Posted on May 28th, 2019
Find below a complete transcript of this video.
What’s going on, fellow entrepreneurs? It’s John Fagerholm again from Metal Law Group.
Today I want to talk about something that’ll seem fairly abstract because it’s not going to point to any particular code or rule, but I’m just going to be talking in generalities about a situation that a lot of my clients find themselves in, and it’s a situation of their own making.
So typically what happens is there’s an employee or two that’s receiving some sort of assistance, whether it’s some sort of medical assistance or food stamps or whatever.
And that employee cannot make over a certain amount of money because then they would use those entitlements. So, what they do then is they ask the employer if they can pay them via check payroll of a certain amount only and then the rest in cash.
So, it seems like a very nice thing to do for your employees. The problem is that it’s difficult to prove that you paid that cash.
So when a problem arises such as they go to a Labor Board and say I worked all of these hours, but I wasn’t given the amount of pay, then you have a minimum wage problem.
Or, if just overtime is paid in cash, then they say I worked all these hours overtime and I was never paid for it.
Well, I guess you correct that by giving some sort of note or something saying you were paid for a ll of these hours, but then you have a paycheck problem, which is a fine that you get for not giving a proper paycheck. Taxes, everything else that goes along with paying people in cash.
So, my response to all of this is that I believe everybody should be charitable, and charity’s a good thing, but I don’t think there should be charity in your business.
Give to the church, give to puppies, whatever it is that your cause is, but anytime that there’s charity within the workplace, there is this huge potential of it coming back to bite you, and it just isn’t worth it. Because one little thing like that could cost you so much money.
It could even potentially bring your business down. It just isn’t worth it.
I think if somebody is receiving benefits or entitlements because they don’t make the kind of money they need to survive, then there’s a limit of what they make that’s set into the law, and there’s a reason for that limit. If they make over that, then there’s probably other people that need that entitlement more.
That’s just my opinion on it, and I just don’t think it’s worth the risk to your business.
All right, until next time, thanks, everybody.
