The use of traps and mines go back thousands of years when Roman soldiers would scatter caltrops on the field around a fort. A caltrop was a weapon with four sharp spikes that always had one spike pointed up. The idea was to disable attackers as they approached a fort. One thousand years later, the Chinese developed the Huolonging—a self-tripped container of gunpowder designed to injure attacking soldiers. Hundreds of years after that, land mines were planted in fields designed to stop the advancement of enemy soldiers.

As it turns out, land mines often tend to injure those who planted the devices more than would-be invaders. Airplanes sometimes drop the mines in the wrong fields. The locations of traps are forgotten. The “safe passage” through minefields tends to migrate.

Beginning in 1997, world leaders from over 160 nations signed the Ottawa Treaty, formally known as The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention and the Protocol on Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices. The lesson from anti-personnel land mines and traps is that the unwary can injure themselves.

Management of a small or medium-sized business is tough. Managers are busy developing and selling products and services; recruiting, managing, and retaining personnel; watching the budget; meeting deadlines; and smoothing troubled waters as the company grows. The demands can be great, and it is easy to overlook distractions that quickly become traps for the unwary. Traps to avoid can include the following issues:

Sexual Harassment: The “Me Too” movement is ongoing. Some managers think it is restricted to nonconsensual physical or verbal contact. It is more than that: “sexual harassment” under the law includes unwelcome conduct and behavior of a sexual nature that creates an uncomfortable work environment. Dirty jokes are a relic of the past in the modern workplace. One manager paid good money to settle a claim where he texted a subordinate: “I hope you wear a short skirt tomorrow. I want people to see the eye candy of our office.” Prescription: Businesses should develop a sexual harassment policy, circulate it to all employees, enforce it, and call out inappropriate conduct. (For more reading: https://i-sight.com/resources/sexual-harassment-policy/.)

Data Privacy: Privacy laws vary from one state to the next. Transactions in every product and service field involve digital storage. Every employee has a camera on their phone or I-Pad to capture embarrassing miscues in the office. Educate personnel about the need for sophisticated passwords that are kept confidential, turning off the computer when not in use, securing routers and servers, and not storing private data on portable devices. Company policy should prohibit confidential company data from being stored or used on personal computers or downloaded to personal emails. Privacy policies should not forget the proper handling of paper files, including the shredding of customer paper files under a data retention schedule. If your company does business in California, be especially careful with the data you handle. Do not sell or trade data without notice and an “opt-out” provided to the consumer. Hackers steal millions each day by infiltrating computers, looking for stored financial information, and then conducting financial transactions though internet portals. (For more reading: https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/01/data-protection-tips-for-data-privacy-day-2017.html).

Hiring: The best way to avoid problems is to carefully interview, test, and screen employees when they are hired. Conduct several interviews over multiple days. Check references. Do a background check. Conduct an internet search. Make sure the employee knows the expectations and demands of the job. If the employee is an “at-will” employee, make sure this is explained and documented. If the employee has an employment contract, make sure it is up to date and fully vetted. Have more than one manager take part in the final interview stage to evaluate whether the employee is a good “fit.” (For more reading: https://www.indeed.com/hire/how-to-hire.)

Complaining Customers: The phrase “the customer is always right” has more meaning today than ever before with the presence of social media and the internet. It is easy for a disgruntled customer (or sometimes a competitor) to write bad reviews on the internet. And these reviews can stick around forever. Certain professions are particularly vulnerable to abuse of internet commentary. Try to avoid this by proactively taking care of problems. (For more reading: http://jaapl.org/content/41/2/200.)

Other Legal Issues: The above are only a sampling of legal issues that can challenge small and medium-sized businesses. Others include: 1) choosing the right corporate structure, 2) buy/sell agreements with partners, 3) unfair competition and non-disclosure agreements, 4) consumer protection laws, 5) workplace discrimination, 6) taxes, and 7) litigation. Be proactive in addressing these issues. If these issues are ignored, they fester and grow, creating a landmine for the unwary.

For more information, please contact former Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson or former Minnesota Attorney General and Commissioner of Commerce Mike Hatch at Swanson|Hatch, P.A. as follows:

Lori Swanson: lswanson@swansonhatch.com
Mike Hatch: mhatch@swansonhatch.com

They can also be reached at 612-315-3037. Visit their website at www.swansonhatch.com.