By Attorney Kelly Jesson
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On September 22, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a proposed rule regarding classifying workers as employees versus independent contractors. As we’ve written before, failing to correctly classify workers may result in employers paying thousands of dollars in fines, taxes, and back wages. The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) requires that employers pay their employees minimum wage and overtime, but these rules do not apply to independent contractors.

The DOL has proposed this rule because of conflicting court cases across the country, in order to create the “sole and authoritative interpretation of independent contractor status under the FLSA.” The proposed rule creates an “economic realities test” to determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. If the worker is economically dependent on the employer for work, he/she should be classified as an employee. If a worker is considered to be in business for him or herself, that worker should be classified as an independent contractor. In the past, several factors have been used to aid in court’s determinations as to whether or not a worker is economically dependent on the employer, but with this proposed rule, the DOL specifically notes that there are two core factors that are to be given more weight than others:

     1. The nature and degree of the worker’s control over the work: If the worker, and not the employer, exercises substantial control over key aspects of the work, such as by setting his or her own work schedule, working with little or no supervision, and being able to work for others, including a potential employer’s competitors, they may be classified as an independent contractor.

     2. The worker’s opportunity for profit or loss: If the worker has an opportunity to earn profits or incur losses based on his or her personal initiative, managerial skills, or business acumen (including investments in money and also equipment, tools, and people), the worker may be classified as an independent contractor.

The text of the proposed rule references “entrepreneurs” multiple times. In reviewing the proposed rule, it is clear that the DOL considers independent contractors to be workers who work for themselves. “[T]he ability to control one’s work and to earn profits and risk losses strikes at the core of what it means to be an entrepreneurial independent contractor, as opposed to a ‘wage earner’ employee.”

The proposed rule has been submitted for public comments and, given that an election is happening in a month, it is unlikely that the proposed rule will become law in the next few months. But we will be keeping an eye on it.

If you’re considering hiring your first worker, or have questions about your existing workers, please give Jesson & Rains a call!

​By Attorney Kelly Jesson

Creditors come in all shapes and sizes: ex-spouses, bankruptcy, personal and business debts, and claims involving real estate or professional malpractice. People in high risk professions or who deal with circumstances that are prone to litigation sometimes want to take steps to protect assets. However, this must be done before a dispute arises, because moving assets around afterwards can sometimes be deemed a fraudulent conveyance and voided by a court.

Unfortunately, there is no “magic wand,” and protecting assets oftentimes involves investing your earnings into protected accounts, such as life insurance and retirement. An individual’s retirement account is exempted from their own creditors (but not from a beneficiary’s creditors once the assets are inherited, which will be discussed in the next blog dealing with asset protection in estate planning). The cash value of a life insurance policy is also protected from the insured’s creditors, but again, not from a beneficiary’s creditors once the assets are inherited.

Additionally, the state of North Carolina exempts certain amounts of property from creditors:

• up to $35,000.00 of the value of the debtor’s or dependent of the debtor’s residence or burial plot, except if a debtor is 65 or older, they may exempt up to $60,000.00 if the property was previously owned with a deceased spouse (known as the “homestead exemption”)
• up to $5,000.00 of the value of any property if the debtor has not used their entire homestead exemption
• Professionally prescribed health aids for the debtor or a dependent of the debtor

• up to $3,500.00 in value of one motor vehicle
• up to $5,000.00 in value, plus an additional $1,000.00 for each dependent of the debtor, not to exceed $4,000 extra total for dependents, in household furnishings, household goods, clothing, appliances, books, animals, crops, or musical instruments, that are held primarily for the personal, family, or household use of the debtor or a dependent of the debtor
• up to $2,000.00 in value of professional books, implements, or tools of the trade
• up to $25,000.00 in funds in a 529 college savings plan.

One of the most important things you can do is title property as “tenants by entireties” (TBE). If a husband and wife purchase property together, by default, it is owned as TBE and is therefore protected from the creditors of just one of them, meaning a lien will not attach. However, if a creditor gets a judgment in both spouses’ names, a lien can attach. Also, if the spouses divorce or one passes away, a lien can attach if the remaining owner is the debtor. Another alternative or high-risk professionals is to have the low-risk spouse own the majority of assets because they will not be responsible for debts unless joint.

Another really important step is for self-employed people to form businesses and formalize businesses to protect assets. If you follow business formalities, business creditors cannot reach your personal assets for business debts. If you own investment properties, you are running a business. In fact, the definition of “operating a business” is pretty loose, and oftentimes people will move high-value assets over to LLCs for asset protection purposes. Again, you must follow business formalities (set up a tax identification number, maintain a separate bank account, have an operating agreement).

