Looks like Alfred is confused as he thinks the economy is recovering. The fundamentals of this economy look absolutely terrible and as all of this cheap money flows back into the wrong areas of the economy (student loans,housing,bonds,stocks,etc) the chance of a real recovery becomes more and more remote. When this thing comes apart due to higher interest rates, it’s is going to be one for the record books. May God help us all.
Great to see the bloodsucking lawyers out ther are doing all they can to gum up the economy. Anybody who does not se the need for tort reform is delusional.
How about the paying to illegals off the books by paying them in cash? No payroll taxes for workers? The illegals don’t complain because they are afraid of being shipped back to their country.
How about it? The company can surely get into alot of trouble for that, but it’s not likely to generate a W&H claim. It’s kinda hard to prove a wage and hour claim if there aren’t any records… And who would your clients be? Illegals? Hardly.
May 22, 2013 at 11:02 am
LiveFree says:
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Alfred doesn’t seem to have a firm grasp on the economy because his reasons are pretty terrible. I think it’s more likely the entitleist society America is fueling than the reasons Alfred gave. But most likely it is that the min-wage laws are too high, causing employers to keep more of their more productive workers at lower salaries because they are being forced to pay low level employees so much over their production value. That paired with the (real) CPI value tanking making people feel the need for more cash to afford their normal/usual lifestyles.
Excuse me. Did you say the minimum wage is too HIGH??? I’d like to see you live off of minimum wage, let alone support a family. Who’s being elitist here? Me thinks it’s YOU.
I did live off minimum wage for years so I don’t need your lectures thank you. I am talking about economics not the level of compassion that should be shown towards the struggle of the low-wage working man. And anyone with an understanding of basic economic principles would know that high minimum wage laws are inefficient and only serve to destroy jobs. Some employers need a high amount of lower wage employees so paying more for them then what they are worth in the output/production impacts everyone’s pay in the company and can even lead to insolvency. I was originally simply making an observation that could be the cause for people filing more lawsuits not a statement against the wage law. You brought that up and didn’t even defend your position just attacked my morality. Good job.
Having worked for a large multi-national insurance brokerage that wound up paying a bucket of money in a class action over a wage/hour class action (yeah…I benefited from the outcome), employers need to realize that they can’t classify all employees as salary and expect them to work lots of overtime.
Yes and no. Nationwide just won their large class action involving SIU investigators in the 6th Circuit. This is high stakes poker, and there are opportunities for huge savings for certain employers who pay salaries and then expect employees to work 60+ hours a week. Where the laws and courts cooperate, there is much to be gained for an employer who is so inclined. Until or unless the job market improves to the point that employees treated thus can find other jobs, these situations are likely to continue to occur, or even increase in frequency.
“Some Guy” hit the nail on the head. Exempt or Salary status was originally for the true professionals such as lawyers and doctors however since employers found that it was really not regulated they started classing everyone possible as exempt so they do not have to compensate. A dear friend, working as mortgage underwriter, was late to my Christmas Eve party and when I inquired she burst into tears to explain she had been working 12 to 14 hours a day and weekends because management required an “x” number of files had to be completed each day before anyone could leave. That included Christmas Eve. No compensation by the way other than the monthly salary originally agreed on. I called the Dept of Labor for her and they were sympathetic and advised that if the employer classed her as exempt she was basically their slave. This is a serious problem in many white collar industries and if lawyers can cure it by suing, I support them. The only way to get an industry to change their unfair practices is through their profit pockets. Call them all the names you want, but lawyers are a necessary tool to keep a balance.
The reason it’s a “threat” is because employers practice what they shouldn’t. And Congress is trying to get time and a half for overtime changed to payback in vacation time. At the discretion of the employer.
How about this as a possible cause?: As the economy has improved, employers are working their employees even harder. But the job market is still bleak so employees are unwilling to complain. This leads to more opportunities for abuse (asking employees to put in extra hours “off the clock”). There are obviously abuses and opportunities for such on both sides of the equation, and not merely on the side of workers (and the plaintiffs bar).
