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Business & the Law
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Introduction Local, state, and federal governments establish laws that regulate business. Business doesn’t comply? Legal consequences—pay fines, lose a license, go to jail. Effective managers/owners know the laws that regulate their industry and are aware of changes to laws affecting them.
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Corporate Law Sole Proprietorship-simple to start, need to follow state and local licensing and zoning regulations. Partnership-Uniform Partnership Act governs. 2+ persons. Corporation-comply with more federal and state laws, must register with the state, pay more taxes.
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Tax Law Amount of tax paid varies with the type of ownership
Income tax-tax levied against business profits Property tax-tax levied against property, land, and buildings owned by businesses Withholding federal/state tax-businesses collect taxes from workers and send in to the government, penalties for non-compliance
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Intellectual Property Law
Protect businesses Patent-applies to new products/inventions, issued by federal government, gives inventors exclusive rights to make, use, and sell for 17 years Trademark-word, name, or slogan used to identify a business, apply to fed gov’t, good for 10 years Copyrights-protection given to creative work, lasts for the holder’s life + 70 years
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Consumer Law Protects all of us, when we are in the role of consumer
FTC-governs sales Other agencies-protect specific products (such as FDA) State of Wisconsin has its own department of consumer protection
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Commercial Law Regulates contracts and other business dealings.
Laws regulate how contracts are put together, how they are carried out, and how they can be broken. If you sign a contract, you are legally bound to carry out the terms of the contract. Be careful; read the fine print. Contracts for more than $500 must be in writing. Offer and acceptance, consideration, legal, capacity
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Licensing & Zoning Laws
State and local governments pass zoning laws that regulate who can operate a business and where it can be set up Some businesses require a license; they can be taken away if a business doesn’t follow the rules Businesses must operate in commercial zones, not residential
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Employment Laws Created to help the employee and to regulate the relationship between employer and worker EEO: age discrimination, civil rights, disabilities OSHA: safety Wage-hour laws: child labor, minimum wage (Fair Labor Standards Act) Benefits laws: SS, worker’s comp, unemployment insurance, family/medical leave Labor relations laws: unions
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