BGS Attorney, Scott Lepak, Reflects on the Boy Scouts Program
February 21, 2013 | Scott M. LepakChuck Seykora and I attended the annual Three Rivers District Boy Scout Breakfast February 21, 2013. I have been attending this breakfast event for years and am continually amazed at the energy and enthusiasm that our community has for scouting. It is no surprise that many of our community leaders have a background in scouting. This organization serves more than 72,000 boys and girls ages 6 through 20 over the course of a year and supports nearly 21,000 volunteers. The stars of this breakfast were, as always, the Boy Scouts themselves. Anyone that has ever worried about the future of our country should attend a Boy Scout event. We are in good hands for the future. My favorite part of the breakfast is when the current and former Scouts in attendance recite the Scout Promise. Listening to individuals in their seventies and eighties easily recite the Scout Promise is proof that Scouting stays with people all their lives. One thing I learned is that our local scouting organization now has a Lions Cub program for kindergartners. In attending these events, I fondly recalled my time in scouting. I was a Cub Scout and made it to the Webelos level. Webelos means We’ll Be Loyal Scouts. The township where I grew up did not…
Read MoreCity Employees and Off-Duty Conduct Webinar
September 11, 2012 | Scott M. LepakOur attorney, Scott Lepak, presented a free webinar hosted by the League of Minnesota Cities. This webinar titled, “City Employees and Off-Duty Conduct,” took place on Thursday, July 12th. You can view the full webinar here: Click here to download the full transcript (PDF) Click here to download the presentation slides (PDF) Scott Lepak is a frequent lecturer on labor and employment law topics in Minnesota and in this webinar he provides some guidance when off-duty conduct is illegal, unethical, or harms the reputation of the city. It’s often hard to know whether or not the city can discipline for that behavior. Off-duty conduct is a tricky and every-changing area of employment law. There are issues associated with freedom of speech and expectations of privacy that must be waived against the legitimate interest of the city. In this webinar Scott discusses… What is off-duty misconduct? What governs off-duty conduct? Are there limitations on conduct that may be regulated? The National Academy of Arbitrator’s four prong test An alternate four prong test Limitations on regulating off-duty conduct Arbitration Rulings We want to thank the League of Minnesota Cities for granting us permission to publish the webinar here and on our YouTube channel.
Read MoreEmployee Privacy in a Digital Age
September 29, 2010 | Scott M. LepakElectricity has been a benefit and a curse to the legal profession. Before the invention of the fax machine, lawyers could write letters and not have to worry about the matter for a couple of days while it was being delivered. The first fax I received was 76 pages on thermal paper that didn’t cut off to page sizes and scrolled onto the floor as one page over 50 feet long. I knew at that moment that technology was going to be a mixed bag. Clients now call and leave voice messages telling me that they sent me an email or a fax (or both). I check emails while ice fishing (unless the fish are biting). While the access provided by electricity has been a mixed blessing, there is no questions that it has greatly affected my employment law practice. When the internet was first introduced, it became immediately apparent that employees would view things at work that they would not dream of looking at from home (often for fear of reprisal by a spouse). This created the need for personnel policies related to Internet use. Emails became a common form of discourse that mixed the concepts of informal slang, often not entirely professional or appropriate statements and what was a more permanent…
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