Legally Sound | Smart Business

The guys discuss the recent developments in employment law for 2015 and what employers should consider when hiring new employees. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business legal news. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: And, today, we are talking about hiring employees in 2015. It seems like everyone is talking about hiring employees either for the first time or they’re expanding and I think that’s good – that’s a good sign for the economy, obviously, and maybe it’s also the new year. MATT: Yeah, and, I mean, I’m thinking it has to do with a couple of things. One, the beginning of the year. NASIR: Yeah. MATT: I would say anyone, any business owner in the last quarter of the year who was thinking of hiring people – unless it’s a seasonal thing – probably was thinking, “I’m just going to put it off until the beginning of the year and not mess with it.” NASIR: Oh, yeah. MATT: And then, two, just the economy in general has gotten bett

Nasir and Matt kick off the week by diving into the topic of partnerships and the important things to remember before forming the partnership. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business legal news. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: And welcome to our program once again. I’ve been trolling Reddit a little bit and it’s just crazy how many times I see the exact same question and story in the startups and entrepreneurs section of Reddit of someone that is starting a business with a partner and it going horribly wrong. It’s, like, pretty much the same story over and over again so I wanted to talk a little bit about partnerships and starting a business with somebody and things like that. MATT: Well, what’s the story that you keep reading? Since you just admitted to being a troll, I want to hear what you’re trolling on. NASIR: Yeah, I guess that’s a negative thing. No, but it’s the same thing. Basically, I think we’ll link the particular Redd

Nasir and Matt end the week by discussing how cat cafes are popping up in cities across the US and the legalities behind how people are pulling it off. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business legal news. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: And thanks for joining us once again. This is our Friday episode and this is the time where we’re going to just pause here for a second for you to pause and bring up iTunes and rate us with five stars. So, let’s just sit here for… how long does that take? Like, twenty minutes? MATT: Yeah, it depends. Was that intentional? You really emphasized “pause.” Was that a pun based on what we’re talking about or no? NASIR: Yes, it was. MATT: Okay. NASIR: I don’t do anything unintentionally. Everything’s intentional. MATT: Yeah. Well, we’ve put it off for… what is this? 138 episodes. NASIR: We’ve been planning this for about – I don’t know – about five years now, right? MATT: Despite your requests and yo

Nasir and Matt discuss the company in danger of being sued for having a Chrome plugin that allows students to compare prices of college textbooks from all sources. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business legal news and my name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: This is our second episode for our new format where you can also send in your ideas and some questions to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. MATT: That is correct. NASIR: That is correctamundo. MATT: Our theme this week – well, it wasn’t intentional, I don’t think, maybe it was – basically, things that are created to make consumers’ lives cheaper and then bigger companies getting upset and then coming after the people that created the ideas. NASIR: It’s a pretty common theme. I think people have covered it many times before. MATT: Yeah, it’s a common thing. NASIR: Very specific, but… MATT: Yeah, on Monday, we talked about the guy who started the site that will basically get you c

The guys kick off the week by discussing how an entrepreneur got sued by United and Orbitz for exploiting the hidden city fees in airline tickets. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to our podcast where we cover business legal news and that’s it. We no longer answer your questions. Actually, we do. You can send in your questions and ideas at ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. We are changing our format a little bit and – oh, yeah – my name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: Yeah. So, we are changing our format. We’re getting rid of some of the questions, at least not in every episode. MATT: Yeah, it turns out we answered pretty much every legal question there is. There’s only 136 legal questions – well, more than that because some of those first episodes, I think, had three questions per episode. NASIR: Yeah, exactly. So, we pretty much exhausted that. No, but we just want to focus in on some of these legal issues. I feel like we don’t have enough time to cover some of these topics and

Nasir and Matt talk about expandingemail usage for employees to include non-work purposes. They then answer the question, "How do I get out of a lease? We have been there for years, but our lease is ending in two. We originally signed a guarantee, but we didn't in our renewal, so I'm willing to possibly walk away if we can stop ourselves from personal liability? In NorCal." Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business and I’ve already messed up the intro again. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: Matt Staub is joining us, nice. I love it. MATT: You know, when you say the actual name of the podcast, that doesn’t mean you messed it up but… NASIR: Well, yeah, that’s true. But, as we’ve discussed many times before, if I say the name of the podcast, then it’s like, why do

Nasir and Matt talk about the recent motion filed by Uber claiming its drivers are not employees. They then answer the question, "As a business owner in California, what new laws should I know about?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener who is listening to this podcast, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com, and that’s an email address just to remember. And my name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: We are in the middle of the year now, right? MATT: Yeah. NASIR: Pretty much. MATT: Yeah, took a big break. NASIR: We can stop saying “Happy New Year!” now. MATT: Oh, yeah, I don’t know when the cut-off is for that. NASIR: I think January 2nd. MATT: Is it? NASIR: Yeah, in my mind. MATT: It’s dependent on the year because it falls on a Thursday this year so people might not be… or this year the 5th is the cut-off so, by the time this episode co

