In the 1980s and early 1990s firearm related murders and the war against drugs were sweeping across the country. These social problems prompted Pennsylvania’s legislature to pass mandatory minimum criminal sentencing statutes. A mandatory minimum prison sentence becomes the statutorily mandated minimum prison time to which a sentencing judge must sentence a defendant convicted of…

This blog shall focus on the new phenomenon of employment assistance (EAP”) programs. Employee/professionals are introduced to these programs in the context of positive drug tests in the work place. The extent of self-disclosure and participation within these programs has become a source of information for licensing board investigators and PHMP programs. Participant disclosure in…

The Commonwealth Court, on November 6, 2014, handed down Van Ness v. Bureau of Occupational Affairs. This decision is a text book discussion of specific conduct upon which Pennsylvania’s licensing boards will base their decision to strip a licensee of their professional license. A guilty plea or admitting to an employer or Board investigator that…