Unions are out and no one to fight the greed of the corporation and their overpaid board members and corporate held stock holders except the greedy blood sucking lawyers. It is now the American Way to avoid paying decent wages and allowing the government to subsidize the employee wages. Gone are the days that a employer felt responsible for its community and the social impact of their policies. PURE GREED
It is the American way to agree to accept a job offer, and then complain because the American is expected to perform the job. No one forces someone to accept the job . If one can do better elsewhere, no one is krrping him from going elsewhere.
Really??? You accept a job that you are advised is 40 to 45 hours per week however after you accept it you are told you must work an additional 25 to 30 hours on top of that for free and that is acceptable to you? Performing the job, and performing the job bent over are two different things. If that is acceptable to you, I recommend you consider talking to a professional about learning how to appreciate yourself and your self worth.
My wage and hours claim with FLSA was denied last year because (in their words): We receive 30,000 of these claims a year and are understaffed to accept them all. I am in the insurance industry. FLSA sent me a decision article on insurance agents who do not qualify for overtime. It had nothing to do with my profession as an insurance agent.
Try working for straight commission as a young producer with a family to feed. I can’t tell you how many hours of overtime I worked putting together insurance programs for prospects and hoping I could sell them and earn a commission. That is real pressure. I didn’t complain, I got after it until I built up my income from a book of business. No one ever handed me a book of business to service either.
Most employees in a large agency are paid salary, which is paid out of agency commissions. Typically only producers are paid on a commission basis and even then many are salaried, but their salary is based on book size.
Our employees are paid a salary commensurate with their experience and expertise and most make very good money. They are also licensed and can sell insurance and we give them commission on business they develop on their own. They end up doing quite well as a result. We don’t ask them to work overtime unless we are shorthanded which is rare and we pay overtime as a result. Payroll is by far the largest expense of an agency although every expense has risen in the past 4 years so we have to hustle to keep the income increasing as well. We had more revenue last year than the year before and less net profit due to expenses rising.
Looks like Alfred is confused as he thinks the economy is recovering. The fundamentals of this economy look absolutely terrible and as all of this cheap money flows back into the wrong areas of the economy (student loans,housing,bonds,stocks,etc) the chance of a real recovery becomes more and more remote. When this thing comes apart due to higher interest rates, it’s is going to be one for the record books. May God help us all.
Great to see the bloodsucking lawyers out ther are doing all they can to gum up the economy. Anybody who does not se the need for tort reform is delusional.
I wonder how many of these Wage & Hour complaints are dealing with issues of how illegal aliens are paid by employers.
Agent – the hiring of illegal aliens is not subject to federal regulation. It’s just plain illegal…
How about the paying to illegals off the books by paying them in cash? No payroll taxes for workers? The illegals don’t complain because they are afraid of being shipped back to their country.
How about it? The company can surely get into alot of trouble for that, but it’s not likely to generate a W&H claim. It’s kinda hard to prove a wage and hour claim if there aren’t any records… And who would your clients be? Illegals? Hardly.
Alfred doesn’t seem to have a firm grasp on the economy because his reasons are pretty terrible. I think it’s more likely the entitleist society America is fueling than the reasons Alfred gave. But most likely it is that the min-wage laws are too high, causing employers to keep more of their more productive workers at lower salaries because they are being forced to pay low level employees so much over their production value. That paired with the (real) CPI value tanking making people feel the need for more cash to afford their normal/usual lifestyles.
Excuse me. Did you say the minimum wage is too HIGH??? I’d like to see you live off of minimum wage, let alone support a family. Who’s being elitist here? Me thinks it’s YOU.
I did live off minimum wage for years so I don’t need your lectures thank you. I am talking about economics not the level of compassion that should be shown towards the struggle of the low-wage working man. And anyone with an understanding of basic economic principles would know that high minimum wage laws are inefficient and only serve to destroy jobs. Some employers need a high amount of lower wage employees so paying more for them then what they are worth in the output/production impacts everyone’s pay in the company and can even lead to insolvency. I was originally simply making an observation that could be the cause for people filing more lawsuits not a statement against the wage law. You brought that up and didn’t even defend your position just attacked my morality. Good job.
Also I said entitleist not elitist.
