Going into small business on your own can be exciting and scary at the same time. While living your dream can be the thrill of a life time, legal hassles that come with it can keep you away from it. All types of laws and regulations enacted by government can keep you busy all day. They cover your building, employees, warehouses and so on. The list can be endless, however with proper oversight and planning you can stay out of legal hot water. Here are some tips to help you along the way.
Get Trademarks Out Of The Way
The easiest way for you to get into trouble is to ignore someone else’s intellectual property rights. These rights, secured by a trade or service mark, serve as the foundation for a business’s identity. But, many new entrepreneurs are ignorant about all of this and plough ahead with their business idea – this is where they get into trouble.
The legal costs for infringing on an idea, name, or service mark that’s already owned by another company are staggering. It could cost you hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of dollars. It’s just not worth the trouble or legal hassle.
Contact a trademark attorney to run several ideas by him or her first. Have them do the necessary research before you file your business registration or incorporate, get business cards and stationary and all that jazz.
Get Your Insurances In Order
There are several types of insurance that are mandatory if you have employees. One of those is unemployment insurance. Another one is worker’s compensation. You may also want to buy liability insurance if clients come onto your premises.
There are a lot of cases where businesses get sued even for something like a fender-bender in their business parking lot. Without liability insurance, and without proper legal protections from the start, you could be out of business before you really get off the ground.
Do Not Discriminate
Don’t do something dumb like discriminate based on a person’s race, creed, gender, color, or disability status (or anything else, really). It’s against the law, and potential employees are well-protected under the law. Even if the candidate wins, he may not want to work for you, and you’ll be out a lot of money with no clear gain.
Obey All Minimum Wage Laws
You must pay all workers minimum wage for all hours worked. You must also obey all overtime laws. Usually, this means paying workers at least time and one-half for all hours worked over 40 hours in a work week.
This, again, is mandated by the government, so it’s not optional.
Don’t Imply Things You Can’t Actually Offer
You cannot imply or explicitly offer something like job security. You may be able to offer a work contract, but this is entirely different from job security guarantees. You also should not offer benefits that you cannot reasonably and predictably supply, because many employees will turn on you if you break those promises and you’ll be in for a long (and expensive) legal battle.
Follow All State and Federal Laws Concerning New Hires
Always follow all state and federal laws concerning the hiring of immigrants and independent contractors. Observe all safety regulations that are relevant to you, such as food-handling regulations in your state. You must also follow payroll tax withholding rules set forth by the tax authority, as well as comply with other regulations by every and any other state and federal agency.
Oh, and don’t forget your business license or permit. Now, go out there and make some money.
Leonard Bryer ran his small business for many years. Now semi-retired, he likes to spend some time sharing his insights on the web. You can read his helpful posts on a variety of websites and blogs. See http://watsongoepel.com/ for more legal advice.
