Work Email: Balancing Privacy and the Right to Speak – Free Enterprise
By Christopher Coble, Esq. on March 27, 2015 6:01 From the Sony hack to Hilary Clinton, work email has been all over the news lately. This may leave many employers wondering how closely they can or should monitor their employees’ emails. In some cases, federal law limits how much an employer can monitor electronic correspondence […]
A New Way to Use a Prenuptial Agreement (Wall St. Journal)
Prenuptial agreements have long been used to protect the assets of a far wealthier partner in a marriage. Now they are also being used by couples who enter marriage as financial peers to help establish financial parameters, according to experts and advisers. In many cases, both parties already have successful careers and significant assets, as […]
Tax History: The Love-Hate Relationship With the Standard Deduction
MARCH 27, 2014 Tax History: The Love-Hate Relationship With the Standard Deduction Joseph J. Thorndike If Dave Camp gets his way, the standard deduction is going to get a lot bigger. Apparently that is a good thing. “Right now, more than a third of all Americans are forced to itemize their deductions to ensure they […]
United States Supreme Court: Truth In Lending Act (TILA) Does Not Require Consumers To File A Lawsuit Within Three Years In Order To Assert A Right To Rescind
By K&L Gates on January 21st, 2015 By: Brian M. Forbes and Gregory N. Blase For several years, federal courts have struggled with the question of whether a consumer who wishes to rescind a loan pursuant to the federal Truth in Lending Act (“TILA”) may do so by sending a notice of rescission within three […]
Is Your Garage Or Shop Adequately Insured?
Do you have an old shed on your premises? Did you just put up a new 30’x 40’ storage garage? Are you operating a new business out of your garage? Do you board someone’s horses in an outbuilding on your premises? And most importantly, do you know if your homeowner’s insurance provides coverage for these […]
In Washington, A “Land Trust” Is Not An Entity That Can Legally Hold Title To Real Estate
In Washington, a “Land Trust” is not an entity that can legally hold title to real property. Washington does have a business trust entity, but it must be created pursuant to statute and authorized by the Washington Secretary of State. That is not the land trust that is typically advertised on the internet. “Land Trusts” […]
Washington Secretary of State Scam Alert
I have received a number of calls from my business clients about an “official looking” letter from an organization claiming that the individual or business needed to use the services of that organization for purposes of filing annual minutes with the Washington Secretary of State. Please note that this is not an organization affiliated with […]
15 Signs You’re an Entrepreneur | Entrepreneur.com
Pressed to describe the stereotypical entrepreneur, which words would you use? Passionate? Dedicated? Optimistic? Sure, those apply. But insecure and troublemaker are more accurate, according to ‘treps who know a success when they see one. Do the following traits, characteristics and quirks describe you? Well then, you might be an entrepreneur (at heart, if not […]
WHY YOU NEED TERMS & CONDITIONS AND A PRIVACY POLICY ON YOUR WEBSITE
#465060791 / gettyimages.com Any business or other entity that operates a website should take the time to draft a set of terms and conditions (“Terms and Conditions”) that will govern the relationship between end-users and the subject website operator in connection with the website and its various offerings. The main purpose of the privacy policy […]
Can An Employer Implement A Social Media Policy?
It’s a complicated, fact-intensive inquiry in every case, but the bottom line is that employers can implement a policy so long as it doesn’t stymie the ability of employees to engage in protected, concerted activity about their conditions of employment. In other words, you can so long as it doesn’t run contrary to labor laws […]