One of the dreams of many entrepreneurs is to set up a small business. The main thing to keep in mind is that along with the joy of setting up a small business and operating it, there tends to be many complications and problems. Many of these can eventually lead to lawsuits. And while your business plan and product might be perfect, you need to make sure that you look out for potential problems that don't relate to your product or business plan. Here are three areas to look at.

Properly Vet Your Employees

It is very important to make sure you vet your employees. Without vetting, you don't know exactly what type of employee you will get. You might end up with violence-prone individuals who will get into altercations with the customers, or you might hire people who have a history of sexually inappropriate behavior, which could lead to sexual harassment claims. For this reason, it is a good idea to hire out to a company that does extensive background checks on the people you are going to employ. They can determine if there is anything shady in the person's past, inclusion arrests for particular crimes that would lead to lawsuits down the line.

Make Sure You Have Safety Procedures In Effect

You don't want people, either employees or customers, to get injured in your establishment. If someone slips on a wet floor, or is hit in the head by a loose lighting fixture that comes crashing down, or falls when trying to enter the bathroom stall, you can become embroiled in a terribly damaging lawsuit. The solution to this is to bring in a safety expert and make sure that they do a complete once-over of your space and make sure that there are no problems that could lead to customer or employee injury. 

Don't Forget To Set Up Workers Compensation Insurance

Finally, it's paramount that you establish some sort of workers compensation insurance program. Even if you are as diligent as possible and try and make sure the place is as accident-proof as possible, there will be times that your employees will become injured. You don't want to be liable in the event that your employee falls and get injured while they are stocking merchandise. Should they get injured, having workers compensation insurance will allow them to collect income and you will be protected. As an employer, you will pay out a premium every month. This is a small price to pay to ensure the security of your employee's financial well-being as well as your own financial security.

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