What Canadian Companies and Their Advisers
Need to Know about U.S. Law
A recent trend in U.S. employment law has been the adoption of stricter and stricter tests for when a worker may be classified as an independent contractor rather than an employee. Independent contractor relationships are often less expensive and easier for employers to administer since employers are not responsible for providing healthcare benefits to independent...
Employers sometimes include fixed terms of employment in their employment agreement. Sometimes a fixed term is meant to prompt the parties to renegotiate at the end of the term. Sometimes a fixed term is meant to document the point in time where the parties have, in fact, agreed that the employment will end. Sometimes a...
Employment / Litigation / M&A
Under U.S. law, large employers have an obligation to notify their employees at least 60 days before a “plant closing” or “mass layoff.” This requirement can have serious implications for Canadian companies engaged in M&A deals with U.S. companies. The U.S. Federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (“WARN Act”) requires employers with 100 or...
When one thinks of the law, one often thinks of hard and fast rules. Employers cannot fire employees for a discriminatory or a retaliatory reason. Employees must be paid at least minimum wage. And so on. The law governing hostile work environment claims in the United States, however, is not so easily defined and applied....
The United States isn’t the only country addressing its history of gender inequality, sexual abuse, and sexual harassment. However, the United States is having its own unique experience in doing so. For U.S. employers, the current focus on these issues poses challenges, but also opportunities to address problems of diversity and harassment in the workplace....
Like Canada, the United States has federal legislation protecting employees with disabilities. While Canada has the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Human Rights Act, the United States has the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). While both Canadian and U.S. laws protect disabled employees from discrimination, the ADA has very specific procedures and...
Employment / Litigation / M&A
The default rule in most U.S. states is at-will employment. This means that either the employee or the employer may terminate the employment relationship at any time, without notice, for any reason—other than a discriminatory or retaliatory reason. A reason is discriminatory if it is based upon an individual’s status as a member of a...
Employment / Litigation / M&A
In the United States, employers are required to pay employees overtime (1.5 times the employee’s hourly rate) for hours worked over 40 per week. In some states, such as California, employers are required to pay overtime if employees work more than 8 hours in a day. Like Canada, U.S. employees may be exempt from overtime...
Harassment has been in the news a lot lately in the United States, with several high-profile terminations at well-known companies. Companies are losing millions of dollars, not just in settlements and verdicts, but in lost customers and bad publicity. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, is the administrative agency responsible for enforcing laws prohibiting...
Canadian employment law is, in many ways, far more employee favorable than U.S. employment law. With the exception of a few states, employment in the United States is “at-will.” This generally means that either the employer or the employee may terminate the employment relationship without cause and without notice, so long as the reason for...
Cross-Border Counselor is a collection of articles and timely updates about U.S. law issues of concern to Canadian companies that have assets, do business, raise funds or are listed for trading in the United States, as well as the attorneys, accountants and banks that advise them. Learn more about Dorsey’s Canada cross-border practice group here.
Christopher L. DoerksenChris helps clients raise money by selling equity and debt, buy and ...
James GuttmanJames advises publicly-traded companies and closely-held companies ...
Randal R. JonesRandy has over 25 years of experience counseling emerging, priv...
Aaron GoldsteinAaron is a Partner in Dorsey’s Labor & Employment group, where he brin...
John D. Hollinrake, Jr.John has over twenty-five years of experience advising clients on...
Kendall R. FisherKendall’s practice focuses on U.S. federal tax issues related to dome...
Marianne O'BaraMarianne works regularly with numerous non-U.S. companies and their l...
Wells ParkerWells is a Partner and co-chair of Dorsey’s Energy and Natural Resou...
Larry WardAs an international business attorney, Larry helps clients navigate com...
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