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New Hampshire
Candidate arrested on months-old allegation 4 days before N.H. town vote – The Boston Globe
New Hampshire State Police announced on Tuesday, while voting was still underway, that one of the two candidates competing for town clerk in Northumberland, N.H., had been arrested four days earlier.
The announcement said Courtney McLain, the current deputy town clerk, was arrested Friday on 28 misdemeanor charges, each punishable by a $2,000 fine and up to a year in jail. She is accused of improperly accessing Division of Motor Vehicle records to process transactions without having the proper credentials to do so.
McLain appears to have lost Tuesdayâs election. She received 220 votes while her opponent, Kathy Wiles, received 283 votes, according to unofficial results. The incumbent, Melinda âMinâ Kennett, opted not to seek another term.
The announcement from police misspelled McLainâs name, misstated her age, and didnât explain why she lacked credentials to access the Division of Motor Vehicles records relevant to the business her office conducts. Nor did it specify when the alleged offenses had occurred.
More detailed records filed with the Circuit Court in Lancaster show that all the charges are based on conduct alleged to have occurred 10 months ago.
McLainâs defense attorney, Leif A. Becker, said he has known about the investigation into this matter for at least seven months. He said the timing of this arrest doesnât seem to be coincidental. He accused police of outright election interference.
âThis amounts to nothing short of an (affront) to our democratic process,â Becker said.
A spokesperson for the New Hampshire Department of Safety, which includes New Hampshire State Police, did not respond to questions about the timing of McLainâs arrest. The trooper who signed the complaints filed in this case, Brandon Girardi, did not respond to a request for comment.
The Caledonian Recordâs Paul Hayes first reported McLainâs arrest on Sunday, noting in a follow-up report that New Hampshire State Police didnât confirm the arrest until Tuesday.
Court records specify that McLain is accused of using the New Hampshire Municipal Agent Automation Project (MAAP) computer network on May 5, 2023, to process vehicle transactions for 14 different customers by posing as an authorized MAAP user.
Becker said McLain and Kennett had each been given a six-month suspension that barred them from accessing the vehicle registration system. Their punishments came after they were found guilty in March 2023 of disclosing DMV registration information without authorization, according to court records from prior cases.
Kennett was convicted of disclosing vehicle registration information to the general manager of a local grocery store who called to ask about a vehicle that was blocking a delivery, according to the Caledonian Record.
McLain, meanwhile, was charged with disclosing vehicle registrant information in two other unauthorized ways, including during a public meeting of the Northumberland select board, according to court records. On one misdemeanor count in that case, she entered what is known as an Alford plea, Becker said. That is a type of guilty plea in which a defendant acknowledges prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them, without admitting their guilt.
Select board meeting minutes from July 18, 2022, indicate McLain had asked questions about why a police officer was driving a vehicle with an expired motor vehicle registration. Her comment led not only to the criminal charge but also to civil litigation as well.
William Daisey, who was then employed as a Northumberland police lieutenant, sued McLain, Kennett, and the town. He accused McLain of unlawfully divulging confidential information about his motor vehicle records during a select board meeting.
Becker, who represents both McLain and Kennett in the civil and criminal cases, told the Globe that police carried out a âmaliciousâ investigation and moved forward with McLainâs arrest on Friday despite evidence that contradicts their case. He said the state already has witness statements and photographic evidence to support McLainâs innocence.
In a statement, Becker had called on Northumberland voters to select McLain so she can help clean up âthe âsmall town politicsâ cultureâ that has been causing problems in local government.
âI know that Courtney cares about the Northumberland community and its residents,â Becker said, âand I look forward to addressing these charges along with the manner in which they have been investigated and brought forward.â
McLain is slated for an arraignment on June 3, police said.
This story was updated to clarify Courtney McLainâs plea in a prior case.
Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.
What employers are getting wrong, and how to fix it before it becomes a claim
New Hampshire’s employment law landscape heading into 2026 may not be dramatically different from last year, but the real risks lie in implementation missteps. From the initial setting of wages, to calculating and distributing wages, employers will likely find a specific statute and/or labor regulation governing the transaction. Failure to follow these detailed wage and hour laws can result in significant back wages and other penalties being imposed by the state or federal Department of Labor following an audit. Fortunately, however, this area of employment law is relatively easy to master, once you are familiar with the basics.
Notice compliance
One of the most common pitfalls for employers in New Hampshire is misunderstanding the wage and hour notice requirements under RSA 275 and the related New Hampshire Department of Labor Administrative Rules.
