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Have You Crossed the Line?
Yes – it’s entirely possible you’ve crossed the line and had no idea you did so. In fact, you may be crossing it every day and be totally unaware. Further, except that I’m going to illustrate some line crossing, you might never realize it until you are sued, or arrested, or a client loses out on something important, or you lose your license for crossing the line, regardless of the fact that you had no idea that’s what you were doing. What line? you might ask… Actually, there are several – and you may be crossing more than one. The line crossings I’ll describe here are state or province lines. You may be working, providing options, or discussing life extending or saving tactics that would change from one state or province to another. Thus, if you are providing services based on where you live and work, but you have contracted to work with someone who lives in another state or province, you might be providing guidance that does not apply, or violating contract law, or jeopardizing a license you hold, or otherwise – yes – crossing the line. Here are a few examples: Crossing Business Lines Your Practice Contracts: If you connect with another advocate with complementary skills to further the services your practice can offer to your clients (subcontracting, working with an independent contractor), you’ll need to be sure the contract you offer that advocate adheres to the laws in his or her state. An example: if you have a non-compete clause in your independent contractor contract, and you want to work with a contractor who lives and works in California, then it may not be enforceable, and it may void the entire contract. In many states that do allow non-compete clauses, there is a short time limit (one year) on a non-compete, so if you have a different amount of time baked into your contract, it may make it unenforceable. This is the specific reason why APHA offers contracts for member use, but we insist that you take them to your own attorney to review. Your License(s): Many…