- Tiger Woods and Domestic Violence Against Men
Posted December 1, 2009, 6:39 am by Ryan
by Ryan McKeen Scrolling through Facebook, I came across several posts the gist of which were: "If Tiger cheated, I wouldn't call it domestic violence…I would call it deserving!!" There were a number of people who liked these posts and many who posted things like "OH YES" and "AMEN". Let's assume for the purpose of this post that Tiger Woods was assaulted by his wife with a golf club. Let's assume that the assault resulted in him being hospitalized. Let's even make believe that Tiger was less...
- Blog Named to ABA Journal's Blawg 100 - Let the Voting Begin!
Posted November 30, 2009, 9:54 pm
Back in 2007, when I started this blog, the idea of being recognized as one of the best legal blogs in the country would have been a bit of wishful thinking. After all, there are literally THOUSANDS of such blogs in existence. Flash Forward to 2009: The Connecticut Employment Law Blog has been named to the ABA Journal's Blawg 100. What is the Blawg 100? According to the ABA (American Bar Association) Journal -- it represents "the best legal blogs as selected by the Journal's editors." This list...
- Consider Holiday Visitation Schedules During Divorce
Posted November 30, 2009, 7:31 pm by Administrator
During the holiday season, family law attorneys typically receive frantic phone calls from divorced or divorcing parents wanting to settle disputes over holiday visitation schedules. I always hate to tell those callers that absent a well-drafted written agreement, the answer isn't always simple. To avoid such disputes, it is important to have your divorce lawyer draft a visitation agreement that devotes specific language to which parent will have the children during specific holidays and...
- Second Circuit Orders Release of Records to EEOC, Says Some Financial Services Workers May be Entitled to Overtime
Posted November 30, 2009, 6:00 am
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes Connecticut) recently ruled on two cases of keen interest to employers. The first relates to enforcement of EEOC subpoenas and the second relates to the classification of some financial services workers. First, in EEOC v. United Parcel Services, the Court allowed the EEOC to press forward with its subpoena of UPS for records related to the religious rights of employees. The Court stated that courts that review administrative subpoenas from...
- Advance Release Appellate Court Opinions - 11/27/09
Posted November 27, 2009, 6:18 am
Body: Five Connecticut Appellate Court opinions are scheduled to be released today. See the Connecticut Judicial Branch website for the list of case names and links to the full text of the opinions. After today, the opinions will be available from the Appellate Court Archive. Published: 11/27/2009 9:17 AM
- A Thanksgiving Day Wish
Posted November 25, 2009, 5:14 pm
Thanksgiving Day is a day for reflection and pause. And while my post last year pointed out a number of excellent posts on the subject (including a repeat of Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Day speech), this year I'm going to take a different and simpler path. I wanted to take a moment to give thanks to my family and friends, my fellow workers at my lawfirm (Pullman & Comley), and you the reader. 2009 has certainly had its challenges, but when all is said and done, there's still so much...
- Legal History: Congress Establishes Thanksgiving
Posted November 25, 2009, 10:01 am
Category: FYI;Legal History Body: For a brief history of Thanksgiving presidential proclamations and congressional resolutions beginning with the first Federal Congress, see the following National Archives web page: Congress Establishes Thanksgiving Published: 11/25/2009 4:52 PM
- District Court Enters Judgment Against New Haven; Orders 14 Firefighters to be Promoted
Posted November 25, 2009, 5:09 am
It was never really a question of if, but when. And yesterday, the United States District Court in Connecticut made final what had long been anticipated in the Ricci v. DeStefano case -- the promotions of various firefighters to the positions of Lieutenant and Captain. You can download the order here. In doing so, the Court also ordered the City to certify the results of the promotional exam. Specifically: The New Haven Civil Service Board shall certify the results of the 2003 promotional...
- Beware Trustees of Special Needs Trusts...
Posted November 25, 2009, 2:02 am by Michael J. Keenan, Esq.
If someone with special needs is a beneficiary of a special needs trust and is also receiving SSI (Supplemental Security Income) benefits then the Trustee of the trust must be very careful to not make any distributions that would jeopardize...
- Vermont Judge Orders Transfer of Custody to Non-Bio Mom of Isabella Miller-Jenkins
Posted November 24, 2009, 11:14 pm by ireneolszewski
Posted on Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage: Vermont judge orders transfer of custody to non-bio mom of Isabella Miller-Jenkins The custody dispute over Isabella Miller-Jenkins is the longest running and most notorious dispute between former same-sex partners over a child they planned for and raised together. You can read much of the background in a February 2007 [...]
- Does Texas Law Now Prohibit ALL Marriages?
