We all know that our small enterprise homeowners are the lifeblood of the US economic system. There are roughly 30 million of us and we offer greater than half of the roles on this nation. Everybody appears to like us. Politicians court docket us. Massive manufacturers tip their hats to us. Annually we have a good time our small enterprise neighborhood with Small Enterprise Week, Small Enterprise Saturday, Nationwide Entrepreneurship Month and plenty of different days honoring impartial employees and minority enterprise homeowners.
Yay for us! However you already know what? As a lot as I’m an advocate and a voice for my fellow small enterprise brethren, even I've to confess that not all small enterprise homeowners are worthy of such reward. Some, actually, usually are not worthy in any respect.
There are the restaurant homeowners – like these in California, Michigan and Oregon to call only a few – who blatantly and recklessly defied native Covid rules and put their prospects and staff prone to dying from one thing apart from the E coli of their meals. Or the dentist in Wisconsin who broke his sufferers’ tooth with the intention to submit false insurance coverage claims (wow!).
And let’s not overlook the seemingly incalculable variety of small enterprise homeowners – just like the operators of a tech firm and a baking enterprise in Massachusetts, the genius who ran a actual property agency in Pennsylvania, the serial fraudster from Delaware and the twin brothers who oversaw a number of companies in California – who all defrauded the federal authorities by submitting pretend claims for Covid reduction funds as a result of, hey, why ought to that cash go to individuals who really wanted it, proper?
Or how concerning the producer in Georgia who was ordered to pay $250,000 after firing a disabled worker? Who does that? Or the regional water providers firm in Minnesota that was advised to cough up $45,000 to an worker who was unfairly terminated because of the colour of her pores and skin? Who does that too?
Seems a variety of enterprise homeowners do this. And different dangerous issues too.
If you happen to don’t imagine me then take a look at the tallies the federal government retains. For instance, lower than a month in the past the US Equal Employment Alternative Fee launched detailed breakdowns of greater than 67,448 prices of office discrimination claims the company obtained in simply its previous fiscal yr. The company stated it secured $439.2m for the victims of discrimination within the non-public sector and state and native authorities workplaces via voluntary resolutions and litigation. The Division of Labor lately reported 1000's of instances from 2021 the place companies in industries starting from auto repairs to landscaping providers underpaid or mistreated staff.
And it’s not simply staff getting defrauded. For instance, there are the impartial entrepreneurs that make their cash being social media influencers however who then dupe unwitting folks into giving them free stuff in return for pretend guarantees of a point out. Or the fraudulent freelancers working on well-known on-line platforms that take cash in return for doing no work in any respect. Or the impartial contractors – like this one in Philadelphia – who allegedly collected funds for jobs reminiscent of toilet renovations and residential reconstruction in return for … spoiler alert: not doing the work. The Federal Commerce Fee this yr obtained greater than 2.8m stories of client fraud in opposition to companies starting from misleading credit score restore providers to these monsters which might be robo-calling my cell phone in the course of the evening.
So what have I discovered from all this analysis? It’s that despite the fact that it rankles me when folks accuse small companies of in search of earnings over their staff’ welfare, or paying too little, or appearing offensively or defrauding their prospects, I've to confess that in some instances ... these folks might have a degree. It’s unhappy. However I can’t deny it.
After all, the overwhelming majority of small enterprise homeowners are good individuals who run good companies and who care about their staff. However there are nonetheless greater than only a few that, frankly, usually are not. So now when somebody does accuse a enterprise proprietor of doing one thing unseemly my kneejerk response isn’t to robotically dispute that particular person’s declare. As a result of possibly, simply possibly, there’s some fact to that story.
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