July 5, 2019
Common Issues that Farm Workers Face at Work
Farm work is absolutely vital to our nation. Without fresh produce, grain, and meat sources, our food supply industry would crumble and national nutrition would plummet. Farm work varies between farm and often between seasons. The work can include transporting, milking, and feeding animals, ploughing fields, sowing seeds, spreading fertiliser, crop spraying, operating farm machinery, and harvesting. The work is incredibly demanding and sadly, is largely undervalued. Below is a summary of the most common issues farm workers face, the greatest of which is low pay.
Based on a recent study from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS), the average annual income for a farm worker is between $15,000 $17,500.. For a family, the average income climbs to somewhere between $20,000 and $24,999. The federal poverty line for a family of three is $19.790, which means that most farm workers are living at or below the poverty line.
In addition to struggling with income and cash flow, many farm workers face health and safety issues at work. Many workers are exposed to dangerous pesticides, work without a reliable source of clean drinking water, and are at risk of heat exhaustion and lack of shade. Long hours and dangerous conditions are also common occurrences.
Farm workers are vital, yet mistreated. The issues are common and the solutions are slow to implement. If you or a loved one are farmworkers that have been mistreated on the job, call us to discuss the details of your potential case.
June 26, 2019
What are the rights of salespersons who get paid commission?
What are the rights of salespersons who get paid commission?
A commission is a monetary compensation following the completion of a task. In the sales world, commissions are most commonly a percentage of the value of the goods and/or services sold and are paid out following the successful completion of a sale. Commissions may be paid on top of or in addition to salaries, and are often used as incentivizing tools to motivate the sales team to sell more.
Commissions can be a difficult area of employment to understand legally, which is why we have outlined your most important rights here:
- If you work for commission, you may be protected by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). If you are, then you are entitled to an hourly minimum wage, even if you earned no commissions during a set pay period.
- The FLSA does not require payment of commissions, so if you are not paid a commission that you believe you are owed, you will likely have to face your employer in small claims court. Before proceeding to court, make sure that you have written confirmation of the commission you were supposed to receive.
- Commissioned employees may be except from overtime pay if their pay is equivalent to more than 1.5 times the minimum wage amount, and if more than half of their earnings come from commissions.
Commission-based employee rights are complicated and can be difficult to understand. If you are concerned that your commission are not being paid fairly, call us for a free consultation to discuss the details of your potential case.
No one should be expected to work for free.
June 21, 2019
Are Domestic Workers entitled to overtime pay in CA?
Domestic service workers are employees that work in a home. This can mean maids, nannies, household managers, and more. Domestic work is very common in the state of California, but many people do not realize that their rights are actually protected under the law.
The California Domestic Worker Bill of Rights outlines appropriate work time scheduling. The bill clearly states that domestic workers must be afforded 12 consecutive hours away from work for every 24-hour period. If a domestic worker works for more than 12 hours in a single day, they are entitled to overtime pay. This means that their pay-rate increases to 150% of what it normally is, per hour, for every hour above 12 that they work.
For example, let’s say that a live-in nanny normally works from 8 am to 8 pm at a rate of $15/hour. For a normal 12-hour day, that nanny would earn $180. If a parent is stuck late at work and asks the nanny to care for the child for an extra 2 hours, the nanny’s pay rate rises to $22.5 for the extra two hours. On the hypothetical day that the nanny works 14 hours, she would earn $225 ($180+$22.5+$22.5).
If you or a loved one perform domestic work, make sure that their rights are protected.
June 4, 2019
How For All Workers Can Help With Your Case
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