regardless of the form of funds or amount, of over 100 specified crimes may be money laundering, a serious felony. If you know or have reason to believe that the proceeds of a transaction result from a prohibited felony, you should not do the deal. Reporting receipt of suspicious cash, although seemingly the proper thing to do, only identifies that you did a deal you know you should not have done. 10. True. Courts will enforce contracts as they are written. A common provision in supplier contracts to trap dealers into continuing is to establish a lengthy duration for the contract and provide that the contract will automatically renew for subsequent similar periods unless terminated with substantial advance notice. Mistakenly, many dealers believe that after the initial term, they are on a month-to-month contract. That is not the case. Courts will generally enforce these rollover provisions. Dealers need to review their contracts with suppliers and know what is being entered into, even the boilerplate on subjects like duration and renewal. For what reason are you signing a three-year contract? Sometimes, when the supplier has an investment, like a uniform contract, there may be justification for a one-year or eighteen-month duration. But why a cleaning contract? Sign the contract for the shortest duration possible, and there should be no automatic rollover. The contract should specifically provide that it will renew from month-to-month after the agreed term, and it can be cancelled at 30 days’ notice by either party following the end of the initial term. Your dealership should have someone who has on file all the supplier contracts and term dates and calendar the dates for the notice of cancellation. Dealers also need to be mindful of the choice of law and venue provisions. You want the state in which you operate to be the state of venue and choice of law for any disputes. You should not be fighting the vendor in Michigan if your dealership operates in Virginia. • Reserve the right for the dealership to change the pay plan and to correct mistakes. • Reserve the right to recoup overpayments from future earnings. • Include a disclaimer of the contract: “This pay plan only describes the method by which employee will be paid. It does not alter employee’s status as an at-will employee. It is not a contract. It does not ensure employment for any specific duration.” 8. False. Retaliation can be a separate violation of the law even if there is no underlying offense. Managers and employees must be well-trained in the company’s policy and process against discrimination and harassment. Every complaint must be taken seriously. When investigating, always warn those with whom you discuss the circumstances leading to the complaint that retaliation is against company policy and can lead to discipline, including termination. Retaliation is the most prevalent category of complaints to the EEOC, according to the agency. Protect the dealership against retaliation claims. A company must be very careful with an employee who files a complaint alleging discrimination or harassment. It is easy to stumble into a retaliation claim by taking some sort of negative job action regarding that employee when the employer finds it groundless. Even if you believe that the employee trumped up a charge against a supervisor to create protection against termination for poor performance, do not rush into taking negative job action against the employee. If the complaining employee’s performance is subpar, after you have explained the company’s reason for not taking action regarding the complaint, you may carefully watch the performance of the employee as you would any other employee. Where the employee’s performance continues to be subpar, counsel with the employee. Give the employee the opportunity to cure shortcomings. The EEOC may view a precipitous termination of an employee after a complaint to be retaliation. 9. False. A car dealer must not only know of the laws about cash reporting (which require a report of cash or cash equivalents over $10,000 in a transaction or series of transactions) but also the laws preventing money laundering. Doing a transaction involving the funds you have reason to believe are the proceeds, vada.com 19
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