On June 1, 2005, a new provision of FACTA goes into effect. It says that any employer (even if you only employ one person, and you have their personal information so that you can pay social security taxes,) whose action or inaction results in loss of employee information, can be fined by federal and state government, and sued in civil court.

A USA Today article on FACTA from Jan. 14. 2005, stated “Bet you didn't know that.” But you need to know, and need to know what you can do to protect yourself.

Small Businesses affected most ‘"A small businessman who makes a mistake could bear brunt of a regulation like this," says James Plummer, policy analyst at Consumer Alert, a non-profit group that focuses on a free-market approach to consumer regulations.’

The USA Today article goes on to say that “if you don't shred and information gets out, there are penalties.” But what if you do shred all potential employee information, and take all necessary precautions to protect your past, current, and future employees’ identities, and information still gets out somehow? Under FACTA, you could still be held responsible.

You may not think information theft could happen to you, but neither did this short list of companies, universities, government institutions, and businesses that have had employee or customer information stolen from them:

DSW Shoe Warehouse

Lexis Nexis

University of Northern Colorado

California State University (Chico)

University of California – Berkeley

University of Maryland

Las Vegas Department of Motor Vehicles

Bank of America

Choice Point

Weld County (CO) Employees (information stolen by an inmate while in jail)

How can you, as an employer, minimize your liability? There are hundreds of things you can do to minimize liability, which are probably things you already do. Document shredding, redaction of electronically stored information, careful screening of employees who will be coming into contact with personal information of customers and employees, physically locking file drawers with sensitive information, and setting up firewalls on computer equipment connected to Internet, among hundreds of other solutions, are all good ideas. The old saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is definitely case when it comes to securing personal information. However, no matter what prevention steps you take, there is no 100% effective way to be sure that employee’s information won’t be compromised. Even if information doesn’t get out from your company, an employee can claim that it did.

Dr. Frankel clearly identifies common mistakes –101 in all—that women commit unconsciously to sabotage their careers. This book provides revolutionary guides to help women of today eliminate girl-like behaviors they became accustomed with, which hold them back professionally.

How You Play Game Unfortunately, women are not as trained to participate in competitive sports. It is only recently that women started making their marks in this field. Thus, most women do not know rules of game of business. They simply do not know how to play it—and more importantly, how to win it.

Some of common mistakes women commit as they play game of business are: pretending it isn't a game; playing game safely and within bounds; working hard; doing what you want; avoiding office politics; being conscience; protecting jerks; holding your tongue; failing to capitalize on relationships; and, not understanding needs of your constituents.

How You Act Being successful in world of business is not only dependent on your knowledge of how to play it. It is also important to know how to act, professionally. Dr. Frankel enumerates some unlikely behaviors in workplace that can be hard career busters.

These are: polling before making a decision; needing to be liked; not needing to be liked; not asking questions for fear of sounding stupid; acting like a man; telling whole truth and nothing but truth (so help you God); sharing too much personal information; being overly concerned with offending others; denying importance of money; flirting; acquiescing to bullies; decorating your office like your living room; feeding others; offering a limp handshake; being financially insecure; and, helping.

How You Think Changing way you think can greatly impact a change in your career. Note beliefs and thought patterns you learn early in girlhood that you need to reconsider and then eventually forget.

Some of these are: making miracles; taking full responsibility; obediently following instructions; viewing men in authority as father figures; limiting your possibilities; ignoring quid pro quo (something that‘s exchanged in return for something else); skipping meetings; putting work ahead of your personal life; letting people waste your time; prematurely abandoning your career goals; ignoring importance of network relationships; refusing perks; making up negative stories; and, striving for perfection.

How You Brand and Market Yourself

Marketing oneself is as important as marketing a specific brand. Think of yourself as a brand that’s needs to be marketed effectively. Alongside these come some important points that women need to particularly remember.