Having worked for a large multi-national insurance brokerage that wound up paying a bucket of money in a class action over a wage/hour class action (yeah…I benefited from the outcome), employers need to realize that they can’t classify all employees as salary and expect them to work lots of overtime.
Yes and no. Nationwide just won their large class action involving SIU investigators in the 6th Circuit. This is high stakes poker, and there are opportunities for huge savings for certain employers who pay salaries and then expect employees to work 60+ hours a week. Where the laws and courts cooperate, there is much to be gained for an employer who is so inclined. Until or unless the job market improves to the point that employees treated thus can find other jobs, these situations are likely to continue to occur, or even increase in frequency.
“Some Guy” hit the nail on the head. Exempt or Salary status was originally for the true professionals such as lawyers and doctors however since employers found that it was really not regulated they started classing everyone possible as exempt so they do not have to compensate. A dear friend, working as mortgage underwriter, was late to my Christmas Eve party and when I inquired she burst into tears to explain she had been working 12 to 14 hours a day and weekends because management required an “x” number of files had to be completed each day before anyone could leave. That included Christmas Eve. No compensation by the way other than the monthly salary originally agreed on. I called the Dept of Labor for her and they were sympathetic and advised that if the employer classed her as exempt she was basically their slave. This is a serious problem in many white collar industries and if lawyers can cure it by suing, I support them. The only way to get an industry to change their unfair practices is through their profit pockets. Call them all the names you want, but lawyers are a necessary tool to keep a balance.
You,ve got to be kidding. Lawyers are paid 30-50 percent of any award which is given by juries that decide on emotion rather than facts.
The reason it’s a “threat” is because employers practice what they shouldn’t. And Congress is trying to get time and a half for overtime changed to payback in vacation time. At the discretion of the employer.
How about this as a possible cause?: As the economy has improved, employers are working their employees even harder. But the job market is still bleak so employees are unwilling to complain. This leads to more opportunities for abuse (asking employees to put in extra hours “off the clock”). There are obviously abuses and opportunities for such on both sides of the equation, and not merely on the side of workers (and the plaintiffs bar).
Unions are out and no one to fight the greed of the corporation and their overpaid board members and corporate held stock holders except the greedy blood sucking lawyers. It is now the American Way to avoid paying decent wages and allowing the government to subsidize the employee wages. Gone are the days that a employer felt responsible for its community and the social impact of their policies. PURE GREED
It is the American way to agree to accept a job offer, and then complain because the American is expected to perform the job. No one forces someone to accept the job . If one can do better elsewhere, no one is krrping him from going elsewhere.
Really??? You accept a job that you are advised is 40 to 45 hours per week however after you accept it you are told you must work an additional 25 to 30 hours on top of that for free and that is acceptable to you? Performing the job, and performing the job bent over are two different things. If that is acceptable to you, I recommend you consider talking to a professional about learning how to appreciate yourself and your self worth.
My wage and hours claim with FLSA was denied last year because (in their words): We receive 30,000 of these claims a year and are understaffed to accept them all. I am in the insurance industry. FLSA sent me a decision article on insurance agents who do not qualify for overtime. It had nothing to do with my profession as an insurance agent.
Try working for straight commission as a young producer with a family to feed. I can’t tell you how many hours of overtime I worked putting together insurance programs for prospects and hoping I could sell them and earn a commission. That is real pressure. I didn’t complain, I got after it until I built up my income from a book of business. No one ever handed me a book of business to service either.
I thought insurance agents were indecent contractors paid a commission. Even captive agents are paid that way,aren’t, they?
It,s independent contractor, not indecent contractor. I,ve known many ins. Agents who made a lot more money than I ever did.
Most employees in a large agency are paid salary, which is paid out of agency commissions. Typically only producers are paid on a commission basis and even then many are salaried, but their salary is based on book size.
Our employees are paid a salary commensurate with their experience and expertise and most make very good money. They are also licensed and can sell insurance and we give them commission on business they develop on their own. They end up doing quite well as a result. We don’t ask them to work overtime unless we are shorthanded which is rare and we pay overtime as a result. Payroll is by far the largest expense of an agency although every expense has risen in the past 4 years so we have to hustle to keep the income increasing as well. We had more revenue last year than the year before and less net profit due to expenses rising.