SXSW Legal – Page 3 – Online Legal Advice

How to Stop Hackers from Destroying your Online Presence?

Anything from a bad review to a negative comment can ruin your online reputation beyond measures. Many businesses that are operating on the online forefront don’t realize that even hackers can cause damage to their business and make everyone run away from them. In order to protect the online reputation that you have built over the years, it is important to get good advice from a digital marketing company and learn to keep hackers from getting the best of you.

Below is a list of tips that will help you keep hackers from sabotaging your online presence.

Register Website Domains With Your Name
A good way to ensure that hackers are not able to destroy your online reputation is to purchase every domain with your name. Businesses should also ensure that they buy .net, .org, and .biz domains with their name.

Register Different Profiles With Your Name
Businesses should also create profiles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and MySpace with their company’s name and their own. This is a great way to ensure that your online profiles are safe from hackers.

Create Search Engine Profiles
Creating Google and Yahoo profiles with your name is also a good way to protect your business from getting hacked and used by others.

Conduct A Google Search
Every company should make it a habit to monitor Google search results with their name. This research will allow businesses to find identity thieves that are trying to steal their name and falsifying their image. This is also a great way to find out about those who are using your content on their pages. Once you track these thieves, you can contact Espresso to handle the matter.

(more…)

Fines for Property Company Regarding Workplace Law Breach

A company in South Australia has been fined $29,790 in total, by the Adelaide Federal Circuit Court. The Fair Work Ombudsman declared that two men from the state accepted a job as a sales representative with a property company, but were not properly paid . The company is Longridge Group Pty Ltd, which is located in Adelaide, and deals with residential properties.

They had been advertising the position as having a salary potential of $120,000 and more. However, the first man left the position after 10 months, when he had only earned $7,000. After the first man left, another man accepted a job with the company, believing that his earning potential would be above $70,000 annually. After six months had passed, he left when he had not been paid a thing.

Longridge Group was given the fine after the Fair Work Ombudsman took legal action against them. The company had been paying the men with nothing but commission, in the years of 2011 and 2012. They admitted that this had been the case. This arrangement resulted in the men being underpaid a combined total of $24,956, which would have been the minimum award payments.

(more…)

How to Avoid the Process of Probate

Settling of personal and financial affairs of a dead person is called probate, and can be managed by experienced lawyers to represent the party in court. People avoid this process because it takes up several months and even years to get over it, and the greater the time, the greater the cost. This will leave the heirs with lesser amount of money than initially allocated by the deceased.

You can opt for four different ways, other than probate, to settle the property between heirs or any other beneficiaries. These comprise of; Death Beneficiaries, Joint Property Ownership, Gifts, and Revocable Living Trusts.

Death Beneficiaries

You can appoint a death beneficiary through different financial assets and instruments. After your death, the owner of these properties will be the death beneficiary you selected and it will not remain the part of your estate; hence you will be able to avoid the process of probates completely. Following financial resources can be utilized which will permit you to carry this out:

Retirement Accounts
Transfer on Death Registrations
Payable on Death (POD) Accounts

(more…)

Wage and Hour Division: Are They Paying You Right?

Majority of us would like to make more money than we are currently making in our jobs; however a few among us might even be satisfied by their current wages. Nevertheless, there are some who do not get paid enough for all the efforts they put in. To make sure that nobody is treated unfairly, there is a criterion set for a minimum wage. This is mentioned in the Fair Work Act of 2009. This act is responsible for regulating and keeping an annual check on wages and if you are unsure you could check a lawyer’s list and then engage a lawyer to help you.

The yearly minimum wage is reviewed according to the rules and regulations listed in part 2-6 of the act. The minimum wage panel is a branch of the Fair Work Act that sets the minimum salary that must be given to any worker. This panel reviews and set wages on a national level which are later approved for awards and agreements. For legal advice regarding unfair dismissal or workplace rights, you will need to consult an employment lawyer if you wish to seek legal advice.

When we talk about wage and hour division, five things should be taken into account:

Normal load and rate of pay
Maximum standard hours of work
Parental Leaves
Personal Leaves
Annual Leaves

These national employment standards are also working on adding needs such as flexible working times, public holidays, termination notice periods, unemployment pay, community service leaves, and long service leaves.

(more…)

Are You an Oppressed Shareholder? Here is What You Can Do

When the company violates their responsibility, exploits their position, and treats the shareholder wrongly, the shareholders can engage an experienced commercial lawyer and use the law to protect their rights. The act that caters to their rights is called the Corporations Act 2001 part 2F 1.

In this, under the section of 234, the outline s232 states that the candidates including in this act are; the company’s shareholders, any individual who was dismissed from the list by selective reduction, any other relevant person declared by the investment commission, any individual who has a share in the company either by will or law, and any person who is no longer the shareholder. Furthermore, the claim is based on the time when they were eliminated.

Oppression Situation

Shareholders may face oppression in the following conditions:

Improperly issued shares
Unprofessional elimination from the management
Prohibited to access information
Accused of wasting company funds
Harsh behaviour of others during the board meeting
Paying huge amounts of compensation to an associate or controller
Diversion to another entity of a business
Unable to take legal actions against any behaviour

Requirement for Resolution

The applicants are provided with help only when the court believes that the conduct of affairs and dismissal done on behalf of the company, or any decision or prospective decision of the shareholders was oppressive to a particular shareholder or was against the interest of a group of shareholders. These affairs may be associated with the company, the shareholders; major or minor, and the directors.

(more…)

Are You Liquidating Your Company? You Need To Know These Laws!

