Legal Focus

With a New Year often come changes and challenges in running your business. One such new challenge for 2013 is the Child Abuse Recognition and Reporting Training Act. January 2, 2013 was the official effective date for the recently enacted law governing mandatory child abuse recognition and reporting training. The new Pennsylvania law (1084, No. 126 Cl. 24 Session of 2012 amendment of the Public School Code of 1949 Section 1205.6) mandates that all school entities and independent contractors of ...

The Employee Handbook and Procedure Manual serve two distinct purposes. The employee handbook is an important opportunity to ensure employees understand the company’s expectations and where to find general information. It is essential for the employer to put things in writing to add clarity and unity of purpose to the company mission and philosophy. The employee handbook is best written using a straightforward language and organized for easy referencing of company policies. It is an importan...

While everyone is aware of the November 2011 amendment to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations restricting the use of hand-held mobile telephones by drivers of commercial motor vehicles, the recent passage of Pennsylvania’s ban on texting while driving has raised some questions about how violations of the new law will affect holders of commercial driver’s licenses. Following is some information about the new texting while driving ban and about violations that can affect a commercial dr...

On February 7, 2012, Governor Corbett issued a press release in support of his 2012-13 Student Achievement Education Block Grant budget proposal. The Governor’s press release touts the budget proposal as providing school districts with flexibility and eliminating duplicative services and state mandates. However, the proposed budget combines four previously separate appropriations, basic education, pupil transportation, nonpublic transportation, and school employees’ social security. The net re...

Many school bus contractors are faced with the Pennsylvania wiretap law dilemma. That is, school districts contractually or informally require video and audio taping on school buses for the purpose of enhancing student safety and addressing student discipline issues. But, audio taping is prohibited by Pennsylvania statutes and case law. The current statutes even impose criminal and civil penalties for violators. School officials point to specific examples of local law enforcement’s refusal to p...

As you know, Pennsylvania school bus drivers working for independent contractors are currently eligible to receive unemployment compensation benefits during the summer break while drivers employed by a school district are not. The reason is because Article IV, Section 402.1 of Pennsylvania’s Unemployment Compensation Law (Pa UC Law) has exceptions that apply to employees of political subdivisions like a school district but that do not apply to employees of independent contractors. On October 14...

Questions about the fairness of the contract negotiation process with a school district or school board are common - what matters must be discussed in open meetings, what information am I entitled to receive, and what can be done to reconcile a board member’s conflict of interest? This note will briefly discuss the Pennsylvania statues that deal with open meetings, the right to information, and the ethical issue of conflicts of interest.