The Smoke-Free Employee

Along with the recent wave of legislation banning smoking in public and semi-public facilities (e.g., private workplaces), some private employers have taken it a step further — prohibiting employees from smoking … anywhere. Here’s the argument.

1.  Smoking is the employee’s voluntary choice to ingest what has been shown to be a dangerous (and even lethal) substance.

2.  Smokers, statistically, have more health problems than non-smokers.

3.  Employers and healthcare providers are forced to spread the cost of smoke-related health problems to all employees — even those who do not smoke.

What do you think, as an employer?

SBA Small Business Web Chat for January, 2006

The U.S. Small Business Administrationfs Office of Entrepreneurial Development, will
kick off the SBA's January Web chat on "Do You Know How to Start a Small
Business?" this Thursday, January 26, 2006, from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., EST.

This first live Web chat for 2006 will engage business owners in a national
dialogue on what business basics to know before starting a business, and
provide chat participants with real-world tools and resources they can use,
including the key resource partners of SCORE, Women's Business Centers, and
Small Business Development Centers, and the SBA's Small Business Training
Network of online courses, workshops and e-learning tools.

Participants can join the live Web chat by going online to www.sba.gov, and
clicking "Your Small Business Voice Online Chat."  Web chat participants
may post a question for Mills before the January 26th chat by visiting
http://app1.sba.gov/liveMeeting/liveMills/intro.cfm and posting their
questions online.

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure

Much of my practice involves counseling businesses on how to avoid legal problems. No one likes to spend more money on legal fees than is absolutely necessary, right?

In my 18 years of practice, I have found that spending a few carefully allocated dollars towards prevention of legal problems goes a long way. Any good business lawyer should be able to review your situation and recommend those measures that will allow you to sleep better at night.
Finally, the business owner needs to treat his or her business lawyer like any other vendor. Don’t be afraid to get fee and cost estimates in advance (in writing). Find out exactly who is going to be working on your matters — so that you don’t end up paying for the lawyer to train his or her junior staff at your expense.