Managing Politics in the Workplace

Tis the season for political debates. Unless you’re running a political campaign or consulting group, your employees’ political view can run the gamut. With the potential for heated debates over candidates and the issues they stand for to lead to hurt feelings and, in some cases, claims of harassment and discrimination, a California employer needs…

How Start Ups Can Protect Their Intellectual Property

Tech incubators abound these days, especially in and around Silicon Beach. These ‘technology campuses’ allow start ups to collaborate and share ideas, strategies, resources, and knowledge. And sometimes, proprietary information. When discussing their ideas with others, entrepreneurs need to be extremely mindful of the risks to their intellectual property. For many start ups, trade secrets…

Board Members and Whistleblowers

Whistleblower complaints are often directed to board members or committees of the board of directors and recently, a California court ruled that whistleblowers are allowed to seek compensation from directors of a company, broadening legal protections for whistleblowers by expanding those who can be held liable in such cases. In another win for the whistleblower, the court…

Is It Time to Update Your Company’s Affirmative Action Program?

Doing business with the federal government can be a lucrative proposition. However, in accordance with US federal regulations, there are certain conditions that must be met. One of the biggest ones: an Affirmative Action Program (AAP). An AAP includes those policies, practices, and procedures that the contractor implements to ensure that all qualified applicants and…