Ensuring Digital Signature Lawfulness for Funeral Leave Policy in the United States

How to eSign a document: digital signature lawfulness for Funeral Leave Policy in United States

hi folks today we're gonna discuss wage and our loss now the back half of the book from like chapters 11 on start to get really really dry because it's basically regulations and not really fun stuff to talk about but give yourself triple shot of espresso drink a couple Red Bulls pop a couple caffeine pills and try to stay awake don't do any of those things if you have a heart condition so the first one we're going to look at is the Fair Labor Standards Act hilsa covers three primary areas that are important to you minimum wage overtime compensation and equal pay gilsu is administered enforced by the wage and hour division of the Department of Labor so the main organization is Department of Labor and the division within Department of Labor is the wage and hour division compliance officers are everywhere they can conduct investigation gather data is data on wages hours employment practices in order to determine compliance with the Act they recommend charges to bring an employer into compliance investigations can be result of them finding something or someone raised their hand going sweet meet me tweet me okay willful violations may result in criminal charges by the division see you Court that'll be newsworthy they may also result in civil action so after the feds are done chewing on you then they're gonna come after you in your local state court they have some fun and both the division and private individuals can do that for unpaid wages or overtime pay so once you're done with the criminal charges then come the civil actions by whoever wants to do it it is a violation for at a Latorre termination for an employer to terminate or italia' in other words impact negatively a person's employment for filing complaint or participating an investigation you raised your hand told the federales that they are doing something stupid at your workplace you should not be fired should not be penalized yeah we know that that's not gonna happen right three the other thing is if they do come in and you answer their questions they should not somehow a miraculous put you on every night shift for the next ten years okay civil actions can result in the ward of unpaid wages and overtime for back pay for up to two years from the date the complaint is filed that's important when you file the complaint the two years runs from that if it turns out that they're really doing it on purpose it's extended to three years willful violations occur when an employer willingly or intentionally violates the rules or is in reckless disregard to them doesn't care so much that it has to imply intentional or willful malfeasance courts can award lid against their attorney fees as well as liquidated damages which equal to the back pay so double your money double your fun you can imagine this hurts when you get nailed with it not all employers are covered under Phil so Kay you are fully covered if your gross annual sales exceed $50,000 most funeral homes even mom-and-pop shops okay you're probably doing more than 200 calls depending on the type of business you're running you're probably getting really close to that if you are under five hundred thousand and you're not on the Fair Labor Standards Act radar you are still subject to overtime pay child labor restrictions and record-keeping requirements if you grossed three hundred and sixty two thousand dollars or more in any year prior to 1990 cash advances cash advances are included as part of gross receipts that would be important because we would love to say hey this isn't even money that we make we take it dollar for dollar we'll give it to someone else and the feds go don't care you are covered under fill' sir as a full-time employee unless you fall into one of the four white collar exemptions oh here it comes better get those no cards out man this is important first one executive employee I remember your duty must consist of management of the enterprise or a customarily recognized Department or subdivision of the enterprise you've got to be someone important you need to direct two or more people regularly general manager branch manager funeral director in charge will be typical funeral executive employees an administrator these are important terms and definitions do not confuse administrator here with administrator from wills and trusts an administrator exemption primary duty requires the exercise of discretion independent judgment cysts of the performance of office or non manual work directly related to the management putz or general business operations generally secretaries and clerical workers do not fall into this category secretaries and clerical workers not have a lot of exercise of discretion and independent judgment they do what they're told they type what they're told okay personnel directors office managers Human Resources directors may be considered administrators may be considered executive but realistically most of what they do isn't managing an entire enterprise they are managing a small portion of it okay the demarcation is whether the administrator has a wide degree of discretion in the performance of their job that's an important tie and know the definition and know the D marketer professional primary duties consist of the performance of learned artistic or educational matters employees work requires the constant exercise of discretion or judgment employees work is predominantly intellectual and varied in character how could cannot be standardized in relationship to time and also one thing I found while poking around and looking is generally the salary has to be in excess of four hundred and fifty five dollars