New York City Intellectual Property Law Blog

From trade secrets to compensation, benefits and other issues, there are many important areas to cover in an employment agreement. Staff members may have a number of questions before signing a job contract, and some may not completely understand what the agreement fully entails before they sign. Unfortunately, contract disputes over an employment agreement are not uncommon, and they arise for many different reasons. If you run a business, these disagreements can be quite difficult to deal with, and in some instances an employee may even decide to take the matter to court.

When litigation arises as a result of job contract issues, it is pivotal to immediately go over all details surrounding the situation and review the contract carefully. These cases can have a significant impact on a company in different ways, whether financial penalties result from the lawsuit or other consequences arise (such as other staff members deciding to take legal action or file a complaint, damage to the reputation of your business, etc.).

When something goes wrong on the job, workers and their employers may have a number of concerns. From an employee’s standpoint, job-related injuries can lead to emotional distress, financial problems, physical pain and an inability to keep working. From an employer’s point of view, job-related accidents can result in the loss of talented staff members and may even lead to litigation. For small business owners, this can be an especially difficult predicament.

A small business owner may lack the financial resources to recover from litigation over a work-related accident. Or, they may not have a great deal of experience when it comes to handling these types of cases. There are many different issues that may be raised in the wake of a work-related accident, especially if an injured worker decides to pursue legal action as a result of the mishap.

Not long ago, most people could feign ignorance regarding the illegality of downloading media without paying for it. However, the much-publicized Napster lawsuits and similar civil cases over the last two decades have created near ubiquitous public awareness about copyright protections and downloading digital content. Some individual users faced six-digit judgements for downloading music or films.

Unless the creator of a product explicitly offers it for free download, it is a violation of copyright law to provide content to others for download or to download and consume a work of media yourself. Interestingly enough, two companies actively enforcing their rights against digital pirates are well-known pornography production companies.

Legal action brought on by allegations of discrimination can be incredibly challenging for business owners since these lawsuits can result in much more than harsh financial penalties. In fact, cases involving discrimination can also bring down the good reputation of a business and they may also encourage other staff members to file suit (even if there is no truth to the claims). Many people realize the prevalence of racial discrimination and discrimination on the basis of a worker's gender, but some forget that there are many other ways in which workers are discriminated against. For example, an employee may experience discrimination due to his or her age.

Age discrimination cases may be the result of a disgruntled employee blaming their recent dismissal on their older age. Or, someone who never even worked for the company may accuse the business of age discrimination. For example, someone may say that they were turned down for a job opening solely because of their age. It is important to be aware of the different reasons why age discrimination cases (and other lawsuits involving discrimination) can surface, and do what you can to protect the interests of your business in the event that such an incident takes place.