When you first started your business, you felt like a fish out of water. Instead of trying to do everything to a tee, you spent more time just trying to get stuff done. Now, since you’ve got to see some of the fruits of your labor develop and have plans for even more expansion, you find yourself in need of hiring more employees. With more employees comes more strict standards when it comes to performing legal operations at your business. Here are three legal considerations you should be aware of when expanding.
Health Insurance Is Mandated
As you start to grow out of the home business profile and expand into a mid or large-sized business, the government holds your business to a higher standard. When you reach above 50 employees, you are required to offer health insurance to all your employees. If you already offer health insurance, then you don’t need to worry about this.
However, if you don’t offer your employees health insurance, you should start consulting with health insurance companies so you can have a plan prepared for when you reach the 50 employee mark. Along with insurance plans, you will also need to educate yourself on paid and unpaid leave requirements and any other laws your state has regarding fair employment practices.
Have Formal Hiring Practices Training
As you continue to grow in size, more and more people are going to be paying attention to your business and your employees. You should do your best to provide your existing employees with the necessary information they need to be legal when undergoing the hiring process. There are many disability discrimination law services out there which can help you to determine the key areas that your staff should be trained on.
For instance, you or your hiring managers need to know what questions to ask and what questions should not be asked during an interview. Your company should also be prepared for interviewees who may feel discriminated against to take legal action. Holding formal seminars regularly for managers who are in charge of hiring can help to keep you out of legal trouble when it comes to discrimination against applicants.
Digital Copyright Problems
When you first started, you were too small of a fish to fry. However, as you have expanded, you become a larger target for those seeking damages from a legal suit. You should have your website and online content reviewed by a digital copyright attorney to ensure that nothing violates digital laws. You may not have remembered that you took that picture off of Google and pasted it on your website when you first started. You may not even be aware if the name of your company or any slogans you’ve come up with have been copyrighted by someone else. Little intellectual property or copyright issues can come back to haunt you as your business expands.
Growing up your business has probably been the only thing on your mind for a while. However, with growth comes the increased risk of legal problems. As you continue to expand, you should address all the three legal concerns listed out above to ensure that your business can stay far away from legal problems.
