Home Office Bill of Rights published to help home-based business operators fight restrictive legislation; Important document written by Home Office Association of America.
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 1995--Technology has made yesterday's work rules obsolete. It's now easier to work at home than in an office. However, many local zoning officials don't see it that way. Chicago recently passed a zoning ordinance that severely restricts and taxes home-based businesses. Similar legislation is pending across the country from Los Angeles and Riverside, Calif. to Fruit Heights, Utah to Bloomington, Ind. to Westchester County, N.Y. In an effort to help individuals and work-at-home groups respond to unfair zoning legislation, the Home Office Association of America recently published a Home Office Bill of Rights.
"Telecommuting and the `virtual office,' are changing the corporate landscape and unclogging commuter highways," said Home Office Association of America Chairman Richard Ekstract. "Meanwhile, local bureaucrats are creating legislation that thwarts this progress. The Home Office Bill of Rights is a blueprint that will enable home office workers to organize and take action in their local communities."
The three-part document is designed as a framework for community action. The treatise outlines five home office recommendations concerning local zoning issues and a proposal for adding five more national rights for home office workers.
The second page of the document is a three-point, step-by-step guide on how local home-based business operators can work with local lawmakers and increase the odds that favorable legislation will pass.
Highlights of the local zoning recommendations include:
o Limit Zoning Rules -- Legislators should not pass restrictions affecting the inside of a home used in a home-based business.
o Disallow Excessive Licensing Fees -- The cost for administrative licenses should be no greater than that required to cover the costs of administrative paperwork.
o Permit Hiring of Employees -- Rules should not be passed that arbitrarily restrict the number of employees that can be hired by a home-based business.
o Permit Access to Customers -- No rules should be placed limiting the number of customers which a home-based business can service.
o Eliminate Unfunded Mandates -- Any legislation which imposes additional costs on home-based businesses are unfunded mandates which should require offsetting compensation.
Nationally, the HOAA will work with its Washington D.C. legal and lobbying firm to help ensure passage of the following five points that affect home-based businesses:
