Is it time to drop the extra federal unemployment money?

[Boston Vol]

Not really. Corporate is still heavily involved in everything and they can be fired or moved to a different location without any notice. They are basically just highly paid employees that sign checks.

Just highly paid employees that sign checks? Sounds like a pretty good gig.

 

[VolStrom]

Just highly paid employees that sign checks? Sounds like a pretty good gig.

Sounds like Hog.

 

[hog88]

Sounds like Hog.

Except I’m not highly paid.

 

[joevol33]

I've got one employee doing his best to get fired. He's a $12/hr guy so he'll get a raise. His only skill is using a broom and despite my efforts to expand his skillset he continues to resist. He was very disrespectful to me when I gave him a task that literally a 12 year old could do and he called over a $25/hr guy to help him when I called him out on it. I brought him in and told him if he did it again I wouldn't lay him off but would 100% fire him for insubordination. We'll see how that turns out. It's my understanding that you just about have to commit homicide before they'll turn you down for unemployment though so he probably knows this.

My wife has a friend doing the same, trying to get fired to stay home for unemployment. She doesn't even hide her intentions.

 

[tim]

I've got one employee doing his best to get fired. He's a $12/hr guy so he'll get a raise. His only skill is using a broom and despite my efforts to expand his skillset he continues to resist. He was very disrespectful to me when I gave him a task that literally a 12 year old could do and he called over a $25/hr guy to help him when I called him out on it. I brought him in and told him if he did it again I wouldn't lay him off but would 100% fire him for insubordination. We'll see how that turns out. It's my understanding that you just about have to commit homicide before they'll turn you down for unemployment though so he probably knows this.

Suspend him and dock his pay.

 

[AM64]

Maybe we should not of run off our manufacturing base and blue collar jobs to other states and nations. Even now there is a shortage of workers willing to work in manufacturing that pays a living wage. Guess burgers are mfg now.

Look at the decline of Detroit. The auto mfg left and these teenager/retired jobs are all that is available.

The gov created the problem and now need the gov to demand wage controls.

Remember how people liked to spout off about how we don't need manufacturing jobs - that automation etc just means people graduate to better positions and let robots and out of towners do the grunt work? It was as stupid an idea then as it is now, and it's still not clear that the economists and other prognosticators have figured it out yet. I guess when it's all spiraled below ground level they might understand something didn't work right, but they'll still be at a loss to figure out what.

 

[Rasputin_Vol]

Nor do I expect them to. That's an informal environment with a quality of product that doesn't require the skillset earning that wage.

Take the Klonaris group in Knoxville. They own Cafe 4/Kefi/Vida/Square Room. Their prices vary widely at all their locations but they pay their front of house far more than the 2.13/hour nonsense. My friend's nephew just started an entry level line cook job with them at 16/hour.

It's not hard. You seem to be standing up for the greed of proprietors. I know this industry. Your take is 20+ years old, dude.

My take is 20 years old, but the profit margins haven't changed much if any since I left.

And trust me, I'm not trying to support greedy proprietors. I'm just familiar with what all goes into running the average restaurant. I just went and did a search of Cafe 4 and looked at their menu. That is not typical of 95% of the restaurants out here. With the price points that you have just at that restaurant ($18 meatloaf), it is a lot easier to justify paying higher wages. But to assume that the other 19 out of 20 restaurants out here are just greedy for not paying more is a mischaracterization.

 

[Rasputin_Vol]

Why should the owner/operator be paid 300k and not pay a single person on their staff a liveable wage?

So how much is a livable wage? How big is the staff?

 

[Rasputin_Vol]

Not really. Corporate is still heavily involved in everything and they can be fired or moved to a different location without any notice. They are basically just highly paid employees that sign checks.

If it is a franchise, you do realize that the franchise owner still has to pony up a franchise fee to corporate, right?

 

[LouderVol]

Unless you're eating top ramen and living in an airstream, that's not really a living wage.

A lot of employers are learning the score right now.

Not if you are a family of 8. Single person, being careful, it's definitely doable.

I was able to save up for a car, and retirement, living in Atlanta on that much.

People are too comfortable.

 

[jasonvols2.2]

wrong thread

 

[allvol123]

Why should the owner/operator be paid 300k and not pay a single person on their staff a liveable wage?

The thought process of a person that knows they will never run anything.

Did you factor in the 60k that person will pay to the government?

Did you factor in the countless hours that operator spends solving problems related to that business, while the business is closed and all the other employees are home sleeping?

Do you understand the money they had to gamble upfront to see the potential 300k payoff?

Sometimes it is so obvious to point to the product of a public school.

 

[McDad]

How big is the staff?

6'5", 285.

 

[Boston Vol]

just used the Alabama calculator for UE benefits. without the Federal benefit, someone who had been making $2000/mo. would receive $928/mo in benefits. with the Federal kicker of an extra $300/week that goes to $2128/mo. So 6% more than the original job was paying AND no commuting, child care, other job related expenses.

For someone earning $3000/mo working you start to see the incentive shrinking: UE would provide $2300/mo with the extra vs $1100/mo without it. Still, someone who lives in an area with schools closed might opt for the $2300 instead of working for $3000 if child care costs were anywhere close to or over $700/mo.

It is insane for the administration to pretend this doesn't impact the decision to go back to work.

