Legal Focus

What is your retirement plan? At this year’s PSBA Annual Convention at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center, Rich Kelly presented a workshop discussing Succession Planning. If you were unable to attend Rich’s presentation, this article to reviews what you need to know about planning to transition your business from one generation to the next and other ways your business can fund your retirement.

While Pennsylvania law requires school bus drivers to have a physical no later than every 12 months, most healthcare plans will only pay for an annual physical if it has been more than 12 months since the last exam. This forces a school bus driver to choose between paying out of pocket for an annual exam every other year or risk a gap in compliance with the annual physical requirement. This note will discuss the current Pennsylvania state law, proposed statutory changes, and what some contractor...

There’s a simple way to avoid many risk management claims like worker’s compensation, bus accidents and regulatory citation: Don’t put the wrong worker to work. The “wrong worker,” is anyone who is physically unable or unfit to perform essential job functions. Creating and following a Fitness for Duty program at your company can help you identify workers who should not be behind the wheel, turning a wrench or assisting special needs students in an out of the seat. In doing so, you can prot...

What does the next generation of your company look like? Who will carry on when retirement comes, ready or not! These are the important questions that need to be asked when Succession Planning. Included in this article is information regarding what Succession Planning really is, how to start and the steps you need to take to begin your Succession Planning today

Unauthorized school bus entry is a crime in Pennsylvania. Understanding your rights will help keep your drivers, aides and students safe. This article will provide an overview of Pennsylvania’s unauthorized bus entry statute, 18 Pa.C.S. § 5571, and will provide practical guidance you can share with your drivers.

Many bus contractors in the last several months have been receiving faxes from what looks to be the Federal Department of Transportation but ... BEWARE! These official looking documents have been identified as fraudulent by the PA Department of Transportation and the United States Department of Transportation. Outlined below are details of the recent fraud attempt and how to protect you and your business from this scam and others.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended prohibits employment discrimination and retaliation by employers against employees who file claims. Recently, retaliation claims have surpassed all other types of claims made by employees to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). While the EEOC guidance manual has not permitted employers to avoid claims of retaliation by the employer’s showing that there were other legitimate reasons for adverse action against an employee, the Un...