Can't find professional treemen in Paradise

[Tim Gardner]

Originally posted by coydog
why don't you pay overtime?

Because it costs more in taxes to pay overtime. The way my father did it was anything over 40 hours was held until there was a week that the crew made less than 40. Was better for everyone. Helped out on those weeks when it rained a day or two.

 

[NovoArbor]

Originally posted by Tim Gardner
Because it costs more in taxes to pay overtime. The way my father did it was anything over 40 hours was held until there was a week that the crew made less than 40. Was better for everyone. Helped out on those weeks when it rained a day or two.

We pay "overtime" but with straight pay - not time & 1/2. The reason for this is because we can't charge more for a Saturday or Sunday. It has nothing to do with taxes. At one point, we had a night crew because it made the work easier on us because accessibility was hampered by high traffic. Even for that we can't charge more because it's our decision to work during those hours.

So our men make out very well. They get their 40 hrs no matter what and then some! AT least 4 or 5 months out of the year we can count on working every Saturday. As we continue to grow, we'll get to work every Saturday of the year.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I'm a little confused. How can your crew have been with you 7 and 10 years, if it's only your second year?

 

[NovoArbor]

Originally posted by Mike Maas
I'm a little confused. How can your crew have been with you 7 and 10 years, if it's only your second year?

Ahhhhh, I was wondering if someone would pick that up. They started with Claude when he was the Manager at ECI - then Valley Crest in Orlando. Claude was then hired by Sava-aTree for their Long Island start up office and then was hired to start the arbor division for a large company here called Stiles. Whenever Claude moved - the men followed him (except for the move to NY). Start-up operations became his expertise so we decided to start one for ourselves. My expertise is in business development & administration so we made a good team.

 

[NovoArbor]

Originally posted by RockyJSquirrel
ahhhhh, now I know who you are. I was wondering what ever happened to Claude.

What are you doing at home Rocky when you should be in some tree somewhere??? Did you know Brian & Frankie? So now that you've let the cat out of the bag - how do you know Claude?

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

What do you think about my comments on the cost to a company have an employee?
Say you have a $20 an hour guy and give him a medical/dental plan with a small co-pay. I've heard the cost to be about twice his salary from two different accountants. I suppose it varies from state to state. Here in WI workers comp is as high as 30% of your wage, so that comes into play in a big way.
You're the expert...

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

WI state pool is 21.5%

My 50% figure included an employers partial payment of employee's medical premiums.

My limited understanding of federal labor laws tells me that "non exempt" hourly employees must be copmpensated at time and a half for more then 40/week. Comp-time is only leagle for governement agencies to use at this tiem, though Bush is trying to make it leagle for companies to foce on workers.

 

[NovoArbor]

50% is all of our payroll burden & WC cost. We actually "lease" our employees so all payroll, taxes, payroll returns, SS, unemployment etc are all handled by the payroll service. We just pick up the checks. If there is a claim, they take care of it. So that 50% is worth alot more because we don't do the work of payroll.

To carry a single man on insurance is about $10 per week. If the man is married, he pays that cost which is the norm here.

Yes, John, that's the law, but it's not followed by the small companies as they are not likely to be audited & for other reasons. The large companies do pay time and a half over 40 hrs.

 

[jkrueger]

Originally posted by NovoArbor
50% is all of our payroll burden & WC cost. We actually "lease" our employees so all payroll, taxes, payroll returns, SS, unemployment etc are all handled by the payroll service. We just pick up the checks. If there is a claim, they take care of it. So that 50% is worth alot more because we don't do the work of payroll.

To carry a single man on insurance is about $10 per week. If the man is married, he pays that cost which is the norm here.

Yes, John, that's the law, but it's not followed by the small companies as they are not likely to be audited & for other reasons. The large companies do pay time and a half over 40 hrs.

Hmmmm, the old corp. downsize trick is even in arbor care. I know it is difficult for a small company to comply with all the personel stuff. And there is a great lose to the leased worker. It's not a family company then, no real company team. Or maybe I'm wornge and this is another accepted practice to make the box more constricting.

Jack

 

[NovoArbor]

Originally posted by jkrueger
Hmmmm, the old corp. downsize trick is even in arbor care. I know it is difficult for a small company to comply with all the personel stuff. And there is a great lose to the leased worker. It's not a family company then, no real company team. Or maybe I'm wornge and this is another accepted practice to make the box more constricting.

