# Department of Business Affairs Buisnesses Regulations
###### This publication will serve as the regulating guidelines for businesses within the City of Vancouver. All businesses are expected to comply with all policies & regulations located herein.
###### This publication will addtionally serve as the guide for all employees inside the department, failure to follow these could result in disiplinary action.

## Article 1. Office Structure & Establishment
#### Offices and the Structure

1. **Employment Appeals Board** - The EAB will take appeals for decisions made by the OAR, and LAD.
2. **Office of Public Affairs** - The OPA will be responsible for planning business events and handling the promotional content and press releases by the department. The OPA will have a total of four employees, the Director, and then three employees where the director sees fit.
3. **Office of Administrative Review** - The OAR will handle all complaints by members of the public against businesses, they will also handle surprise inspections and general oversight of all properties. They will have a total of five employees inside the OAR. They will be led by the Director, then will have two managers, and then two general employees.
~~4. **Office of Property and Inspection** - The OPI will be an office inside the Licensure and Acceptance Division. They will handle the issuance of property, and then the inspection to ensure proper guidelines are met. The OPI will have a total of three employees, a manager, and then two employees.~~
5. **Office of Licensure Issuance** - The OLI will be an office inside the Licensure and Acceptance Division. The OLI will have the responsibility for issuing licenses for all things offered, handling the speedy renewal process, and then the general renewal process. The OLI will have a total of seven employees, led by the Manager, and two Assistant Managers, with eight employees.
##### The President, and the President only shall have the power to alter this structure. The Acting President should not have the authority, without the permission from the Mayor, to alter this structure.
###### Further guidelines on promotions, and other proceedure will be found in other portions of this document.

## Article 2. Detailed Business Regulations

###### This document aims to set regulations for business owners & their businesses’ to ensure that operations within businesses’ are running effectively, efficiently, and smoothly.

### Section 1. Department of Business Affairs Jurisdiction
1. The Department of Business Affairs obtains the ability to investigate claims of infringement on citizens by businesses, and the ability to inspect all documentation & publications as deemed necessary.
>
###### `This shall additionally be backed up with the authority granted to us by the Business Affair Bylaw`
2. The Department of Business Affairs shall be provided the responsibility of conducting monthly inspections of businesses to ensure that they are running up to standard. During inspections, it is expected that business owners provide inspectors with access to all methods of documentation and publications. Failure to produce document could result in removal of license.
###### Businesses have the right to file an appeal with the Office of Legal Counsel & Appeal if they believe any actions by the DoBA are in violation of these regulations.
### Section 2. Activity Standards of Vancouver Businesses
1. Business Owners are expected to ensure that their business is remaining active and running effectively and with efficiency. Under the circumstances a business is deemed inactive without any attempt to recuperate, the Department of Business Affairs Office of Administrative Review will investigate.
2. If an investigation is launched, it is up to the buisness owner or their respresentative to prove the business is active. Appeals can be filed to the Employment Appeals Board.
3. Business Owners are provided the responsibility of introducing a mandated activity quota for their business, *dependent on their service type*. An amount per week shall be left to the respective business’s management team to regulate.
~~4. The minimum quota shall be 10 minutes per week for each employee. Buisnesses can apply for waiver if they wish for this to be changed. Any employer can raise the limit.~~
~~5. The Office of Licensure Issuance & the Office of Administrative Review has a right to mandate a stricter quota.~~
### Section 3. Disciplinary Action Regulations
1. Should an employee commit an infraction recognized by the criminal code whilst representing the business, their respective business is ordered to issue proper disciplinary action against the individual.
2. The business can issue a suspension, strike, or termination if deemed justified. Should an employee disagree with action taken against them, they can appeal to the Office of Administrative Review.
3. The EAB shall have the authority to reverse disiplinary action.
4. The OAR shall have the authority to force a buisness to issue disiplinary action in the following circumstances (to appeal, you file an appeal to the EAB);
1. Illegal actions;
2. Employee violations; or;
3. Inactivity.
4. Buisnesses can only punish employees for;
1. Being inactive;
6. Commiting a crime;
7. Being incompetent; or;
8. Violation of a clearly defined policy.
5. Reforms or Removals of individuals for no disipline reason shall not be allowed except when approved by the President of the Department of Business Affairs.

### Section 4. General Provisions
1. All businesses must have a discord at the minimum, with at least a staff chat, staff announcement channel, and general announcements for the public to see.
2. All businesses must have three employees at the minimum, not counting the owner.
1. This shall not apply to businesses ran by a single individual.
4. All businesses should have a competent command structure which shall include;
1. All updated structures, including the addition of new ranks.
2. Competent individuals in all positions.
5. All businesses must have established policies, and training procedures.
1. The policies and procedures shall have the way they are actually conducted or expected outlined. The policies shall include the chain of command, the department guidelines, activity requirements, and discipline policy. The training guidelines should be the way they are actually conducted and have the process for admission.
7. Businesses should not be a copy of other businesses. Only the following categories are automatically approved;
1. Retail;
8. Resturant;
9. Legal;
10. News;
11. Transportation;
12. Logistics;
13. Utility;
14. Security;
15. Protection;
16. Gas; or;
17. Financial.
18. Anyone who wishes to create another category not on this list, must be approved by the President, or his/her disgnee. (This will usually be the Vice President)
19. The only ranks that are not employees are training ranks and and ranks that are approved by the President AND that are stated to not be employees in the handbook EXPLICITLY.

