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An employee has a personal dispute in the workplace that leads to name-calling on social media and, ultimately, a physical confrontation. Is the company liable for any injuries sustained? Generally no, the employer will not be responsible for intentional acts resulting from personal workplace disputes except in limited instances.  An employer will be deemed responsible for employee conduct that occurs within the “scope of employment” (or within a small “detour” from that scope).  Intentional acts,…

In the District of Columbia, an at-will employee generally cannot sue a third party (other than an employer) for causing his or her firing.  This holds true even for a third party strongly adverse to the employee like a former employer seeking to enforce its non-compete agreement against the employee. Metz v. BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services, Inc., No. 12-1694, (D.D.C. Sep. 20, 2013). Stephen Metz filed suit against his former employer BAE Systems

The Virginia Supreme Court recently answered a question long asked by employment lawyers:  can a court decide a non-competition lawsuit just by reviewing the non-competition agreement?  The Court answered “no,” which means that employers now have a better opportunity to enforce their non-competition agreements and employees must be prepared for extensive litigation after signing and purportedly breaching a non-compete.  The decision is Assurance Data, Inc. v. Malyevac. The Court overturned a lower court’s ruling dismissing a

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) originally set January 1, 2014 as the effective date for employers to fulfill certain reporting provisions on health insurance coverage offered to employees. The IRS pushed back the date to January 1, 2015 because of its own delay in issuing rules to implement the requirement. Last week, however, the agency announced its proposed rules which, after a period for comments, will take effect on a voluntary basis for 2014,