Category Archives: Uncategorized

Wilkes v. City of Greenville Back in October of 2015, we posted a blog (https://www.smithlawfirm.biz/2015/10/22/parsons-presumption/) dealing with the Parson’s Presumption as interpreted by the North Carolina Court of Appeals in Wilkes v. City of Greenville. That case has since come before the North Carolina Supreme Court and they have issued their decision. As a refresher […]

Workplace Violence   The recent shooting in Florida by a terminated employee has again raised the ugly specter of workplace violence. As a labor/employment attorney, I have I have had a few occasions to provide counsel for clients dealing with potential workplace violence; and, on one occasion had to handle matters stemming from it.  Through […]

Although we are quite a few weeks away from the dog days of summer, I had an experience with a dog this morning that brought a lot to mind. As I was doing my morning walk, I was loudly attacked, although not touched, by a very large dog who was doing his best to get […]

Snow White and the Oscars Some may recall the children’s story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  The Dwarfs were known to whistle while they worked.  Supposedly, whistling made them happy, and happy workers work better. Wow, how times have changed.  The new side activity to work may be tweeting.  Unlike whistling, tweeting apparently […]

When Do I Need to Have Workers’ Compensation Insurance? One of the developing trends we have noticed in the Workers’ Compensation arena is Employers who are being penalized for not having workers’ comp insurance even when no employee has reported an accident. Prior to the last six months we had not seen penalties assessed without […]

Read before you sign…. And, maybe even consult an attorney   I reviewed an employment form this week that contained a confidentiality provision, a non-solicitation provision, and a covenant not to compete.  NC law governed.  In my opinion, the covenant was not enforceable in NC because he was way too broad and contained words like […]

There have been two written decisions recently dealing with the interpretation and enforcement of non-competition, non-solicitation, and non-inducement clauses in the employment context in North Carolina. This blog post will examine the rulings on the non-compete clauses. The first, chronologically, is the decision in the case of RLM Communications, Inc., v. Tuschen, from the Fourth […]

As we mentioned in our previous blog, Department of Labor Investigations are on the rise; specifically, the DOL is looking into the employee/independent contractor classification. Too often, employers are classifying workers as independent contractors, when in actuality, they should be employees. The recent Fourth Circuit decision in McFeeley v. Jackson Street Entertainment is getting a […]

US DOL Audits On The Rise   Over the last couple of years, I have seen a dramatic increase in US Department of Labor investigations and audits for smaller and medium size businesses that barely meet the minimum requirement of gross income to come within the purview of the Federal Act. Why is this? Although […]

North Carolina House Bill 2 The North Carolina General Assembly recently held an emergency session which resulted in the passing of House Bill 2, known as the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act. The bill was largely passed as a response to a Charlotte, NC ordinance which would allow transgender people to use the bathroom […]