Legal Environment of Business
This document sets the basic legal framework that governs business transactions in Georgia, outlining rights and responsibilities of businesses and individuals.
What is the Georgia Constitution?
This law enforced across the U.S. prohibits discrimination based on age for individuals 40 years of age and older in the workplace.
What is the Age Discrimination in Employment Act?
This element of a contract refers to something of value exchanged between parties as part of the agreement.
What is consideration?
This federal law sets regulations for air quality standards and controls emissions from businesses and industrial sources to protect public health and the environment.
What is the Clean Air Act?
This form of intellectual property law protects original works of authorship such as literature, music, art, and software from unauthorized use by others.
What is a copyright?
This legal term refers to an agreement between two parties where each party exchanges something of value, which is necessary to form a valid contract.
What is consideration?
This law requires that employees be compensated for overtime work at a rate not less than one and a half times their regular rate of pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week.
What is the Fair Labor Standards Act?
This type of contract is formed when one party makes a promise in exchange for the other party's performance or promise to perform.
What is a bilateral contract?
Businesses must comply with this environmental regulation that mandates permits and pollution controls to discharge waste into bodies of water.
What is the Clean Water Act?
This type of intellectual property protection grants exclusive rights to an inventor for a limited time, allowing them to control the production and sale of their invention.
What is a patent?
This act protects consumers and businesses from unfair and deceptive practices in the marketplace. This includes false advertising and misleading claims.
What is the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act?
This law ensures that workers' compensation benefits are provided to employees who suffer injuries during the course of their employment.
What is Georgia Workers' Compensation Act?
This occurs when one party to a contract fails to fulfill its obligations, either by not performing as promised or by failing to perform on time.
What is a breach of contract?
This type of consumer protection law mandates that businesses must disclose specific information about their products or services, such as risks or material terms, to consumers.
What is consumer disclosure?
This form of intellectual property protects unique symbols, logos, and brand names used by businesses to distinguish their products from others in the market.
What is a trademark?
This type of business entity protects its owners from personal liability for business debts, separating personal and business assets. It requires filing specific documents with the state.
What is a corporation?
This type of business arrangement involves an employee voluntarily leaving their position for a specific period or due to personal reasons, without receiving the protections of Workers' Compensation for the time off.
What is voluntary or unpaid leave?
This type of contract is legally unenforceable because it involves activities that are illegal or against public policy, such as agreements to commit a crime.
What is an illegal contract?
This ethical concept involves a business acting with transparency and fairness in its dealings with customers, ensuring that they have access to all relevant information before making decisions about purchases.
What is consumer transparency?
This type of business legal protection involves preventing others from using a business’s trade secrets or proprietary information without consent.
What is trade secret protection?
This legal action, based on a claim for harm or injury, is when an individual or entity seeks to hold another business or individual legally responsible for their wrongful actions.
What is a tort?
This law requires employers to provide this type of leave to employees who need to take time off to care for a family member with a serious health condition.
What is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)?
This type of contract is void if one of the parties was mentally incapacitated or lacked the legal capacity to understand the nature and consequences of the agreement at the time it was formed.
What is lack of capacity as a defense in contract law?
This term describes the action of a company intentionally offering products or services that it knows are harmful or not in the best interest of consumers, often to increase profits at their expense.
What is exploitative business practices?
This type of agreement typically includes non-compete clauses and confidentiality clauses to protect business interests and proprietary information when an employee leaves or when two businesses collaborate on a project.
What is a non-disclosure agreement?