Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with compensation

Health Insurance reimbursement

slagerst — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:34:39 -0800

What examples can I cite to convince my employer to continue reimbursing my 3rd party health care? I’ve been employed for 6 years at a 12-person NYC non-profit (FWIW, 3rd longest in tenure). For the first 5 years, I had the company insurance policy, paid in full by the company. After I married, I switched insurance to my spouse’s policy, which we paid 100% (via pretax deduction from her salary paychecks). My company reimbursed me the added costs we incurred from my wife’s employer, up to the amount they would have paid had I been on their insurance.

Now, in conjunction with a merit-based salary raise, they want to stop reimbursing. I am free to rejoin the original company insurance, which I would do, meaning there is no cash savings to my company. As far as I’ve been told, it is simply a move to keep the books cleaner and more simple.

My problem is that I now have to cancel and re-instate insurance policies, and inform all my doctors, etc. Plus, the advantage of being on my spouse’s policy was (slightly) better benefits, and the simplicity of having 1 family policy for the 2 (sooner or later 3) of us.

What examples can I cite or arguments can I make to convince my employer to continue this cash-neutral situation my way? Are there companies that document their flexibility with compensation packages (salary, health ins., other)? Am I crazy for wanting this setup? "People say" that non-profits cannot offer salaries that are competitive to the private sector, but the allure is (in addition to doing good) they can offer greater flexibility to employees to keep good talent.

What metrics are sales professionals guided by?

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:27:00 -0800

What metrics are sales professionals guided by? Working with my sales manager to help redefine how inside and outside salespeople should be compensated and reviewed.

Everything from leadership to new accounts to call metrics to closed business... how does your business (or your competitors) judge the success of your sales force?

[Also, if you have any articles of interest or website recommendations, it would be just as valuable.]

on call compensation

mandapanda — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:18:34 -0800

Is it legal in the states of Massachusetts or California for a company to require its non-exempt employees to basically be on call 24/7 with no compensation? Details inside. A company based out of California with branches in Massachusetts requires a group of non-exempt employees to respond to calls from its internal alarm system 24/7. The calls last only a few minutes, but require the employee to assess the situation and inhibit the alarm if the situation is not urgent. If the situation is urgent, the responding employee must go to the branch location and inspect. If the alarm is inhibited but the situation remains, the alarm will call again in an hour.

If and only if the employee goes the location, the employee will be paid. No compensation is offered for being on call to answer the phone, nor is compensation offered for answering the phone. However, employees get in trouble at work for not answering the phone on nights and weekends.

Is this legal? My gut feeling says no as the employees are required to maintain a condition throughout non work hours in which they are capable of responding to calls. Also, the calls require a non-negligible amount of work and definitely provide a service to the company. Taking the calls is a requirement.

Thanks for your input.

Fairness of Rent Voucher?

franklen — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:56:12 -0800

Is $50 off of my next month's rent ($395 monthly) a fair rent voucher to compensate for a flooded bedroom, loss of the use of that room and sleeping on my futon for a week? I've had to do the same for 2-3 days twice in the past couple months too due to moisture and water seeping into the foundation of this basement apartment.

How much should I get paid now that I am going part-time?

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:36:05 -0800

Please help me figure out how much I should get paid now that I am going from full-time to part-time. I am currently working full-time and am a salaried employee with benefits. I had planned to leave the position at the end of July, but the company would like me to stay on and has asked me to go to part-time instead. I like the company, I like my co-workers and my department has other happy part-time employees, so this model apparently works.

Before I enter into negotiations with HR (no official package from them yet), I want to get a feel for what would be a reasonable hourly rate for me. I make $75K / yr now and work about 60 hours a week. I will scale down to 15-20 hours a week, and I will perform the same functions (so if my job was to make 9 widgets a week before, now I would make 2-3 widgets a week). I will have the same manager, we have a good relationship and she is supportive of me going part-time. I will most likely be paid hourly, but will remain an employee (i.e. I will not be a contractor). This is in California.

