Every state in the U.S has adopted “at -will employment” legal concepts. At -will employment essentially means that an employer has the right to terminate an employee without reason, for any reason, and even for an unfair or unethical reason… just as the employee can leave a job the same way. As long as the reason is legal, the employer can fire at-will. This concept is supposed to put employers and employees on an equal ground related to rights.

States recognize certain exceptions in federal and state law to at-will employment to different degrees. While some may recognize all of the existing exceptions others may just recognize federal law exceptions, such as discrimination law. However, an employer must violate either the state exceptions or federal law exceptions for a firing to be considered wrongful termination.

Most Common State and Federal Exceptions:

• An employee/employer contract or union contract specifically defining the employment termination policy as other than at-will.

• Violation of federal discrimination laws which prohibit an employee from being fired solely based on- age, creed, sex, disability, race, religion, national origin, military duty, and genetics.  State law may add additional categories such as marital status, sexual orientation, etc..

• Violation of Public policy. Applies to some degree in 42 states. This exception involves employees fired for whistle blowing  or refusing to perform an illegal job duty. The employer can not fire in retaliation for an employee reporting an illegal activity either. It also involves terminations that undermine the interests of the public for example, a firing because an employee filed for worker‘s compensation. 

• Breach of implied contract applies to some degree in 37 states. This would involve verbal or written statements by an employer that are implied as employment agreements. An example would be an employee handbook section for termination that contradicts at-will employment policies.

• Breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealings. Applies to some degree in 11 states. This rare adoption by a state requires that an employer treat employees fairly, honestly, ethically, and at least show “good cause” for termination. It protects the employee from being fired because they are due for a promotion or raise and from having an employer use false accusations to justify the termination.

• Violation of federal medical leave. An employee can not be fired for taking a family or medical leave.

There are a few other state by state exceptions. However, the above are the most often used in wrongful termination suits. Again, aside from the federal laws, state exceptions do not apply in all states or to the same degree in states that do recognize them. So, figuring out if you have a wrongful termination suit and even filing a wrongful termination suit is a tedious and complex process to say the least. 

I find it absolutely amazing that society and government officials can be rational enough to realize that it is unfair, unethical, and not just to fire someone solely because they are black, elderly, disabled, pregnant, etc….but, have failed to make it impossible for someone to be fired for petty reasons like: a quirky personality, they have blonde hair, they have a pimple on their nose, they drink Coke instead of Pepsi, they have an irritating laugh, etc..  An employer should be free to hire whomever they feel is best qualified and fitted for a position, but once they hire a person, they should have a just cause to fire them.

Proponents of at- will employment argue that it provides a fairness to an employee being able to leave at- will. However, the answers to two questions are proof that fairness is non-existent under at-will employment- How many unfilled jobs are employers struggling to fill? Now, how many unemployed Americans are struggling to find a job? Aside from some very obscure profession, I have never heard of an employer going out of business because they can not find someone to fill a job left vacant by an employee leaving. However, there are millions of employees fired without cause who were depending on job security to live.

Since the birth of my handicapped child, I have advocated relentlessly for fair treatment of handicapped persons. Now, I can add doing away with at-will employment and enacting actual fair laws to the books to my list of causes to harass government officials about.

What happened was this:  A Brokerage House (and subsequently, several other major brokerages) was caught with its corporate hand in the cookie jar.

Here’s how it works (or, at least, is supposed to): let’s say that a company needs a hundred million dollars or so to expand. It approaches a financial service firm , seeking to sell new issues of its stock, thereby obtaining the capital it needs.  The Brokerage House then does its homework on the company. If the company’s prospects are economically viable, the Brokerage House will have its brokers attempt to sell you—in legal terms, the “client”—shares in the company.

The Brokerage House is rewarded how much? Let’s be conservative; call it $5 million or so (plus other commissions and fees) for placing the stock with their huge 14,000-broker army, which is spurred on to sell the stock.  Sound fair so far? When it works properly, it is.  But issuing new shares dilutes the per-share ownership in a company, which can have an adverse impact on both existing shareholders and those who purchase the new issue. Or it could be that the company is in an industry that’s not projected to fare well in the near term—making buggy whips comes to mind here. But for whatever reason, the circumstances indicate that an issue of new stock is not always a great deal for investors; as an advisor to individual investors, the stock broker is supposed to wave its clients away from less than-advantageous stock purchases.

However, investigators find out the Brokerage House was releasing glowing reports on the public offering, aggressively urging clients to buy the new issue.  The problem: the Brokerage House already knew the stock was a dog; confidential internal memos among officials said, in effect, an investor would have to be crazy to invest any money in the security.  Meanwhile the Brokerage House was pushing it hard, eagerly pocketing commissions both from the issuing company and from clients they convinced to invest in it. When the stock tanked—which it did, emphatically—a lot of individuals lost a lot of money.  Sadly, this was not a unique case. In fact, it’s been standard operating procedure for a very long time.

