Posts Tagged ‘Avvo’

How To Challenge An Unemployment Claim in Louisiana

On January 19, 2011 Author By Scott Wolfe Jr        

When an employee is terminated and claims unemployment benefits in Louisiana, the claim is associated with your business’ account and will affect your unemployment insurance rates in the future. It’s no secret that people can abuse the unemployment benefits system. Unfortunately, the burden really falls on employers to prevent abuses.

In Louisiana, unemployment claims are administered by the Louisiana Workforce Commission. Whenever an employee is terminated, the employee will be entitled to receive benefits unless: (i) The employee was terminated for misconduct that makes them ineligible for benefits; or (ii) The employee voluntarily quit the employment.

La. R.S. 23:1601 explains what qualifies as “misconduct” or “voluntary termination.”

Misconduct means “mismanagement of a position of employment by action or inaction, neglect that places in jeopardy the lives or property of others, dishonesty, wrongdoing, violation of a law, or violation of a policy or rule adopted to insure orderly work or the safety of others.”

Voluntary termination requires leaving an employment post “without good cause attributable to a substantial change made to the employment by the employer.”

If a former employee has applied for unemployment benefits and you contend that the employee does not qualify, you’ll need to provide the Louisiana Workforce Commission with sufficient information to justify your position. We’ve created an Avvo.com Legal Guide on this subject, giving you a step-by-step guide on how to challenge these unemployement claims.

Read the Avvo Legal Guide here. We’ve summarized the steps below.

  1. Determine Whether The Unemployment Claim Has Merit:  An obvious first step, as there’s no use in fighting an unemployment claim that is eligible for benefits.
  2. Pay Attention to Deadlines: The deadlines can be super short (10-15 days), and failing to meet a deadline is fatal to opposing a claim.
  3. Document Your Position: The more you provide to support your position, the better chance you have. Send your story to the commission in a letter, but also send statements, emails, photos, videos, documentation, payroll records, etc.
  4. Consider Hiring Counsel: If the going gets tough, you may want to hire an attorney to help prepare your position.
Posted in:     Business Matters, Labor Law  /  Tags: , , , , ,   /   Leave a comment

How To Take Advantage Of New Retainage Laws in Louisiana

On September 3, 2010 Author By Scott Wolfe Jr        

Earlier this week, we wrote about the new Retainage Law in Louisiana.   It’s a remarkable change in the status quo from the perspective of general contractors, taking all retainage out the hands of the property owner and placing it into an interest earning escrow account.

However, whether the law is productive for your construction company will depend on whether you take advantage of the law.

This week, I published a Legal Guide on Avvo.com offering step-by-step instructions to general contractors on how to take advantage of the the new retainage requirements in Louisiana.    Read the step-by-step guide here.    And, for a teaser, here is the introduction:

Effective August 15, 2010, retainage withheld by property owners on qualifying projects must be placed in an interest bearing escrow account. This Legal Guide explain how to take advantage of this new requirement to help secure your payment.

This article was originally posted on Wolfe Law Group’s topic-specific Louisiana Construction Law Blog.

Posted in:     Federal, Payment Requirements  /  Tags: , , , , ,   /   Leave a comment

I Didn’t File My Lien On Time…Now What?

On August 31, 2010 Author By Scott Wolfe Jr        

Over the weekend, I answered a question over on Avvo.com about mechanic liens that gets asked very often, and I thought it was a good idea to share here.

The question is this: What are my legal rights as a contractor if my lien is not filed on time?

The question was asked related to Washington law, but the answer is applicable around the nation. Mechanic liens are an excellent remedy – and I highly recommend preserving and using these rights when needed. However, they are not a contractor’s only remedy.

What other rights does a contractor have? Take a look at my answer here:

Liens are a terrific remedy for contractors. If you’re unpaid and file your lien on time, you acquire security rights against the property itself and are legally able to file suit against parties who you did NOT contract with (i.e. the property owner, if you are a sub).

However, if you don’t file a lien, you still have plenty of legal rights to recover what is owed to you.

