General Business Law

California law covers the landlord-tenant relationship in the Civil, Health and Safety and Government Codes. (Reference 1) In general, landlords have the right to set and enforce terms of the...

The Equal Pay Act (EPA), passed in 1963, mandates that employers pay men and women equal pay for equal jobs. Although the law was passed to discredit the idea that a man should be paid more than a...

With the overwhelming amount of scammers out there trying to con you out of your hard-earned money, you might find yourself caught up by people claiming to operate legitimate small businesses. If...

The word "levy" is both a noun and verb with several distinct meanings. It has been used for hundreds of years but today is mostly used in the fields of government and law.

The Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) prohibits private employers from forcing employees or potential employees to take lie detector tests. In the rare case that an employer is allowed to...

The regulations for obtaining a liquor license under Mississippi law can be found primarily in Title 67 of the Mississippi Code of 1972.

A personal property lien is created when you acquire rights in the property of another. This will typically occur when you need to secure someone's promise to repay a loan or make regular...

Before it became mandatory in 2005, it was not required for any label to be placed on prepackaged foods in Canada. There was also not a required list of nutritional information. If nutrition...

Take care when drafting a sales contract, because every sentence is likely to have legal consequences in the event of a dispute. Although parties are free to negotiate their own terms, negotiated...

Securities laws establish that investment contract refers to contracts or schemes where people give capital to secure income or profit. The profits arise from a third party or a promoter's efforts...

The tremendous increase of global financing activities has generated an increasing demand for the development of international auditing standards for the performance of financial audits....

As a new small business owner, you are probably wondering, what taxes I need to collect or withhold and how do I pay the IRS for them. This is an overview of the various taxes that could be...

The California government passed the California Medical Practice Act (CMPA) to regulate the practice of medicine in the state. Violations of the CMPA may result in loss of a medical license and...

Before starting your own business, you will need to know and understand the necessary legal information for business compliance. While laws may vary from state to state, there are certain general...

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is a government agency charged with enforcing the OSH Act of 1970, which specifies safety requirements for employers in all industries...

A trade name is a word or phrase often used to designate a business name, but is not technically a trademark. The purpose of trade name registration is to allow individuals who own a business to...

When seeking to establish a business, one must make various evaluations and considerations. One of these issues includes the type of business form such as the LLC or PC.

The Mutual Recognition Procedure (MRP) is a procedure used by pharmaceutical manufacturers who have been granted a marketing authorization for selling pharmaceuticals in one European Union (EU)...

Under Virginia law, a bail bondsman is any person licensed by the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) to engage in the business of bail bonding. The possession of such a license...

Many persons who are faced with the prospect of a long court case in a personal injury suit as opposed to a quick settlement amount offered by the insurance company wonder how to estimate personal...

If you or someone close to you has suffered a personal injury you may be wondering how to find a good personal injury law attorney. It’s not unusual that people can go most of their lives having...

A Board of Directors refers to a group of individuals elected to make decisions on behalf of an organization. This governing body can also be referred to as a Board of Trustees or Executive Board.

Partnerships are a legal form of business organization where two or more partners come together to form a business. Partnership financial statements differ from financial statements of...

Indonesia consists of two principal types of charitable not-for-profit organizations--foundations and associations. However, according to the United States International Grantmaking (USIG) Council...

An LLC is a business entity that combines the features of general partnerships and corporations. It is created by filing Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State. The rights and duties...

I was visiting a friend in his furniture warehouse about 100 yards from the MGM-Grand on this day. We were eating tuna fish sandwiches when we heard the sirens. Lot's of sirens. Ignoring it for...

Under the law, a lien is when you make a claim on property to obtain payment for goods or services that were provided. In the U.S., businesses use liens to collect amounts due, with the law...

Mechanic's liens are common in most states. Generally, mechanic's lien statutes authorize individuals or companies who performed labor in connection with improving real property (i.e....

If you are interested in using a master agreement for your business, you should consult a lawyer before signing a final draft, or investigate standard master agreements available online for little...

Two types of property ownership--tenants in common and tenants by the entirety--are distinctions that will affect how a property may be distributed as an estate. Tenancy in common is a concurrent...

Illegal monopolies are business combinations that have gained total control over the production, sale and distribution of specific goods or services. In general, a single company buys up its...

COMAR is an acronym meaning The Code of Maryland Regulations, and should not be confused with statutes that are passed by legislatures and written into law. Regulations are often adopted, amended...

When you buy a product that says it was "Made in the USA," you rightly assume the statement is accurate. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sets standards to ensure that manufacturers don't...

Ad valorem tax is a tax placed upon the value of real estate or personal property. Ad valorem is a Latin term meaning "according to value." This type of tax can be assessed on the item at the...

In the world of e-commerce, an electronic signature is a person's cyber-bond. But is an e-signature actually as valid as one done in ink on paper? In 2000, the U.S. government decided that it is...

By “employee leasing” a business obtains the services of employees from an employee-leasing company. But there is a hidden income-tax benefit in employee leasing. Employee leasing can be used to...

A clawback provision is contractual language that used in writing performance-based compensation contracts. It allows a company to take back such compensation if future events show that some or...

If you wish to create a contract on your own, you can use several online sources for design inspiration. For instance, downloading a contract template can assist you in setting up the contract and...

You want a good working relationship with your colleagues, but you don't want to risk the leaking of confidential information. A nondisclosure agreement enables you and a colleague to share...

Child labor laws were established by the federal government to restrict the age that children can work in various jobs and it establishes the standards for the working at any employer. Under the...

A tax identification number, or Employer Identification Number (EIN), is the nine-digit identifier given to a business in the United States. It is assigned by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)....

If you are looking to open a new bar or liquor store you will need to obtain the appropriate licenses in order to not only operate your business, but to sell liquor. Your best resource for...

With the recent turmoil in the mortgage market in 2009, loan "modification" has become a hot career field. A modification changes the terms of a home mortgage, helping people in financial...

A gentlemen's agreement is an informal agreement between two parties.

An employer identification number (EIN) is assigned to a company or employer by the IRS. Much like the way a Social Security number identifies an individual, an EIN can be used to identify an...

The state of California has a law that pertains to the expiration date of a gift card or gift certificate that is issued by a retailer. The law is known as SB250, which amends section 1749.5 of...

The U.S. Department of Labor defines a sweatshop as a factory that violates more than one of the U.S. labor laws, such as paying minimum wage, paying overtime, paying on time, and maintaining time...

Due diligence refers to the process of exhaustively investigating a company's status prior to a major transaction. Due diligence occurs prior to an Initial Public Offering (IPO), the purchase of a...

Contracts are extremely versatile legal instruments. In some cases, even oral contracts are enforceable. Many types of contracts are used in business, many of them specific to a particular...

If your boss or the company you're trying to work for requires you to take a drug test, there's a good chance you have to do it, depending on the laws of the state where you live. But you do have...