Resource Center

U.S. Supreme Court Tackles Discrimination on Basis of Homosexuality or Transgender Status in Recent Majority Opinion. Imagine an employer’s application form offered a box to check if you, the applicant, were homosexual or transgender.  How does an employer provide instructions for filling out this portion of the application without using the words “man”, “woman”, “sex” or some other synonym? Now, imagine an employer has […]

The family of  a veteran meat-packing worker who died from COVID-19 has filed a lawsuit against his former employer, JBS SA. Enock Benjamin,70, died on April 3, 2020 as a result of respiratory failure brought on by the novel coronavirus, according to the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office. Benjamin worked at JBS’s Souderton, PA plant before he died. Ferdinand Benjamin, Benjamin’s son, who is represented […]

There is a recurring word that continues to be expressed every time  we are discussing with our clients whether there will be workers compensation coverage for COVID-19  and that word is “MAYBE”.  Unfortunately, there is no magic pill for either treating this virus or as an answer as to whether states will cover these claims.  Every state, having its own specific workers compensation scheme, […]

On March 9, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom became the first U.S. governor to order mandatory stay-at-home restrictions in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus infections.[1]  Since then, dozens of other states, cities and localities have followed suit in an effort to protect their citizens from the scourge of this deadly disease.  As of March 28, 2020, at least 228 million people […]

Employers: Click Here for the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, Employee Rights Poster Click on the following link to access a copy of the poster:  https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WHD/posters/FFCRA_Poster_WH1422_Non-Federal.pdf Please contact Bradley Shafer, 304.241.2976 (Tel); bshafer@defensecounsel.com with any questions you may have regarding rights and responsibilities under the Act. 

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE EXPANSION TO THE FMLA AND THE EMERGENCY PAID SICK LEAVE LAW UNDER THE FAMILIES FIRST CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE ACT On March 18, 2020, President Trump signed HR 6201 which is titled the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.  While the Act addresses a number of topics relating to the COVID 19 pandemic, employers are particularly interested in the expansion […]

On April 11, 2014 Plaintiff, a delivery driver, was delivering a variety of products to a residence in Monongalia County, West Virginia.  Plaintiff was driving a boom truck and as he approached the house he discovered he could not pass underneath the telephone and cable wires that stretched across the driveway.  Having been in this situation before, the driver climbed on top of his […]

Although the Pennsylvania Fair Share Act (the “Act”), 42 Pa.C.S. § 7102, has been the law since 2011, a number of questions remain about its application.  After the recent decision from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Roverano v. John Crane, Inc., 190 A.3d 591 (2018) we now have an answer to the question of whether the Act requires a factfinder to apportion liability on […]

In May 2015, MSZL&M client Superior Fire Protection, a New Hampshire Corporation, performed an inspection and test of a dry pipe fire sprinkler system installed in a Holiday Inn Express in Rochester, New Hampshire. In February 2016, water remaining in the fire sprinkler system froze causing the system to crack and discharge water throughout the Holiday Inn Property.  It was alleged that improper installation, […]

Although the general issue of spoliation of evidence and its ramifications have been established in Pennsylvania jurisprudence for years, a recent appellate court decision has applied these principles to the amount of day-of-accident video surveillance to be retained. In Marshall v. Brown’s IA, LLC (“Shop Rite”)i the Pennsylvania Superior Court vacated a defense verdict in favor of the operator of a store because the […]