> ### Section 5. Disciplinary Action Provisions
>
>1. All businesses must keep a public log of all disciplinary actions.
>2. Before issuing a disciplinary action, the employee in question must be placed under investigation in their business.
1. During the investigation, unless otherwise stated by the business itself, that employee shall not represent that business in any way.
2. Investigations may not last for more than one week unless in exigent circumstances and with approval from the Department of Business Affairs president.
3. Investigations must be done unless the Department of Business Affairs president waives the requirement in a special circumstance or if the disciplinary action is for receiving too many strikes.
4. Investigations may not last shorter than six hours unless in exigent circumstances where the Department of Business Affairs president waives this right.
5. Within 15 minutes of the investigation starting, the employee must be informed on the reasons he or she is under investigation and all evidence must be provided to the employee unless the evidence compromises the anonymity of the reporter. The employee must be given at least six hours to provide a defense for his or her actions and the investigator must notify the employee of how much time they have to provide a defense. You may allow more than 6 hours, but once you give them an amount of time, you may not change that amount of time unless the Department of Business Affairs president approves. This clause may be waived provided that the Department of Business Affairs president has waived Article 2, Section 5, Subsection 2, Clause d
1. Evidence can only compromise the anonymity of a reporter if the reporter blatantly states he or she wishes to be kept anonymous. Upon the reporter requesting anonymity, the investigator must immediately take a screenshot as evidence in the event that an appeal is filed through the DoBA EAB.
2. If no evidence can be given due to the reporter requesting anonymity, the employee must be given a detailed description of the events that unfolded.
3. If the clause mentioned has not been waived, then once the employee has provided his or her defense to the allegations, the investigators may begin questioning but are not required to.
>3. Before publicly releasing the outcome of an investigation, a disciplinary document must be made and must meet the following criteria:
1. The document must contain the following information:
1. A case number (you cannot have two cases with the same case number)
2. Alleged party (employee who was reported)
3. Exact or approximate time, timezone, and date the incident took place (if known)
4. Exact or approximate time, timezone, and date report was received (if known)
5. Exact time, timezone, and date the investigation started.
6. Exact time, timezone, and date the investigation concluded.
7. All evidence
1. If a piece of evidence is redacted in order to protect the anonymity of the reporter, it must clearly state that that exhibit of evidence is redacted to protect the reporter's anonymity.
8. Detailed separate analyses of each exhibit of evidence.
9. Business policies violated
10. DoBA policies violated (if applicable)
11. Criminal codes violated (if applicable)
12. Traffic codes violated (if applicable)
13. Other laws violated (if applicable)
14. Punishments given
15. Length of punishment (if applicable)
16. Username (signed), username (printed), and rank (printed) of the individual who approved the punishment.
2. A disciplinary document must be made for all punishments except for:
1. Blacklists given to non-employees
2. Verbal warnings
3. Activity strikes
3. If multiple people are under investigation, each person must have his or her own disciplinary document.
4. The title of all disciplinary documents must follow the following format: "Case #XXXX | [Business Name] | Disciplinary Action Document"
1. Replace the X’s with the case number (must be four digits)
5. The disciplinary document must be released to the public within 1 hour of publicly announcing the punishment. The document can be announced along with the announcement of the punishment.
>4. Before publicly announcing the outcome of an investigation, the employee(s) receiving the punishment must all be messaged about the outcome of the case. This message must include:
1. Link to disciplinary document
2. Link to business appeal form
1. A business appeal form must be provided for all punishments except terminations and Blacklists. When it comes to terminations and blacklists, it is the discretion of the business to decide whether or not they will allow the employee to appeal the decision. Obviously, employees can always appeal through the EAB.
3. You must inform them that they can appeal through the EAB if they wish.
4. A link to the DoBA discord server in case they wish to appeal through the EAB.
5. The outcome of the investigation.
6. Length of the punishment (if applicable)
>5. Failing to abide by the disciplinary provisions in this section may lead to disciplinary actions being appealed, provided a report is sent to the EAB, or your license being revoked temporarily or permanently.

### Section 5. Specific Provisions
##### These shall be for specific buisness types, and shall be further regulations they are required to follow.

1. Utility
- Utility companies must be approved by the President before operations may begin in game.
- Contracts are allowed, but cannot be forced upon people. Ex. You cannot force people to pay you because you "own the gas pipes" that give them gas.

