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Small Biz Gets An Assist in Negotiating Labor Laws

When it comes to navigating federal employment laws, the ability to recognize their ever-increasing complexities can be quite a challenge for small businesses.

There are more than 180 employment laws administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, and knowing which laws apply to small businesses and how to comply with the laws can be difficult, said Barbara Bingham, the director of the Office of Compliance Assistance Policy based in Washington, D.C.

“The easiest thing for small businesses to do is to use our employment guide,” she said. “It’s a good basic primer on what these laws are all about.”

The employment guide, which can be found on the Department of Labor’s Web site, describes its major statutes and regulations in plain language and targets employers needing introductory information to develop wage, benefit, safety and health, and nondiscrimination policies.

The employment guide is one of several tools offered by the Department of Labor as part of its Compliance Assistance Initiative, which was formed in November 2002 to help small businesses comply with the regulations.

In addition to the employment guide, companies can utilize the Employment Laws Assistance for Workers and Small Businesses, also known as e-laws advisers, an interactive Web-based tool that provides information on the federal employment laws through its Web site.

“It gives people answers to basic questions,” she said.

Bingham said that the most common questions small businesses have are about minimum wage, overtime and pensions and through by utilizing the many tools available, companies can “easily comply with the laws.”

For information, go to www.dol.gov/compliance/.

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From Hobby To Business:

As a mother of two, Colleen Cavalieri often took pictures of her daughter, Alexa, and son, Troy, participating in sports.

The hobby has since become a business, as Cavalieri recently became the San Diego franchisee for the Sports Section, a team and individual youth sports photography company.

Cavalieri, who recently moved back to San Diego after spending a year in Rhode Island, where her husband was attending the Naval War College, decided to purchase the franchise after seeing the local Sports Section franchisee at a photo shoot for her daughter’s cheer squad.

After talking with the franchisee, Cavalieri decided to look into becoming a franchisee herself and sought to purchase the San Diego franchise.

The company, which was founded in 1983 in Atlanta, has 215 franchises across the United States, Canada and New Zealand.

“This has always been a huge hobby for me,” she said. “I see these kinds of pictures from a parent perspective and I see these from a coach’s perspective. I love coaching and I love working with kids. I just feel real lucky to have found something that doesn’t feel like work.”

The franchise has been in operation only since the end of March, but she has already set up photo shoots for several sports teams, she said.

Cavalieri projects revenue to reach more than $100,000 in its first year and said the cost to purchase a franchise starts at $20,000.

“It’s a tough thing to do, but it is definitely a goal,” she said.

Cavalieri, whose staff consists of herself and her husband, is looking to hire five more employees to handle the expected business.

“Just from the response that we have gotten, we are definitely going to get more employees,” she said.


Send small-business news to Lisa Kovach via fax at (858) 571-3628 or e-mail at lkovach@sdbj.com. Call her at (858) 277-6359, Ext. 3107.

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