It’s the same here in Kentucky. Someone who was working full time and making $15 an hour would actually make more sitting at home thanks to the $300 weekly kicker from the .gov. It’s complete insanity. As I’ve said before if it wasn’t for our high school students, we’d be completely screwed.

 

[Vol737]

Why should the owner/operator be paid 300k and not pay a single person on their staff a liveable wage?

Save some money, use it to start your own business, along with the business loans you will have to take on to get it off the ground, and report back in a year or so. Let me know how much you’re willing to NOT make in a business you devote almost all your time and energy to include payroll, providing benefits, compliance with local rules and regs, state and federal business tax filings, inventory, purchasing agreements, scheduling, applications for permits and licenses, etc... and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

 

[Zues1]

I owned a small business for five years. 60-70 hours a week. When not at the work place I was doing payroll, taxes, purchasing supplies etc. So 7 days a week.
My employees made money as did the landlord, tax man etc....
Myself , very little and sometimes a loss. While the customer received a quality product at a fair price.

The moral of my story, just because a business appears busy when you as a customer are there doesn't necessarily mean the owner is getting rich.

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

Why should the owner/operator be paid 300k and not pay a single person on their staff a liveable wage?

Why would anyone want to work there for less than a livable wage?

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

Everyone here that doesn’t own their own business raise your hand if you would work for free for a month or two to save the business in tough times?

I took an almost 50% pay cut and lost a defined benefit retirement plan halfway into my career.. Does that count? It didn't have anything to do with actually saving the business though.

But I know exactly where you are coming from. My father was a small businessman. HE took paycuts, worked for free and HE went without vacations while none of his employees ever did....

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

Not if you are a family of 8. Single person, being careful, it's definitely doable.

I was able to save up for a car, and retirement, living in Atlanta on that much.

People are too comfortable.

A family of 8 with that kind of earning potential????????? Somebody get a damned knife.

 

[DinkinFlicka]

Why would anyone want to work there for less than a livable wage?

Enter the staffing crisis we're in.

 

[MOOOOONEY]

Not if you are a family of 8. Single person, being careful, it's definitely doable.

I was able to save up for a car, and retirement, living in Atlanta on that much.

People are too comfortable.

Only in America does a livable consist of a new IPhone, cable television, Netflix, eating out everyday, and Starbucks coffee.

I had a friend a few years ago who worked at different restaurants and offered him an opportunity to take a job with a starting wage of $17 an plus benefits at a factory and he turned it down. I asked him why and he said because he would have to pass random drugs tests.

If someone besides a high school student in the Knoxville area is working at a job making $7.25 an hour then it’s their own damn fault. There’s plenty of job opportunities for good paying jobs in East Tennessee.

 

[MOOOOONEY]

Enter the staffing crisis we're in.

It’s not the government’s job to determine the wages being paid.

If ABC company cannot recruit candidates for a job because of the wages they are paying:

1. They will close their business because of lack of staffing

2. Their business will suffer due to lack of staff and cannot meet the demand for their services and will either lose customers and scale back operations.

3. Raise their pay scale to attract job candidates

the extra unemployment benefits have a direct cause for the staffing crisis.

 

[AM64]

Only in America does a livable consist of a new IPhone, cable television, Netflix, eating out everyday, and Starbucks coffee.

I had a friend a few years ago who worked at different restaurants and offered him an opportunity to take a job with a starting wage of $17 an plus benefits at a factory and he turned it down. I asked him why and he said because he would have to pass random drugs tests.

If someone besides a high school student in the Knoxville area is working at a job making $7.25 an hour then it’s their own damn fault. There’s plenty of job opportunities for good paying jobs in East Tennessee.

It's always been my impression that some restaurant workers (fast food excluded) were paid less than other jobs because of tips. Do those generally go directly straight to the staff, or are they accumulated and split some way? That seems to be the big item missing from this discussion. I know it's not unusual to leave a tip equal to or exceeding to the proposed minimum wage for well less than an hour's work - and other customers are doing similar for the same staff. Probably not that level for places like an IHOP, but there's a quicker customer turnover there, too.

 

[DinkinFlicka]

It’s not the government’s job to determine the wages being paid.

If ABC company cannot recruit candidates for a job because of the wages they are paying:

1. They will close their business because of lack of staffing

2. Their business will suffer due to lack of staff and cannot meet the demand for their services and will either lose customers and scale back operations.

3. Raise their pay scale to attract job candidates

the extra unemployment benefits have a direct cause for the staffing crisis.

It has played a factor, but I promise you there gas also been a mass exodus of service industry workers moving on to other career paths. The past year has rocked it and made it a lot less appealing to work.

 

[DinkinFlicka]

It's always been my impression that some restaurant workers (fast food excluded) were paid less than other jobs because of tips. Do those generally go directly straight to the staff, or are they accumulated and split some way? That seems to be the big item missing from this discussion. I know it's not unusual to leave a tip equal to or exceeding to the proposed minimum wage for well less than an hour's work - and other customers are doing similar for the same staff. Probably not that level for places like an IHOP, but there's a quicker customer turnover there, too.

Depends on the place. It's known as tip pooling when the whole front of house splits the tips based on hours worked. I've never been a fan because there are hard workers and there are those dragging their feet.

I don't see the logic in allowing employers to pay under minimum wage just because the guests tip the staff for effectively putting up with **** like mother's day brunch for 8 hours straight.