Does your Maine business deal with products instead of services? You need to make sure to factor in the potential liability for defective product claims. From state to state, laws regarding defective products vary, but in general, a product is considered defective if it causes injury or damage to a person as the result of:  Continue Reading »

When your company’s staff is culturally diverse, it can be tempting to require all employees to only speak English during the workday. You may be thinking it’s easier to promote unity and teamwork when everyone speaks the same language. It may not be legal though. This is a confusing area, and it is one that  Continue Reading »

The one thing that never changes is that life is always changing. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) has made huge changes to the federal income tax rules for individuals. But how will you, your family, and your business be affected? It depends on your specific circumstances. Major life changes, both personal and business,  Continue Reading »

The widespread belief that pay discrimination is rampant in Maine and across the country, regardless of the underlying facts, is what puts many employers at risk for litigation based on charged of unequal compensation. A recent Pew Research poll found 77% of women agreeing with this statement: “This country needs to continue making changes to give  Continue Reading »

The Supreme Court often agrees to rule on issues where individual appeals courts have come to different conclusions, in order to create a uniform national legal standard. This was the situation when the court passed down a 5-4 decision for Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis. The question being decided was whether the Federal Arbitration Act  Continue Reading »

Does your Maine company need a chief financial officer but you can’t afford to hire one full time? Or do you need someone to help prepare your business to be sold, handle a special project, or cover for an executive who is ill or left the organization? A temporary, or interim, CFO usually has a variety  Continue Reading »

In early January, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) put out a fact sheet that details how the agency is aligning its policy on intern employment status with new rulings by several U.S. appellate courts. In the past, it would have been much more difficult to bring interns on board without needing to pay them minimum  Continue Reading »

Bitcoin has been around for almost 10 years. But the tax rules associated with “virtual currency” are constantly evolving. In 2018, tax matters will become even more complicated for because relevant provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act take effect starting in 2018. This is what you should know about the brave (relatively) new world  Continue Reading »

As we’ve been discussing, the IRS recently announced special tax relief for leave-based donation programs set up by employers to assist victims of Hurricane Harvey and Tropical Storm Harvey. Basics of Employer Programs This means an employer can allow its employees to forgo their vacation, sick, or personal time off in exchange for cash payments made  Continue Reading »

Chancery Adopts Merger Price Sans Cost Savings Reduction Merlin Partners LP v. AutoInfo, Inc., 2015 Del. Ch. LEXIS 128 (April 30, 2015) In a Delaware statutory appraisal action, the Chancery once again determined that the merger price trumped values resulting from other valuation analyses. But before “placing full weight on the Merger price,” Vice Chancellor  Continue Reading »