weekly okay in commissioned outside salesman or sales persons customarily and regularly works away from the employers place of business while making sales and obtaining orders for which consideration is paid on a commission basis this is the one that is unforgivable if you get wrong because it makes complete sense professionals well they have three criteria three criteria you might want to make a note of that for fifty five these other two you pretty much just have to kind of wing it many years most employees that were not managers or high-level admins did not qualify for exemptions Department of Labor has routinely supported that license funeral directors do not qualify as professionals there may be a shift in their thinking but it is not policy let's look at that your funeral directors consist or their duties consider performance have learned artistic or educational matters um kind of okay so we'll leave that one is a kind of maybe 30 40 percent employees work requires consistent exercise of discretion and judgment oh that's a hell yeah employees work is predominantly intellectual and varied in a character and output cannot be standardized in relationship to time every family is different people said Amen so we got like 30 or 40 percent of that first one and basically raving reviews on the rest yet we don't qualify you figured that one out huh despite this one federal court in 2000 said if you and director is considered a professional since then some courts have followed suit when in doubt check your local state laws employ the aid of a good labor attorney to assist you as a business owner to make sure that you don't run afoul of anything now folks I know it sounds nice to get a nice salary I really do okay but you need to think about some things that if you are routinely working 70 hours a week and they're paying you like you know 50 grand what would your salary be or your hourly rate be with overtime and how much would you be making if you're still doing those same hours so sometimes it is in your best interest to go hourly sometimes it is not those are decisions you will have to make as employees of businesses until you become the employer right when you are determining where it is you want to work and how long you want to work there independent contractors people always give me grief about independent contractors for factors 2ics are they free to perform the services somewhere else okay can you do it at your place can they do it any other place - is the is the individual in business and performs the same services for the other companies okay do they do the same type of work for you as they do for everybody else is the individual free to set his or her own hours of work and does the individual provide his or her own equipment or tools whenever you are looking at a question like this okay those are the four factors you have to balance to come up to whether or not the person is considered an employee and I guarantee you'll get questions like this on my exams chance - pretty good you get something like that on a professional exam a national exam even a state exam is this person an independent contractor and you'll have to make a judgment call the example in the book in a word stinks okay pallbearers or part-timers clearly these would be considered employees in today's day and age I do not agree with this at all in the book family pallbearers are a different story okay you remember what we call those and earlier chapters of this book we call them volunteers they're not paid they're not independent contractors okay they're not compensated for their time ah if you're going to have a true independent contractor ie pallbearer you would have to let them work for everybody else as well and only we don't do that we really do not trade embalmers say that independent contractors aren't again okay but for the most part a trade embalmer is free to perform their services anywhere they'll have them they do the same type of work because they are embalmers they set their own hours of work and I guess a primary deciding factor here is that doesn't provide his or her own equipment or tools the fact of the matter is that is only one of the three and we got more than a clear majority there man so it's one of those things that disagree with that most people would completely disagree with and I think every educator out there is going to disagree with the fact that a trade embalming would be considered a part-time employee trade and bombers are independent contractors I don't believe that even a professional exam would have a question like that because the fact that the people who write those questions are industry professionals and educators so I would completely dismiss that as truth employed check the minimum wage must have the following records maintained and it gives you the laundry list and the best way I can I can explain this to you is look at your pay stubs that you get from your employer if you are unemployed at this moment ask maybe a parent or a friend to show you their pay stub so you can see the information that's on there and it will make sense when you see all of this on their record should be maintained for three years except for payroll records would required to be retained for six years due to IRS codes okay so employment record to be maintained for three years payroll should be retained for six it is not necessary to have a time clock or maintain records in any particular form you know they can write it in you can have a physical time clock you can use a web portal people log in and log out as a 2009 the federal minimum wage is 725 an hour the edition of the book that I'm using one say it's a 2011 2013 still says 515 okay the book is out of the date the federal minimum wage is 725 the state has a higher