Question

explain the specific potential risks and liabilities presented by contracts with employees and why and how each area of law creates vulnerability for GC

Provide a specific example of why and how the potential risks and liabilities could arise for contracts with employees for the GC business

Answer 1

Risks of an Employment Contract:

For each employment relationship it is important for the employer to determine conditions related to the specific position and the employee to carefully consider expectations to the employer (read more in Pre-Contractual Negotiations). But this does not mean that the employer could not prepare similar contract points for employees working on similar jobs. In several companies hiring many employees with similar tasks this could even prove to be the preferred behaviour as it guarantees a more equal treatment of employees.

Employee and employer can discuss each employment contract clause, even when the clause is presented as a so-called standard one. The employment relationship of each individual is unique and transparent according to the freedom of contract principle, not all employees must work on the same conditions – for some, it is important to work in the evenings, others wish to work remotely from home, others work in the morning schedule etc. Employer’s plea that one contract applies to all employees is not appropriate – employment relationship is individual and must consider the needs of parties.

For instance, the competition prohibition clause could be reasoned for a top specialist, but not for a personnel manager or a security guard; leaving in the monetary liability clause means that the employer is responsible to pay additional pay to the employee.

It is also important for the employer to consider that clauses damaging the employee are invalid and could bring along disputes. For instance, if the employment contract contains a clause that, for some reason, has not been discussed with the other contractual party or in which the other party’s opinion has not been taken into consideration and which causes unreasonable obligations or limitations to the employee, then this could not have the legal power.

In conclusion, the employer could download an employment contract online, but it must be carefully and tactfully worked through and discussed together with the employee. The employer is responsible to explain the contract conditions and it is in the employee’s interests to ask questions and make their own proposals.

Employers Obligations & Liability for Employees Health and Safety:

There are a vast number of different statutes governing safety issues, but health and safety is not only governed by legislation. Under what is known as ‘common law’ all employers should arrange some welfare measures to protect their employees. There is also a term implied into all employment contracts requiring employers to take care of their employees’ health and safety.

Types of infrastructural facilities that employer ensure is mentioned below:

*Adequate safe plant and equipment

*A safe system of work

*A safe place of work etc.

* Adequate safe plant and equipment:

Every employer has a ‘duty of taking reasonable care to provide proper appliances, and to maintain them in a proper condition. If necessary equipment is unavailable and this leads to an accident the employer will be liable.

*A safe system of work:

It is usually applied to work of a regular type where the proper exercise of managerial control would specify the method of working, give instruction on safety and encourage the use of safety devices.

The whole idea describes that the employer must create a suitable system to instruct employees what to do and supply any implements they may require.

SAFE PLACE OF WORK:

Every employer must take such steps as are reasonable to see that the premises are safe for the safety of its employees. The employer is also under a duty with respect to the premises of a third party even though he has no control over the premises, but the steps required to discharge this duty will vary with the circumstances.

GC Business:

GC Business Finance is defined as an official Start up Loans Delivery Partner and has a team of experienced business advisers who works very closely with applicants to help them prepare their business plan and cash flow forecast. Once an application is complete, GC Business Finance will grant those loans and provide ongoing training support to successful applicants.

Vulnerability definition:

The quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally. With some understanding of the legal system, the GC owners can now shift focus to examining specific areas of law that create potential risks and liabilities for their business. The group knows from their business experience, that businesses face adversely serious and costly risks and legal liabilities stemming from tort law. Unintentional harm resulting from accidents, such as in the unintentional torts of negligence and product liability, can result in costly litigation.

For example, Madison is an employer while his Remodelling business was sued by a client injured when one of the roofing employees accidentally dropped a ladder on that client’s leg. The GC owners are concerned about the possibility of accidents occurring in Green Clean public offices that could create risks of premises liability under negligence.

The 7 Security Vulnerabilities the Business Could Face Right Now

Businesses face a wide variety of IT security risks. The Web can be a dangerous place, with hacking attacks, security exploits and even company insiders leaving your company vulnerable.

