What is the legality of requiring your employees to provide proof that they were sick?

As many cities and states are now passing mandatory sick laws, employers now have an added reason to review their sick day policies. The main question here is what kind of proof, if any, should an employer ask of his worker in order to be able to call in sick.

Let’s have a look at some of the legal principles that stand behind requiring proof for sick days.

Federal status

While some states like California have mandatory paid sick leave laws, there is still no federal law that makes employers give their workers paid sick leave. In fact, a number of states have barred cities and counties from enacting mandatory sick day legislation, so the matter is still far from being decided.

Meanwhile, you should make sure that your business complies with all state and city laws, regardless of what kind of notification is required of your employees. In California, employees need only give “reasonable advance notification” (Healthy Families Act of 2014) – there is no mention if an employer can ask for further proof, like a medical note.

Depending on state and city laws, an employer might be forced to provide paid sick days for certain health conditions or preventative care. In such cases, denying a request for a lack of proof may be illegal.

Can Require Proof for FMLA Leave

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) states that employees who want to take an extended sick leave have to provide proof under federal law, in case the employer asks for it. Usually an employee has 15 days to provide proof that the requested sick leave is for a valid reason (surgery, physical therapy, etc.). This can be provided in the form of a doctor’s note.

Note that providing FMLA notice is the employer’s responsibility, not the employees.

When we think about the future, we can never be too prepared. From investing in our retirement to purchasing insurance policies for our assets, our daily decisions influence our future for better or worse. But how do you secure your family’s future in the event of your death? Few people like to think about their demise but it’s important to get your affairs straightened out in order to ensure that your family is cared for and your assets are distributed the way you intend them to be.

Trusts

There are two legal instruments that are used for the protection of your assets and ensuring that your family is cared for: wills and trusts. A trust is simply a way of having a separate legal entity which offers your property and your assets protection from taxes, probate and public scrutiny. Trusts can be established either when you are living or upon your death if it specified in your will. The type of trust you create will determine the level of control you have over the property that you place within. An experienced attorney will know what type of trust is best for your property and assets and will help you establish one.

Wills

A will is a legal document that allows a person to name a guardian for your children and it specifies who will inherit your property when you die. Without a will you won’t have any decision about what happens to your property. Consult a will and trusts lawyer to help you draft a will that has the necessary foresight and detail that a will requires.

Even if you have a will, your estate will still go through probate. This is the legal process an estate passes through to ensure that property and assets are distributed according to will. When there is no will present, the probate commences according to state laws. This process takes around a year to complete. The reason for such a long wait is that the validity of the will must be established, all heirs, creditors and anyone else that has a stake in the deceased’s property must be informed of the person’s death and if there are any disputes over the will, they must be resolved in probate court.

Establishing a trust or writing a will that is valid and is disbursed without delay is important so make sure that you use the services of an experienced trust and wills attorney.

Things to know

Of course, even many people think that estate planning is a good idea, few, if ever, get to actually do anything about it. Wills and trusts are usually at the end of to-do lists for most people. However, getting things clear and writing will save your family from unnecessary anxiety in the event that you pass away and the issue of dividing your assets comes up.

You don’t have to do it all – taking just a couple of the steps below will ensure that the people you care about will receive your assets the way you intend, without any headaches or loss of money.

1. There is no excuse for not having a will. Writing a will is easy. You can do it on your own using a good how-to book or even computer software. All you need to do is write down the persons and the assets they will inherit and then sign the will in front of a witness. That’s it. No need to file it anywhere; just put it in a safe place.
2. Account for everything. A majority of your property – retirement accounts, jointly owned real estate, life insurance proceeds and even cars – usually do not pass through a will. Think about who you want to inherit it.
3. Retirement plans. The law states that your spouse automatically inherits your 401(k) plan upon your death. This can also be given away in writing.
4. Your assets – your call. Although people usually leave everything to their children, it doesn’t mean that you have to do the same. Just make sure that you list them in your will so that everybody is accounted for.
5. Tax myth. A common misconception people have is that they have to pay income tax on money they inherit; that is false.
6. Federal estate tax. The only time that you will have to worry about paying taxes on inherited assets is if you have more than $5.34 million in your estate. In this case it would be best to hire an attorney to make sure that everything is accounted for.
7. Being specific helps. You can save your family many fruitless arguments if you specify whom should receive any items with special sentimental value you might have. It’s not uncommon for people to fight over seemingly useless items – so why not clear it up now?
8. Business. Own a business? You’ll have to specify what happens to it after you’re gone.
9. Complex vs simple. A simple will is sufficient as it will cover most bases. In other cases, if your family is older or ill, a living trust may be more beneficial. A living trust allows a family to skip probate court.
10. Keep your files in a known & safe place. This may seem obvious, but none of your estate planning documents will be of any value if your family doesn’t have access to them in the first place.

