Although the Federal Arbitration Act is federal legislation, that is, the law of the land, the frequency with which it is part of standard employment contracts means that state courts, rather than federal courts, are more frequently called on to apply the Act to a contract dispute. Thirty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court said that the Act declares ” a national policy favoring arbitration.” More recently, it has firmly come down against what it regarded as a state supreme court’s ” judicial hostility” towards arbitration.
Business Law
Estimated Taxes for Business Owners
Estimated tax is the method used to pay tax on income that isn’t subject to withholding, most notably earnings from self-employment. Many owners of small businesses-whether operated as S corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies electing partnership taxation, or sole proprietorships-pay their estimated tax using the same IRS Form 1040-ES that individuals use.
Before You Start a Business . . .
Both heart and mind must be working well if the owners of a new small business are to experience success. While it is only human nature—not to mention fun—to indulge one’s imagination about what a new business started from scratch could be like, would-be entrepreneurs need to engage in some cold, hard thinking and planning before taking the plunge. At the risk of pouring cold water on some of the anticipation and excitement, what follows is a guide for how to plan for, and think through, the many decisions that must be made well before you have that “Grand Opening” sign made.
Why?
This may seem obvious, but you should know just what your reasons are for wanting to start a new business. If the motivations are weak, odds are the business will be a bust, whereas well-founded reasons can help a business persevere through good times and bad. Some common reasons for starting a new business include escaping the whole nine-to-five routine (though it may be replaced by an eight-to-eight routine), answering to no one else, upgrading your standard of living, and being convinced that you can provide a needed product or service.
Deducting The Business Use Of Your Home
The federal income tax deduction for the business use of a home has a good dollars and cents upside for those who qualify. Some detailed questions have to be answered correctly to get to that point, however. Not surprisingly, the IRS publication on the subject makes use of a complex flowchart filled with “yes or no” questions to guide taxpayers to a determination of their eligibility for the deduction.
Qualifying for the Deduction
To pass the threshold for use of the home business deduction, a taxpayer must satisfy the following two basic sets of requirements: The first set concerns the nature of the business activities, while the second set relates more to the place itself.
When Is An Employee A “Supervisor”?
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits the creation of a harassing hostile work environment based on the prohibited forms of discrimination, such as discrimination based on sex or race. To hold the employer liable for the harassment, the plaintiff must show that the work environment was so pervaded by discrimination that the terms and conditions of employment were altered. Isolated or trivial occurrences are not likely to be sufficient.
If the harassing employee is the victim’s coworker, that is, someone no higher in the chain of command than the victim is, the employer is liable under Title VII only if it was negligent in controlling working conditions. However, if a supervisor’s harassment of an employee culminates in a tangible employment action, such as a termination or a demotion, the employer is strictly liable under Title VII.
Limited Liability Companies – the Best of All Worlds?
A limited liability company (LLC) is a business structure that combines some of the best features of sole proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations. LLC owners, like their counterparts for partnerships or sole proprietorships, report profits or losses on their personal income tax returns. Like a corporation, however, the owners of an LLC have “limited liability,” that is, they are shielded from personal liability for debts and claims arising from the business.
Limited Liability
The limited liability for LLC owners is not absolute. Owners still can be held liable if they (1) personally and directly injure someone; (2) personally guarantee a loan or business debt on which the LLC defaults; (3) fail to deposit taxes withheld from employees’ wages; (4) intentionally commit a fraudulent or illegal act that harms the company or someone else; or (5) treat the LLC as an extension of their personal affairs rather than as a separate legal entity.
Identity Theft Policies For Businesses
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has revised and clarified its “Red Flags Rule” to help covered businesses comply with requirements for preventing and responding to identity theft directed at their customers. The Rule requires many businesses and organizations to implement a written Identity Theft Prevention Program designed to detect the warning signs (or “red flags”) of identity theft in their day to day operations.
Long Arm Of The Law
Long-arm statutes permit a court in a particular state to bring within its jurisdictional reach nonresident persons who, by their actions, have had at least such “minimum contacts” with the forum state that it is fair and just to subject them to the powers of a court in that state. In earlier times such contacts were as likely as not to take a physical form. But today, as a recent case illustrates, in the age of computers and the Internet the only thing physical about the contact may be someone’s clicking a mouse or striking a keyboard from his or her home in another state or country.
A chemical company based in Connecticut decided to terminate the employment of Jackie, an employee of a Canadian subsidiary of the company. Jackie lived and worked in Ontario, Canada. According to the company, upon learning of her impending termination and just before it, Jackie forwarded from her company email account to her personal email account some confidential and proprietary data files belonging to the company.
Employers Combat FMLA Abuse
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) gives eligible employees the right to up to 12 weeks of leave per year, which may be taken intermittently for certain specified reasons, including the care of designated family members with serious health conditions.
Classifying Employees For Wages
As a general proposition, employers are required by federal law to pay their employees overtime, usually one and one-half times the hourly pay, for time in excess of 40 hours in a work week. They are also required to pay the minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 an hour (note: with some exceptions, the minimum wage in Illinois is $8.25 per hour).
The first four groups of employees that are “exempt” from having these rights are executive, administrative, and professional personnel and outside salespersons. For any of the first three exemptions, collectively called the “white collar exemptions,” to apply, the employee must receive, on a salaried basis, at least $455 per week or its equivalent.