An appellant before the MSPB can recover attorney fees. Many cases settle before getting to an MSPB hearing. In settlement agreements, it is common for the parties to agree on a sum that includes attorney fees, costs and expenses.

When a case doesn’t settle and goes to hearing, the appellant must be a prevailing party in order to recoup attorney fees.

After your attorney shows that you are a prevailing party, (s)he will have to show that attorney fees [...]

Does this story from Sunday’s Dallas Morning News sound familiar:

“Bill Hollis was a caseworker at a state juvenile prison in West Texas, and he had suspicions. He believed the prison’s No. 2 official spent far too much time behind closed doors, late at night, with young male inmates.

“It just didn’t feel right,” he said.

So Mr. Hollis wrote a letter of complaint to the executive director of the Texas Youth Commission in Austin, the state agency that runs the West Texas [...]

Wells Fargo and Gallup released the results of a Small Business Survey last week. The survey concluded that the top concern of Small Business owners in 2007 is insurance. Taxes, usually the primary concern of small business owners, came in second.

Here are some typical insurance needs of many small businesses:

Property Insurance – Home based business owners need to make sure their homeowner’s policy covers their business activities. Business owners on a lease often need additional insurance, as the [...]

A 2006 case out of the 7th Circuit (Illinois) dealt with a woman who was fired, essentially, because she filed an EEO claim for reasonable accommodation of her cancer (among other things). The Court stated, in its decision on the reprisal matter:

“Poor personnel management receives its come-uppance in the market rather than the courts.”

Statements like this are the mantra of the employment-defense bar. I can’t blame them, really – it really is easier (albeit cowardly) to ignore [...]

The EEOC recently released its survey of discrimination claims filed in 2006. The report detailed some interesting trends in 2006:

A record number of Pregnancy Discrimination claims were filed (4,901).
A record 22% of employees victimized by discrimination prevailed.
Sexual harassment charges filed by men continues to rise – in 2006, a record 15% of sex harassment charges were filed by men.
The EEOC recovered nearly $274 million in monetary relief for victims of discrimination.

The MSPB’s January 2007 Newsletter reports that favoritism in the Federal workplace may be a big problem.

Favoritism is when a supervisor gives an edge, a financial or personnel benefit, or special treatment to some employees but not others. The MSPB Newsletter suggests that over one-third of federal employees have witnessed favoritism in career advancement opportunities, awards, training, disciplinary actions, pay, job assignments, and performance appraisals.

I see touches of favoritism in nearly every [...]

Over the past two months, I bet that 80% of the calls I get from small and micro business owners involve not getting paid. All too often, small businesses are getting “stiffed” on the payment by a customer, another business or vendor, or a party with whom they contracted.

Here are some ideas that might help your small business avoid the problem of getting “stiffed”:

Have all contracts for services and all contracts for goods over $500 in writing.
Get [...]