A federal court jury in New York says Isiah Thomas and the New York Knicks are liable for the sexual harassment of a former female executive. The jury found the former employee was subjected to unwanted sexual advances and verbal insults. A retaliation claim also was alleged. While Isiah Thomas still maintains his innocence and vows
Employment Law Greatest Hits A Must Read
Mark Toth, Chief Legal Officer of Manpower, has a terrific employment law blog post any small business owner should read. Toth’s blog is creative and fun and his advice is right on the mark. Follow his greatest hits and you are much more likely to stay out of trouble with your employees.
I particularly agree
Where Should You Incorporate Your Iowa Small Business?
Where should you incorporate your Iowa small business? This question is asked a lot by 
many prospective small business owners. The question used to be surprising but after seeing and hearing numerous advertisements for Delaware and Nevada corporations on the Internet and on satellite radio it is definitely a legitimate question.
Delaware has reputation and
CyberLaw: A Legal Arsenal For Online Business
If you operate an online business or you are thinking of starting one I recommend you pick up a copy of Cyberlaw: A Legal Arsenal For your Online Business. Written by Iowa intellectual property attorney Brett Trout the book is new and updated with lots more content than his previous version. This book still has
Be Careful to Avoid “Reverse Discrimination”
Michael Moore of the Pennsylvania Employment Law Blog has an excellent post on the possibility of reverse discrimination when employers make decisions under the auspices of voluntary affirmative action plans, diversity programs, or even "risk management". Michael says:
I am surprised by how many companies will select non-minority employees for layoff in a reduction in
Small Business Trends: Blawg Review #126
I encourage you to check out Blawg Review #126 written by Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends. Anita is a lawyer by training but an entrepreneur at heart. Her award winning Web site was the "Best of the Web" according to Forbes Magazine for small business blogs.
The lineup of small business experts on Anita’s
Learn From the Hawkeyes About Hiring a Business Lawyer
I have written about how to hire a business lawyer at times in the past. My first rule is that the lawyer should be experienced and competent in business law rather than choosing a personal injury, family law, criminal law or other lawyer. My analogy used to be that you would not want a plastic
Think Twice Before Deducting From Employee’s Last Paycheck
Charlie Longbrief, attorney at law, had just turned off his computer late on a Friday afternoon when the phone rang. It was Pete Geek who owned a local computer consulting service.
"Charlie, I’ve got a problem," Pete said.
"Tell me about it," Charlie said.
"Well, I had to fire one of my sales people earlier
Is Licensing a Viable Option Rather Than Franchising?
Congratulations to What’s For Dinner – Des Moines and its owners, Dawn Angus and Kristen Severs for their feature article in the Des Moines Business Record. The success of their meal assembly business has brought multiple inquiries from would be entrepreneurs who are wondering whether they offer franchises opportunities for their business. The thought of expanding beyond
Employees v. Independent Contractors Drawing Interest
Thanks to Nina Kaufman for quoting my post "Employees v. Independent Contractors" on the Entrepreneur.com Blog Network. Nina’s blog on the network is "Making It Legal: The small business mentor’s guide to entrepreneurship and law." Her advice on the employee v. independent contractor issue is excellent:
This is not an area to