Tom Riley Law Firm Answers Your Legal Questions on Labor Laws, Wills, More

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As always, we’re visiting with Peter Riley, of the Tom Riley Law Firm, who’s here to answer your legal questions.

The first question comes from Diane, who says she is aware of a local business who didn’t pay their employees. What is their best course of action in relation to getting paid? She says the business operated that way for about four months and recently closed.

Peter says there are some good options that are available to get some help from the government, both the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor, United States Department of Labor and the Iowa Labor Commissioner have authority to seek to enforce. He says the Wage and Hour Division is probably the best route to take, so you won’t hopefully have to spend money on a lawyer to sort it out.

The next question from Wendy is, “Can you be fired after you’ve already resigned? Any legal differences in the two?”

Peter says that if you have made an effective resignation, which was effective immediately, then the relationship has been terminated. But, if it’s not right away, say you plan to leave in two weeks, then the employer can say “Well, no, you’re done now,” Peter says. He also recommended that if you plan to resign, you might want to consult a lawyer before doing so, and make sure any contractual agreements don’t mess anything up. Peter says resigning is writing is also best. For his full answer, watch the video above.

Mabel asks, “Can I sue the city attorney’s office for violations of civil rights that occurred in the past?”

Peter says that while this is possible, there are some immunities that apply to governmental lawyers and government in general. But, he says if it’s a civil rights violation, that can be sued for, but some of those have statutes of limitation, so a lawyer should be consulted right away. He says civil rights violations should be acted upon immediately.

The next question was anonymously submitted and asks, “Is it legal for an individual who was deemed mentally ill to buy firearms?”

Peter says that anyone who has been committed to an institution or who has been given an adjudication by the court to not possess firearms, cannot legally buy them. He says state and federal laws are currently the same on that.

The next anonymous request was, “Please explain how the new [Iowa] state law helps adoptees to find their original birth certificate.”

Peter says previously, if there was an adoption, the original birth certificate was replaced with a new one. Now, Peter says that with a recent amendment, “If you are the person who was adopted, or if that person is no longer living, if you’re within two degrees of blood relationship...then you can go in and ask, you can basically ask the department to get the record. However, the record that you will get will be redacted with the names of the biological parents.” He said that when people now place children up for adoption, they will be given a checklist which includes if the biological parents would ever wish to be contacted by the biological child. For his full answer, watch the video above.

Esther asks, “How do I find a current will of my deceased brother?”

Peter says if you have a copy of the will, the original might be with the lawyer’s office listed. If you don’t have a copy, but know that one existed, Peter recommends contacting the legal bar association in the county in which he lived. For the full answer, check out the video above.

Lydia says, “My local gym does absolutely nothing to protect its patrons from COVID. Nobody is asked to wear a mask and no sanitizer is available. I’ve never seen any staff member sanitizing equipment after being used. I’ve asked management to suspend my membership, but they have refused. Do I have any legal recourse?”

Peter says that while there aren’t any rules in place about canceling contracts with gyms because of the pandemic, you might have a legitimate concern if you were a member pre-pandemic. But, that would still have to be a discussion with gym management.

The next question is from Stanley who says, “I’m pretty certain that my next door neighbors are using my WiFi signal without my permission? What can I do to prove it and stop it?”

Peter says the main thing is to put a password on your WiFi. That is one way to deter any unwanted connections. He advises that if you are older or aren’t very tech-savvy, to find someone you know who is and can help with it. Peter says that typically WiFi routers also have a way to show what devices are connected, so you’d be able to see if any outside your home are being connected.

The final question, an anonymous one, asks, “I am a freelance worker and am confused about intellectual property rights. How do I go about securing these for my creative work?”

Peter says that the creative work is probably a copyright. So the copyright is owned by the creator or author, and can only be assigned to another user by the owner, even if you have not submitted it to a copyright office. But, Peter says, patents are different, in that they are normally owned by an employer. But, he says a good course of action would be to talk to an intellectual property lawyer.

For full responses, watch the video at the top of this article.

Reach out anytime to Peter or his partners@trlf.com. For more information you can visit the Tom Riley Law Firm website.