Ponce
27th September 2014, 10:42 AM
I don't believe this.......so that the father cannot teach his kids his trade unless he hires them?...... we all now have to go to school to learn the trade when the best teacher already lives with you..........THEY HATE US BECAUSE WE ARE FREE?
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private police in California went viral. Here, we have another precedent-setting case of tyranny. It is more subtle and less violent than the prospect of private military contractors raiding Americans, but it's gangster governance nonetheless and it received almost no media coverage.
The unnerving story I'm referring to is the Department of Industrial Relations (yes, that's a real thing) in California putting a mom-and-pop winery out of business for employing volunteers. The Westover Vineyards , who make only $11,000 a year in net profits, is being fined $115,000 for the supposed crime of using unpaid labor while teaching wine making to friends. Is anyone surprised this bizarre attempt to protect children and ensure fair wages doubles as a revenue generator for the state?
A small-time vintner's use of volunteer workers has put him out of business after the state squeezed him like a late-summer grape for $115,000 in fines -- and sent a chill through the wine industry.
The volunteers, some of them learning to make wine while helping out, were illegally unpaid laborers, and Westover Winery should have been paying them and paying worker taxes, the state Department of Industrial Relations said.
"I didn't know it was illegal to use volunteers at a winery; it's a common practice," said winery owner Bill Smyth....
State law prohibits for-profit businesses from using volunteers.
[....]
Meanwhile, he and his wife, Jill, are holding a going-out-of-business sale and plan to shut down before the end of the year. The fines represent more than a decade's worth of profits for the winery, which nets about $11,000 a year, Smyth said.
"There's just no money left; they've taken everything," he said.
"We're a small winery, open only 10 hours a week. We didn't really need any helpers; we were just educating people about wine," he said.
About half the people the state considered Westover employees were taking a free class at the Palomares Canyon Road winery. Students learned about growing vines, harvesting and blending grapes and marketing the finished product.
"This was an incredible opportunity for me," said Peter Goodwin, a home winemaker from Walnut Creek who said he dreams of opening a winery with some friends. "I got to learn from someone who knows the business."
The winery sometimes asked Goodwin if he wanted to assist in different tasks.
"That's what I wanted, to be as involved as much as possible -- it was all about learning," he said. "I don't understand the state's action. It was my time, and I volunteered." (emphasis added)
Notice the only reference to justifying this gross misuse of government power is one sentence: "State law prohibits for-profit businesses from using volunteers." I must add that no warning was given to Westover about the violations prior to issuing this business-ending fine and a spokesperson from the state claims the law doesn't allow for warnings. And that is the extent of what we know about the actual "law"from the media. But what law would justify such nonsense?
The U.S. Department of Labor regulates volunteers under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which was indeed amended by Congress in 1985 to forbid for-profit companies from utilizing unpaid labor, and California labor laws are built on this framework.
What's worse, the law also forbids YOU from volunteering:
Under the FLSA, employees may not volunteer services to for-profit private sector employers. On the other hand, in the vast majority of circumstances, individuals can volunteer services to public sector employers. (emphasis added)
Apparently you can volunteer for the "public sector" but you can't learn to make wine with your friends.
Did you know you lost your right to volunteer wherever you choose? That you must now get permission from the state if you help your buddy out at his shop or farm, and that your buddy must now pay taxes on this activity? That you indeed do NOT own yourself or your energy if you can't choose how to spend your "free" time?
The FLSA seems like a pretty straightforward prohibition; yet, as with any prohibition, there are exemptions. In this case, there are lots of them including specific trade exemptions like salesman, partsmen, mechanics, computer professionals, drivers, loaders, and yes, farm workers -- and a whole lot more . Other exemptions include businesses under a certain amount of employees and volunteer programs with an "educational benefit" (i.e. unpaid interns).
It would seem that Westover Vineyards would easily qualify for multiple exemptions if this was the law in question. So what gives?
First, I should clarify something. It is still legal in every state for for-profit companies to have "regulated" unpaid interns. But California recently became the first state to pass an "anti-discrimination and harassment ordinance" which appears to make it illegal.
