|
Expert Answers to Biz Questions Listen in! Pick up some expert advice to a reader's question that we selected from CyberSchmooz.
4 Legal Issues Businesses Often Face
In an ideal world, your business would always operate smoothly and you’d never face legal issues.
Unfortunately, that’s not the world we live in. There are various reasons your business may face legal problems or similar circumstances.
It would be impossible to list all the legal issues your business may face. This is partly because the legal problems businesses encounter depend on the nature of their services and products. For example, a business whose services naturally involve the use of harmful chemicals may potentially face lawsuits or other legal consequences if the business fails to handle said chemicals properly. That’s not likely to be the type of issue a small, local shop will face.
That said, the following are some of the more common legal issues business owners encounter – so prepare for them accordingly.
(Tip: One aspect of preparation involves knowing who you’ll turn to should legal issues arise. For instance, aside from your attorney, you might also want to enlist the help of a team offering court reporting services.)
Employment Issues As a business owner, you must familiarize yourself with the applicable employment laws regarding how much employees should be paid, how many hours employees can work, etc. Keep in mind, along with federal laws, you’ll also have to remain aware of state laws.
However, even if you’re vigilant about staying up-to-date on employment and labor laws, you can’t control everything that happens at your business. For example, you may one day face a legal issue if an employee wasn’t properly compensated for overtime work. You might not have been the one responsible for failing to pay them, but that doesn’t mean this circumstance isn’t relevant to you.
Issues Related to the Type of Business You Own You know there are several different corporate structures from which to choose when starting a business. Legal requirements can vary from one structure to another.
For example, some types of businesses are required to regularly publish statements illustrating the company’s financial status. If you accidentally fail to adhere to a requirement that applies to your chosen corporate structure, you may encounter legal trouble.
Intellectual Property Issues As this general overview has already implied, you don’t have to knowingly or intentionally violate a law to nevertheless get your business into legal trouble.
For instance, in the digital age, it’s become increasingly easy to accidentally violate intellectual property laws. Simply using a copyrighted image on your website could result in a legal issue.
Issues Resulting from Unclear Offerings This is a common legal issue that small and mid-sized businesses often face, but it’s also one that many overlook when preparing for potential future legal problems.
Your work may involve providing clients with various services. When you offer your services to clients, it’s important that you clearly express what a client will receive from your business. Legal disputes often arise when clients feel the services or products they’ve received don’t align with what they were told to expect. Additionally, even if a client doesn’t take legal action, they may still be justified in withholding payment if they have a genuine reason to believe your business misrepresented its offerings.
None of this is meant to worry you. It’s simply meant to help you prepare. Even if you have the best intentions, your business may face legal issues for a variety of reasons. You need to be ready when that happens.
Small Business Tax Center • Idea Cafe Home • Sign Up • Biz Grant Center • CyberSchmooz •Coffee Talk with Experts • People in Biz Profiles • Starting Your Biz • Biz Planning • Running Your Biz • FREE Trade Publications • Marketing • Financing Your Biz • Human Resources • Legal & Biz Forms • Managing Your Biz • eCommerce • You and Your Biz • Gen X • Work@Home • The Fridge • De-Stress • Send an Award • Send an eGreeting • Yoga @ Your Desk • Web Guide • Idea Cafe in the News • About Idea Cafe • Advertise on Idea Cafe • Contact Us • Privacy Policy • Site Map • Small Biz News
Copyright 1995-2024, Idea Cafe Inc. Downloads are for personal use only, not for resale to others, and may not be reprinted in any form without written permission from Idea Cafe Inc.
DISCLAIMER: We hope whatever you find on this site is helpful, but be cautioned that it may not apply to your own situation, or be totally current at any given time. Idea Cafe Inc. and all of its current and past experts, sponsors, advertisers, agents, contractors and advisors disclaim all warranties with regard to anything found anywhere on this family of websites, quoted from, or sent from Idea Cafe. and its related sites, publications and companies. We also take no responsibility for comments published by others on these pages. TRADEMARKS: The following are Registered Trademarks or Servicemarks of DevStart, Inc.: Idea Cafe®, Online Coffee Break®, The Small Business Gathering Place®, Take out Info®, Biz Bar & Grill®, Complaint-O-Meter®, A Fun Approach to Serious Business, CyberSchmooz, and BizCafe.
|
|