Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Tweet[IWS] BLS: WRITING AN ESCALATION CONTRACT USING THE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX [16 November 2012]
IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
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Beyond the Numbers, November 2012, Vol. 1, no. 19
Prices & Spending
WRITING AN ESCALATION CONTRACT USING THE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX [16 November 2012]
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[full-text, 7 pages]
[excerpt]
Each year thousands of people write contracts with escalation clauses that are tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Escalation contracts call for an increase in some type of payment in the event of an increase in prices. These contracts are used in a wide variety of ways, from adjusting rent prices to adding cost-of-living adjustments to alimony payments and wage contracts. Unfortunately, many escalation contracts tied to the CPI are vague. For example, a contract may stipulate that “the Consumer Price Index (CPI)” be used to escalate an apartment rent, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes thousands of CPIs each month, so a more carefully worded contract could minimize ambiguity and the likelihood of future disputes. This issue of Beyond the Numbers can help those who use the CPI to write escalation clauses to create a more comprehensive contract.
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