If you own a business but you have personal creditors, those cannot reach assets titled in the name of your business. They are limited to collecting only the distributions you receive from the business, which you control as the business owner. Distributions do not include your pay made through payroll, which is another reason to run your business like a business.

Finally, we’re often called by people to set up trusts to avoid creditors. General living trusts or revocable trusts are not protected from creditors of the grantor (the person who sets it up), although the funds could be protected from beneficiaries’ creditors after the grantor dies (the subject of our next blog). North Carolina residents have a few not-so-great options: First, they can set up an irrevocable trust for the benefit of others. For example, if you are married, you can create an irrevocable trust that benefits your spouse for his or her lifetime.  Presumably, your spouse will take care of you while you’re married, so you will indirectly have access to the money you put into the irrevocable trust, although on paper it will no longer belong to you, so your creditors cannot reach it. This obviously has risks, but it is an option.

Another option is an asset protection trust. In an asset protection trust, the trustee has discretion to distribute money to the grantor as well as other beneficiaries. These trusts are not valid in North Carolina, although they are available in seventeen other states and other countries. However, North Carolina residents can pick the situs (jurisdiction) of their trust and where the trustee is located, meaning, for example, that you can state that Georgia law applies to your trust even though you live in North Carolina. However, lawmakers in North Carolina have questioned whether this practice is valid for asset protection trusts, and, therefore, there are some risks involved. Of course, transferring funds to another country is always risky.

If you are interested in implementing any of the above ideas in order to protect your assets, please give the attorneys at Jesson & Rains a call!

By Attorney Edward Jesson

It is often assumed when talking about purchasing a business that your only option is to purchase the business outright. However, there is a different solution which, depending on the circumstances, could have some benefits: purchasing the target business’s assets instead of the whole company.

When you purchase a business outright, be it all of the stock of a corporation or all of the membership interest in an LLC, you are buying everything. That includes all of the business’s assets but also includes all of the business’s liabilities, some of which could be unknown at the time of the purchase. In any business purchase agreement, there should be a “due diligence” period which will allow you to uncover as many of those hidden risks as possible, but it is nearly impossible to uncover every possible risk that exists.

Most purchase agreements will contain some form of indemnification clause providing that the seller will defend and insure the buyer from various liabilities. However, negotiating an indemnification provision that adequately protects the buyer can potentially increase the purchase price requested by the seller and can also be difficult and expensive to enforce if an issue does arise in the future.

However, when you purchase only the assets of a company you are buying the possessions of the business and putting them into a new business name. The buyer can (at least to a certain extent) dictate what liabilities of the selling business are being purchased which can assist in limiting the buyer’s liability and risk in moving forwards with the transaction. Another benefit of buying a business’s assets is that the buyer can also elect to purchase some, but not all, of the target business’s assets. For example, if you were buying a trucking company you may elect not to buy the old trucks that don’t have any useful life left.

There are downsides to an asset purchase. For example, contracts between the old business and its customers/vendors may need to be renegotiated in the new business’s name. There could also be similar implications with key employees depending on the terms of any employment agreements that were in place with the old business.

Whichever route you choose, it is important to work with a team of advisors who can assist you in the process. While not discussed in detail here, there are different tax implications depending on whether you purchase the business or just the assets, about which a CPA would need to advise.
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If you’re thinking of purchasing a business, or a business’s assets, the attorneys at Jesson & Rains are ready to help you through the process.

By Attorney Edward Jesson
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Hearings were recently scheduled on a proposed North Carolina state bill entitled “An Act to Provide Consumer Protections Related to Roofing Repair Contractors.”

If passed, the law would have a big effect on the roofing industry in North Carolina--written contracts between roofing contractors and consumers would now be required. The proposed bill would require the following provisions to be included in these contracts:

     1. The roofing contractor’s contact information;
     2. The name of the consumer;
     3. The physical address of the property being worked on and a description of the structure being repaired;
     4. A copy of the repair estimate that addresses:
           a. a precise description and location of all the damage being claimed on the repair estimate;
          b. an itemized estimate of repair costs, including the cost of raw materials, the hourly labor rate, and the number of hours for each item to be repaired; and,
          c. a statement as to whether the property was inspected prior to the preparation of the estimate and a description of the nature of that inspection.
      5. Date the contract was signed by the consumer;
     6. A statement that the contractor shall hold in trust any payment from the consumer until the materials have been delivered to the job site or the majority of the work has been done;
     7. A statement providing that the contractor shall provide a certificate of insurance to the consumer that is valid for the time during which the work is to be performed;
     8. If the consumer anticipates that insurance funds will be used to pay for any portion of the job, a disclosure from the consumer that states that the consumer is responsible for payment if the insurance company denies the claim in whole or in part and a disclosure from the contractor that he or she has made no guarantees that the claimed loss will be covered by an insurance policy.