Jack

Quite the contrary, Jack. I put "leased" in quotes because it's only a term - a means by which to pay your employees. They are OUR employees, but they get paid through a Labor Management company & thereby we can take advantage of their discounted rates. I cook for these guys, I take care of their kids when necessary, I listen to their problems, and they are indeed "family".

 

[NovoArbor]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "downsize" but I'm sure it's not the case with us as I explained - also it can't be just here that this is offered. The same company provides us with "day labor" when we need it so we're not keeping people on payroll that we need from time to time. I'd be happy to further inform you if you wish.

 

[NovoArbor]

Keep it commin'! Claude will jump in if I need to be rescued. Claude is doing fantastic - his computer is arm's length of mine where he's sitting right now. Isn't it past your bedtime??? Our men are at the shop at 6:30 a.m. hehehehe.

 

[Ax-man]

I hope I'm reading this right, this " leased " employee(s) you have is that the same as a temp. service.

I checked into a temp. service earlier this year as a way to get around paying WC on new employees. Every thing was a go back in Febuary, the only restriction was they couldn't climb trees or do bucket work. I had no problem with that as I was just looking for extra ground help.

When it was time to actually to follow through on this, the doors were closed on this temp service due to, you got it, WC, their insurance rate tripled and they couldn't pass it on and still make a profit. AS of this post they still have not been able to find a carrier for their insurance needs.

So are we still talking the same thing or is your program different??

Larry

 

[NovoArbor]

OK Larry, this is the way it works. It's nothing like you have encountered. Barnett, the company, is a labor force company. In addition to providing you with day labor if and when you need it, they will also put YOUR EMPLOYEES on their payroll thereby eliminating our need to do the very same thing. I could put YOU or anyone on our payroll - even ME. It's just paperwork and as you may know, payroll is heeps of paperwork & tax filing. This service did not exist in New York, but does in other parts of Florida which leads me to believe that it's not available in other parts of the company. OK? You can call me if you like - 561-330-9785 anytime. Keep well. Work safe.

 

[NovoArbor]

Rocky, who pays you if you fall? Are you insured? Or are you carrying exempt WC?

 

[NovoArbor]

Let me tell you the story about Charlie. He fell out of a tree - 40 feet or so. There was no WC. He came to work for Claude physically impaired. He landed on his feet and did severe damage to he feet, legs & spine. He was distorded - had a hunch back, looked like the hunchback of Notre Dame. The girls would never give him a look. Prior to his accident - he was quite the looker. Finally he couldn't take it anymore & went to drugs & alcohol and hence his demise. It's not a pretty picture.

A Mexican kid that worked for me in Orlando, fell & broke his back, was covered with WC and went back to Mexico with half a million dollars & a brand new pick up truck. Quite a contrast.

 

[NovoArbor]

So.... you didn't answer my question. Who pays if you fall. Sure - no one gets paid to fall - they get paid to perform. Accidents happen - what happens if you're one of them???? OK, so we won't argue that point - it's like asking "when will you die?" that's what actuaries base their studies on & that's exactly what WC bases their rates on - accidents. Accidents happen and no one is above that. We buy life insurance in the event of death to take care of what we need to take care of - we don't know when we're going to die - we don't know when we're going to have an accident. It's foolish to think we've above that - rather naieve. All I can say is that you're lucky if nothing happens to you, but those that depend on luck are just a silly as those that think they'll win at the roulette table. That's why you pay high interest rate to people that take risks as opposed to sure investments. This is not prudent. You're always at risk. You're given the opportunity to protect yourself against it. Why wouldn't you?

 

[Dadatwins]

Originally posted by NovoArbor


Yes, John, that's the law, but it's not followed by the small companies as they are not likely to be audited & for other reasons. The large companies do pay time and a half over 40 hrs.

Coming in a little late on this thread and welcome to site. I spent a few years in the c-store biz as supervisor / payroll co-ordinator and not paying time & half for over 40 is sure way to get serious federal penalty. Even for small companies. Fed law says you can't carry it over to next payroll either. Lots of info about FLSA and labor laws available online. Might want to check it out and be sure payroll system is ok.
Good luck with employee search.

 

[coydog]

mandatory overtime without time and a half compensation is a slap in the face.

 

[Stumper]

It is?