Fueled by class warfare fervor and a rogue court ruling that said unpaid interns could be sexually harassed by their employers
Read more at http://www.activistpost.com/2014/09/how-fair-labor-laws-are-destroying.html#G2RbMI07hvUBwq4B.99
==================================================
private police in California went viral. Here, we have another precedent-setting case of tyranny. It is more subtle and less violent than the prospect of private military contractors raiding Americans, but it's gangster governance nonetheless and it received almost no media coverage.
The unnerving story I'm referring to is the Department of Industrial Relations (yes, that's a real thing) in California putting a mom-and-pop winery out of business for employing volunteers. The Westover Vineyards , who make only $11,000 a year in net profits, is being fined $115,000 for the supposed crime of using unpaid labor while teaching wine making to friends. Is anyone surprised this bizarre attempt to protect children and ensure fair wages doubles as a revenue generator for the state?
A small-time vintner's use of volunteer workers has put him out of business after the state squeezed him like a late-summer grape for $115,000 in fines -- and sent a chill through the wine industry.
The volunteers, some of them learning to make wine while helping out, were illegally unpaid laborers, and Westover Winery should have been paying them and paying worker taxes, the state Department of Industrial Relations said.
"I didn't know it was illegal to use volunteers at a winery; it's a common practice," said winery owner Bill Smyth....
State law prohibits for-profit businesses from using volunteers.
[....]
Meanwhile, he and his wife, Jill, are holding a going-out-of-business sale and plan to shut down before the end of the year. The fines represent more than a decade's worth of profits for the winery, which nets about $11,000 a year, Smyth said.
"There's just no money left; they've taken everything," he said.
"We're a small winery, open only 10 hours a week. We didn't really need any helpers; we were just educating people about wine," he said.
About half the people the state considered Westover employees were taking a free class at the Palomares Canyon Road winery. Students learned about growing vines, harvesting and blending grapes and marketing the finished product.
"This was an incredible opportunity for me," said Peter Goodwin, a home winemaker from Walnut Creek who said he dreams of opening a winery with some friends. "I got to learn from someone who knows the business."
The winery sometimes asked Goodwin if he wanted to assist in different tasks.
"That's what I wanted, to be as involved as much as possible -- it was all about learning," he said. "I don't understand the state's action. It was my time, and I volunteered." (emphasis added)
Notice the only reference to justifying this gross misuse of government power is one sentence: "State law prohibits for-profit businesses from using volunteers." I must add that no warning was given to Westover about the violations prior to issuing this business-ending fine and a spokesperson from the state claims the law doesn't allow for warnings. And that is the extent of what we know about the actual "law"from the media. But what law would justify such nonsense?
The U.S. Department of Labor regulates volunteers under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which was indeed amended by Congress in 1985 to forbid for-profit companies from utilizing unpaid labor, and California labor laws are built on this framework.
What's worse, the law also forbids YOU from volunteering:
Under the FLSA, employees may not volunteer services to for-profit private sector employers. On the other hand, in the vast majority of circumstances, individuals can volunteer services to public sector employers. (emphasis added)
Apparently you can volunteer for the "public sector" but you can't learn to make wine with your friends.
Did you know you lost your right to volunteer wherever you choose? That you must now get permission from the state if you help your buddy out at his shop or farm, and that your buddy must now pay taxes on this activity? That you indeed do NOT own yourself or your energy if you can't choose how to spend your "free" time?
The FLSA seems like a pretty straightforward prohibition; yet, as with any prohibition, there are exemptions. In this case, there are lots of them including specific trade exemptions like salesman, partsmen, mechanics, computer professionals, drivers, loaders, and yes, farm workers -- and a whole lot more . Other exemptions include businesses under a certain amount of employees and volunteer programs with an "educational benefit" (i.e. unpaid interns).
It would seem that Westover Vineyards would easily qualify for multiple exemptions if this was the law in question. So what gives?
First, I should clarify something. It is still legal in every state for for-profit companies to have "regulated" unpaid interns. But California recently became the first state to pass an "anti-discrimination and harassment ordinance" which appears to make it illegal.
Fueled by class warfare fervor and a rogue court ruling that said unpaid interns could be sexually harassed by their employers
Read more at http://www.activistpost.com/2014/09/how-fair-labor-laws-are-destroying.html#G2RbMI07hvUBwq4B.99