It’s no secret that law education is expensive. Not only are students hit with crippling debt but they are also being deterred from potential careers in work for underserviced geographic areas. This damages the profession as a whole and it prevents underprivileged students from pursuing a career in law.

In a counter-intuitive move, one of the highest rated law schools in the ATL Rankings has decided to go the other way around and increase tuition fees.

The University of California is not in the best position financially, especially after the tax revolt and the unruly ballot measure process impoverished the state, with 70% to 90% of the state budget allocated to laws that only serve special interest groups, lobbyists and extremists.

The Daily Californian writes that the UC Berkeley School of Law is considering an increase in its tuition fees by $1,432 for the 2015-16 academic year as a way to “account for rising costs”. Dean Sujit Choudhry discussed the tuition hike at a public town hall meeting at the school on Monday.

Dean Choudhry called the increase a “modest” one but we are forgetting that the $1,432 increase is only a surcharge. Berkeley Law anticipates increase in tuition fees across the whole campus, with a total 5.4% increase for Californians, rising the cost of attendance to $54,091 from the $51,320 it was previously. Non-residents would also be affected by the hike, paying $58,225 from the $55,271 they paid in previous years.

Experts believe that the blame is with the people of California, who gutted the school’s finances with laws that slowed down funding for what is supposed to be the state’s public university. The reasons outlined by Dean Choudhry are, however, more immediate with soaring costs of faculty health care being the main one behind the increase as well as the school’s ongoing compensation for a pension plan that is deficient at best. Another reason cited by Choudhry is the increase in staff size to accommodate for student services. However the Dean assures us that his main focus is financial aid, something he hopes will “soften the blow” of the proposed increase.

Leaving California’s underfunded pension plan aside, this is a tale that we have heard before. The Washington Monthly even conducted a study on the matter and concluded that tuition fees are being eaten up by academic administrators who are keen on hiring even more administrators. Even when “faculty” health care costs are being brought up, Dean Choudhry fails to mention that a big majority are made up of administrator health bills.

Global law firms have been charting a slow but steady growth and now it seems that the title for the biggest law firm in the world goes back to Baker & McKenzie with a reported $2.54 billion gross revenue in 2013. Getting back to the top comes right after Baker released their financials back in August, but Baker is not the only international law firm who has seen growth this past year.

According to the Global 100 survey conducted by American Lawyer, revenue grew 4.3% among the world’s 100 largest law firms last year, to a figure of $88.7 billion, a record for the industry. Collective headcount also grew by 3.9%, with more than 112,000 lawyers being employed across firms.

AmLaw writes that this growth has been spurred by stabilizing economies, resurgent transactional markets and the foray of law firms into markets that were previously unavailable in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. Although the figures are anything but exceptional, the slow, steady growth is a welcome sign after the global economic crisis took a toll on law firm financials.

U.K. legal consultant Tony Williams calls this a sustained recovery, with a prognosis that is certainly better than it was a few years ago.

What about the other firms? Here are the numbers for the top 10 law firms, ranked by gross revenue in 2013:

1. Baker & McKenzie: $2.54 billion
2. DLA Piper: $2.48 billion
3. Latham & Watkins LLP: $2.29 billion
4. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP: $2.23 billion
5. Clifford Chance: $2.13 billion
6. Kirkland & Ellis LLP: $2.02 billion
7. Linklaters: $1.96 billion
8. Allen & Overy: $1.93 billion
9. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer: $1.92 billion
10. Norton Rose Fulbright: $1.9 billion

Some of the growth is also due to mergers, with names such as Norton Rose Fulbright, Dentons and King & Wood Mallesons being recently created after cross-border combinations.

New York’s Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP has had a 15% revenue increase last year, being one of the many that was boosted in part by a revitalized mergers and acquisitions market.

U.S. law firms have sought growth by expanding in overseas markets, preeminently China and the Middle East. AmLaw reports that Am Law 200 firms now have over 25,000 lawyers that work in foreign offices in more than 70 countries. While Europe remains a focal point, China now holds the second-largest population of lawyers from the Am Law 200, after the United Kingdom. Countries such as Australia, the UAE and South Africa are some of the newer additions that have shown exceptional growth in head count.