To better understand and respond to these threats, it is important you are familiar with the vulnerabilities that are out there.

Below is a summary of the seven most common vulnerabilities and why they are dangerous.

(This will be the beginning of a 7-part blog series, so stay tuned for more detailed information about each of these vulnerabilities in the near future).

Unsecure Authentication

Many companies have weak authentication procedures, allowing hackers to gain access to a network. Once attackers successfully impersonate other users, they can steal your data and run rampant through your network. Faulty authentication can arise from:

• Unencrypted passwords in transit over the network
• Predictable session IDs
• Reusing session tokens
• Session hijacking vulnerabilities
• URLs that contain sensitive session ID information

Injection Flaws

When an application sends data to an interpreter that is untrusted, companies are exposed to an injection flaw vulnerability. Unfortunately, these flaws are one of the major reasons companies suffer from data theft and loss. Injection flaw vulnerabilities are present in LDAP, XML parsers, SQL and many other solutions.

Malicious Insiders:

Your employees can also be responsible for leaking inside information or even selling it to a competitor. System administrators with a high level of access can also install backdoors, add logic bombs or steal passwords, allowing them to seriously jeopardize your system’s security.

Lost or Stolen Devices

Your employees store sensitive data on laptops, smartphones and tablets. Unfortunately, these devices are often stolen or lost. If these devices are unsecured, you face a serious business risk from exposed data.

Poor IT Management

Poor network security often stems from poor IT management. That means IT departments fail to update software, leave default passwords and user accounts, or run Web applications in debug mode. There are many security configurations and safeguards an IT department can fail to make, leaving a system vulnerable to many types of attack.

Sensitive Data Exposure

There’s no excuse for failing to encrypt sensitive data such as bank and credit card information or personnel records. That also includes sensitive data in transit, not just when it’s at rest. Companies often fail to utilize strong encryption like AES and HTTPS protocols with proper certificates. As a result, this sensitive data is much easier to steal.

Potential risks and liabilities could arise for contracts with employees for the GC business:

*Job-Related Accidents

Employers are vicariously liable under the doctrine of respondent superior for the negligent acts or omissions by their employees in the course of employment.

Example of a Detour and Frolic

A detour means a deviation from explicit instructions, but so related to the original instructions that the employer will still be held liable. A frolic on the other hand, is simply the employee acting in his or her own.

Example: A company loans its sales staff vehicles to enable them to make sales calls in the area. Late at night, a sales person drives out to a bar for purely personal fun and hits a pedestrian. The employer will likely not be held responsible because, although the car is owned by the employer, the employee was using the car for personal, not business, reasons when the accident occurred. n capacity rather than at the instruction of an employer.

*Negligent Hiring of employees:

Negligent hiring or retention liability, unlike job related misconduct, arises from acts performed by an employee outside the scope of his or her employment.

Example: An ice cream sales company hires a man convicted of sexually assaulting a minor to drive its ice cream truck and sell ice cream to children. The business is likely liable because it was negligent in hiring a man known to have assaulted minors, and then giving him access to those minors as customers.

*Harassment of employees:

Workplace harassment of employees by other employees has become an increasingly problematic source of business liability for employers. Workplace harassment violates federal law if it involves discriminatory treatment based on: race, color, sex (with or without sexual conduct), religion, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or the employee's opposition job discrimination or participation in an investigation or complaint proceeding under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

*Always Conduct an Impartial Investigation

Finally, it is not enough to simply create a harassment policy. A business must also conduct prompt, thorough, and impartial investigations into any complaint that arises, and undertake swift and appropriate corrective action to fulfil its responsibility to "effectively prevent and correct harassment."

Summary:

Risk is inherent in every business. No risk no gain are the proper slogans associated with the business. Liabilities are a vital aspect of a company because they are used to finance operations and pay for large expansions. They can also make transactions between businesses and make businesses more efficient.