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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2023
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES  
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

NOTE 10 – COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

 

Legal Proceedings

 

With the exception of the below, the Company is not a party to any legal proceedings or claims at September 30, 2023. From time-to-time, we may be a party to, or otherwise involved in, legal proceedings arising in the normal course of business.  The nature of our business ordinarily results in a certain amount of pending as well as threatened claims, litigation, investigations, regulatory and legal and administrative cases, matters and proceedings, all of which are considered incidental to the normal conduct of business. When we determine that we have meritorious defenses to the claims asserted, we vigorously defend ourselves. We consider settlement of cases when, in management’s judgment, it is in the best interests of both the Company and its shareholders to do so.

Recruiter.com Group, Inc. v. BKR Strategy Group.

 

We are currently pursuing two related collections matters against BKR Strategy Group. Since 2013, BKR Strategy Group has provided talent acquisition strategy and services to top companies. Starting in the third quarter of 2021, BKR Strategy Group subcontracted Recruiter.com to perform on Demand recruiter services on behalf of BKR Strategy Group’s clients. Although payments for services rendered were initially received in a timely fashion, BKR Strategy Group’s balance grew throughout the third and fourth quarters of 2021. This led to BKR Strategy Group executing a Promissory Note with a payment schedule for $500,000 on November 30, 2021 with a personal guarantee from its business principal as part of the note. After failing to meet the payment schedule and after repeated attempts to collect the balance due, we retained the law firm of Berkovitch & Bouskila, PLLC and filed two lawsuits against BKR Strategy Group on February 18, 2022, the first, to collect on unpaid invoices and the second, to enforce the promissory note, for a total sum of $1,400,000. On March 24, 2022, BKR Strategy Group made a counterclaim against us for $500,000 on the grounds of alleged overbilling. Management denies the basis for the counterclaim and expects to vigorously defend itself from this counterclaim. Outside counsel for the company has advised that at this stage in the proceedings, it cannot offer an opinion as to the probable outcome. As it is not possible to estimate if a loss will be incurred, there has been no accrual.

 

On June 21, 2022, the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County ruled in favor of the Company that BKR Strategy Group owes the Company $500,000, plus interest at 12% since November 22, 2021, through the entry of judgement in the lawsuit related to the enforcement on the Promissory Note executed by BKR Strategy Group. Proceedings in the other lawsuit remain ongoing. 

 

Settlement of Payables

 

In April 2023, we settled an outstanding balance with a vendor and recorded a gain of $178,749.

 

ERC Activity

 

During the second and third quarters in 2023, the Company received $754,796 and $1,422,773 related to an employee retention credit from the IRS, respectively, which was recorded as other income. The services provided by a third-party company for assistance with the ERC application totaled $327,073, which was recorded as finance cost. Additionally, the company obtained two advance loans on the ERC credits totaling $450,000 with an original issue discount of $133,333, that was fully expensed as interest expense for a total owed of $583,333. The OID was repaid during the three months ended June 30, 2023. Of this amount, $80,528 of the advances was repaid during the six months ended June 30, 2023, and the remaining balance for the two loans of $369,472 was repaid from ERC cash proceeds received during the three month ended September 30, 2023.

 

Service Agreement

 

In December of 2021 we entered into an agreement wherein a third party will assume responsibility for several of our staffing clients and in return the third party would enter into Recruiters on Demand service agreements and software subscriptions with us. As of December 31, 2022, all the conditions of the agreement have not been met. However, one of the provisions has been implemented whereby we entered into a payroll service agreement for employer of record services for one of our clients. As a result, we have recognized revenue $0 and $22,674 during the three months ended September 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and $0 and $236,921 during the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively, related to this agreement