If you are a male between 18 and 25 years of age, the Military Selective Service Act requires you to register with the Selective Service System — the Agency responsible for maintaining information on those potentially eligible for military service in the event the United States government deems it necessary to implement a military draft. Most male U.S. citizens and male immigrant non-citizens between the ages of 18 and 25 are required by law to have registered within 30 days of their 18th birthday. If you are a male between 18 and 25 years of age, you may register on-line by clicking here. You can check to see if you are properly registered here.
Perhaps surprisingly, many non-citizens are required to register, including illegal aliens, legal permanent residents, and refugees. Noncitizens who are notrequired to register with Selective Service include men who are in the U.S. on student or visitor visas, and men who are part of a diplomatic or trade mission and their families. Generally, if a male non-citizen takes up residency in the U.S. before his 26th birthday, he must register with Selective Service. The Selective Service System has published a useful chart detailing who must register.
Fortunately, the U.S. government has not in recent history actively pursued prosecution of individuals who have failed to register with the Selective Service System. However, there are significant other penalties that are imposed upon individuals who were required to register, but fail to do so before their 26th birthday. For example, eligible males who have failed to register may not be able to obtain federal student loans or grants. Failing to register when required to do so also results in a permanent bar for federal employment unless the individual can demonstrate to the Office of Personnel Management, by a preponderance of the evidence, that their failure to register was not “knowing and willful.” You have two opportunities to do this — an “initial determination” (which almost always results in an adverse decision) and an appeal to the Director of the OPM. It is therefore vital to ensure that your case is thoroughly prepared and presented to OPM in the proper form.
Posted by Marc Smith | May 09, 2012 |
Recently, I was invited for my second appearance on “Law School for the Public” — a television series produced by Montgomery Community Television/Montgomery Community Media that runs on cable channel 19/21 on Comcast, Verizon and RCN in Montgomery County. We filmed on May 8, 2012. A recording of ...
Posted by Marc Smith | Mar 23, 2012 |
If you are a male between 18 and 25 years of age, the Military Selective Service Act requires you to register with the Selective Service System — the Agency responsible for maintaining information on those potentially eligible for military service in the event the United States government deems i...
Posted by Marc Smith | Jan 27, 2012 |
If you are a male between 18 and 25 years of age, the Military Selective Service Act requires you to register with the Selective Service System — the Agency responsible for maintaining information on those potentially eligible for military service in the event the United States government deems i...
Posted by Marc Smith | Dec 28, 2011 |
If you are a male between 18 and 25 years of age, the Military Selective Service Act requires you to register with the Selective Service System — the Agency responsible for maintaining information on those potentially eligible for military service in the event the United States government deems i...
Posted by Marc Smith | Dec 20, 2011 |
If you are a male between 18 and 25 years of age, the Military Selective Service Act requires you to register with the Selective Service System — the Agency responsible for maintaining information on those potentially eligible for military service in the event the United States government deems i...
Posted by Marc Smith | Dec 05, 2011 |
If you are a male between 18 and 25 years of age, the Military Selective Service Act requires you to register with the Selective Service System — the Agency responsible for maintaining information on those potentially eligible for military service in the event the United States government deems i...
Posted by Marc Smith | Nov 15, 2011 |
If you are a male between 18 and 25 years of age, the Military Selective Service Act requires you to register with the Selective Service System — the Agency responsible for maintaining information on those potentially eligible for military service in the event the United States government deems i...
Posted by Marc Smith | Oct 26, 2011 |
If you are a male between 18 and 25 years of age, the Military Selective Service Act requires you to register with the Selective Service System — the Agency responsible for maintaining information on those potentially eligible for military service in the event the United States government deems i...
Posted by Marc Smith | Oct 19, 2011 |
As we have written elsewhere in this blog, when an employer misclassifies a worker as an independent contractor, the employer exposes itself to a host of potential claims and liabilities, including but not limited to payroll taxes, income tax withholding, workers compensation, unemployment insur...
Posted by Marc Smith | Oct 19, 2011 |
This past spring, the U.S. Department of Labor announced the launch of its first application for smartphones, a time sheet to help employees independently track the hours they work and determine the wages they are owed. Available in English and Spanish, users conveniently can track regular work h...
