Category: Summer 2008 Office Newsletter

Teachers are not entitled to collect unemployment benefits during  school breaks or summer vacation if they have a “reasonable assurance of continued employment” in the next academic year. Recently, a Pennsylvania Head Start program successfully objected to the unemployment claims of several of its employees. The employees taught low-income, prekindergarten children basic reading and counting […]

Public school districts are government bodies. Because of this, their decisions are government actions and thus are limited by the constitutional rights of the persons affected. Public school employees enjoy broad constitutional protection in their district’s hiring and firing decisions. In addition, most public school employees have union contracts that give them additional job protection. […]

A year after an 82-year-old Pennsylvania woman was admitted to nursing care, she changed her will. Her previous will had divided her estate among her three daughters. The new will gave more than 90% of the estate to only one daughter. The two daughters who were virtually eliminated as heirs discovered the new will and […]

Those of us who are over 30 years old may remember Pennsylvania’s “peace bonds,” orders issued by justices of the peace requiring that a troublesome person leave others in peace. Peace bonds were abolished many years ago and were later replaced in part with the Protection from Abuse Act. The Protection from Abuse Act gives […]

Pennsylvania law clearly and strongly requires that all drivers maintain automobile insurance coverage at all times. The Motor Vehicle Code provides that when a driver fails to maintain insurance coverage on his or her car, the registration of the car must be suspended by the Department of Transportation (PennDOT) for three months. A suspension of […]