Q. My company, a North Carolina corporation, has only four employees, all of whom are equal shareholders. We don’t have employment contracts. May three of us decide to terminate the employment of the other, a 25% shareholder?

The commissioner of California’s Department of Insurance has reached a $37.3 million settlement of four lawsuits stemming from Fremont Indemnity Co.’s 2003 bankruptcy.

A state court of appeals recently ruled that Richmond-based Dicon Fiberoptics adequately pleaded its claim against California’s Franchise Tax Board in a case involving a tax credit for hiring disadvantaged workers.

New York finished better than just four states in the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council’s (SBEC) Business Tax Index for 2009. The SBEC annually assesses the tax climates for business and entrepreneurs in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Q. One of our financial managers has filed for bankruptcy, and our directors now want to terminate him because they doubt his financial judgment. They’re also worried that customers will react negatively to the news that one of our finance people is going bankrupt. Can we lawfully discharge him?

Q. Our company works with proprietary and confidential information. We would like to protect ourselves from having that information get disclosed to competing companies. Are confidentiality agreements enforceable? If so, must they be signed at the start of a new employee’s job in order to be valid?

Q. We are hearing rumors that one of our employees may be setting up a new business in the same industry in which we operate. That employee has not signed a noncompete agreement. If he is starting up such a business, is that illegal even without a noncompete?

Q. My company is considering adding a confidentiality notice to our e-mail messages to cover situations in which an unintended person receives our company e-mail. Does this provide any protection?

Today is the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) deadline to comply with the 2003 Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act’s (FACTA) Identity Theft requirements. Dubbed the “Red Flag Rules,” Sections 114 and 315 of FACTA require that all financial institutions and creditors create and implement a written program for “detection, prevention and mitigation” of identity theft. 

If your organization sells products or services on credit, take note: August 1, 2009, is the deadline to comply with the “red flag” rules, which require creditors to implement a written program for “detection, prevention and mitigation” of identity theft of consumers’ data. (The FTC recently delayed the deadline from May 1, 2009.)

The new federal “whistle-blower” program is producing the desired effect. The law was changed in 2006 to provide rewards of up to 30% of the amount recovered from tax avoidance claims above $2 million.

When it comes to reducing the time and expense of litigation, be careful what you wish for. Attorneys often advise employers to consider adopting arbitration clauses to settle employment disputes. With arbitration, no jury is involved; the case stays out of court; there’s no bad publicity; and it may be cheaper—or maybe not.

Chalk it up to the rule of unanticipated consequences: Banks that took federal bailout money are rescinding job offers to foreign-born MBAs. No, it’s not discrimination based on foreign origin. Rather, it’s one of the strings attached to billions in TARP funds.

Three former Mervyn’s employees recently filed a lawsuit against the bankrupt department store company for violating the federal WARN Act when it suddenly fired hundreds of workers last year.

If your organization is in good fiscal shape in these tough times, top brass may be looking to snap up the assets of failed companies at bargain prices. Remind management that it may end up picking up liabilities such as unemployment insurance claims if it doesn’t structure the deal correctly.

If misery loves company, let’s start the party. An article on www.law.com warns that insurers anticipate a surge in legal malpractice lawsuits as the economy tanks. It seems employers aren’t the only deep pockets plaintiffs will try to raid during hard times.

The Kalamazoo City Commission in December enacted a law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. The measure mirrors ordinances enacted in at least 15 Michigan cities, including Ann Arbor, Ferndale and Grand Rapids.

Several states, including Illinois, California, Massachusetts and New York, are getting tough on employers that violate sales-tax laws, according to an Associated Press report. Researchers at the Tax Foundation say smaller businesses tend to be the biggest tax evaders.

North Carolina, like many states, recognizes that employees owe a certain level of duty to their employers. However, the North Carolina Supreme Court has specifically rejected any independent liability for breaching such duty.

New regulations that gave the New Jersey Department of Education authority to review and reject pending contracts for top school administrators withstood a legal challenge from the New Jersey Association of School Administrators (NJASA).

Multinational materials processing company Saint-Gobain is suing a Houston competitor, Centronic LLC, and two former Saint-Gobain employees, alleging they illegally brought proprietary information with them when they went to work for Centronic.

A Delta Air Lines official recently told state legislators the airline would consider keeping more operations in the Twin Cities if the Metropolitan Airports Commission agreed not to force early repayment of bonds owed by Northwest Airlines, which Delta acquired in October.

The workers’ compensation premiums Florida employers pay are set to drop for the sixth time in the past five years, and by a record amount. Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty approved an 18.6% rate cut.

The U.S. government’s main site for business regulatory compliance, www.Business.gov, has always billed itself as the go-to site for federal compliance. Now its expanded content allows you to search for regulatory information from state and local governments, too.

Q. I’m starting up a one-person LLC. Can I use a solo 401(k) for this business?