It's a pretty good bet that if you gave us a list of topics that you would like to see covered in this magazine, an article about gift cards would be way at the bottom of your list, if at…
Barry K. ShusterJanuary 13, 2009
San Diego is a wonderful place. It has great weather, beautiful beaches, lots of restaurants and bars in the Gas Lamp District, and a world-class zoo. It is also where a scuba instructor is being sued for violating the Americans…
Tom Shapiro Esq.January 12, 2009
OK, here's your chance to ask a lawyer an extremely complex legal question and get a smarmy flippant answer. Q: Why do my insurance company and training agency require me to have all my students and rental customers sign a…
Tom Shapiro Esq.January 12, 2009
"What the…" cried Barney, manager of Mayberry Scuba Center, as he read the lawsuit just served on him by the sheriff's deputy. "Wrongful termination!" he bellowed into the telephone at his attorney Andy. "Why that lazy, good-for-nothing Otis was the…
Barry K. ShusterJanuary 6, 2009
Which of the following hiring employers might be exposed to legal liability? Ariel, owner of the Siren's Call dive store, interviews Eric, a handsome young man with a winning smile, for a sales and instruction position. A friend in the…
Barry K. ShusterJanuary 6, 2009
Like many of my scuba industry contemporaries, I earned my first dollar in diving as an "independent contractor" (IC) scuba instructor for a local dive store. The store only employed a handful of staff in sales and management, and the…
Barry K. ShusterJanuary 6, 2009
Almost every dive store has or has had a loose cannon or two. In many cases, they are talented and hard-working employees who get carried away by zeal, lack of maturity, or frequent lapses in judgment. Examples abound. "Loose cannon"…
Barry K. ShusterJanuary 6, 2009
"Small business bungles hiring," says Bette Price, president of the Texas-based Price Group. Although her company's latest research shows that "hiring the right employee" is the No. 1 issue small business faces today, Price's research also shows that 90 percent…
Patricia LuebkeJanuary 6, 2009
Consider the following real-life scenarios: A scuba instructor enters the water with a student to complete the deep-dive portion of an advanced open-water class. Only one diver comes out of the water alive -- the instructor. In a subsequent lawsuit,…
David Concannon EsqDecember 28, 2008
