Dec 18th, 2024Terminated for Misconduct: Does COBRA apply?
When an individual’s employment is terminated due to misconduct, questions often arise about whether the employee (and their spouse and dependents) can be denied COBRA continuation coverage due to “gross misconduct”. While the law disqualifies an employee from COBRA continuation coverage when the employee engaged in “gross misconduct”, the phrase is not defined in the law. Moreover, courts have not agreed on when it is proper to apply this exception to the COBRA rules.
Dec 18th, 2024School District Procurement Procedures and the Appropriate Use of Piggyback Purchasing
The State Comptroller’s Office recently issued findings related to school districts and their procurement procedures. Specifically, the Comptroller addressed the inadequate management of “piggyback” purchases made by schools. With this recent Comptroller scrutiny, and with many school districts having capital projects in full swing, it is important to be mindful of the N.Y. General Municipal Law’s specific requirements for making piggyback purchases.
Nov 22nd, 2024Private Contracts for Instructional Services?
Each year schools receive solicitations from third parties offering to perform the various services required to operate the school district. These vendors sometimes seduce schools with offers to perform services the schools have no authority to contract for, which can lead to unauthorized contracts and legal headaches.
Nov 22nd, 2024The Challenge of Affording Disciplinary Due Process While Assessing Student Threats
It is an unfortunate reality that students engage in behaviors that are — or might appear to be — threats to others in the school community. Schools must investigate and respond to real or perceived threats immediately. But in their haste, schools must not lose sight of their obligation to provide students with due process before imposing student discipline.
Oct 29th, 2024Unauthorized Disclosure and Access to Protected Student Records: What School Districts Should Consider to Ensure the Protection of Sensitive Data
There has been a spike in data security breaches during recent years, including unauthorized access to and release of student records. The New York State Education Department (“NYSED”) and the Office of the New York State Comptroller (“Comptroller”) stress that adequately safeguarding confidential information regarding students and their families is of the utmost importance. The Comptroller and NYSED both emphasize the need for school districts and vendors providing information technology services (“IT”) to adhere to federal and state laws regulating data protection and to include security protocols in their contracts aimed at avoiding the unauthorized disclosure and release of protected information.
Oct 29th, 2024Your Capital Project Toolbox: Avoiding Scope Creep
At the planning stage (Schematic Design, Design Development, and Construction Documents) and the Construction Administration stage of a capital construction project there are pressures to expand the scope of the work being planned or performed. Here are tools to add to your toolbox so that the scope of the completed project is intentional, deliberately determined, and not the result of “scope creep.”
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