Looking for other radio folks- got blue sky promises- moved here- then rudely fired

[RadioCtrlDWife]

When the only tool one is give is a hammer, its hard to make fine funiture

No one said he wasn't a wonderful perosn IRL, but his skills as a radio DJ have made the station unlistenable between 5:30-10:00 a.m. I share an office and we all agreed on his lack of talent. If he is all you say he is, then I hope he is looking elsewhere for a better job and gets the he!! out of a bad situation.

How would you feel if you were promised the sky and the right tools to do a job and sold your house and moved to the country -- buying a house-only to be told after you sign the mortgage-now you must make do with nothing but a pocket knife to fix jetliners?
That's what happened to me and that is why talent is sometimes hidden by circumstance. I have worked with many many DJs over 35 years in the biz and I know when they are good as well as when the management ruins their act.
Mojo is a very good DJ.
This happens from time to time in our biz, but not to this level in my experience.

 

[IrishGal]

How would you feel if you were promised the sky and the right tools to do a job and sold your house and moved to the country -- buying a house-only to be told after you sign the mortgage-now you must make do with nothing but a pocket knife to fix jetliners?
That's what happened to me and that is why talent is sometimes hidden by circumstance. I have worked with many many DJs over 35 years in the biz and I know when they are good as well as when the management ruins their act.
Mojo is a very good DJ.
This happens from time to time in our biz, but not to this level in my experience.

Sounds like a familiar story, except I was fired the day I signed for my first mortgage... after my shift and before I could sign closing docs. Amazingly enough, when I got to the table to sign, my mortgage broker KNEW I had been let go. Since he's not psychic... how do the folks here think that info got out? A concerned former employer, apparently.

I'm also not the only one with a similar experience. Where is Rick Austin? Ask him about HIS departure. Same MO. Some people are azzholes just because they can be.

 

[RadioCtrlDWife]

I'm an Engineer, Not afrkign Shrink, Kirk

Sounds like a familiar story, except I was fired the day I signed for my first mortgage... after my shift and before I could sign closing docs. Amazingly enough, when I got to the table to sign, my mortgage broker KNEW I had been let go. Since he's not psychic... how do the folks here think that info got out? A concerned former employer, apparently.
I'm also not the only one with a similar experience. Where is Rick Austin? Ask him about HIS departure. Same MO. Some people are azzholes just because they can be.

There is a clear pattern here.
Lets review- Moose after putting down a 10k$ non-refundable deposit on a new house to be built and his wife transfering to a job here, disrupting her carrier track.
Mike after moving with his lovely GF from calf to here and signing a lease.
Herher right after giving birth.
Me [via telephone] while home on my back a few days after a painful operation on my knee and on doctor orders to stay home.
Did I mention this is the only guy who has EVER fired me after 35 years in the biz?
Is there a shrink buzzword for this behaviour?

 

[RadioCtrlDWife]

Is It Unlaful To Fire As A Way To Induce Emotional Distress And Anguish For Kicks?

Sounds like a familiar story, except I was fired the day I signed for my first mortgage... after my shift and before I could sign closing docs. Amazingly enough, when I got to the table to sign, my mortgage broker KNEW I had been let go. Since he's not psychic... how do the folks here think that info got out? A concerned former employer, apparently.

I'm also not the only one with a similar experience. Where is Rick Austin? Ask him about HIS departure. Same MO. Some people are azzholes just because they can be.

