (also known as alimony) is not provided by default. Even if it is granted, alimony may be squeezed down to a very small window of time and/or for a fraction of what a divorcee might expect. This may leave many stay-at-home moms, who may have been out of the job market for years, in the lurch....

Employee perks, especially at tech startups, are becoming the stuff of legend. When you have companies competing for the best and brightest by mandating paid sabbaticals, you know it’s a decent time to be in the job market. When one tech company sends its entire staff to Cambodia to work remotely for an entire month, you may wonder how your company can keep up. And if employees can work effectively from a beach on the other side of the globe, are there any limits to where they can telecommute from?...

The idea of tackling a legal issue yourself may seem intimidating, but you may be surprised at what you can accomplish with a little legal know-how. Of course, there are some instances where consulting with a lawyer is the most prudent option. There are others, however, in which hiring a lawyer may or may not be necessary. Our series “Legal How-To” presents some of those scenarios, laying out what is required for those who may be interested in taking on a legal issue on their own....

Plastic surgery, like any other surgery, has its attendant risks. If something goes wrong, then a person may be considering taking legal action. However, whether or not to file a lawsuit over a plastic surgery gone wrong should be carefully considered. Cases against medical professionals are complex and nuanced, and are often subject to shorter deadlines than other types of cases, so seeking legal advice as soon as possible is recommended if you think you have a case....

If you’re signing a contract, it may contain a liquidated damages clause. But what exactly are liquidated damages? It’s not just social media pariahs like Amy’s Baking Company who have to deal with liquidated damages in contracts. More often than not, contracts that involve the exchange of money or the promise of performance have a liquidated damages stipulation. But depending on how a liquidated damages clause is written, it can potentially be challenged in court....

What is custodial interference? Generally, custodial interference occurs when a parent tries to disrupt the custody rights of the other parent. Interference with custody orders can be a huge point of contention for some couples, and can lead even to criminal consequences. But there are a few situations in which it may be legally OK to interfere with another parent’s custody rights, at least temporarily. Here’s what you need to know about custodial interference and what to do about it:...

Before a New Jersey court tackled the question earlier this month, most people had never heard of “tri-parenting.” But the unique family arrangement may be gaining steam, especially now that restrictions on gay marriage and adoption have been relaxed. So how does tri-parenting work, and could it work for you? A New Family Paradigm Okay, the ins and outs of the New Jersey case are a bit complicated, and the court referred to all parties by their initials, so bear with us and our generic monikers....

Even though a therapist or psychologist may not have spent as much time in school as a medical doctor, they can still be held liable for medical malpractice, also known as professional negligence, when they make mistakes in treatment or diagnosis. Although medical malpractice cases involving medical doctors tend to involve bodily injury, malpractice arising from a therapist’s, or psychologist’s, treatment tend to involve self harm, and/or harm to others....

Here on the wild frontier of the First Amendment, lawyers and judges don’t always know what will happen when a student pulls the free speech trigger. As discussed in a prior post on FindLaw’s Decided Blog, even courts in the same Circuit can’t come to a predictable conclusion. This time it is Florida, where a federal magistrate has ruled that a student’s rant against a teacher on Facebook was protected speech and her suspension for it violated her first amendment rights....

The Supreme Court of the United States has upheld the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. This decision upholds President Obama’s hallmark legislation and will have an impact on almost every American from a newborn to the elderly. Here are five ways that the Obamacare impacts the average citizen: The Supreme Court upheld Obamacare by a 5-4 vote, with the majority opinion penned by Chief Justice John Roberts. All Americans will have to carry health insurance by 2014, impacting almost every American in some way....

It says it right there on the label: “Die Weltmarke Mit Den 3 Streifen,” or, “The Brand With the Three Stripes.” In fact, those three stripes have been synonymous with the adidas brand for so long, you’d think they wouldn’t even need to trademark it. But they have, and now adidas America has filed a federal lawsuit against Forever 21, claiming the fashion retailer is selling apparel with adidas’s signature “Three Stripe Mark....

The United States Supreme Court has rejected Pfizer’s appeal of a $2.7 million verdict resulting from its Prempro hormone-replacement treatment being linked to breast cancer. Pfizer requested the appeal after a lower court upheld the compensatory award of $2.7 million against its Wyeth unit, but ordered a new trial on punitive damages, which the jury had set at $27 million. Pfizer bought Wyeth last year for $68 billion. Pfizer argued that it was wrong for the lower court to allow a retrial on a portion of the case, contending that any new trial should cover the entire matter....

The constant push and pull between privacy interests and law enforcement continues to play out in the products and services coming from the world’s largest tech company. At the same time that Apple is working to make its iPhones more difficult for cops to unlock, the tech giant is also trying to make access to user data easier for law enforcement personnel. According to a letter to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Apple will be unveiling a new portal for law enforcement to submit and track requests for user data related to investigations, along with training programs on accessing and deciphering digital evidence....

A handful of businesses have begun receiving “notices of extortion” demanding that the owners pay the senders in Bitcoin to avoid bad online reviews. For some reason, the scam seems to be targeting pizzerias around the United States, including Manchester, New Hampshire-based 900 Degrees Neapolitan Pizzeria. General Manager Michelle Doucette told the New Hampshire Business Review she thought it was a joke and had to ask what a Bitcoin was....

If a loved one dies overseas, you may be able to sue for wrongful death in the United States. The overseas element will, however, add a level of complexity to an already complicated litigation. You can argue that an American court has jurisdiction over a foreign defendant. Foreigners are subject to suit in the U.S. based on ties to this country, and sometimes suits are even filed here by foreign plaintiffs against foreign defendants based on incidents that occurred abroad....