minimum wage obviously state law applies there are provisions in minimum wage which an employer may request a lower minimum wage for apprentices or disabled individuals but you must apply and receive certification you can't just give them less money you need permission to do that from the wage and hour division and all full-time employees that are not covered by exemptions must be paid at less at not less than 1.5 times one halftimes their normal salary for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek I don't care if your full-time status is 32 or 36 you only get overtime once you breach 40 payment can be any way it is set up I have had weekly I have had bi-weekly I have had half monthly and I even had monthly that is so much fun let me tell you what to get one paycheck a month each work week is separate they can not be averaged down or adjusted if you work 50 hours one week 30 hours the next it is a violation filss ax to average it out okay you get 10 hours overtime one week to get 30 hours or straight pay the next week period anything else is shady work week is a recurring period a regular recurring period of a hundred and sixty eight hours in the form of seven consecutive 24-hour periods does not have to be a calendar week it can start on any day at any hour but once it starts it has to run for seven consecutive 24-hour periods once it is established they can't wave their magic employer wand and change it willy-nilly the change becomes permanent so they cannot change your quote-unquote work schedule every single week as a full-time employee just to prevent you from getting overtime okay that's pretty shady so some stuff from the wage and hour division that you should know it's not in the book you must display the minimum wage poster if you fall under the Phils Act generally you walk into the break room you see the minimum wage post you also see like the employees composter regular rate of pay so what things can we throw into the mix to kind of make test questions just to make it like all right first thing Neely's meals and lodging reasonable cost or fair market value sit at his wages read the exceptions in the book so for instance my first employer in funeral industry my only employer until here tired and sold his business and worked for the same for him after the sale every Friday I was the lowest guy on the totem pole I did the lunch run went the subway thought everyone stops if my box wanted to he could actually take that out of my wages that that would be considered one of the perks of employment so if you are working for a corporation and they have a cafeteria and they say that during your 8-hour shift or whatever it is that you are welcomed to one meal in the cafeteria whatever you want hit him for it because they can date they probably have considered that into your salary beginningless okay but they can take it out later if they want that should usually be discussed prior to signing the contract bonuses only diffs and discretionary bonuses included in wages gifts and discretionary bonuses because you are not guaranteed to get them expenses reimbursements are not wages think about it if you have spent money and you're being reimbursed for the money your employer cannot say well I gave you that money bull crap profit sharing their thrift plans are not included they're not wages that is a separate item vacation pay sick pay holiday pay are not wages they're a separate type of wage a vacation sick or holiday that's why they're listed as a separate line item premiums paid for holidays or work weekends are not included in wages although an employee may be hot a salaried employee unless there is a white-collar exemption the employer guarded is hourly that is something important okay unless they are exempted even if they're salaried if you go over the 40 you may be subject to overtime if you do not fall under the exemptions and you would see 40 hours in a workweek you are entitled overtime regardless of what your salary is now this one's a fun one this one's a fun one the variable work agreement fluctuating Work Week agreement one big thing here is this has to be in writing because the employer pays half time 0.5 50 percent the hourly rate for overtime rather than one point five one and a half times your rate and right now I can proverbially see all of you staring at the screen going what uh okay well there's some perks to this you always get your 40 even if you don't work your 40 no matter what a very good buddy Dennis at one point worked for a waste management company he had his route no matter how many hours he worked he got paid a set rate he had a variable workweek agreement and if he could finish his route within four hours five hours he went home he was done that's all there was to it the problem is that to determine the hourly rate you have to determine how many hours will work at that specific week divided by the fixed salary and then divide the hourly rate for that week again to get the halftime this is what's complicated this is what really stinks about this you can't just say my hourly rate is this for the entire year you don't get to take an average of what your work we is if you look at that specific workweek and how many hours you worked divide it okay divide it by your fixed salary and then divide the hourly rate for that week again by 50 that's gonna give you something crazy so it's a bit of a computation some compliance offers hate these and challenge the agreement especially if your work powers do not vary from week to week you know some days you might work for sometimes eight sometimes ten whatever it might be they will probably say okay variable work with agreement but if you are working a straight 70 hours every week and they're just trying to stick you with half time for