Of course, this creates an inherent conflict of interest. For instance, let’s say the markets really look dismal—unemployment is running rampant, inflation is flaring, and terrorist attacks in our country are a distinct possibility. For the foreseeable future, there seems no feasible way to make a decent return on an investment.  In a logical world, what would you do with your money? If you are like many folks, you’d sit on the sidelines with your money held tight in your hand, waiting until the picture cleared.  Okay for you—after all, you have your money already. But the poor brokerage firm is in a pretty fix: unless they buy and sell constantly, there’s no revenue (“commissions”) coming in.  Can you imagine a financial company sitting on the sidelines until the storm passes in—say—six months or so?  No commissions for six months? That means no dividend checks for the shareholders of the brokerage. No dividend checks means that the president of the company is . . . well, toast. Fired!  But he won’t go out alone: branch managers (the ramrods who push the brokers to sell more, earn more) also are . . . replaced. But before they go, they fire the “underperforming” brokers. Chaos reigns: bearing torches and pitchforks, out-of-work brokers and financial advisors riot in the streets . . . nations fall . . . civilization collapses .

A horrific picture and one that no respectable broker could in good conscience allow (that is, if the aforementioned broker actually has a conscience). Hence, regardless of the financial prospects—and however much it may cost you, the investor—the brokerages must soldier on and collect those commissions.  Remember this the next time you see one of those TV commercials proclaiming how hard the brokerage houses work for you.

Well, what’s up is the game. It’s over, but you don’t know it yet.  Once you went “all in”—a poker term that indicates you’ve ante’d up every penny you have—your value as a client plummeted.  Aside from some minor sell-a-little/buy-a-little chump change, your account has been milked of any potential commissions.  The broker knows that you are unlikely to make major changes in your investments in the foreseeable future—so why bother with you? You have become the albatross around his neck. There’s no incentive to spend valuable time answering your questions when he could be busy snaring another investor—fresh blood that will pump more money to his (and his firm’s) bottom line.

Over time, you’ll probably threaten to move your account. Fine with him—by now, he’s earned all the commissions. If someone else is left holding the bag—i.e., “servicing your account”—that’s no problem for him, and it’s usually your new broker.  Why? You are once again fresh meat. Your new broker sympathizes with you over how you were treated—and then declares your existing portfolio to contain more dogs than the American Kennel Club.  She makes an enthusiastic case for selling out all your positions now: “you have to bite the bullet and eat the penalties before it’s too late!” And of course, she has her own program of investments for you to buy into—and her own commissions to collect.  In most cases such as this, you’d be hard-pressed to find anything but a predator seeking your business. In such circumstances, an honest broker would decline to handle your account. He would tell you the sad truth: he cannot legitimately earn any fees from you. If he took on everybody in your situation, he would bankrupt himself. 

Ever wonder how the commission is divided at the average Wall Street retail brokerage house? It depends on a host of factors, including:

• How long the broker has been in business (the longer he’s been in it the more is expected out of him in annual commissions)
• His total commissions earned to date in the current year (the more he earns, the more he gets to keep)
• Any contest that may have been running at the time, and
• The type of investment you bought

With minor variations among the different brokerage houses, a broker will usually get from 25 percent to 50 percent of the total commission earned for his efforts. The balance goes to the brokerage house. It’s what pays for all the local-office expenses; the expensive local, regional, and national advertising campaigns that draw new business.

I came 2nd. Nobody remembers who comes 2nd right? Normally this wouldn’t have bothered me at all. I have been a freelance filmmaker all my life and have grown totally impervious to the endless rejections, but this one got under my skin.

the guy that was appointed had already done the job for the last year. He was a safe bet, neither exciting or a risk. A nice comfortable pair of slippers that the exec producers could slip on with any wrinkles. Of course, he was going to get the job long before interview day. He was a shoe in. Nothing wrong with that; I’ve appointed people I know many times, but at least I didn’t waste anyone’s time advertsining for a job that didn’t really exist.

The BBC is obsessed with marketing itself as transparent and open to scrutiny. The playing field is supposed to be level; equal opportunity for internal and external candidates alike. This is an absolute lie. Most BBC jobs have gone or have people lined up long before they ever hit the pages of Broadcast magazine.

In period where we all, filmmakers and viewers alike, wondered what happened to the great brave drama series of 20 years ago, it’s not difficult to see why. The BBC takes the path of least resistance in all its staffing terrified that anything or anyone might stand out. Ok as a philosophy if you are a bank, but totally unacceptable if your business is producing original thought provoking programming. This comes from people with something to say not those who know how to say nothing.