The new law, if passed, will also give the consumer the right to cancel the contract if the consumer’s insurance company denies the claim. Further, it will prohibit various practices from roofing contractors, including offering to pay insurance deductibles for the consumer or offering the consumer anything of value in order to display a sign or any other type of advertisement at the consumer’s property.

It is important to note that the proposed law specifically excludes licensed general contractors or subcontractors working underneath a licensed general contractor from the definition of “roofing repair contractors.”

While the new law would create an extra requirement that roofing contractors in NC may not be happy about, we always recommend having written contracts in place between contractors and the consumer. Too often the only written documentation is a cost estimate and, if there are any disputes, there are no provisions in these cost estimates for handling those disputes. The proposed law may also strengthen the reputation of the roofing industry by weeding out unscrupulous roofing contractors.

Jesson & Rains will continue to keep our clients updated on the passage of this law and are happy to assist with the drafting or review of any construction contracts. You can follow the status of the law yourself at: https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookup/2019/S576.

By Attorney Kelly Jesson

​Business owners around the country are starting to reopen their businesses up to employees and customers. However, regardless of government announced “phases,” businesses owe a duty to their employees and customers to keep them safe while on the premises. Lawsuits are starting to pop up, according to Market Watch.

What can you do to limit your potential liability? Businesses should follow healthcare and government recommendations, such as wiping down surfaces, frequent hand washing, wearing masks, socially distancing, etc. These recommendations sometimes change, so business owners should stay abreast of updates. Keeping your employees from getting sick on the job in the first place is key: in a worker’s compensation case, all the worker has to do is prove they were injured on the job and there’s a causal connection between the two. For example, a grocery store cashier may have a claim due to exposure to the public. A worker’s compensation claimant does not need to prove that the business was negligent.

For businesses that don’t have a large volume of public traffic (such as law firms), owners may ask patrons to sign a document before coming into the premises stating that they do not have COVID-19, are experiencing no symptoms, and they have not been around anyone with COVID-19 or who has otherwise been experiencing symptoms. While patrons can, of course, lie on these forms, at least it’s one additional step that business owners can show that they are taking to
protect their employees and other customers. Showing that you are taking the necessary steps to keep people safe is important in defense of personal injury lawsuits, where the plaintiff has to show not only causation (that they caught COVID-19 at your business) but negligence (that you failed to act with reasonable care).

A defense to a negligence action is “assumption of risk.” Some business owners may ask patrons to sign waivers of claims, saying that the patron is “assuming the risk” of contracting COVID-19 by coming to their establish. For example, someone who voluntarily eats at a restaurant or goes to a nail salon knows that there is a risk that they may be infected, and a business is not guaranteeing 100% that they will not be infected, because there’s no way to do that.

Governor Cooper provided business owners with extra protection a couple of weeks ago when he signed the Coronavirus relief bill. The act provides for limited liability for businesses deemed “essential” under the Governor’s prior stay-at-home order. If an employee or customer gets COVID-19 from spending time at an essential business, the business is not liable for damages unless it is “grossly negligent” or worse. Gross negligence is a higher standard than simple negligence. Instead of a plaintiff showing the absence of reasonable care in a negligence lawsuit, a plaintiff would have to show the conscious disregard for reasonable care to prove that a business was grossly negligent.

While essential businesses should be comforted by this law, we are of the opinion that this should not change how they do business. In fact, if they consciously fail to abide by social distancing and cleaning protocols, they could arguably be grossly negligent.

If you have any questions about how to prepare your business for reopening, give Jesson & Rains a call!

By Attorney Kelly Jesson
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It’s hard to think about celebrating small businesses this month when so many are suffering due to coronavirus-related closures and illnesses. During this time of crisis, we’re right here with you, navigating these unusual waters.

We thought this would be a great time to feature one of our clients, Help Mask A Hero, who saw a life-or-death need and immediately sprang into action to fill the gap! Help Mask A Hero, Inc., is a North Carolina non-profit corporation, with its 501(c)(3) status pending. Founded by Charlotte’s own Dr. Lakesha Legree, owner of Elev8 MD Wellness Center, PLLC, and several other anesthesiologist colleagues, Help Mask A Hero uses donations to purchase coveted N95 masks to ensure that our frontline healthcare workers are receiving the PPE they need to treat COVID-19 patients AND stay healthy themselves. Help Mask A Hero also accepts donations of masks and other protective equipment. Help Mask A Hero has been featured all over major national news channels. We are so proud to serve them!

If you’d like more information, or to donate yourself, please visit: https://helpmaskahero.com
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To honor our healthcare workers, we are offering a discount for those who need their estate planning documents drafted. Please give Jesson & Rains a call for more information!