Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Guard Your Small Business: Get Legal Protection!

Operating a small business involves risks and different issues. Some of them would be manageable, but there are few that can only be resolved through legal actions. When you are starting a small enterprise, you need to work hard and make decisions mostly on your own. This means that your excellent training and comprehensive knowledge about business, finance and other significant areas do not guarantee absolute business success. 

First times are always the hardest, where crucial decisions have to be made and expect that some of them wouldn’t work and may lead to failure. But according to author Robert H. Schuller, “Tough times never last, but tough people do!” So be strong and be positive that you can achieve your business goals. 

Before you started your operation, you have definitely studied your market extensively. Careful consideration of your capital requirements and other essential matters was done. If you had laid out your business plan perfectly and have made a remarkable start, then all you need to do is focus on your goal, keep on studying, always check on business weather forecast, prepare for the storm, get your business well protected, and let it grow for a much bigger success!

But before you imagine success, you have to know some of the common legal issues that could affect your business. 

Hiring. A budding enterprise usually cannot afford the luxuries of maintaining an in-house legal counsel and human resource department that could flawlessly implement the legal rules on hiring employees. So, it is important that you know fundamental guidelines, especially on the issues of discrimination, respect to applicant’s rights, wage, benefits, and related rules. From the interview to background checking to job offer and to outlining and signing of contract, you have to be careful; otherwise, you will be stepping on a landmine that could explode and damage your business. 

Firing. In firing an employee, diplomacy is very important. There are existing termination guidelines to be observed, policies to be followed consistently, proper documents to be prepared, and legal ways to be done. Know the legalities and avoid the explosive problems when it comes to employee termination. 

Intellectual Property. In various circumstances, to have a license for intellectual property rights will effectively help in achieving your business goals, especially when you are starting a new business, expanding it or upgrading the quality of your goods or services. In order to avoid losing your intellectual property rights, you should know the legal ways to protect it. You can do a research, visit online sites like LegalShield wordpress site, or consult a business lawyer, to ensure that you are far from the risks.

Small Claims. When a debt involves only a comparatively small amount, small claim rules is seemed to be a practical solution than suing the debtor. Of course, litigation expenses plus the inconvenience of filing a case to court are quite overwhelming and impractical. Again, there are proper legal procedures on how this matter works and is done so it is better to be informed. 

Workers Compensation. Statutory compensation law protects and secures the employees in case of emergency that happened on duty. The law ensures that they are subsidized when they are injured, ill or become disabled caused by situations while they were at work. The law does not protect the employees only, but also the employers. The financial demands or assistance required to be provided to the affected employees will depend on some factors specified by law. Thus, you have to do some homework to fully understand this subject.

The aforementioned items are just few of the many legal issues that could possibly affect your budding enterprise. Issues like customer complaints, incorporation, identity theft, government compliance, verbal contracts, city zoning, bad check recovery, and many others are best explained by lawyers who really have extensive knowledge on the field of business law. 

If you would want your small business enterprise to boom and to succeed at first try, get it legally protected. Consult your business attorney for guidance and legalities on how to run your business without worrying on different legal issues that may arise. 

Brandon Peters is an entrepreneur, writer and gadgets and outdoor enthusiast. He loves to travel, collect hi-tech gadgets and write just about anything under the sun. 


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