Who Benefits: Intern Or Company?
Although courts will use these factors to analyze a worker’s status, they don’t necessarily weigh all them equally. In fact, judges will often find that the most important criterion for determining whether someone is subject to the FLSA involves which party enjoys the primary benefit from the internship.
Essentially, if the intern benefits primarily from the arrangement, she will be considered a volunteer, rather than a paid employee. However, if the company is the primary beneficiary of the intern’s work experience, this person will be considered an employee who must be paid at least the minimum wage.
In one case involving a company’s use of trainees, McLaughlin v. Ensley, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the owner of a snack foods distribution business had to pay trainees for route jobs. Before being formally hired for such a job, trainees were required to participate in what was usually five days of exposure to the tasks they would be expected to perform. They traveled an ordinary route with an experienced route man, loaded and unloaded the delivery truck, received instruction on how to drive the truck, restocked stores with the employer’s product, were introduced to retailers, learned basic maintenance on snack food vending machines and occasionally helped prepare orders of goods with financial exchanges. However, the employer did not pay the trainees during their training week.
In determining whether this practice was legal, the Fourth Circuit explained that the key question involved whether the employer or the trainees received the principal benefit from the orientation. The court held that the employer enjoyed a greater advantage than the trainees because they were, in fact helping the company distribute snack foods. The skills they learned in training were either so specific to the job or so general that they had practically no transferable usefulness. As a result, the appeals court ruled that the trainees who participated in the orientation program were entitled to receive minimum wages.
Contact Scurich Insurance for more information!
Read more
Now that summer season is here, it’s time to review your payment obligations to interns.
The DOL’s Test for Interns and Trainees
Although the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) doesn’t define intern or provide an exemption from minimum wages or overtime for interns, it recognizes that not everyone who performs duties for an employer is an “employee,” and thus entitled to compensation under the wage and hour laws. Generally, the FLSA provides that if a company benefits from using interns, it must pay them at least minimum wage. However if the intern isn’t doing anything that directly benefits your company but is just observing or learning, you might be justified in not paying him or her.
Whether student interns are considered employees under the FLSA depends on the circumstances surrounding their duties and activities. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)uses a six-part test to distinguish interns or “trainees,” from employees:
- The training, even though it includes actual operation of the employer’s facilities, is similar to what would be offered in a vocational school.
- The primary benefit of the training is for the intern.
- The trainees don’t displace regular employees, but work under close observation.
- The employer derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the interns, which on occasion might actually be counterproductive.
- The intern is not guaranteed a permanent job at the end of the program.
- Both parties understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.
Read more
A pipe bursts and water ruins a corner of your Brazilian cherry wood floor. A windstorm tears off half of the vinyl shingles on one side of the house. A fire burns a couple of kitchen cupboards.
Although your Homeowners policy will cover such partial losses, the extent to which the insurance company must go to make everything look just the way you’d like can be tricky.
Let’s say that the new siding contrasts with the older, weathered shingles or that you can’t find replacement kitchen cupboards that precisely match the originally.
Your claim should put you back to pre-loss condition so the new part shouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb. For example, this might mean replacing the entire floor of a room even if only a portion needs repair, or repainting all four walls after damage to only one.
In some states, if replaced items don’t match in quality, color or size, the insurance company must make “reasonable repairs or replacement of items in adjoining areas.” Although other states don’t have laws on matching, some Homeowners insurers have added similar “non-matching language” to their policies.
Besides varying by state, insurer, and policy, the issue of patching versus full replacement can depends on insurance company adjusters.
If you can’t get make any headway with the adjuster on the repairs you want, consider going over his or her head to a supervisor, or file a complaint with the state insurance department. Another option is to hire a public insurance adjuster to work on your behalf through the claims process. These professionals usually charge about 10% of the final settlement.
Read more
Fraud and embezzlement in the workplace has become an epidemic, costing American businesses an estimated $400 billion a year (6% of total revenues), according to The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Smaller firms are particularly vulnerable, because they’re less able than their larger counterparts to afford extensive safeguard or to absorb the losses. What’s more, one in four workers who rip off their employers have been with the company more than ten years.
