Employment

Employment laws in the United States were rooted as counter measures against labor practices during the industrial revolution. Employment law is a constantly evolving set of laws promulgated to address issues relating to labor and employment. Both the employer and the employee are given rights and obligations under employment laws to ensure that workers are treated fairly, not discriminated upon, and receives benefits and wages that are legally due them. Employment laws are based on a combination of federal and state legislation and rules and court precedents. Federal employment laws are enforced by the Department of Labor.

Many cases involving employment disputes involve "wage and hour" violations. The Fair Labor Standards Act requires standard wages and overtime pay for private and public employees. States are, however, free to enact other laws to provide additional protections to employees. Under federal law, employers are required to pay a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for workers with health insurance coverage or $8.25 per hour for workers who do not have health insurance coverage. States can approve higher minimum wage and employers in those states must comply with those requirements.

The FLSA also requires employers to pay workers who render services beyond their required number of work hours. The FLSA does not limit the number of hours an employee can work per week, but does require that after 40 hours of work rendered, the employee should be compensated one-and-one-half times his regular pay. In "wage and hour" suits, the plaintiff may allege that he or she was paid below the required minimum wage or that he or she was not paid the overtime pay that was due him or her. The difficult part, on the side of the plaintiff, in suits claiming unpaid overtime pay would be defining what constitutes "overtime" work. Overtime is any work done beyond the regular 40-work hours per week. Numerous cases, however, have been filed seeking court determination of whether specific activities are considered "work" or not, and whether the performance of these activities would entitle workers to overtime pay. Research on case precedent regarding this issue is difficult as rulings vary from state to state. It is thus imperative to require an expert employment law attorney to conduct this extensive research.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against their current employees, former employees, or possible employees based on ethnicity, gender, race, religious, among others. Despite this prohibition, cases arising from employment discrimination remain prevalent. An employment discrimination lawsuit is highly procedural, requiring the plaintiff to fill-up forms and obtain assessment from certain agencies prior to being given the go-signal to pursue an employment discrimination case.

Moreover, another issue arising from employment law would be the interpretation of employment contracts. Most states presume that the relationship between the employer and worker is at will. There are numerous instances, however, when both employer and worker ask a court to interpret their contract. These instances often involve employers terminating their workers following the workers' filing of a compensation claim or filing a whistleblower suit. These illegal terminations are prohibited under the law, but employers are ready to defend their action, thus a plaintiff should hire an employment law attorney to counter employers' arguments.

Areas of Law

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Trademark

Intellectual property is a right granted to any person who created awork that is useful to the public. Because intellectual property is apossible source of valuable economic gains, holders of intellectualproperty rights are protected from the possibility of other peopletake economic advantage of the right holder's work. One of the areasof intellectual property is trademark, which refers to the symbol orthe name to signify a product or a service. Trademarks are highlyprotected because they are telling of the quality of certain productsor services, which is often the foundation of any business.

Application for the right to use a trademark is not an easy processthat is left to the hands of the applicant. Trademark law specifiesnumerous requirements, non-compliance of one would result to thedenial of the application. To apply for trademark rights, theapplicant can either: (1) file a mark with the United States Patentand Trademark Office with the intent to use that mark on a product orservice that will be offered to the public, or (2) by actually usingthe mark on a product or for a service.

The timing of the application for trademark right may be the firstbump that trademark rights applicants need to hurdle. Trademark law,which is a federal legislation, provides that the filing date servesas the date of constructive use of the mark. This means that the actof filing creates a nationwide priority of rights in case anotherperson decides to use the same or a confusingly similar mark.Trademark law emphasizes that there must be a bona fide intent to usethe mark for a product or a service to be sold to the public. Withoutthis bona fide intent to use, the application will be deemed invalidand fraudulent and the Trademark Office can impose penalties.Trademark law also requires that the trademark be used within sixmonths after the Trademark Office allows the use of such mark. Thefiling for a trademark right protects the holder from future disputeswhen a similar mark is used for a similar product or service bygiving him right of priority over the mark. In the internationaltrade scene, U.S. trade laws prohibits the entry of goods bearing amark which infringes on a registered mark into the country.

There is research involved in the application for trademark rights asexclusive trademark rights are also granted to those who have usedthe marks even without filing for registration with the TrademarkOffice if the use of such mark is prior to the filing forregistration. This means that when applying for trademark rights, theapplicant must ensure that no one else is using that mark. Ifsomebody else is using that mark before the filing for registration,the application can be denied.

Application for federal registration of a trademark or service markis a tedious process requiring research and review. It is thus a goodidea for applicants to employ the service of an expert trademark lawattorney to handle the legal requirements needed for trademarkregistration so that the applicant can focus on the business aspectof the trademark.

Areas of Law