October

Effective as of October 15, 2015, employers in Maine will be restricted in their ability to access the personal social media accounts of applicants and employees. Employers may not terminate, discipline or otherwise take adverse action against an employee, or reject an applicant, due to the employee 's or applicant 's refusal to cooperate with any prohibited request or demand. An employer who violates these prohibitions can be fined by Maine 's Department of Labor. The law provides that such fines will be not less than $100 for the first violation, not less than $250 for the second violation and not less than $500 for each subsequent violation. Maine is the twenty-third state to place restrictions on employers ' access to applicants ' and employees ' personal social media accounts.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court 's grant of certiorari on April 27, 2015 in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, No. 13-1339, the Petitioner has weighed in with their brief. As you may recall, the question before the Court has the potential to determine the future scope of congressional power, as well as consumer and workplace-related class actions: Does a plaintiff who suffers no concrete harm, but who instead alleges only a statutory violation, have standing to bring a claim on behalf of himself or a class of individuals? The Supreme Court 's decision in Spokeo is likely to dramatically affect employers, consumer reporting agencies, and other corporate defendants as well as class actions brought under various federal statutes. As Spokeo unfolds, employers should continue to closely monitor the developments in the case in light of the potential impact on prospective and current workplace and consumer litigation across a variety of federal statutes.

"N.J.S.A 2C: 52-2(a) permits the Superior Court to expunge convictions of certain classes of offenses under certain enumerated circumstances. As one example, the applicant seeking the remedy must have been ""convicted of a crime,"" but ""...not convicted of any prior or subsequent crime."" The statute also bars from eligibility those who plead guilty in one proceeding to multiple offenses committed within a short period of time. But what does this last limitation mean in practice? The Supreme Court of New Jersey addressed and answered this question In the Matter of the Expungement Petition of J.S. (A-84-13) and In the Matter of the Expungement of the Criminal Records of G.P.B, (A-2-14). So now while a quantum of doubt has been eliminated (and that is always a good thing), the statute is now more restrictive (and, for defense practitioners, this is decidedly not a good thing)."