At the time of hire, employers must notify employees in writing of their rate of pay and the day and place of payment. This notice is traditionally delivered to employees by way of an offer letter or some sort of “New Hire Rate of Pay” form. (A sample form is available from the New Hampshire Department of Labor website.) What surprises most employers, however, is that Lab. 803.03(f)(6) also requires employers to request and obtain their employees’ signatures on this written notification of wages, and employers must keep a copy of the signed written notification of wages on file. Further, employers must notify employees in writing during the course of employment of any changes to wages or day of pay prior to such changes taking effect, and the employer must obtain the employee’s signature on this subsequent notification as well. (See RSA 275:49; Lab. 803.03.)
Employers are further required to notify employees in writing, or through a posted notice maintained in a place accessible to employees, of:
• employment practices and policies with regard to vacation pay, sick leave and other fringe benefits.
• deductions made from the employee’s payroll check, for each period such deductions are made.
• information regarding the deductions allowed from wage payments under state law. (RSA 275:49; Lab. 803.03.)
Policies regarding vacation and sick leave should inform employees whether or not the employer will “cash out” unused time at year end or at the end of employment, and if so, under what terms. Again, if any changes are made to vacation pay, sick leave and other fringe benefits during the course of employment (all of which are considered “wages” under New Hampshire law), employers must request and obtain their employees’ signatures on the written notification of the change, and must keep a copy of the signed form on file. (Lab. 803.03.) Importantly, notification by way of pay stub alone is not sufficient, and, these requirements apply to both increases and decreases in pay.
Two-hour minimum (reporting pay)
Another frequently overlooked obligation is New Hampshire’s two-hour minimum reporting pay requirement. Under RSA 275:43-a, non-exempt employees who report to work but are sent home early must generally be paid for at least two hours. Weather-related closures, client cancellations or operational slowdown days can trigger this rule. Employers should also note that the New Hampshire Department of Labor currently applies this law to remote-based employees. Consequently, employees who “report to work” at an employer’s request from a home office may likewise have a right to two hours of pay, depending on the circumstances.
Salaried vs. hourly employees
Misclassification of employees as exempt from overtime remains a significant source of compliance exposure. The position’s job duties — not the titles or label such as “salaried” — determine whether an employee qualifies for an overtime exemption.
Employers, particularly in nonprofits, health care and small businesses, unintentionally misapply exempt classifications to roles such as administrative staff, office managers, executive assistants, program coordinators or hybrid jobs that involve significant non-exempt tasks. Over time, as organizational needs evolve and employees take on broader responsibilities, job duties can drift outside of an exemption’s scope.
Best practice is to periodically review job descriptions and actual job duties to ensure continued compliance with exemption criteria, particularly following any significant restructuring or job redesigns.
Peg O’Brien is chair of McLane Middleton’s Employment Law Practice Group. She can be reached at margaret.o’brien@mclane.com.
Local News
“Our family wants to know what happened, who did this and why,” said the family of the victim.
A new photo has been released of the victim in a nearly 30-year-long unsolved murder case, in the hope of finding any new potential witnesses in the cold case, New Hampshire officials said.
“Our family wants to know what happened, who did this and why,” the family of Rosalie Miller said in a press release. “We miss her and want to give her peace.”
Miller was last seen on December 8, 1996 at her apartment in Manchester. At the time of her disappearance, Miller had plans on meeting friends in the Auburn, New Hampshire area, officials said.
Her body was found on January 20, 1997 in a partially wooded spot on a residential lot along the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn, officials said in the release.
The autopsy report declared Miller’s death a homicide by asphyxiation due to ligature strangulation, N.H. officials wrote.
As part of a new effort to garner public help with the case, an “uncirculated” photo of Miller, 36, is being distributed “in hopes it may jog the memory of someone who saw or spoke with her in the winter of 1996,” Attorney General John M. Formella and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark B. Hall announced on behalf of the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit in a joint press release.
Investigators are especially hoping to talk to anyone who was in contact with Miller in December of 1996 or anyone “who may have seen her in the vicinity of the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn during that time,” officials said in the release.
“We are releasing this new photograph today because we believe someone out there has information, perhaps a detail they thought was insignificant at the time, that could be the key to solving this case and bringing justice for Rosalie and those who loved her,” Senior Assistant Attorney General R. Christopher Knowles, New Hampshire Cold Case Unit Chief said in the release.
The New Hampshire Cold Case Unit encourages anyone with any amount of information to contact the group at [email protected] or (603) 271-2663.
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