HoganWillig

New York does not recognize an action for wrongful termination. It is an employee-at-will state, meaning that your employer can fire you for any reason or no reason, and you can quit your job for any reason or no reason. You may, however, have a claim against your employer if, for example, you have a written Employment Agreement, or your employer has an Employee Handbook which specifically addresses termination procedures and your employer did not follow those procedures, or you are protected by a union under a Collective Bargaining Agreement, or your civil rights have been violated.

In the case of a Collective Bargaining Agreement, you may first be required to exhaust all of the procedures set forth in the Collective Bargaining Agreement for termination before you file a lawsuit against your employer. Similarly, if your employer violates a constitutionally protected right by discriminating against you on the basis of age, race, sex, disability, etc., there are administrative remedies that must be exhausted before you may pursue a claim against your employer. Read on…

Tags: collective bargaining agreement, department of human rights, eeoc, employee-at-will, equal employment opportunity commission, fired, wrongful termination

HoganWillig has the capability, legal resources and dedication to assist clients in various practice areas. This includes criminal defense for white-collar crimes ranging from forgery, bribery, insurance fraud, healthcare fraud, credit fraud, mortgage fraud, and welfare fraud. White-collar crimes are a unique legal area because many people may be unclear about what white-collar situations exactly entail or may be unaware of HoganWillig’s great defense accomplishments.

One success story involves a client indicted on 28 felony counts and 867 acts of Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Healthcare fraud occurs when a person knowingly and willfully provides false information or omits information in order to request payments from a health plan that they are not entitled to. The degree of the crime varies depending on the length of time the crime occurs and the amount of money obtained. HoganWillig’s teamwork approach brought the charges down to a conviction of only one misdemeanor. That’s in comparison to a sentence of approximately 56 years for the previous accusation! Read on…

Tags: bribery, credit fraud, forgery, fraud, healthcare fraud, insurance fraud, mortgage fraud, welfare fraud, white collar crime

HoganWillig is proud to announce that we won silver honors in the Large Business Category for Business First’s ”Best Places to Work” competition. We are among a group of 73 elite local companies in Western New York that were featured in the March issue of Business First. This is the fourth year in a row that HoganWillig has placed. We are proud of our employees and grateful to our management who promote a healthy work/life balance for all our employees.

The current economic difficulty facing the NFTA provides the WNY area with an unique opportunity to offer to its citizens a community wide benefit provided in few other locations in the world. It also may be a kick start to a change in attitude that our community sorely needs, where we can become a region that is looked on by others as a place where its citizens are progressive, economically smart and world class leaders.

In reviewing the NFTA’s operating budget it appears that its total operating cost is 250 million dollars. The revenue it generates from its passengers is about 60 million dollars, or 24%. The other 76% of the cost is paid for primarily from various governmental subsidies (41%), capital contributions (17%), other sources of income (14%), and what seem to be annual deficits (4%). Nationally, the average subsidy to US public transit expenses approximates 75%, so this seems to be the norm, and clamoring for the NFTA to do more with what it has seems like a no win proposition.

Let’s now imagine a system without fare boxes on its buses and light rail cars, where passengers freely board these mass transit vehicles to go to work, school, or shopping (nationally these three categories comprise 75% of all mass transit rides). Further imagine the same system safely transporting our aging population, encouraging increased urbanization, reducing traffic congestion, avoiding the need for roadway expansion costs, parking lots, and also providing increased health and environmental benefits. Read on…

Tags: buffalo, nfta, public transit, western new york, wny

From Buffalo Business First

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz has tapped former congressman John LaFalce to serve as chairman of the Erie County Industrial Development Agency and replaced a total of three board appointees.

LaFalce, a Democrat, will replace Phil Ackerman, National Fuel Gas Corp. past chairman and current board member, when ECIDA directors meet later this month. Ackerman was named ECIDA chairman by then-Erie County Executive Chris Collins, who lost in November to Poloncarz.

