Fired/Sued/Quit?

March 14, 2007 5:03 AM

I work as a freelance tech in the POS industry. What can I do to avoid litigation?

A huge part of my job involves teaching people how to run their businesses. Another huge part involves me having access to their financial records to troubleshoot (usually their screw-ups). And, if I refuse the above responsibilities I get massive shit from my client (my employer). So, how does one balance exposure versus doing a decent job, situationally specifically? Well, even other non-situational examples might help.

posted by converge to Work & Money (3 answers total)

Can you give more details on the potential litigation?
posted by DU at 5:22 AM on March 14, 2007

In general, you should have something in your contract that says along the lines of "I'm not responsible for your business failing as a result of following my advice". After all, you're really just an advisor, not a dictator. And obviously this doesn't protect you against everything nor does it give you carte blanche to screw clients over without ramifications. People can still sue you if you are grossly negligent, and you still have to follow the law, and stuff like that. But it does provide some guard against petty disagreements. It's a pretty standard clause in service contracts -- your lawyer should be able to advise.

Also, you might want to look into professional indemnity insurance (that's what we call it in the UK, don't know what the USA equivalent is), in case something bad does happen.
posted by chrismear at 5:30 AM on March 14, 2007

You're probably looking for errors & omissions insurance.
posted by paulsc at 12:09 PM on March 14, 2007