Employee Dishonesty insurance can protect your business from financial loss due to the fraudulent activities of an employee or group of employees. This coverage is also called Crime Coverage, Employee Dishonesty Bond, Fidelity Bond, or Crime Fidelity insurance.
The policy applies to acts by all current and former employees, as well as partners, trustees, and directors, together with volunteers, seasonal employees, and temporary workers under your control. Covered losses can include: 1) theft, robbery, burglary or embezzlement of money, securities, or physical property of the business; 2) forgery or alteration; 3) fraudulent transfer of funds; 4) computer fraud; and 5) counterfeiting cash or money orders.
The amount of coverage you’ll need varies with the loss exposures your business faces. As a rule of thumb, companies that handle cash and securities, need at least 20% of their annual revenue in Minimum coverage for fraud and theft losses is usually $100,000 and many policies will cover $500,000 without significant additional premiums. You can also set specific coverage levels for depositor’s forgery, computer, and funds transfers.
Depending on your situation, you can buy Employee Dishonesty either on a stand-alone basis or as an add-on (endorsement) to your Business Owners policy or other Commercial insurance coverage.
For more information on protecting your business against light-fingered employees, just give us a call.
Read more
A man was killed Saturday morning when he lost control near state Highway 152 in Watsonville and crashed into a power pole, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The man, a 31-year-old Watsonville resident, was driving west on Holohan Road around 10:20 a.m. when he lost control of his vehicle for an unknown reason, according to the CHP.
The vehicle went off the southern edge of the road and struck a wooden power pole, causing the vehicle to spins several times before it came to rest in the westbound lane.
The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
The crash remains under investigation.
Read more
Father’s Day is just around the corner, and if you still haven’t found a gift for your dad, you may want to consider getting him a tablet.
Nowadays, finding a quality Android tablet for less than $200 is not only possible but also pretty easy. So if you’re looking for a last-minute gift that shows you care, here are some of the best tablets you can buy for less than $200.
Nexus 7 – $199
Google’s Nexus 7 was one of the first quality tablets to become available for less than $200 when it launched last year. The device runs on the latest version of Android, is great for gaming and features an excellent high-definition screen. For $199, you can get a 16-gigabyte version.
Amazon 7-inch Kindle Fire HD – $179 through June 15
If you’re looking for a device built for reading e-books as well as watching movies and TV shows, then you may want to consider the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD. This tablet has a great HD screen and comes with 16 GB of storage, but more importantly, it has access to Amazon’s vast catalog of digital content. Normally, the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD costs $199, but Amazon is discounting it $20 if you buy before Saturday.
Amazon 7-inch Kindle Fire – $159
You can also purchase the non-HD 7-inch Kindle Fire if you want to save more money. The major difference between this tablet and the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD will be the image quality and the fact that it only has 8 GB of storage.
Nook HD 8 GB and 16 GB – $129 and $149
The best Father’s Day discount, though, comes from Barnes & Noble. The giant book retailer is discounting its Android tablets nearly $100. The 8-GB model, which normally costs $199, is down to $129, while the 16-GB Nook HD has been discounted to $149 until the sale ends Sunday when stores close. The Nook HD isn’t as great as what Google and Amazon offer, but recently, Barnes & Noble added the Google Playdigital store to its device, giving it access to much more content than before.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 – $169.99
Fans of the Samsung brand will want to consider the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. This tablet features a 7-inch HD display and comes with 8 GB of storage that can be easily expanded using a microSD card, unlike Amazon’s or Google’s tablets. As usual, Samsung has stuffed this tablet with features you won’t find on many of its rivals, including 50 GB of cloud storage through Dropbox and an infrared censor that lets you use the Galaxy Tab as a remote control for your TV.
Idolian Mini Studio – $158
If you don’t want to settle for a 7-inch screen, the Idolian Mini Studio is available for $158 and features an 8-inch HD display. The Android 4.1 tablet comes with all of the basics that you look for in a tablet, including rear and front-facing cameras, a microSD slot and 16 GB of storage. Its aluminum back cover also makes it a good choice if you want an iPad look-alike. You can now get itonline for $158.
Read more
