One of the most common reasons businesses shy away from hiring a business lawyer is often the high cost of services. However, it ends up biting them in the ass when they fall into some legal pitfalls. Without a firm legal representative, a business might find it hard to navigate legal issues.
If perhaps you don’t see a need for a business lawyer, this article might convince you otherwise. In the business world, there are numerous legal issues that a business can encounter. As a business owner, protecting your business should be a top priority.
Here are some standard legal issues businesses often face and how to avoid them.
- Undefined Business Structure
Before the inception of any business, one of the aspects tackled earlier is the company’s structure. It is the foundation of everything you will ever do in business, including formulating policies and future work. Your business structure will also affect your taxes and the magnitude of liability in case of a lawsuit.
Thus, the first decision every aspiring business owner often makes is defining the business’s structure. It could be registered as a sole proprietorship, partnership, C Corporation, S Corporation, and Limited Liability Company. Make sure you define your business before an operation can commence.
- Termination Of Employment
Since you’re not going to run your business alone, you must handle employment termination with care to avoid a backfire. Letting go of an underperforming employee can seem hard most times, even lead to a heated lawsuit.
Some of the reasons that could lead to employment termination may include underperformance, misconduct, and retrenchment. Before you terminate an employee, you must draft out a Notice of Termination first and give the employee enough time to process the situation.
The only time instant termination is feasible is when an employee is involved in theft, an assault, fraud, or perhaps refused to carry out reasonable instructions.
- Discrimination
In case you’re unaware, your former, current, or prospective employees can sue your business on the ground of discrimination. It could be because of working in a hostile environment or based on gender, sexuality, age, or ethnicity.
Your job as a business owner or employer is to ensure you provide a suitable working environment for your employees. Going the extra mile to formulate rules that fight against discrimination of any sort should not be overlooked.
- Health & Safety
If the job entails hard physical work or the use of some dangerous equipment, then you must ensure that the environment follows health and safety rules and regulations. Not only will this save you money in the long run, but you will also be able to protect your business from an unnecessary lawsuit.
To avoid this unpleasant situation, ensure you draft out a health and safety policy where it is stated the company’s responsibility is usually followed to prevent work injuries and illnesses.
Conclusion
There are many legal issues that businesses face every day, and the best way to stay safe and afloat is by hiring a reliable business lawyer. In that case, we’ve got you covered.
Contact Lamb, Carroll, Papp and Cunabaugh, P.C., Attorneys at Law today for legal help.