Poloncarz is also replacing Phil Corwin, another Collins appointee, with Brenda McDuffie. Corwin was the agency’s vice chairman. McDuffie, the Buffalo Urban League president and chief executive officer, will assume the vice chairman’s slot on the board.

A third Collins appointee, local attorney and Indian rights specialist Barry Brandon, is being replaced on the ECIDA board by Chris Johnston, World Trade Center Buffalo Niagara president.

All three new appointments were supported by Betty Jean Grant, Erie County Legislature chairperson. The trio will mark their first IDA meeting this month.

“I am honored to appoint these three outstanding individuals to serve on the Board of the ECIDA,” Poloncarz said in a prepared statement. “As County Executive, one of my top priorities is to promote job creation and economic development in Erie County. They bring a wealth of business, governmental and international trade experience to the table, and share my vision of strengthening local business and bringing new jobs to Erie County by leveraging our strategic international border with Canada. I look forward to working with them and the other board members to create a more streamlined, sustainable and efficient approach to economic development in Erie County.”

Grant agrees.

“With these appointments there is a new feeling of diversity and energy at the ECIDA,” she said. “With their extensive business and governmental experience, I am sure they will be valuable additions to the board.”

LaFalce served in Congress from 1975 to 2002 and before that was in the New York state Senate and Assembly.

During his Congressional tenure, LaFalce served as chairman of the House Small Business Committee and as Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, which had jurisdiction over all financial issues, including banks, housing and community development, and international financial institutions.

After his retirement from Congress, LaFalce became a member the senior advisory board to the Canadian-American Business Council and is an Honorary Chair of the Canadian American Border Trade Alliance.

LaFalce is currently the special counsel to HoganWillig .

McDuffie has been leading Buffalo Urban League since 1998.

Prior to her work with the league, McDuffie served as the executive director for the Buffalo and Erie County Private Industry Council. She has also served as the president of the NYS Association of Employment and Training Professionals, and was a member of the steering committee that produced the recommendations for New York State’s future Workforce Development System.

Additionally, she is currently serving as secretary for the Independent Health Association.

Johnston has been World Trade Center Buffalo Niagara president since 2007. Other professional experience includes work with the City of Buffalo to streamline the Department of Economic Development; development of import and export compliance programs for corporations in numerous industries while with Thompson Hine LLP; and work as an International Trade Specialist with the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington.

Suffering a serious injury in an automobile accident can have a devastating impact on one’s physical and financial well-being. Typically, a lawsuit stemming from a motor vehicle accident is brought with the goal of obtaining just compensation for injuries suffered. But consider this common, and often surprising, scenario: You are seriously injured in an automobile accident as a result of someone else’s negligence and suffer injuries determined to be worth $100,000.00. You hire an attorney, file a lawsuit, and justifiably expect to be fairly compensated for your injuries only to find out the person responsible has a maximum bodily injury insurance coverage limit of $25,000,00. What are you options?

Your best option is to protect yourself ahead of time, and avoid problematic situations like the one posed above, with “SUM” coverage. SUM, which stands for supplementary uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, is insurance that you can purchase from your own automobile insurance company, which typically costs just a few extra dollars a month. Read on…

Tags: automobile accident, sum coverage, supplementary under insured motorist coverage, supplementary uninsured motorist coverage

Care for a disabled child after their parents have died is a significant concern for those parents. Often the disabled child is a recipient of public assistance and the assistance is desperately needed for medical care, group homes and/or other major costs of care. In order to keep the public assistance (or obtain it in the first place) those disabled children (and their parents) need to meet financial eligibility requirements. These requirements usually mean a very restricted amount of “available resources” and/or income to the child. For our discussion, that means the disabled child cannot receive an outright inheritance because it would render them ineligible or cause them to lose eligibility for the benefits they rely on. Read on…

Tags: inter vivos, snt, special needs trust, supplemental needs trust, testamentary