by eclewis | Nov 15, 2008 | Business News
In the United States, the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) covers maternity and parental leave. The FMLA covers public agencies (i.e State and Federal employers), local education agencies, and private sector employers who have 50 or more employees for at least 20 workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year. Only employees who work for the preceding employers for at least 12 months for at least 1,250 hours in that period are eligible.
Unlike most of the developed world, the United States does not mandate paid medical leave. The FMLA states that employers must give covered employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period for the birth of a child or to care for a newborn child. The employee must complete the leave within 12 months of the birth of the child. In most cases, both parents can take leave.
In most cases, you only need to provide unpaid maternity leave if you are an employer subject to the FMLA. However, this may change, especially if you stated that you would provide paid leave. Therefore, always talk to your attorney to ensure that you do not need to provide paid leave.
by eclewis | Nov 9, 2008 | Business News
In addition to corporations, limited liability companies, and partnerships, Colorado has a special entity available to certain professionals called the Professional Corporation – P.C. for short. Currently, accountants, architects, attorneys, chiropractors, dentists, engineers, doctors, podiatrists, optometrists, physical therapists, psychologists, social workers, therapists, counselors, and veterinarians may form professional corporations. In addition, for each of these professions, there may even be restrictions on the other types of business entities that these professionals can use.
The regulations of most of the businesses owned by the professionals listed above control how the owners can share profits with employees. For instance, while most of these professional corporations can give bonuses to all employees based on the total volume of business or the years in service of a particular employee, specific fees can usually only be shared with an employee that is practicing in the field of the professional corporation. For example, a law firm may be able to share fees received by a client with an attorney that brings in that client but may not be able to share the fees if a receptionists brought the client in. However, the accounting firm may be able to give all employees a 10% bonus at the end of the year because profits were up 25%.
Professional corporations must still abide by any rules placed on the individual professional in the same field. For example, a doctor cannot create a professional entity to sell painkiller prescriptions without examining a person for extra profit if the medical ethical code states a doctor cannot do that. In many cases, if an individual in a professional company does break the ethical code of that profession, he or she may be subject to discipline from the regulators of that field.
Professional corporations may be required to keep liability insurance. Professional corporations may also be required to have a certain number of board members or owners of the professional at issue – or in some cases must have all board members and owners be of that profession.
Over the next few weeks, I will be highlighting some of the specific requirements of various professional organizations. Should you be a professional in one of these fields needing incorporation advice, please call me.
by eclewis | Oct 28, 2008 | Business News, IP Law
Defamation Law
Although the information on this Blog is based on California law, much of the information applies to all business owners that use the web. For any business that has an online blog that talks about individuals, or for that matter anyone that has an online blog, I recommend reading the post on 5 Ways To Avoid Being Sued On Your Blog at the following site: http://www.defamationlawblog.com/.
If you have any questions about whether your company may have potential issues on your website (for instance you have an online blog and compare your products to another company’s product) in Colorado, don’t hesitate to call or email me.
by eclewis | Oct 26, 2008 | Business News
When selling a company, there are legal, financial, and emotional issues to deal with. To ensure the sale is done properly, it may be necessary to work with other professionals such as accountants, attorneys, business evaluation experts, and real estate agents. In addition to professionals, it may also be important to talk to your family, business partners, or economic experts if appropriate.
Legally, there are many considerations. You must make sure that you have the right to sell either the whole company or your share of the company to the buyer. This may include looking into the corporate document (i.e. the bylaws) to make sure it does not include any provisions that you cannot sell. For instance, in some family companies, there may be provisions that you can only sell your share to other family members. You must make sure there are no legal reasons not to sell. For instance, if you are selling a construction business but the license to run the business if non-transferable, you may have to tell the buyer that he will not be able to run it without the license. You must ensure that any conditions of the sale that need to be revealed to the buyer are. For instance, you may need to reveal what type of stock the buyer is purchasing, any environmental hazards in the building, or any conditions in employment contracts.
Financially, there are several considerations. Before selling, you need to consider what price is appropriate for your business or share of business. Sale of stock may be determined by either the market price or the corporate documents.However, if you are selling a company in which you are sole owner or one of only a few owners, you may want to consult an expert in evaluating the net-worth of a business. You may need to consider whether the market conditions are right to sell the business or whether it would be better to wait. There may also be tax implications depending on how the sale is structured.
Emotionally, if you are the sole owner of the business, then it may be difficult to let the business go. Before selling the business, you need to make sure you are prepared if the new owner doesn’t run the business like you did. If you co-own the business, there may be issues if you try to sell the business without letting your partner know. If the partner is a family member or close friend, selling the business to someone your partner does not like may have an impact on your relationship with your partner. Talking to family members, trusted friends, and your business partners may alleviate some of this concern. However, before talking to anyone, it is important that, if the sale of the business is a secret, they are people you can trust or that they sign non-disclosure agreements, if appropriate.
Selling a business can be an exciting time. The sale can lead to retirement, a new business venture, or just some needed relaxation to help you decide on a new life path. However, it is always important to make sure that the sale is completed in a way that ensures you receive the full value of the company and are not setting yourself up for future problems.
by eclewis | Oct 19, 2008 | Business News, Misc. Legal Tidbits
When starting a business that requires significant amount of capital, owners typically look to four sources of funds: personal funds; friends and family; venture capital; and angel investors. Angel investors typically provide the first or second round of financing to help start the company before venture capitalist step in. (Typically, what an owner/owners can provide through personal funds and investments by friends and family does not equal enough to get through to the stage where a venture capitalist will invest as VCs invest at the third or fourth round of financing.) Unlike venture capitalists who typically use pooled money of multiple investors to fund multiple companies, angel investors use their own funds. Depending on the angel investor, the angel may fund one company or several.
An angel investor is not always a single person – it may be a trust, investment fund, or another business. Angel investors usually invest in high cost businesses such as software and information technology; healthcare services; medical devices and equipment; and biotech companies. Due to the high risk of the investments, angel investors will require a defined exit strategy to ensure a return on their investments.
by eclewis | Sep 14, 2008 | Business News
If you watched either the DNC or RNC, you undoubtedly heard news reporters talking about their “twitter” accounts. On CNN, news reporters read comments from users throughout their show. However, if you aren’t familiar with twitter, read on.Twitter.com is one of the newer things to take off in the world of online social networking. It is a way for people to microblog about what they are doing from anywhere in the world.
In addition to being able to update your Twitter account from their website, there are multiple applications to help you do it from other spots. For instance, you can download software such as Twitterific (http://iconfactory.com/software/twitterrific) to update your Twitter account from your phone. For your PC you can use Digsby http://www.digsby.com/ to update your twitter account in addition to having all your IM accounts in one program. After you get a Twitter account, you determine who you want to follow.
When I started, I only had about 10 people to follow and most of them were friends who would definitely be seen as IT geeks. However, now I am following about 150 people as I searched for people with similar interest. To make it work for your business, seek out potential clients, potential investors, and others that might just want to learn about what you do and post about it. You can find relevant links to post or just ask random thoughts. You can also use it to ask questions of people in your network – just beware that just because someone says they are something doesn’t mean that the person isn’t a nine year old who knows more about computers than her parents!
The best way to learn about Twitter is to use it. If you want someone to follow, my username is eclewis! Happy twittering!