I have some questions to pose to this forum because so many others have mirrored my experience and someone they may know owes this husband and wife team a huge amount in back wages.
My lawyer is on vacation-not to mention expensive. So perhaps someone here can help with some simple and general questions. I have no experience with labor law here in Maryland. My husband operated two firms in Virginia long ago and he met my payroll instantly each week even if he was unable to cash his own paycheck until the cash was there for him do so. These were small factories with about 6 employees full time, producing broadcast and live sound equipment.
The labor rules are different in Virginia, and I have only recently in the last year become a wage hour employee after years of being an independent consulting broadcast engineer, due to the need for health insurance for my husband.
I truly don't know what all my rights are as a wage earner in Maryland, because neither of us are used to getting fired.
Can you be fired while temporarily disabled by surgery and on accrued sick leave?
Can your health insurance be terminated without notice to you before you have used vacation and sick time?
Can verbal promises be enforced if they were made while husband and wife both heard them in person or via speakerphone conversations?
Does the this oral statement of offer made to two persons at once have any meaning legally:
"Come to work for me as an employee and you will get good health insurance for your preexisting conditions. You and your wife can work as a team and I don't care if its you or her that does the work. This is your home until you retire and if your illnesses disable you further or you pass away, I guarantee your wife the job."
Can you be paid one K-mart level wage with withholding on your W2 checks and "extra hours" at your usual professional rate at much higher wage rate?
Should the employer issue a 1099 for these "extra hours" to save the worker the hassle of figuring out the total extra wages paid for their taxes the end of the year?
If the work is also sometimes dangerous as well, are you covered by the same workman's comp on those extra hours which are paid on a non payroll check with no deductions taken for taxes or workman's compensation for "extra hours" the same as your basic hours?
Is it legal to ignore repeated requests for a passable path to the work sites and to get an exterminator to get rid the snakes at work sites-is this a safety violation?
Thanks for any insight-- there is more but I would use all the bandwidth of the server to list all of the questions here.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Actually, Mojo is a douche nozzle....a very rusty, stinky douche nozzle...

 

[johnjrval424]

Can you be fired while temporarily disabled by surgery and on accrued sick leave?

Unless you have worked at a location for at least one year, and have requested FMLA, and it was approved, yes.

Can your health insurance be terminated without notice to you before you have used vacation and sick time?

Using vacation and sick leave does not have any bearing on whether your health insurance is terminated. However, an employer must offer you COBRA coverage, which you must pay for out-of-pocket, when terminating your employment. COBRA will carry you for 18 months after termination.

Can verbal promises be enforced if they were made while husband and wife both heard them in person or via speakerphone conversations?

If it ain't in writing, it didn't happen.

Does the this oral statement of offer made to two persons at once have any meaning legally:
"Come to work for me as an employee and you will get good health insurance for your preexisting conditions. You and your wife can work as a team and I don't care if its you or her that does the work. This is your home until you retire and if your illnesses disable you further or you pass away, I guarantee your wife the job."

You are an at-will employee, meaning you work at the pleasure of the employer. Unless you have a written contract of employment, they can pretty much promise you the sun, moon and stars. If they don't deliver, you really don't have too much recourse. It's a shame, but it does happen.

Can you be paid one K-mart level wage with withholding on your W2 checks and "extra hours" at your usual professional rate at much higher wage rate?

Sure. You can work as an employee and then be an independent consultant and charge your usual hourly rate. As long as you claim this extra income on your taxes, it's fine.

Should the employer issue a 1099 for these "extra hours" to save the worker the hassle of figuring out the total extra wages paid for their taxes the end of the year?

If he is paying you a straight amount, as an independent consultant, and is not withholding taxes, then he is obligated to give you a 1099 at the end of the year, if the amount exceeds $600.

If the work is also sometimes dangerous as well, are you covered by the same workman's comp on those extra hours which are paid on a non payroll check with no deductions taken for taxes or workman's compensation for "extra hours" the same as your basic hours?

Nope. If he is paying you the increased rate as an independent consultant, without withholding taxes, then you are on your own. You are not an "employee" if you are being paid your consultant rate.

Is it legal to ignore repeated requests for a passable path to the work sites and to get an exterminator to get rid the snakes at work sites-is this a safety violation?

OSHA requires that the employer provide a safe work environment. I'm not sure if that includes exterminating for snakes.


I am NOT an attorney but I AM a paralegal with 21+ years experience.

