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Maria Greco Danaher regularly represents and counsels companies in employment related matters. She specializes in representing management in labor relations and employment litigation, and in training, counseling, and advising human resource departments and corporate management on these topics. Maria has first chaired trials in both federal and state courts since 1986, and regularly instructs attorneys and students in issues related to trial tactics.

Healthcare entities are being faced with a growing number of challenges related to the virus SARS-CoV-2, or the disease caused by that virus, COVID-19. One of those challenges is the issue of how to apply the Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and when to share names or other identifying

No one looks forward to having a difficult conversation. Whether you’re conducting or responding to a performance evaluation at work, comforting a bereaved friend, or discussing a behavioral issue with a family member, there are five steps that can help to change these “confrontations” into “communication.”

Don’t put off the discussion to the “perfect moment.”

In this era of electronic communication, mindful communication is becoming a lost art. There are two primary reasons for this: first, without face-to-face contact, it becomes easier to forget that there is a second party to the communication; and further, it becomes too easy to present our own position without listening for input or response

Valentine’s Day is an appropriate time to think about how to deal effectively with workplace romances. Real-life workplaces rarely reflect movie scenarios. Consider:

  • Mel Gibson’s character whose accidental electrocution in “What Women Want” allows him to understand the innermost thoughts of his female coworker and family members, and whose epiphany allows him to “capture” the

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently published a thorough and usable webpage that provides interim guidance and resources for preventing exposure to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, and for learning more about the developing information on that outbreak. That page provides an overview of the ever-expanding situation, and lists numerous resources and links to

Although the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects qualified individuals who may be perceived as having a disability, that Act does not protect individuals who may be perceived as possibly becoming disabled in the future. EEOC v. STME, LLC, 11th Cir., No. 18-11121, 9/12/19.

Kimberly Lowe began working as a massage therapist at Massage

Calculating the “regular rate” of pay:

Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires an employer to pay one and one-half times an employee’s “regular rate” of pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. That “regular rate” includes all “remuneration for employment” and specifically includes nondiscretionary bonuses.

Nondiscretionary bonuses are bonuses

At-will employment generally allows employment to end – by either the employer or employee – for any reason or no reason, other than for a violation of law. In West Virginia, as in many states, the rule that an employer has an absolute right to discharge an at-will employee is further tempered by the principle

Investigative Confidentiality Gets the Support of the NLRB:

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has reversed recent past decisions, and has held that an employer can require confidentiality from an individual employee involved in a current internal investigation. However, the NLRB only partly reversed past rulings on the issue, holding that while confidentiality can be