Healthcare Reform May End Up Discouraging Hiring

So just how much will the health care bill that President Obama signed on March 2010 affect small businesses? The answer is: quite a lot.

 

But those affects may not be as economically stimulating as its proponents would have hoped in that it may actually discourage hiring activies among the smallest of businesses in the US- ie those with fewer then 50 employees. This is of significance because these companies make up a whopping 96% of all businesses within the U.S.

Here’s a rundown of the legislation:

On one hand…

  • Beginging in 2014, states will have to set up Small Business Health Options Programs(SHOP). These health insurance pools will be established in an effort to alleviate insurance costs, by allowing small businesses to group together to buy health insurance and to get competitive pricing for insurance premiums

But…

  • Begining in 2014, businesses with more than 50 employees will be required to either offer healthcare coverage or pay a penalty of $750 a year per full-time employee. This c


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Aggravated damages do not constitute a new cause of action.

The plaintiff insureds were successful on their application to amend their Statement of Claim to plead aggravated damages in connection with their insurer’s refusal to pay benefits, as the court held that this did not constitute a new cause of action.

Dimartino v. Gacek, [2010] O.J. No. 1453, April 12, 2010, Ontario Superior Court of Justice, C.J. H


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Memorial Day

Thank you to all the brave men and women who have given everything so that we may enjoy our freedoms. Often times the social and political discourse around the use of military force overshadows our utmost respect for the men and women put in harms way, hopefully that doesn’t happen on this day.

We won’t be publishing anything for the remainder of the day but will be back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow morning.

Negotiating savings

Cost cutting is in the air, as the new government wipes the blood from its axe following the first round of public sector spending cuts. But for SMEs also looking to save money, a less painful way to reduce overheads could be staring them in the face.

Throughout the last year most small businesses have had to make tough decisions about staff costs, whether in the form of pay freezes, cutting salaries, moving to short-time working or letting people go. But when it comes to speaking to suppliers about better prices, it seems many are shying away from crucial savings.

Some 31 per cent of owner-managers say they do not see themselves as strong negotiators, while 13 per cent believe bargaining with suppliers doesn’t make a difference, found a recent survey.

These are worrying figures, as they suggest that a large proportion are missing out on securing better deals, something you can be sure their larger competitors are not failing to do. In the current climate (and particularly if the economy takes another turn for the worse) meekness is not a virtue.

But you don’t have to hold a gun to your suppliers’ heads and make them an offer they can’t refuse. Most of


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The Ins & Outs of Electronic Signatures

Every once in a while here at DotLoop, we get a few questions about our eSignature process.

Luckily, it’s very easy to not only use, but understand.

Anyone who has purchased a book through Amazon.com, bought music through iTunes or used PayPal has signed electronically. Once users understand this, they start to understand the legality of eSignatures. The ESIGN Act of 2000 and the UETA Act of the same year both made electronic signing over the Internet as legal as traditional “wet” pen and paper signatures. This past April, the FHA confirmed that electronic signatures would be acceptable for all real estate transactions nationwide.

With DotLoop, there are two main ways to sign electronically: through our eSign System and through our Attachment Feature, the latter of which allows a user to attach signature fields to a static image PDF file.

Our eSign System allows for full trackability and transparency with all parties involved in a negotiation. It’s as easy as 1 + 2 = 3. E-mail + password = electronic signature. The best part? Your cl


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