NorthCarolinaLaw

New Overtime Rules Published! Posted by  Sean Cecil  |  May 19, 2016  |  0 Comments More pay for more work. It's a simple premise that may have been taken for granted at some point, but in the past couple decades has been somewhat eroded by past administrations' failure to update the overtime rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under FLSA, employers can deem some salaried workers exempt from overtime if they fulfill certain duties and are paid at least a certain amount. Up until now, that amount has been $455/week, roughly $23,000.00 a year, not a living wage in many American cities. However, the rule has changed, and as of December 1, 2016, employers must pay their salaried workers $913/week to lawfully exempt them from overtime (The overtime rate of pay is 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for each hour worked over 40 in a week).  According to the Department of Labor's May 18, 2016 press release, key provisions of the fina...

www.edelsteinpayne.com/criminal-defense North Carolina Criminal Law: Two Marijuana-related Convictions Reversed by Court of Appeals Originally Posted by Sean Cecil Jan 20, 2016 (0 Comments) Criminal convictions make for difficult appeals. Whereas at trial a criminal defendant is supposed to receive the benefit of the doubt, after conviction many of those presumptions evaporate. Drug conviction appeals typically focus on 4th Amendment privacy protections, challenging convictions that were based on evidence the defendant unsuccessfully moved to suppressed because it was discovered by law enforcement only through an unconstitutional intrusion. Criminal appeals challenging the sufficiency of evidence used to convict are even more difficult- basically asking a court to overrule a finding of guilt by the jury by ruling that the evidence presented at trial was not enough to support the conviction, even when viewed in the light most favorable to the state.  This week th...

https://edelsteinpayne.com/criminal-defense NC Criminal Law: Appellate Court Rules Search Warrant Invalid Originally Posted by Sean Cecil Jan 13, 2016 (0 Comments) The so-called "war on drugs" is an abject failure. I am particularly interested in defending crimes involving allegations of illegal possession, production, or distribution of controlled substances, especially criminal allegations regarding cannabis. That's one reason I am particularly enthusiastic about last week's ruling in  State v. Allman , in which the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that a search warrant for drugs was not valid because it was not supported by probable cause to believe there was drug activity at the residence indicated in the law enforcement application. The New Hanover County deputy sheriff (Bacon) who applied for the warrant knew that drug activity was occurring elsewhere, and extrapolated that information to obtain a warrant to search the home where the suspects liv...

https://raleighworkerscompensation.com/employment-law Jury Awards Victimized Female Farmworkers $17 Million Originally Posted by Sean Cecil Sep 16, 2015  (0 Comments) A jury in Florida just returned a verdict of $17 million to five female migrant farmworkers who complained they were raped and sexually harassed by male supervisors at a packing plant where they worked. Sexual abuse of female farmworkers is a widespread problem; federal government is apparently attempting to do fix the situation.   Here is a link to a very thorough Frontline   series reporting on the problem.  Women do not have to accept sexual harassment and assault because they work in agriculture. Anyone who has experienced these kinds of problems should seek an attorney. The attorneys at Edelstein & Payne have experience dealing with sexual harassment claims and are eager to hear from any workers who feel they have been unlawfully harassed or touched at work.  ______...