### Section 6. Renewals

Businesses must have a renewal submitted before their license expires. Licenses last 60 days.

All licenses will expire on Sept 1st, unless they have submitted a renewal and been issued a new license under the TacticalBlue66 Administration.

## Article 3. Business Employee Regulations

> Businesses shall have the power to hire employees into their businesses. Employees shall be required to complete a training process, and cannot be made command within one week of employement without approval from the President.

> Employees shall have the right to establish a union with approval from the President of DoBA. Unions shall have the authority to petition the owners. Employees can not be punished for being in a union.

> While Trainees are not considered employees, they are afforded rights which should include protections against arbitrary removal. Trainees can only be removed or otherwise punished for the following;
> 1. Violation of policies;
> 2. Any reason outlined in Article 2, Section 3; or;
> 3. Failure to complete training.

> To be employed in a business, you must have passed a publically accessible application. This shall not apply to the owner, or co-owners. This requirement shall only take effect the day the business is licensed.

## Article 4. Property Regulations

COMING SOON...

#### Until established, the President shall be the only one to issue property leases.

## Article 5. Vehicle Regulations

COMING SOON...

#### Until established, the President shall be the only one to issue vehicle licenses.

## Article 6. Employment Appeals Board

###### The Department of Business Affairs shall maintain a panel of three (3) or more people (must be an odd number) not employed in the Department of Business Affairs that are responsible for hearing disciplinary challenges from licensed business employees

Under the Department of Business Affairs Bylaw, we are reuired to employ members of public on the Employment Appeals Board. This panel of three shall be responsible for hearing appeals for business disiplinary action, and action taken by the Department of Business Affairs.

Their should be a Chairman, and two Councilmen who shall sit on the EAB. The President of DoBA shall appoint the Chairman, and Councilmen - and shall have the authority to remove them.

Any decision rendered by the EAB, must be signed off by the President of the DoBA.

For a decision to be recommended to the President, all three members must vote, and a majority must vote to overturn the action.

## Article 7. DoBA Employee Regulations

#### Until established, employees must follow direction by all members of command. The Presidents word is final.

### Criminal Actions

Employees may not be charged with a crime, or have committed a crime while employed. This can include being held in contempt, charged with purgery or any in game offense.

### Provisions

1. Employees shall respect all members of the department.
2. Employees shall remain active and in good standing.
3. Employees shall follow all directions given to them.
4. Employees shall not destroy or alter trello boards from their intended purpose or without permission.

### Office of Licensure Issuance

On the [Inspection Database](https://trello.com/b/DnjeovBx/inspection-database) the Manager of Licensure Issuance will assign an Assistant Manager and general employee assigned to a single inspection, renewal, or license request. The employee will use DMs to ensure all guidelines are followed, and will ensure all checkboxes are completed.

Once they complete, they will write a summary in the comments and will move it to "Awaiting Approval." The Assistant Manager and the Manager must approve it for a license to be approved. The Director over Licensure and Acceptance can approve without consultation. Whoever is the final approving authority must complete the license using the discord bot. The final approving authority should be the Manager.

The license Process checklist should be strictly followed for renewals and buisness creation.

Whenever working on a renewal or license, you must start the timer.

### Office of Administrative Review

The Office of Administrative Review is authorized to issue an administrative permissions demand requiring a business to give them a role with admin permissions for a certain period. Those requesting admin permissions must fill out the reason following;
1. Owner;
2. Name of Business;
3. Timestamp of Request;
4. Short Reason; and;
5. Length of Time.

If any of the above is not provided it will not be approved. The Admin Review Director, Chief Legal Counsel, Vice President or President are the only one allowed to sign demand for administrative permissions.

Businesses that fail to comply with the demand will have their license revoked.

### Conflict of Interest
###### This shall only apply to DoBA Employees
Those who are currently employed, a former command member within 6 months, or a former administrative member (3iC+) within 12 months, shall be ineligible to work on a given case.

Ineligible to work shall include;
1. Discussing it in any way in the DoBA Discord (staff channels);
2. Working on it;
3. Providing advice; or;
4. Trying to influence the outcome in ANY way.

Employees shall be afforded the right to challenge disiplinary action against them to the EAB.

Command shall have the authority to investigate claims of their subordinates.

Employees found in violation can be subject to termination.

### Promotion Guidelines

Promotions from trainee to employee shall be made by the Manager or Board Member over the given office. Any further promotions must be approved by the Chief Legal Counsel+, and only the President can promote people to the rank of Board+.

Employees must be employed for one week before they can be promoted to employee.

# Public Statements

## Release #001

Citizens,

The Department of Business Affairs is fully operational. We are working on fixing our buisness policies with members of the command staff, and the business representatives. If you want to make a business, ensure it follows all the policies and then fill out the form!

TacticalBlue66,
Director