It’s December, which means the holiday season is officially in high gear and that it’s now socially appropriate to listen to holiday music. If your calendar is anything like mine, you may have a few holiday parties coming up – you may even be hosting such a party.
If so, what are some of the legal risks associated with hosting a party? Continue Reading It’s Holiday Party Season – Let’s Talk About Risk!
As I’m sure you’re aware from the constant barrage of political advertisements, we are less than a week away from Election Day in 2018 which is Tuesday, November 6. As an employer, what are your legal obligations to your employees with respect to time off for voting?
To regular readers of the Lancaster Law Blog, it should come as no surprise that the answer is “it depends” – in this case, primarily it depends on what state your employees are located in. In some states, Pennsylvania included, employers have no legal obligation to give employees time off to vote.
That being said, the majority of states do provide time off in order to vote with certain requirements by statute. A summary of your state’s voting laws can be found here: Workplace Fairness – State Laws on Voting Rights/Time Off To Vote. Be sure to check with an attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction to confirm the impact of voting laws on you and your business.
Just because there is no legal obligation to give time off doesn’t preclude voluntary employer accommodations for voting. Employers may permit time off, flexible work schedules such as allowing extra time over lunch, arriving late or leaving early in order to accommodate voting. For example, Russell, Krafft & Gruber permits flexible work hours on Election Day in order to allow our employees to vote. Also, several of our attorneys volunteer their time at the polls.
In order to check your voter registration status in Pennsylvania, check out Pennsylvania Voter Services’ Voter Registration Status tool.
If you’re registered to vote, find your polling location and the hours you’ll be able to vote here: www.gettothepolls.com.
If you’re thinking about starting a business in Pennsylvania, an important part of the financial side of your business plan is to evaluate the impact of taxes on your new business. Your lawyer and your accountant are key members of your business team that can help you evaluate what type of entity to form, how that entity should be taxed, and the taxes applicable to your business.
Part three of this series discusses taxes associated with ownership of real estate and employment taxes. Part one discussed sales and use taxes and others that may apply based on the nature of the goods you sell or the services you provide. Part two discussed taxes that may apply depending on the way your business is organized.
This post is not intended to be a substitute for legal or tax advice from your lawyer or accountant – you should talk to them in order to obtain advice to address your specific situation. Need a lawyer or an accountant? We might be able to help you with that! Continue Reading Pennsylvania Business Taxes – Property and Employment Taxes
When a Stranger Decides to Destroy Your Life (Gizmodo)
This article has been on my mind quite a bit lately, as it highlights some of the worst that social media and the internet has to offer. If you think “it can’t happen to me or my business”, I’d suggest you read this article and consider how you might change your behavior online.
Having worked with clients who are victims of online harassment, unfortunately the circumstances in this article hit close to home. If you are the victim of harassing conduct online, I suggest reaching out to an attorney well-versed in these issues sooner rather than later to discuss your options and develop a plan to minimize the impact on your life and business.
Lancaster Virtual Reality Lounge opening on North Queen Street this November (LancasterOnline)
The name says it all: Lancaster Virtual Reality Lounge will offer a virtual reality arcade experience in downtown Lancaster beginning in November 2018, offering over 200 games and activities to try. Continue Reading Legal Links – September 2018: When a Stranger Decides to Destroy Your Life
If you’re thinking about starting a business in Pennsylvania, an important part of the financial side of your business plan is to evaluate the impact of taxes on your new business. Your lawyer and your accountant are key members of your business team that can help you evaluate what type of entity to form, how that entity should be taxed, and the taxes applicable to your business.
Part two of this series is a high level overview of the common taxes that you may be subject to depending on the way your business is organized. Part one discussed sales and use taxes and others that may apply based on the nature of the goods you sell or the services you provide.
This post is not intended to be a substitute for legal or tax advice from your lawyer or accountant – you should talk to them in order to obtain advice to address your specific situation. Need a lawyer or an accountant? We might be able to help you with that! Continue Reading Pennsylvania Business Taxes – Income and Franchise Taxes
If you’re thinking about starting a business in Pennsylvania, an important part of the financial side of your business plan is to evaluate the impact of taxes on your new business. Your lawyer and your accountant are key members of your business team that can help you evaluate what type of entity to form, how that entity should be taxed, and the taxes applicable to your business.
