Last week the Seattle Times reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil fraud suit against local developer Lobsang Dargey, alleging that he stole nearly $18 million for his own use from immigrant investors under the EB-5 program. The program allows wealthy foreigners to invest money ($500,000 at a minimum) in a... View Article
The headlines associated with audits of independent contractor vs employee relationships have died down, but the revenue agencies are still aggressively pursuing these areas. It’s essential that you have clear documentation that each contractor relationship you’ve entered into meets the legal requirements so that you can present these in the event of an audit and... View Article
If you ask business owners to describe their biggest challenges, one of the top three is almost always related to managing and leading employees. It’s usually not specifically described as “legal compliance,” but the challenges of ensuring employee happiness and productivity. To achieve these goals, we look to build compensation, wellness, flexibility, and autonomy policies... View Article
Blog written by Asbury Lockett, a business advisor with the Small Business Development Center at Highline College. Lean Thinking starts with the premise that everything that any of us want to accomplish (both at work and outside of work) is a process. Everything that gets done is a series of steps. Some steps take us... View Article
Blog written by Michelle Bomberger, Equinox Business Law Group I’ve found so many quotes that tout the value of change in business: “By changing nothing, nothing changes” (Tony Robbins), “When in doubt, choose change” (Lily Leung), and “The best thing you can do is the right thing; the next best thing you can do is... View Article
My coach asked me today: “You’ve got some sales goals, but how do you hit them? Is it activity tracking, focused account planning, leveraging your marketing? ” My response was “Well, yeah, sort of…” because we do have certain planned sales activities and we track the source of each lead; but I know we should be... View Article
Blog written by Keil Larsen, Equinox Business Law Group. On June 2, 2014, the Seattle City Council unanimously approved the adoption of a $15 per hour minimum wage ordinance. The ordinance will affect employers beginning April 1, 2015 and will phase-in wage increases to the minimum wage of employees to $15.00 per hour over 3-7... View Article
Blog written by Trevor Norcross, Integrated Rewards. I always seem to see a few articles that question the effectiveness of Human Resource functions. These articles often take the position that HR does not add value or drive business results. At the same time I see posts from HR practitioner asking how to get a seat... View Article
Blog written by Jennifer Olsen, Resourceful HR. If you know you need to focus on bolstering the HR efforts of your organization but don’t know where to start, you are not alone. The HR function includes many aspects that may seem daunting when you have limited resources and time. It is especially difficult when you... View Article