overtime they're probably going to challenge it equal pay now here it is 2016 people still think because of plumbing people should get paid less that's ridiculous you cannot discriminate on basis of sex by paying employees of one gender higher than another for doing the same work common sense come on man if they can do the job and they do the job well they get paid the same no matter who they are don't be that guy this also covers employees a qualify for white collar exemptions come on it's 2016 if a person of color is present United States with a lovely family no matter what you want to believe about any of the candidates in the current election you have a candidate in the election who's been nominated by the party and she is the first female candidate for that party that's an impressive thing be President she gets the same salaries a male is what it is now you can show higher pay for different employees as long as you can show that it is based on seniority merit any factor other than gender okay you hire five new people three males two female you pay the male's 60,000 pay the females 45,000 you're gonna get in trouble you hire two new people they're female you pay them 45,000 these the first people you've hired for this department in eight years everyone else in the apartment is making $60,000 you can base it on seniority you can base it on merit or any other factor you simply cannot say I'm hiring the girls in Cheaper because they're girls that's just stupid it's silly violation job the back pay claims the same manner as violations of fill so they will bring your butt in the court criminal charges of supply boom and then the civil actions as well don't forget all the fun stuff that'll go in the paper so some Peter Holmes specific fun stuff caretaker some area still have these some areas don't some of the older property their prestige caretaker we have generally behind to answering services or on-call FDS and removal tax carry cell phones and pagers we don't leave somebody on the premises and just because a person is on the premises cording to your book they do not necessarily have to be considered an employee if they live there especially if they have the freedom to do what they want so for instance if you have a person living in the apartment above the funeral a funeral home you cannot call them a caretaker unless that is what they do oh yeah they take care of my funeral home and uh bla bla bla bla bla bla they're never around they don't do anything they just pay rent and live above it no it's not the way it works okay if you keep an overnighter enter into a written agreement need to know the boundaries of pay what their job duties are and some other common-sense stuff go see your labor attorney they'll help you with that on Carl employee big problem is that you do get paid for being on call or at least only for the time you're actually doing something this enter is the miserable world of engaged to wait in waiting to be engaged it is not hard it is not hard generally employees that are on call are not considered to be working they are waiting to be engage you're waiting around for something to happen and when something happens you start getting paid waiting to be engaged waiting to work if you are engaged to wait then you are considered to be working for the funeral home you are being paid you are engaged being paid to wait so what are the big differences comes down to whether or not the employee has the freedom to pursue personal activities the restriction of movement for the employee can determine if they are engaged to wait are waiting to be engaged if you must be at a location waiting for a phone to ring you are engaged to wait and subject to pay if you are driving around doing your chores gonna go a concert whatever it is and have your binder with you and your cell phone you are waiting to be engaged once your phone rings you are on the clock you're engaged for work are you not not engaged to wait at that point you are actually engaged in business and can be paid for that you should be paid for those hours so what happens here's your hypothetical what happens if your phone goes off answering service calls you and you return the call to the Fed and say oh can you what's your number we're gonna call you back in eight minutes and then you wait 30 minutes while they call you back patiently waiting for them are you engaged to wait or waiting to be engaged personally I would say you are engaged to wait you called them they said they're gonna call you back and you waited the instant you walk away from it and resume your normal activities you are now waiting to be engaged again that would be the demarcate er that I would say and suggest for you and I've already elaborated on that I've already elaborated on that so some other important things not in your book okay not in your book Family Medical Leave Act public agencies including state local and federal employers local education agencies or schools so you can see this is important private sector employees employers who employ 50 or more employees in a twenty more work week or twenty more work weeks in the current or preceding calendar year who are engaged in commerce or in any industry or activity infecting commerce including joint employers and successors of covered employees well this is simple if you have 50 or more people and they were 20 or more work weeks in the calendar year you have to give your employees family medical leave most small funeral homes may not be required to meet Family Medical Leave Act provisions whereas larger corporations sei carriage etc would be required child labor because we have seen this not in the book but affects you if you employ on under 18 years of age folks thank you for your attention we will see you next time you