Posted November 24, 2009, 10:11 pm by ireneolszewski
This is what happens when hysteria kicks in! Posted on Sexual Orientation and the Law Blog: Has Texas outlawed all marriages? This is apparently what you get when you combine sloppy lawyering with the political machinations of homophobes Politics Daily reports that "[i]n approving an amendment to its constitution prohibiting gay marriage four years ago, Texas may [...]
- Pennsylvania County Continues Program for Child Support Payors
Posted November 24, 2009, 9:40 pm by Administrator
Published on GoErie.com Crawford OKs continuation of jobs program for those who owe support payments By TIM HAHN tim.hahn@timesnews.com MEADVILLE - Crawford County will continue a program that has generated more child- and spousal-support payments by helping those who owe them to find work. County commissioners on Thursday approved a memorandum of understanding between the county's Domestic Relations Office and Pennsylvania Career Link that will keep in place a 3-year-old program. The county...
- Michigan Legislature Works to Expand LGBT Rights
Posted November 24, 2009, 9:27 pm by ireneolszewski
Posted on PrideSource: Michigan LGBT rights move in Michigan legislature Byrnes introduces Prop. 2 repeal; Elliott-Larsen bill moves to House floor by Jessica Carreras Originally printed 11/12/2009 (Issue 1746 - Between The Lines News) LANSING - Last week the Michigan legislature saw promising movement on two bills for LGBT rights in the state. Both measures - one to amend the [...]
- Connecticut’s Great Turkey Case
Posted November 24, 2009, 8:08 pm by Ryan
by Ryan C. McKeen Turkeys aren't just in our statutes. We're a state so rich in law that we've had a 24 day trial about turkey preparation that resulted in an appeal to the Supreme Court. State of Connecticut v. John R. Gerich. 138 Conn. 292, (1951). (I love Google Scholar). In State v. Gerich, Our Court explained the intricacies of turkey slaughtering: The term "New York dressed" is applied to a turkey which has been slaughtered, bled and plucked. Its weight, in that condition, is called "New...
- LinkedIn Recommendations - A Hot Topic Among HR Professionals, But Should It Be?
Posted November 24, 2009, 10:42 am
In my presentation last week to the HRA of Greater New Haven (which i discussed yesterday), the hottest topic that people wanted to discuss was LinkedIn Recommendations. People had several questions: Should a company bar its employees from doing such recommendations? Should a HR department "police" LinkedIn to ensure compliance? What is the risk of allowing employees to post recommendations or receive recommendations? And, does anyone actually rely on these recommendations? This issue may take...
- Appellate Court Decision Provides Another Lesson About Preserving Data
Posted November 24, 2009, 6:38 am
As I've noted before, the appellate courts in Connecticut release their decisions in advance of an "official" publication date for various reasons. I've now read over the Appellate Court's upcoming decision in Paylan v. St. Mary's Hospital Corp. a few times trying to discern the big lesson for employers to take from this employment discrimination case in advance of its release. And while the case won't be "officially" released for another week, the lessons from the case really surround...
- Health Care Reform: Senate Bill Addresses Long-Term Care
Posted November 24, 2009, 5:46 am by Michael J. Keenan, Esq.
While the concepts of the public option and universal coverage are stealing all of the headlines I'm doing my best to keep track of what the proposed Senate bill is saying about long-term care issues. And so far, I like...
- New Hamshire Detective Testifies Wearing Ski Mask
Posted November 23, 2009, 10:14 pm by Administrator
I couldn't resist passing on this short excerpt from a post published today on A Public Defender Blog: New Hampshire's Supreme Court recently ruled that it's okay for a police officer to testify at a criminal trial while wearing a ski-mask to protect his identity because he was working in an undercover unit at the time of the trial. Yes, you read that right. In State of New Hampshire v. Jose Hernandez, a police officer who had conducted an interview with the complaining witness was permitted to...
- Men More Likely to File for Divorce When Wife Diagnosed with Cancer
Posted November 23, 2009, 9:24 pm by Administrator
MSNBC announced that according to new research, men are 6 times more likely to file for divorce when their spouse is diagnosed with cancer than women in the reverse situation. The divorce rate is 21 percent compared to 3 percent when a husband gets sick. Read Men more likely to leave spouse who has cancer. [MSNBC] [Source: Lee's Divorce & Family Law Blog]
- New Jersey Legislators Backing Off Support of Gay Marriage Temporarily
Posted November 23, 2009, 9:06 pm by ireneolszewski
New Jersey lawmakers are waffling on their decision to push a gay marriage bill through to Governor Corzine before he leaves office. According to an article in the New York Times: Some Democratic legislative leaders - including the majority leader, Stephen M. Sweeney, who will become Senate president in January - have said that they [...]