The guys kick off the year by discussing the lengths a college QB has to go through to prevent profitingfrom his name or likeness and remain eligible with the NCAA. They also answer, "I purchased a business and did not realize that there are all these gift certificates out there (I don't know exactly how many) that customers keep coming in with. Since I had no knowledge of these certificates, do I have to honor them?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. Welcome to our first new episode of 2015. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: We’re recording this in 2014 but I think the most frustrating thing is just getting the dates right on these contracts. We get to make sure we put in 2015 instead of 2014. MATT: Yeah, that’s the biggest challenge. I don’t want to change any words – just the date; just the y

Nasir and Mattrelive their top moments from 2014. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Happy New Year! Welcome to our Best of 2014 episode of Legally Sound Smart Business! Welcome to our show! My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. I guess you didn’t need me to be here. You could have done this by yourself but it’s all right. Thanks for having me. NASIR: Actually, I didn’t even know you were here. That’s really weird. So, yeah, so we’ve had a huge year; a lot of legal issues that we covered. I think Matthew, our audio producer, has a nice surprise for you guys to put together a few nice little clips for this Best of 2014 episode. MATT: Yeah, it should be a good one. I’m not sure right now as we’re recording what those “best of” are going to be but, really, all of them are good in my opinion so you can’t really go wrong. NASIR: Well, what’s interesting is the actual Best of 2014 is just going to be one long audio file of all the episodes put together. It’s going to be like a 20- or 30-hour episode b

The guys end the week by recapping the story on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a local non-profit thatpaid homeless people with food and shelter to work concessions at games. Then they answer, "How risky is it to discuss my company's IP with job applicants?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right, welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener of our podcast, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. My name is Nasir Pasha. Welcome to our show. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. Also, welcome. NASIR: Well, you just said welcome because I said welcome but, truly, I’m the welcoming person of the two. MATT: I can accept that. Right now, as we’re recording, it’s raining here in San Diego. There’s a 100 percent chance of rain today which is pretty unheard of. I can’t remember that happening in a long time. NASIR: I know, I love the rain, but San Diego freaks out in the rain. That’s the only problem with that. MATT: I’m going

Nasir and Matt discuss how signing up for free trials can backfire for consumers and businesses. They also answer the question, "I used to occupy the space next door but I needed less space, so after I left that area the landlord rented out that extra space to someone who offers the same type of services that I do. Should I sue the neighbor or the landlord, or both?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome everyone to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to our email address which I’m going to tell you in a second. Hold on one moment. It is ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. Boom! MATT: Got it. NASIR: That’s it. We should just end it. And my name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. And I guess you’d have to have a reason for sending something in the email, right? NASIR: Yeah. Yeah, just send us a legal question. MATT: If we ended the episode, people wouldn’t really have a reason for ever emailing us. N

The guys start the week by detailing the story of a Harvard professor who fought with a restaurant over a $4 discrepancy in his bill. They then answer, "At what point can I make my employees clock out but take care of non work activities at the office?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to the our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundbusiness.com. Welcome. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: I don’t know why I’m very excited about this episode, mainly because we get to make fun of another attorney. I think that’s what it is. MATT: Yeah, you do enjoy that so I could see why you’re excited for this and I think this has actually gained some… people have heard about this – I don’t know – in the past week. Maybe by the time this episode comes out, more people would have heard of it and there’s more of a resolution to it. NASIR: Yeah. MATT: So, there’s this professor at Har

The guys end the week by talking about an international crowdfunding site getting censured by the SEC. They also answer, "I live in California but my LLC is setup in another state. At what point am I doing business in California?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right, welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: That’s right, and we are covering probably the most entertaining topic, I think, known to man – not pizza, but SEC censures. MATT: Well, I don’t know. If people are listening to these in order, the last thing we just got done talking about was tax. NASIR: Oh, yeah. MATT: People really hate that stuff. I like it, but… NASIR: That was the last episode and we lost, basically, I’m already predicting, like, the stats just… everyone just stopped listening after that point. So, that’s okay. We covered the