Liquidation is when you dissolve all of your assets and shutdown the company, or you sell it off. In order for this to occur, shareholders or the court is responsible for hiring a liquidator, who will then take the interest of every creditor into account and administer the whole process of converting the resources into money. If the company can afford a lawyer, then it should hire an experienced commercial lawyer.

The work involves releasing the company from any legal responsibilities, and allocating the surplus funds among the shareholders according to the company’s policies.

There are three types of liquidation you can opt for:

- Member Voluntary

In this type of liquidation, a company is closed by its directors or shareholders in spite of having a huge amount of assets. The company is not bankrupt in this type of liquidation; therefore creditors are rewarded with full payment and the rest of the money is divided between the directors or shareholders.

- Creditors Voluntary

You can opt for this category if you are bankrupt and cannot pay the debts. Here, the company is liquidated in order to pay those debts. According to the creditor’s claim, equal distribution of assets occurs between creditors after the payment of debt, but secured creditors are given more importance by the law. Other laws are also in place to avoid unfair distribution.

- Court Liquidation

In this kind of liquidation, the directors and creditors request the court to appoint a liquidator for the company and it takes place in the occurrence of a bankruptcy. A court order is compulsory for court liquidation, and the application submitted by the creditor will include the debt that the company is facing.

(more…)

All You Need to Know about the Domestic Violence Protection Order

Domestic violence has countless psychological, social, and physical impacts. It includes abusing or threats of abuse by any person whom you live with, be it a blood relative, spouse or partner.

The term abuse means intentionally hurting someone, either physically, verbally, sexually, mentally or emotionally. Threats of doing so, also count as abuse, along with harassing and stalking the person concerned. Keeping the safety of the public in mind, the courts and police have adopted the Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) to protect citizens from such unlawful acts.

What It Entitles?

The purpose of this order is to provide people in violent relationships, with legal protection. Anyone who is facing domestic violence can apply for this order to put an end to it. The application can be placed urgently or non-urgently, depending upon how bad the situation is for the victim. The police can also issue charges against the violent person. It is advisable to seek the services of experienced criminal lawyers if you require further legal information.

Once the order has been issued, the person it is against must behave in a civilized manner with the complaint maker. Such people are also prohibited from owning or getting a license to any weapon.

What’s The Procedure?

The police will provide all the people concerned with the case, with a particular time and date and the hearing will be held in court within 48 hours, except for Bank Holidays and Sundays. The absence of the violent person within the court will automatically result in the successful filing of a DVPO. However, if the DVPO is put into effect against a people who is under the age of 18, their being a minor and their well-being will be considered by the judge accordingly.

(more…)

All You Need to Know about Workplace Discrimination and the Legal Actions Taken Against It

Every workplace may consist of many kinds of people, coming from different backgrounds, which makes it a diverse place for interaction. However, not everyone appreciates this diversity and this might result in discrimination against a particular group. At the workplace, discrimination occurs when biased decisions are made against people based on something, which is not under their control. These decisions can be related to promotion, hiring, termination, retribution, reward, assignment of a task, or any other work related scenarios. You should consult an experienced lawyer if you can’t find the information you are seeking online.

Types of Unlawful Discrimination

There are several types of discrimination factors a person might come across at the workplace, which consists of age, sex, race, marital status, religion, nationality, physical disability, sexual orientation or preference, political affiliation and anything else, which is beyond the control of an individual.

Adverse Actions

This includes any discriminatory behaviour. It can be an employee’s dismissal, harming an employee during the course of their employment, changing their position in order to harm them, giving preference to other employee over them, rejecting hiring a potential worker, or modification in the employment offer based on discrimination.

Laws and Legal Actions regarding Unlawful Discrimination

State and federal laws have been put in place to protect the employees and improve the workplace environment. Acts such as, Occupational Health and Safety Act, Equal Opportunity at Workplace Act, Public Service Act, and Fair Work Act, are a few that deal with such harassment. Other specific laws tackle different types of harassment, which are discussed as under:

(more…)

Crimes Committed By Mentally Ill Individuals

Research suggests that Crime and mental illness unfortunately go hand in hand. Records also show that many criminals usually have some sort of mental illness due which they end up facing repercussions from the criminal justice system and need to help from a professional at any one or multiple points in their life. However, the offences may not always be violent crimes.

When it comes to criminal activities, many people try to avoid punishment by opting for the ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’ clause. This, however, causes difficulties for the court and requires psychological testing to proof the plea. It is then determined after the testing, whether a person should be admitted to a mental hospital or sentenced to jail.

Nevertheless, many people are of the opinion that similar laws should be made for both, the mentally ill as well as regular criminals. Hence, if a mentally ill person reacts violently towards an individual, their sentence time should be the same as any other person convicted of such a felony.

Insanity Defence Plea

The fitness of a person matters greatly when they stand for trial. If the mental state of the defendant is such that they cannot even be considered ‘fit to stand trial’ and cannot even understand the consequences of their actions, nature, and aim of the punishment; they will be considered unfit for the proceedings and the trial will not take place. In such situations, the court hires psychiatrists and psychologists who submit the report regarding the defendant’s mental condition.

(more…)

Child Custody after the Execution of a Divorce

Getting a divorce and in turn engaging an experienced divorce lawyer can be a messy business and where children are concerned, it tends to become even more sensitive. A longitudinal study was conducted by Wallerstein et al. in this regard. They interviewed adult children of divorced parents and discovered that all of them still carried some negative effect of their parent’s divorce, which had instilled a fear of relationships and commitment among them.

This tells us that no child is able to completely cope with their parents’ divorce; therefore, legal matters regarding child custody should be handled seriously and carefully to avoid the damaging psychological impact.

(more…)