Part one of this series is a high level overview of the common taxes that you may be subject to depending on the nature of the goods or services your business provides.
This post is not intended to be a substitute for legal or tax advice from your lawyer or accountant – you should talk to them in order to obtain advice to address your specific situation. Need a lawyer or an accountant? We might be able to help you with that! Continue Reading Pennsylvania Business Taxes – Sales and Use Tax
This post is part of our ongoing series exploring the impact of technology on legal issues. For an introduction to the series and a collection of the posts in the series, check out this post.
Lawyers often get a bad rap for being resistant to change and behind the times with technology. To combat this issue, states are beginning to require technology training as a part of continuing legal education to maintain a law license.
Many more states have already implemented technology-based requirements directly into their ethical rules. For example, Pennsylvania lawyers are required by the Rules of Professional Conduct to “keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology.”
At Russell, Krafft & Gruber, technology is more than just an ethical requirement. We see technology as an essential tool to help us provide our clients with the best legal representation.
Here are just a few ways that our firm uses technology: Continue Reading The Cutting Edge: Keeping up with Technology
Lancaster County continues to be an attractive marketplace for entrepreneurs in the technology sector. Over the last few weeks, the below articles caught my eye as interesting examples of what Lancaster has to offer to growing companies:
$50,000 Big Idea contest for tech entrepreneurs names 7 finalists
Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central & Northern PA have been investing big time in Lancaster, including this contest and the TechCelerator at the Candy Factory. This article highlights the finalists in the Big Idea competition – best of luck to them!
A vision for Lancaster as the Silicon Valley of social enterprise
As co-executive director of Assets (a nonprofit that promotes entrepreneurship as a means to combat poverty), Jonathan Coleman shares his ideas for how Lancaster could be a hub for benefit corporations.
NeuroFlow is heading to Lancaster to see if its biz model makes sense
A medical technology startup takes advantage of Lancaster’s Smart Health Innovation Lab, a joint venture between Aspire Ventures, Capital BlueCross, Clio Health and Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health.
Where American Politics Can Still Work: From the Bottom Up
New York Times opinion columnist Thomas L. Friedman writes about the revitalization of Lancaster from a “crime ridden ghost town” 20 years ago to a thriving community that serves as an example for other cities.
These articles are just a few examples of the resources available to businesses and entrepreneurs in Lancaster County. We’ve previously written about other options available here, here and here. Have questions about starting or growing your business in Lancaster County? Feel free to contact us.
This post is part of our ongoing series exploring the impact of technology on legal issues. For an introduction to the series and a collection of the posts in the series, check out this post.
By now, everyone should be mindful of the dreaded “Reply All” feature (for the uninitiated: When is it appropriate to reply all? Mostly never). I have to agree, although “mostly never” might even be too often.
On a related note, did you ever accidentally hit “Send” before you’re ready? Me too. But I’ve adopted a new trick that might help you as well. When drafting a new email, the last information I add to the email are the recipients. That way, I’m paying particular attention to the autofill feature and making sure I’m ready to send and have the right people.
While sending email to unintended recipients remains a common problem, here are two more nuanced legal issues to consider relating to email: Continue Reading Email Woes
In a ruling issued yesterday, the United States Supreme Court held that states can require internet merchants to collect sales tax, even if they do not have a physical presence in that state. This overturned the previous rule from Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, which required collection and remittance of state sales tax when a retailer has a physical presence in the state. If sales tax was not collected through the transaction, the burden fell to consumers to report and remit use tax for out of state purchases.
Here’s a link to the full text of the opinion: South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., et al. In this case, South Dakota enacted a law that required all merchants to collect a 4.5% sales tax if they had more than 200 individual transactions in the state or have more than $100,000 in annual sales in the state.
As of now, the Court’s decision only paves the way for states to collect sales tax from merchants. Therefore, merchants should pay attention to actions by Congress and state legislatures on this issue to determine what their ongoing compliance obligations will be. As states begin to implement the Court’s ruling and require collection of sales tax, in the coming months consumers may notice an increasing number of retailers collecting sales tax for online purchases.