 

[Kyle]

THANKS FOR THE PROPS-
HFS and DC101 are my grown children.
We are professionaly embarrased as engineers by the reliablitiy isses that we were powerless to addrees in our last tour of duty.
Look to my previous work- observe WHFS and DC101's "up time'. When was the last time DC101 was off the air?
With those two stations' facilities down time is measured in units of minutes per year, not hours per day. I was Chief Engineer of both of them serially as a youth.
I am still welcome there and I was hired as a consultant to supervise the DC101 move to Rockville a few years ago - almost 30 years after my official tour of duty ended with them in 1979.
But I was not good enough for this owner, I guess one cant please everyone.
We did our best and our best was not good enough-- never had that happen before.

Couldn't make a silk purse out of a Sows ear, huh?

 

[IrishGal]

Sure. You can work as an employee and then be an independent consultant and charge your usual hourly rate. As long as you claim this extra income on your taxes, it's fine.



If he is paying you a straight amount, as an independent consultant, and is not withholding taxes, then he is obligated to give you a 1099 at the end of the year, if the amount exceeds $600.



Nope. If he is paying you the increased rate as an independent consultant, without withholding taxes, then you are on your own. You are not an "employee" if you are being paid your consultant rate.

I thought you could not be both an employee and an independent contractor for doing the same job at the same place at the same time? It is my understanding that if you are an engineer and you are paid a salary, have benefits, have taxes taken out...you are an employee. If you are contracted to do the same work it has to be somewhere ELSE.... otherwise the employer is evading paying taxes on the larger amount.

As an example...Let's say I'm an engineer who would normally command a salary of 150K per year as an employee of someone. My new employer agrees to pay me 35K a year "salary" and pay the rest as an independent contractor...that means that he is willfully evading the tax laws on 115K per year. I can't see how the IRS would be okay with that... or the Social Security Administration.

The IRS has a test to determine who is an "employee" and who is an "independent contractor." The determining factor seems to be who has the right to control the work... the tasks, the hours, who physically does the job, etc. In the case of someone who is an employee for part of the work, and does the same exact tasks at a higher rate...they're still an employee and it isn't the employer's right to state "oh you're an independent contractor on this" I don't think...

http://www.twc.state.tx.us/news/efte/appx_d_irs_ic_test.html

 

[RadioCtrlDWife]

I thought you could not be both an employee and an independent contractor for doing the same job at the same place at the same time? It is my understanding that if you are an engineer and you are paid a salary, have benefits, have taxes taken out...you are an employee. If you are contracted to do the same work it has to be somewhere ELSE.... otherwise the employer is evading paying taxes on the larger amount.

As an example...Let's say I'm an engineer who would normally command a salary of 150K per year as an employee of someone. My new employer agrees to pay me 35K a year "salary" and pay the rest as an independent contractor...that means that he is willfully evading the tax laws on 115K per year. I can't see how the IRS would be okay with that... or the Social Security Administration.

The IRS has a test to determine who is an "employee" and who is an "independent contractor." The determining factor seems to be who has the right to control the work... the tasks, the hours, who physically does the job, etc. In the case of someone who is an employee for part of the work, and does the same exact tasks at a higher rate...they're still an employee and it isn't the employer's right to state "oh you're an independent contractor on this" I don't think...

http://www.twc.state.tx.us/news/efte/appx_d_irs_ic_test.html

Our CPA agrees citing that my husband was doing the same work for the same employeer at the same time with differant checks written- one with taxes and socil security and the othe being a non payroll check.
He is a Proffesional Broadcast engineer and those numbers yo mention for "base salary and extra hours" are right on target. Our financial Planner has checked with the IRS an they say we are wage earner employees for the entire amount paid, no matter what the emplyeer clamis, because the IRS and the state determine your status entirely "by the actual ecconimic relationshp" wich the IRS has determined to be wage earning employees, not contractors.