President Obama’s State of the Union address touched on many issues, but for businesses the biggest one may be his proposal for a $9 minimum wage. That’s a big jump from the current federal minimum wage of $7.25. Does that mean you’ll have to start paying each employee an extra $1.75 per hour to make up the difference? The federal minimum wage sets the lowest hourly pay for federal employees and those subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act....
It seems like beauty has a beast of a problem with her co-op! A foot model is suing her co-op for mistreatment. Hand and foot model Christina Ambers fell in love with the doorman in her building after being unlucky in love only to have her neighbors try to force her out of the building. Her response? She is suing the co-op for $10 million dollars. Foot model Christina Ambers actually married that doorman even after he was told by the co-op’s super to not date the foot model....
May is National Bike Month, and thousands of amateur cyclists are set to hit the streets on Bike to Work Day — which actually falls on different days, depending on where you live — and, for the first time this year, Bike to School Day. But before you strap on that helmet (you are wearing a helmet, right?) and head out the door, you may want a quick refresher in bike laws that you may not know about....
As we’ve recently discussed, your business may require various types of insurance to protect it from the unpredictable storms of liability. But as you might imagine, it was impossible to cover all of the many helpful types of business insurance in the same digital breath. For example, what about employee health insurance? Or insurance for corporate events? We hear you. Now that we’ve had a breather, here are five more types of insurance your business may need:...
According to retail giant Best Buy, Newegg’s “parody” commercial is anything but funny. Best Buy’s cease and desist letter sent to Newegg also did not have the intended effect. Newegg has posted a copy of the letter on its Facebook page. Why does Best Buy find this commercial so offensive? And, what should small business owners take into account if they’re looking to make some parody advertisements of their own?...
The weekly rundown of crime stories that blur the lines between idiot and genius, justified and not so much, freedom and incarceration… you be the judge. Sports bars + guns + kids = trouble. Last week, we saw a scooter-jacking by a kid with a fake gun. This week, we have a skateboard-jacking by a grown man with a real gun. Cincinnati sports bar proprietor Jack Connerton does not appreciate kids cutting through his parking lot....
Call it instinct or brotherly love, but whatever drove 6-year-old Timo Perez of Homstead, Florida to protect his little brother from a vicious dog attack is saving the dog’s owner a lot of trouble. And may have just saved the 4-year-old’s life. Late last week, Timo Perez and his younger brother Carlos, along with a neighborhood friend, were playing in their backyard when a dog escaped from a fenced-in yard across the street....
Since the TSA introduced its “enhanced” pat down procedure in November, there has been a lot of uproar, likening airport pat downs to sexual assault and federally sponsored groping. One too many groped children (and a former beauty queen) later, and Texas legislators have apparently had enough. Late last week, the state House of Representatives passed a Texas TSA pat down ban, criminalizing airport pat downs that it feels go too far....
Pay up or go to jail. That’s the situation American debtors are increasing facing after debt collectors utilize local police to collect on debts. In some places, debt collectors can get a civil warrant for the debtor’s arrest. Once arrested, debtors can spend the night, or even the weekend in jail, until they can be brought before a judge. Another clever trick used by the debt collectors? Getting bail set at the amount of the debt they owe....
You and some co-venturers have come up with a business plan and an idea that you want to bring to fruition. How do you decide how much each person will own in the company? Many entrepreneurs think that each founder should own equal shares. This can be problematic, for many reasons. Here are a few things to think about when dividing ownership and founders stock. Who is bringing the funds to the table?...
First, there were hangings and firing squads. Then, the electric chair and gas chamber. After that, lethal injection. At each step, executions were thought to be getting more humane, less cruel and unusual. And yet we come to find that certain combinations of drugs used for lethal injections are far from as painless as we thought they were. And after several recent botched executions, some states may even be returning to firing squads....
The last four years have seen a marked decrease in public opinion of large and faceless corporations, turning more and more consumers away from the big chains and toward smaller “mom and pop” businesses. Family businesses may be better equipped to weather a turbulent economy because they are supported by loyal relatives with a shared interest in the company’s legacy, reports The New York Times. On the other hand, conflicts within family can hit your hard work and investments where they hurt most....
Witnessing a dinosaur egg hatching must be a magical moment. Until, that is, you’re punched on the chin by a mechanical arm. That’s what happened to a young girl visiting Universal Orlando in 2013, and she and her family finally settled a lawsuit against the theme park, for $75,000. According to Orlando Weekly, the child was struck on the chin by a mechanical arm on the Dinosaur Egg Scanner attraction at Universal’s Jurassic Park land: “The device was part of a display that offered display of fake dinosaur eggs ‘hatching,’ and visitors could pull a level to scan some of the eggs, which would result in a simulated scan image of a baby dinosaur on a screen....
If it sounds pretty heinous in print, but it looks even worse on video, recorded with the officers’ own body cameras – two Roswell, Georgia police officers deciding a woman’s fate with a coin flip. And not even a real coin, either. While Sarah Webb sat in her car after a traffic stop, Officer Courtney Brown opened an app on her phone and Officer Kristee Wilson laid out the stakes: heads, Webb would be arrested, tails, she’d be released....
This week, the New York City police department settled a lawsuit brought against it by the US Department of Justice on behalf of an HIV positive man who was denied a job as a dispatcher. The settlement includes $85K in damages, plus a job offer to employ the plaintiff into the position for which he applied. The man applied for the position in the summer of 2013 and received a conditional job offer....
Pirate Brands, the makers of Pirate’s Booty, succeeded in having six class-action lawsuits that had been filed against them by the same law firm before being consolidated dismissed this week. The lawsuits had claimed that Pirate Brands misled consumers by labeling the company’s products as “all natural.” But the dismissals offer some lessons in how to combat an increasingly common form of class action lawsuit in which lawyers try to drive up the costs of litigation in order to promote a settlement, reports Forbes....
Business spikes in summertime for some companies, at the holidays for others. Whenever the work crunch comes, companies need to add seasonal employees. Busy times mean profitable times, so long as seasonal add-on workers can give you a leg up on your competition. But hiring errors get magnified during any busy season. Some tips for avoiding those errors, as described by Inc. magazine, include: Start early. Companies that fail to plan, plan to fail....
With Labor Day approaching, business owners may want to take a moment to make sure they’re complying with state and federal labor laws. Not only will abiding by these laws provide a safe and fair work environment, but it can also save your company from costly labor suits. So while your employees prepare for a three-day Labor Day weekend, examine whether your business is ignoring these five labor laws: 1. Sick Leave/FMLA....
It’s not uncommon for for employees to check Facebook multi-task while working. Employers have tried a variety of methods to keep their ants focused on work, but it’s hard to compete with cute puppy pics. One tactic is for employers to to monitor employee emails. But is it legal to read employees’ email messages? Reasons for Checking Employee Email If there’s no good reason for it, reading employee emails may violate federal wiretapping laws....
Two years ago, news broke that Mark Ciavarella, a juvenile court judge in Pennsylvania, wrongly sent hundreds of juveniles to private detention centers in exchange for nearly $1 million in kickbacks. As the kids for cash judge left court, Sandy Fonzo began to accost him. Her son, Edward Kenzakoski, killed himself last year as a result of Mark Ciavarella’s corruption. Edward was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia, according to the Daily News, but despite the fact that he was in line to receive a college scholarship, Mark Ciavarella sentenced him to four months at a camp and 30 days in jail....