Now that you’ve retired, your income may come in several different forms. You may get returns on your personal savings. You may receive a pension or be able to take withdrawals from retirement accounts. You may be receiving (or entitled to receive) Social Security benefits. Each source, standing alone, may not seem like a whole lot of income. But put them together, and you may be surprised at how large your monthly income really is.

All those years you saved and saved, and for what? A rainy day. Well, here’s that rainy day. Now you can begin to use your savings to give you retirement income. Instead of putting money into these investments, you can begin to take money out of these investments.

• Bond mutual funds – Interest
• Certificates of deposit (CDs) – Interest
• Commercial annuities – Income
• Common stock – Dividends
• Corporate bonds – Interest
• EE bonds – Interest (free from state tax)
• 401(k) plans – Income
• Money market funds – Dividends
• Municipal bonds – Interest (tax free)
• Pensions – Income
• Preferred stock – Dividends
• Real estate investment trusts (REITs) – Dividends and/or capital gains
• Regular IRAs – Income
• Roth IRAs – Tax free if withdrawals taken 5 years

1. After initial contribution and on
2. Account of being 59½ or meeting
3. Other conditions

• Savings accountsInterest
• Stock mutual fundsDividends and/or capital gains

You don’t get any income (or capital gains) when you’re only getting back what you put in (called your basis or investment). So, for example, when you buy a commercial annuity, the only part that’s income is over and above what you put in. Each annuity payment, then, represents a return of your own investment and income earned on the investment; you’re taxed only on the income, not on your own investment.

In terms of what you have to spend, it doesn’t really matter whether the income is labeled interest, dividends, or something else. However, it’s important to know the label because this affects the tax treatment of the income. In the end, it’s after-tax income (what you have left to spend after you’ve paid your taxes on the income) that matters.

For example, you live in New York and receive $1,000 interest from a GM bond and $1,000 interest from a NYS Triboro Bridge and Tunnel Authority. Are both payments equal? The answer is probably no. Let’s say you’re in the 28% federal income tax bracket. After paying tax on the GM bond, you’ll have $720; however, there’s no federal income tax on the NYS bond, so you’ll have the entire $1,000 to keep. But don’t also forget the impact of state taxes. States with an income tax typically levy it on out-of-state bonds but not on in-state bonds (in the preceding example, the NYS Triboro Bridge and Tunnel Authority bond was an in-state bond for a person living in New York). But state income tax applies to both in-state and out-of-state bonds in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. No state income tax applies to in-state and out-of-state bonds in Indiana, North Dakota (if the state’s short form is used), and Utah.

In addition to income on your savings, you can generate payments by using up your capital. For example, suppose that you’ve saved $50,000 that you’ve invested in CDs. As they become due, you can use some of the cash rather than buy new CDs (you can always tap into your CD before it matures, but you’ll pay a bank penalty). You can spend this cash as retirement income.

What “lessons learned” should executives take away from these scandals and the negative media attention that they cast on both their organizations and their most prized talent? The first is that organizations must have active sexual harassment training and policies in place. It’s 2009, and the importance of both simply cannot be overstated. Second, there has to be clear communication that no matter what the environment and who is involved, there will be zero tolerance of sexual harassment. Indeed, some analysts have criticized CBS for not taking stronger action against David Letterman, due to the fact that while one sports announcer or analyst can be replaced, a “franchise” personality such as his cannot be nearly as easily. So, do you have a “too big to fail” standard – or double-standard-in your organization? Finally, one must look around your own organization and ask a simple question: “How well do you REALLY know what’s going on?” Workplace romances are a reality today. However, relationships between superiors and subordinates are a dicey proposition at best – and still, even in this day and age, inadvisable. You should ask – as ESPN and other companies are undoubtedly doing today in the wake of such prominent cases and the attention they cast on the thin – and often fast-moving and blurry lines between mutual consenting adults and sexual harassment – if there are cultural issues that your company or organization needs to seriously address.

As we have seen, lives, careers, and corporate images can take a severe beating in our 24/7/365 media culture when such negative stories come to light – as they almost invariably will do in the age of participatory journalism. Thus, as you read this, ask yourself a simple question: “Do you really know what’s going on?” If not, the legal, financial, and image implications may be costly and irreparable.

According to Wikipedia, a freelancer is a self-employed person like an independent contractor who follows after a profession without establishing a long-term commitment to any one employer. Now you might say, what the heck does that mean. In simple terms, it means that a virtual assistant (or writer, or graphic designer, etc.) goes into business for him- or herself.

There are many areas in which a person can set themselves up in business as a freelancer — areas like website development and programming, administrative services, writing and translation, sales and marketing, and multiple other categories. Within each of these categories, there might be specific niches that you can establish your business in, depending on your skills and determination.

