Why Business Owners Should Familiarize Themselves with the Laws Relating to Their Industry

Running a small business is a lot of work. You have to organize everything from accounts and workload to advertising and employees, but in return, you get to be your own boss and work when you want to. Whether you’re just starting out or have been self-employed for a few years, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the laws that relate to your line of work for a number of reasons. Here are just a few:

Protecting the Business from Lawsuits

While running your own business is exciting and liberating, it also comes with responsibilities. Corporate law is there to ensure that businesses function safely, legitimately, and fairly. It protects customers/clients, staff, and the environment from unscrupulous business practices and helps maintain consumer trust.

If you’re not aware of the current laws that relate to your industry, you could be breaching legislation and find yourself slapped with a lawsuit that could cost you a lot of time and money to fight.

Ensuring Staff and Customers Are Properly Protected

As a business, you have a responsibility to ensure that all your staff are properly trained and any relevant background checks are carried out. While details vary from state to state, most will have clear rules on employee rights when it comes to health, safety at work, training, and privacy.

If you’re not aware of these laws, you could be putting your staff at risk, violating employment laws, and failing to ensure your premises are safe for customers. If an employee or customer is injured as a result of your negligence, you could be liable. This applies whether you were aware of the law or not at the time.

Keeping up to speed with current legislation helps you to ensure that your premises, contracts, equipment, products, and training are all legal and above board.

Protecting Your Company’s Reputation and Brand

Trust and reputation are everything when it comes to business. They take years to build and only one bad incident to destroy. If you’re being vigilant and honest with your advertising and creating easy-to-understand contracts, a safe working environment, and a product or service that is what it claims to be, then your reputation will precede you. If your company’s name is not properly trademarked, then someone else could legally use it.

Furthermore, if you don’t background-check prospective employees and someone is attacked or harmed by them, you could be held liable. Similarly, if you fail to protect the personal information of clients, staff, or business associates, then you could find yourself in hot water both legally and professionally. No one wants to feel like their personal information is unsafe, and it will be difficult to attract customers if your business has a reputation for employing staff that have a documented history of violence or other criminal activity.

To help ensure your business always operates within the law and prevent liability or personal injury claims, it’s worth consulting an attorney. They can update you on any relevant legislation and help you take action to protect your business.

Written by Chris Lewis.

Disclaimer: The content on this page is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.