Your rights, however, are exclusively against the party who you contract with. You have an action against them for breach of contract. The period to bring this suit is quite a bit longer, between 3-6 years, depending on the type of contract.*

*This is the statute for Washington. Remember that the statute of limitations will be different depending on your state.

It’s important to contact a great construction attorney to bring a breach of contract suit if you are unpaid, and are too late to proceed with lien rights. Find a construction attorney in your area at Avvo.com.

This article was originally posted on Zlien’s topic-specific Construction Lien Blog.

Posted in:     Filing Requirements  /  Tags: , ,   /   1 Comment

Celebrating Our 5th Year Blogging – Simplified Look and Free Construction Resources

On April 26, 2010 Author By Scott Wolfe Jr        

Happy Birthday to Wolfe Law Group’s construction law blog, the Construction Law Monitor.    To celebrate, we’ve made things a lot better on our site.

We’re now in our 5th year of blogging about construction law issues that matter to contractors, subcontractors and suppliers across the country…and all of our postings and tagging has transformed the Monitor into a leading construction law resource.

To celebrate the milestone, we’ve made things even better.

First, we’ve simplified our design.   Posts on the left, topics on the right, and a search bar at the top.   We’ve even gone through the site and re-tagged and re-categorized each post to make it more intuitive for folks to find posts on-topic.

Second – and we’re most excited about this – we’ve added a Resources Page with free construction law resources.   Highlights of the free Resoucres include:

  • Construction Law Blog Directory.   This is the only directory of construction law focused blogs on the web.  We list them all outright, but also sort and organize the blogs by state and topic (green building v. chinese drywall, for example).   Something missing?   You can add your link to our directory by filling out the form at the bottom of the directory’s page.
  • Avvo Legal Guides and Answers.    Wolfe Law Group participates in the legal Q&A forum and publication of legal guides at the lawyer-rating website, Avvo.com.   We stream those answers and guides to you on the Monitor.
  • Free Forms and Documents.   Powered by JD Supra, we provide visitors with free forms, legal pleadings, and other types of documents.
  • Webinars.   Our webinars and construction law presentations, powered by SlideShare.

Third (and finally), we’ve brought back three Special Feature category of posts:  (1) About our Services; (2) Around the Web; and (3) From the Experts.

We’ll build upon the Resources page as time goes by, and continue posting about important  construction law issues.   You can subscribe the the Monitor by RSS Feed, by following us on Twitter, or liking us on Facebook.

Posted in:     About Our Services  /  Tags: , , , , ,   /   3 Comments

Great Avvo Legal Guide Available With Information on Florida Lien Laws

On April 23, 2010 Author By Scott Wolfe Jr        

Florida attorney Neal Ian Sklar just this week published a really informative Legal Guide about Florida Construction Liens over at the lawyer rating website, Avvo.com.

The guide starts out by identifying the “dual purpose” of Florida’s construction lien statutes. While the author is speaking about Florida law only, the “dual purpose” breakdown is really applicable across the country.

What is this dual purpose?

Well, on the one hand, lien statutes are crafted to protect contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and design professional’s right to get paid for work put into a project. The law, in other words, doesn’t want a property owner to benefit from the improvements to property without paying the folks who put the time and materials therein.

You may be thinking “of course.”

The other purpose is a bit more hidden in the statutes. That purpose is to protect property owners from having their property improperly or unreasonably encumbered.

To balance these two purposes, lien laws across the country can sometimes feel schizophrenic.

Neal’s legal guide over on Avvo discusses the Florida lien laws in this context, and he does a good job of explaining how the two purposes are served by the Florida statutes.

While lien laws vary from state-to-state, understanding the “dual purposes” of these statutes provides contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and others a big picture understanding of how these statutes work…which, although each state’s laws are different, gives them a good grasp on the general rules they’ll need to follow to successfully use the laws.

And when a state’s specific requirements are needed…consult a great legal guide like Neal’s.

This article was originally posted on Express Lien’s topic-specific Construction Lien Blog.

Posted in:     Around The Web, Filing Requirements, From The Experts  /  Tags: , , , , ,   /   Leave a comment
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