Okay, so that’s all well and good, right? How does a freelancer find a buyer, or how does a buyer find a service provider? If a person does a search through their favorite Internet search engine under the term “freelance marketplace,” one will find a wide variety of freelance marketplaces out there where freelancers and buyers can meet, get to know each other, and work together. There are several good ones out there like Guru.com, Elance Tour, iFreelance.com, and more, depending on what you are specializing in.

So let’s go back to my original premise as to why a virtual assistant should recommend a freelance site to one of their clients. In my case, there are two categories that I would want to do this:

1. There are clients of mine that may have a service that is not currently in my reportoire of skills. For example, I offer virtual assistance services – things like data entry, customer service, transcription, article writing, article submission, things of that nature. I don’t do graphics, I don’t do  photography or videography, I don’t do anything having to do with legal matters — you get the picture, right? In other words, if one of my clients needs me to come up with a logo, for example, I’m going to recommend that they go to a freelance site like Logo Design Elance where they can go to find a service provider that does that type of thing.
2. There are new prospective virtual assistants out there that need to acquire clientele and may want to test the waters to see if becoming a freelancer is going to appeal to their sense of adventure and be a good fit. When my partner and I first started out, we were compelled to go into freelancing because I had been laid off and she had retired. We needed a way to supplement our income. Not everyone is going to take to freelancing. Becoming a member of a freelance site can be an excellent way to be introduced to it, build skills, and gain feedback.

With the economy being what it is right now and so many people being out of work, a virtual assistant has to do everything they can to keep the clients they have. This is a good time to recommend freelance marketplaces to clients and individuals that want to get into freelancing. That is why I think it only makes sense that a virtual assistant not only can but should recommend freelance sites to anyone that listens — but especially to clients looking for something to be done that I can’t do or to new people wanting to get into the field of freelancing.

1. Sloppily dressed—The worst example I can remember is a guy who showed up to turn in his application wearing very dirty blue jeans and a white undershirt that was filthy and had giant yellow armpit-stains. The guy also looked like he had not shaved in 3 days. While the job only paid $1 over minimum wage, I still put his application on the very bottom of the no pile.
2. Confrontational—I can give several examples here. One applicant turned in his application by slamming it down on the desk and saying we now had 48 hours to interview him, according to state law. I never could find the law he was citing. Another, when calling to check on the status of his application, accused me of nepotism, simply because I had decided to interview other applicants—he instantly went from a maybe to a no.
3. Lying during the interview—While most people are pretty honest, I know how to spot a B.S. artist, so when I see somebody feeding me a line, I move them to the no pile. One applicant who said she had taken a few years off to raise her children caught my attention as a potential liar, and when I ran the criminal check she had actually been in prison for 2 1/2 years. One applicant had left his last 3 jobs due to plant closings.
4. Bad job history—Lots of applicants I saw openly admitted to leaving their last job due to a conflict with their supervisor, poor attendance, or having too many jobs in their recent past. One applicant had listed 5 jobs for a period of 6 months.
5. Going back to a job that fired you—I had several people who I fired, along with a lot more that I was glad to see quit, come back and apply to return to work. The best was a guy who quit while on a final warning for misconduct. On his way out the door after turning in his resignation he mooned a security camera (I am not kidding at all) and then 2 years later he applied to come back and work for us.
6. Having your possessive boyfriend “escort” you to the interview—I saw this twice in my career so far. If you have a boyfriend like this, start confronting him about his trust issues.
7. Dressing provocatively for the interview—Any woman who does this automatically goes into the “no” pile, immediately. The best example was a woman who worn a skirt with a button-down slit. The buttons kept conveniently popping open, so that she could draw attention to her legs as she redid them and giggled.

I’ll try to add more as I remember them.

According to Advertising Age, marketing dates back to 1742. This is when the first advertisement was printed in Benjamin Franklin’s “General Magazine.”

Types

Traditional types of marketing include direct mail-a printed piece that is mailed to targeted demographics; loyalty cards-a physical card that offers incentives and coupons to shoppers; and social media-online interactive advertising utilizing sites like Twitter, FaceBook, and MySpace.

Considerations

The most important aspect of a marketing campaign is branding. The American Marketing Association (AMA) states that a “brand” is a combination of a company name and logo that is easily identifiable. Your goal is to get the consumer to pick your company over the competition.

Benefits

Marketers are familiar with The Law of Seven. This means a prospective customer needs to see your name or logo seven times before it makes an impression. Consistency and visibility with branding is key.

Misconceptions

A successful marketing campaign for the hospitality and tourism industry can be accomplished at little to no cost. Marketing your company with business cards, selling gift certificates, and being active in the community gets your company name out without breaking the bank.