Also known as: employments · job · work contract
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A relationship in which one person performs work for another in exchange for compensation under the other's direction and control. The relationship determines rights and duties such as liability for acts performed on the job and eligibility for benefits or support obligations.
Ewan Eckhart left private practice at Elite Dynamics to join a state regulatory agency. Months later the agency asked him to handle an enforcement action against a former client from his time at the firm. Because he had participated personally and substantially in the same matter while in private employment, the agency could not assign the case to him without obtaining written informed consent.
Ethan Evans regularly sold vintage watches through an agent who held himself out as knowledgeable about timepieces. When a buyer claimed the watches were not merchantable, the court treated Evans as a merchant because his employment of the specialized broker attributed the broker's skill and knowledge to him in the transaction.
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Emma Erickson petitioned for maintenance after her marriage ended. She had stayed home to raise the children and lacked recent work experience. The court found she was unable to support herself through appropriate employment and therefore awarded maintenance for a transitional period.
Evelyn Ellison, a warehouse employee at Echelon Security, became trapped near unstable shelving while on the job. Her supervisor knew of the hazard yet failed to act. Because Ellison was acting within the scope of her employment when the danger arose, the company faced liability for its failure to exercise reasonable care.
Erika Echevarria moved from one firm to another. Her new firm needed to check for conflicts arising from matters she had handled at her prior employment. The firm could reveal limited information solely to detect and resolve those conflicts without violating confidentiality rules.
Esther Eisenberg requested maintenance following divorce. She needed two years of coursework to qualify for a new career. The court included that period in the maintenance award because it represented the time necessary to acquire sufficient education to enable her to find appropriate employment.
A lawyer who participated personally and substantially in a matter while in private or nongovernmental employment generally may not participate in that same matter while working for a government agency unless the agency gives informed written consent.
A person becomes a merchant when the person deals in goods of the kind or holds himself out as having knowledge or skill peculiar to the practices or goods involved, or when that knowledge or skill is attributed through employment of an agent or broker who holds himself out as having such expertise.
A court may award maintenance only if the spouse seeking it lacks sufficient property and is unable to support himself through appropriate employment or is the custodian of a child whose condition makes outside employment inappropriate.
A master is subject to liability when a servant acting within the scope of employment faces imminent danger of serious harm that is known to the master or a management-level person, and the master fails to exercise reasonable care to avert the harm.
…social conventions. Same-sex intimacy remained a crime in many States. Gays and lesbians were prohibited from most government employment, barred from military service, excluded under immigration laws, targeted by police, and burdened in the exercise of their rights to associate. See Brief for Organization of American…