Cleburne Legal Blog

Texas business owners understand there are various challenges associated with owning and operating a small business. One of the unique issues you may have to address is how to deal with your employees. Regardless of the type of company you have, it can prove beneficial to draft employment contracts. 

Employment contracts are a simple yet effective way you can protect your company and prevent many types of complications in the future. Written contracts provide both parties with significant benefits as they allow for everyone involved to know and understand their rights and obligations. If you do not have employment contracts or believe you should implement these in the future, it can be helpful to understand how to draft effective and enforceable agreements.

It's never easy to terminate an employee. Even if you have clear cause to do so, you may wonder about the potential ramifications of your actions. You may wonder if it will somehow affect your business, especially if the employee was subject to a non-compete or non-disclosure agreement. You may wonder whether he or she will file a wrongful termination claim against you, even though the law is on your side.

Truthfully, these are very real risks when you terminate an employee. However, you may be able to take steps to help ensure that your employee departs on the best terms possible. In some cases, you may have time to properly document a termination, but in others, that opportunity simply doesn't exist. How you address the situation could make all the difference.

When you first started your business, you undoubtedly gave much thought to the type of business entity you wanted to create. Because you were starting out small, you likely did not believe that you needed a business type that involved many complex aspects. After doing your research, you picked an entity that you believed best suited the needs of your company at the time.

Of course, now that your business has been up and running for some time, you may wonder whether your entity still suits those business needs. However, you may also wonder whether changing your business type is possible or necessary. To answer the first question, it is entirely possible to alter your type of entity. As for necessity, many reasons could lead to such a change.

Because you hold both your family and your business close, you certainly want to ensure that you take care of them. As a result, when you begin thinking about your retirement or possible demise, you will want to know that your family and company remain in good hands. Fortunately, business succession planning could prove useful in this respect.

When thinking about who you want to take over your business and how you want the company to continue to operate, you will likely have many aspects to consider. Wanting to keep the business within the family is understandable, especially if your children already work as part of the company. However, you still need to make sure your successor is the right fit for the job.