Posted by Marc Smith | Oct 10, 2011 |
Late last year, we began representing a sales executive of a publicly traded technology company with unpaid commission claims exceeding $1 million dollars. Our client had greatly exceeded his assigned sales goals that triggered accelerators under his compensation plan that significantly enhanced ...
Posted by Marc Smith | Oct 03, 2011 |
If you are a male between 18 and 25 years of age, the Military Selective Service Act requires you to register with the Selective Service System — the Agency responsible for maintaining information on those potentially eligible for military service in the event the United States government deems i...
Posted by Marc Smith | May 16, 2011 |
Many employers require applicants to sign forms providing authorization for the employer to access an employee's credit report — particularly in the banking and financial services fields. When negative information is uncovered, such as poor credit or bankruptcy, that information is often used as ...
Posted by Marc Smith | May 06, 2011 |
If you are a male between 18 and 25 years of age, the Military Selective Service Act requires you to register with the Selective Service System — the Agency responsible for maintaining information on those potentially eligible for military service in the event the United States government deems i...
Posted by Marc Smith | Apr 05, 2011 |
Last year, we began representing an employee of a local business in an unpaid wage case involving rather extraordinary facts — the employer had issued an astounding total of 57 paychecks to our client which the bank would not honor due to insufficient funds. We filed suit in the Circuit Court for...
Posted by Marc Smith | Mar 30, 2011 |
Not long ago, I wrote about the unfortunate waitress who was fired after posting derogatory information about her employer's customers on her Facebook account. In this day and age, workers should understand that employers routinely scour social media sites in conjunction with hiring decisions, wh...
Posted by Marc Smith | Mar 21, 2011 |
In a recent case of first impression in the Fourth Circuit, the Court ruled that the owner of a restaurant/tavern, who is also a bartender, may not lawfully participate in his employee bartenders tip pool under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In Gionfriddo v. Zink, the court observed that [e]very c...
Posted by Marc Smith | Feb 18, 2011 |
On February 18, 2011, Judge John McDowell, a Washington County Circuit Court Judge, entered judgment in favor of two clients who were former employees of Defendant IOT Systems. As described in our Complaint (a copy of which can be found here), during the course of our clients' employment, IOT mis...
Posted by Marc Smith | Feb 11, 2011 |
If you are a male between 18 and 25 years of age, the Military Selective Service Act requires you to register with the Selective Service System — the Agency responsible for maintaining information on those potentially eligible for military service in the event the United States government deems i...
Posted by Marc Smith | Jan 22, 2011 |
In an interesting recent case, an employee who had sued her employer claiming discrimination was not entitled to assert the attorney-client privilege with respect to her email communications with her attorney in the litigation because they were sent from her work email account, a California appea...
Posted by Marc Smith | Dec 15, 2010 |
If you keep up with legal news, you will almost certainly have noticed the proliferation of litigation concerning entitlement to overtime compensation, including collective actions where large numbers of employees sue their employers for unpaid overtime. Liability for unpaid overtime can be stagg...
Posted by Marc Smith | Dec 08, 2010 |
Recently, I was invited to participate as a guest commentator on a segment of “Law School for the Public,” an educational program appearing on cable television in Montgomery County, Maryland. Rick Vernon, a partner at the Bethesda, Maryland firm of Lerch, Early & Brewer, Chtd., also appeared as a...
Posted by Marc Smith | Dec 08, 2010 |
As you may have seen in the news, the United States Congress is currently considering an extension of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) Program as part of President Obama's compromise legislation. At this time, the legislation has not been passed and the EUC Program has not been exten...
Posted by Marc Smith | Dec 02, 2010 |
On November 30, 2010, extended unemployment benefits, which had been expanded by the federal government by a period of 73 weeks (normally individuals can collect a maximum of 26 weeks), expired potentially leaving several million people without a source of income over the holidays. The fate of a ...
Posted by Marc Smith | Nov 15, 2010 |
Early in March 2010, we initiated an arbitration action against a local financial firm that purchases structured settlements and lottery winnings. Our client was employed as an executive with the firm. When filed, the case was premised on the firm's anticipatory breach of a severance agreement wi...