Legal Question in Business Law in California

You are a Free Agent. Be sure you get all vacation and comp time you are owed and keep records of all hours worked (keep these records at your home). The former owner will disappear. You need to negotiate a raise and a bonus for yourself from the new owner.

You are not the property of anyone or any business. Your status as employees, however, depends on the business structure of the business being sold and the nature of the sale transaction. If the business being sold is a sole proprietorship or general partnership, unless you have an employment contract, you are terminated as a matter of law and the new owner(s) must rehire you. This is because those business forms legally cease to exist when sold. You can sell the "business" but you are just selling assets; the legal entity you work for ceases to exist and a new one takes its place. In practice, if they want you to stay on all they have to do is say so and if you stay you are rehired. They will have to do a variety of formalities, such as switching your payroll reporting to a new Federal TIN and state EDD number, new workers comp. account, etc., but that would be seamless to you. If the company being sold is a corporation or LLC, then it depends on whether the sale is conducted as a sale of the shares of the corporation or LLC, in which case the legal entity that employs you continues to exist, and you are employed until the company fires you. But corporations and LLC's can also be sold as a sale of assets. In that case, the corporation or LLC you work for will be terminated, or will only be a shell with no business and no assets, and therefore no work for you or money to pay you. So you would again be terminated and have to be rehired by the corporation, LLC, partnership or proprietor who bought the assets.