Often times, business owners only hear the potential “up-sides” of arbitration clauses. They are told that an arbitration clause will reduce their risk of a large damage award from a jury, and that arbitration is less expensive than going to Court. The business owner, excited about the possibility of reducing risk, agrees to include the arbitration clause in the contract.

But small business owners are rarely informed of the [...]

The Attig Law Firm will rarely recommend including an arbitration clause in a contract. This type of clause, where the contracting parties willingly give up their right to go to Court and instead resolve their dispute before an arbitrator, usually make good business sense only when both parties make a knowing and informed agreement to arbitrate a future dispute. Otherwise, arbitration clauses are disasters [...]

Here are some interesting facts about small business and the minimum wage:

In April 2004, the Fiscal Policy Institute released a report finding that small businesses grow faster in states with higher minimum wages.
In March 2006, Wells Fargo and Gallup released a survey in which 86% of small business owners said that a hike in the minimum wage won’t [...]

The past few years, our nation has experienced several major disasters, from a major terrorist attack, to a massive regional electrical blackout, to a hurricane which wiped out an entire city. Few small and micro business owners-operators are prepared for such disasters – they rarely have a business continuity plan in place to get their business back on its feet, quickly and efficiently, after disaster strikes. Fewer still have ever heard about a business continuity plan.

The very general rule among many Federal agencies is that a Federal employee who is terminated during a probationary period has no MSPB appeal right, unless the employee alleges the removal was motivated by discrimination, partisan political reasons, or the employee’s marital status.

That landscape is changing very quickly. A series of Federal Circuit and MSPB decisions dating back to 1989 has started to broaden the protection available to probationary Federal Employees.

I read one Sports Law Blogger’s comment on Cal Ripken’s recent election to the Hall of Fame:

“Cal Ripken['s] consecutive-games-played streak [is] something associates should try and emulate to when deciding whether they should come into work on a given day, no matter how sick they feel or what the doctor tells them to do…”

I think I know what the blogger was trying to say, but I think the way it came out sounds cliche and trite. To be quite [...]

Chances are you’ve been told that your small business is going to be hurt the most by the proposed minimum wage increase. Chances are, you are getting bad information.

Many politicians and organizations “ even those claiming to advocate the interests of small business owners “ speak out both sides of their mouth. Here’s my favorite from the National Federation of Independent Businesses:

NFIB Website:Â Most minimum-wage jobs [...]