The guys discuss the fallout from alocal San Diego blogger who accused San Diego Magazine of stealing her business name. They then answer the question, "I'm a sole proprietor. What is some good tax advice to reduce my year end profit?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right, welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, a business owner, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: And, this time, we have a nice local episode in San Diego. MATT: Well… NASIR: What? MATT: Local for me; not for you. NASIR: Yeah. Well, the topic’s local, that’s what I mean. MATT: Oh, okay. NASIR: It’s about this issue that’s going online with San Diego Magazine, but I’ll let Matt introduce it. He said he has some “hot takes” on it. I’m not sure what a hot take is, but I do have some takes as well. MATT: So, San Diego Magazine, they published their September issue. On the

Nasir and Matt start the week by discussing the blatant forms of sexual harassment alleged at Zillow. They also answer "My office is planning on doing a weight loss competition at the beginning of the year. Is this legal?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right, welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions, where you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: Nice. Perfect intro, that time. MATT: Perfect intro. Short intro, I guess. NASIR: Nice and succinct. MATT: I guess we’ll just get into the story. this is a pretty interesting one. We’ve talked about similar things in the past in terms of – oh, I guess we talk about employee – bad employee or employee practices all the time. This one’s a little bit different. NASIR: Sure. MATT: We’ve got to the point where we have to find very, very unique ones because we’ve basically talked about everything else. NASIR:

Nasir and Matt cap off the week by discussing rebranding strategies (pizza related). They then answer the question, "At what point can I file an intent to use trademark?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right, welcome to our business podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: And we are talking about the best topic in the entire world. MATT: Yeah, pizza. NASIR: Pizza. If this is your first time joining us on the podcast, this is a popular topic of ours. MATT: Yeah, it’s definitely tapered off some. I feel like, the beginning, it was every other episode. NASIR: Yeah. I mean, well, the main issue started with the concept of whether sauce or crust is better, or what makes the pizza right, and you were in the crust camp and I was in the sauce camp. MATT: I still am. NASIR: And the reason it tapered down is it just became w

The guys discuss the racial discrimination filing against the makeup company Sephora. They also answer, "Can I allow my employees to bring their dogs in the office?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right, welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com– that’s an email address and not a web address. So, send in your questions that way. It’s not a phone number either. If you’re calling that, you’re just so off, I don’t even know where to start with you. MATT: Well, I think the— NASIR: Wait. Wait, hold on. Did you just interrupt my intro? MATT: Yeah, I did. NASIR: I’m not done yet. MATT: It wasn’t going anywhere. NASIR: My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: Mine’s Matt Staub. NASIR: And I was going to say, if they ended up at the web address, it would take them to the spot where they could still submit their question. MATT: I don’t know. NASIR: I think. Yeah, you’re probab

Nasir and Matt discuss the new laws that require fast food restaurants and other sellers to post calorie information. They then answer the question, "One of my employees is consistently late in the winter and always blames weather. Can I fire them for this?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right, welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I'm Matt Staub. NASIR: And recording in the same room for the first time ever. MATT: Almost. NASIR: Almost first time ever. Well, 'tis the season to start losing weight. MATT: A time when people probably ate a lot the entire weekend. I know I did, but I always eat a lot so it's probably about the same. NASIR: No, I feel like I've been just eating for days since I've been in San Diego, since Thursday. MATT: Nonstop? NASIR: Yeah, nonstop. MATT: Yeah. NASIR: So, fast food restaurants, vending

The guys talk about Aereo's recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, even after it had won multiple lawsuits. They also answer the special Thanksgiving question, "Can I provide a free Thanksgiving meal to my employees?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business. Uh, I messed up. MATT: You didn’t mess up. That’s the name of the podcast. NASIR: All right, welcome to our business podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. Happy Thanksgiving! MATT: It’s a day early but… I assume people are traveling the day this comes out so they’ll probably listen to it during their Thanksgiving meal. NASIR: I figure. MATT: I know I plan on taking my phone out and just pressing play and letting everyone listen to it. NASIR: Oh, I’m getting one of those stereo components that I just plug it into at the dinner table, and I’ll turn it up really loud so no one can t

Nasir and Matt discuss the pregnancydiscrimination case against AutoZone that resulted in a $185 million verdict. They also answer, "Can I protect our trade secrets in a confidentiality agreement?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. Welcome to our podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. My name is Nasir Pasha and joining with me today is just me, actually. So, perfect. MATT: Just you. All right, that’s fine. That’s less work I have to do. NASIR: Oh, Matt’s here, too. MATT: I’m Matt Staub. I’m here; ready to offer my input on stories and other things. NASIR: Yeah. So, we do have to say goodbye to our audio producer. He’s gone on to bigger and better things. His name is Chris and he’s been replaced by another Matt – Matthew, I should say, right? MATT: Yeah. NASIR: And I actually offered him to replace you as a co-host. MATT: Yeah. NASIR: He refused. It would have been p