Articles Posted in Asset Protection

As a Jacksonville Florida non-compete Lawyer, I often am asked about some of the provisions that are contained in a Florida employment agreement. I found an article on the Texas Non-Compete Law Blog, entitled Texas Executive Employment Agreements: Checklist for Employees and thought that the information would be relevant to my Jacksonville Clients. I have based this information on what was contained in that article, but modified removed some information and added some that is specific to Jacksonville and throughout Florida .

1. Term of Employment. Employment agreements are either for a fixed term or at-will. Most at-will employment agreement can be terminated by either party at any time for any reason. Some Jacksonville employment agreements are for a fixed term (e.g., a six-months or one-year term) also contain provisions pursuant to which the employer may terminate the employee “for any reason” on shorter notice (e.g., “thirty days’ notice”). Such an agreement is in reality a 30-day employment contract.

2. Position, job duties, location. Florida Employment agreements routinely contain provisions outlining what the employee’s title will be, what their duties will be, who the supervisor will be, and where the work will be performed.

Florida LLC’s are one of the best choices for a new business entity. When thinking of forming a company, may people only look for low taxes and protection from liability.

Unfortunately, many are misinformed as to the protection that a corporation can offer. While it is true that a corporation and a Limited liability company can both protect a persons personal assets from corporate liability (in most cases), only the properly created Florida LLC can protect your business assets from personal liability.

If someone sues you and wins, they can take your stock in your corporation just like they could take your stock in GM. Once they own your stock, they can sell the company, fire you, and liquidate the company. If this happened to you it could cost you your livelihood.

Seven weeks ago, I got a new puppy. I was thinking of a way to protect myself from Florida’s Strict Liability for Dog Bites. Most states have a one free bite rule, but Florida does not and makes the owner of the Dog liable for all damage by the dog from the first bite.

In walks the Florida Revocable Trust. I began thinking that if you set up a separate revocable trust that owned the dog, you could transfer the liability of the dog’s future actions to the revocable trust.

I began reading the Florida Statutes and sure enough the statute states that the “owner” is the party liable. Figuring that this must be too easy, I kept reading. It seems that when the state creates statutes, the often hide the real details in some other part of the statute. Sure enough after a few minutes I found that “Owner” as defined in the statute means any person, firm, corporation, or organization possessing, harboring, keeping, or having control or custody of an animal or, if the animal is owned by a person under the age of 18, that person’s parent or guardian.

This is the third part to a series on Protecting the Company’s Privilege and the dangers of Email. Click here if you missed Part 1 and Part 2. Many Jacksonville Business Lawyers tell their clients that email can be very dangerous in the event of litigation. One should always be careful before pressing the send button.

Some of the things you should implement in regards to email are:

1) Provide training to employees teach them what the proper steps are to prevent inadvertent disclosures, spoliation, and other risks from occurring.

2) Always separate business advice from legal advise, use lead ins to make it clear that what is being provided is legal advise.

As a Jacksonville Florida non-compete Lawyer, I often am asked about some of the provisions that are contained in a Florida employment agreement. I found an article on the Texas Non-Compete Law Blog, entitled Texas Executive Employment Agreements: Checklist for Employees and thought that the information would be relevant to my Florida Clients. I have based this information on what was contained in that article, but modified removed some information and added some that is specific to Jacksonville and throughout Florida .

1. Term of Employment. Employment agreements are either for a fixed term or at-will. An at-will employment agreement can be terminated by either party at any time for any reason. Some employment agreements that are purportedly for a fixed term (e.g., a one-year term) also contain provisions pursuant to which the employer may terminate the employee “for any reason” on shorter notice (e.g., “thirty days’ notice”)–such an agreement is in reality a 30-day employment contract.

2. Position, job duties, location. Employment agreements routinely contain provisions outlining what the employee’s title will be, what their duties will be, who the supervisor will be, and where the work will be performed.

3. Compensation. Employment agreements often reference compensation or salary and sometimes discretionary compensation (e.g. bonuses and stock options).

4. Termination for Cause. Employment agreements often provide that an employee may be terminated for “cause,” and “cause” is defined to include various acts or omissions by the employee. Some acts–like commission of a felony and embezzlement of company funds are fairly easy to understand. However, defining “cause” to include the employee’s failure to perform his/her job duties can be difficult because this can be subjective. Employees want what a clear non subjective definition of cause.
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Florida employment agreements and Florida non-compete agreements frequently contain non-solicitation clauses. These agreements or clauses prohibit an employee from soliciting the employer’s clients and/or employees while they are employees and for a period of time after there employment.

The Texas Non-Compete Law Blog references a Massachusetts case that illustrates the difficulty in making the determination of whether an act or communication constitutes solicitation. They have very in depth article on this case. Here is a short summary of the case they review. The following provision was at issue:

Non solicitation Covenant. For a twelve (12) year period commencing on the date hereof, Seller shall not, directly or indirectly, (a) employ or contact any person who is employed or engaged by the Company or in any manner seek to induce any such person to leave his or her employment or engagement with the Company.

The issue in the case came down to whether social interaction with potential clients was a violation of the agreement.