How should I calculate my hourly rate? Can I ask for any benefits? Anything else I should watch out for?

Other extra info: I am happy about going part-time and feel there will be other benefits to staying with the company outside of making money. I genuinely like the work and the people, not to mention what I am doing next is rather isolating, so I welcome the opportunity to stay involved with the organization.

Dry Question Which Does Not Lend Itself to Catchy Title (Hey, Prove Me Wrong!)

HotToddy — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:15:26 -0800

If an employee makes $9.50 an hour, how much is his employer out of pocket, per hour, once you add in Social Security, Medicare, worker's comp, etc.? Please assume the employee has no benefits and no retirement contributions. This is just hourly wage + other mandatory payments.

How Can I, Early in the Process, Make Sure a Potential Employer and I Aren't Way Too Far Apart in the Potential Salary for a Position?

WCityMike — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:45:53 -0800

Does formal, or politely euphemistic, language exist by which, early on in the job-hunt process, you can make sure you and a potential employer aren't considering salary ranges that are half a planet apart? Like many Americans, I am unemployed and job-hunting. The career I last worked in has an extremely wide range of salaries, spanning a large chunk of the range of five-figure numbers.

Some job listings do provide the salary range the employer is looking to pay, but finding that information is a real hit-or-miss affair. For those listings that do not, how can I ascertain a job's salary range, pre-interview and early in the process?

I do understand employers oft make salary offers based on an applicant's experience.

However, the problem I find with solely relying on that is that either:

(a) Despite that variability, an employer can still be working with a salary ceiling in their mind which is still impractically low (either impractically just for me or, more often, impractically for anyone), or

(b) Many employers don't factor an applicant's experience into the salary they're willing to pay for the position, yet still don't make that number public to the applicant until the very end of the process, after a lot of time and effort has already been invested in the process by both applicant and employer. This can be a source of ... frustration, to understate it.

Step 4: Profit!

shiu mai baby — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 06:22:33 -0800

I have a product idea for a regional restaurant franchise that I think would do really well. How do I go about making my dream of untold wealth a reality? In all seriousness, I know that, even if everything were to line up perfectly, it wouldn't be untold wealth (maybe a couple of thousand if I'm lucky), but even before I get to that spot, I need some help. Here's the deal (and obviously, I will be as specific as I can while still protecting my precious kernel of an idea):

There's a popular food franchise in this region that sells a product of which I am a fan. I have a really cool idea that would use one of their most popular products, combine it with a common food item, and make a new, even more delicious product. I have made the enhanced product at home, it is terrific; I have served it at parties and people are stunned that the franchise doesn't sell it like this; in short, I feel confident that it would sell really, really well, especially since the enhancement uses a food item that is steadily gaining a ton of popularity in this area. It wouldn't take a major investment from the franchise owners to obtain the equipment to make this product, and it dovetails nicely with the overall product line of the company.

The big problem, though, is I haven't a clue what's involved inmaking this happen. Do I just look up the corporate address, send a letter saying, "Hi Company X, I have a great idea that will bring your franchises more revenue, call me to discuss?" If I do end up lucking into a meeting or presentation with the product development team, how do I protect my idea from being taken without compensation? How do I possibly determine what would be a reasonable compensation if the planets align and Company X decides that my idea is the best thing they've heard in forever? Is this something that one should retain a lawyer for, even if the compensation is only (potentially) a couple of grand?

I have a million more questions, of course, but mainly I'm just looking for a general idea of how these things go, and what early steps I can take to protect myself. YANML, I know; just a basic roadmap of where I should go from here would be very much appreciated.

Bookselling salary guide?

Miko — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:14:45 -0800

I'm looking for salary guidelines for a job outside my field that I'm interested in -- coordinating events and marketing for an indie bookstore. So I just had some conversations with the owner of an independent bookstore. They're looking for someone to manage events and marketing. The goal is to take the bookstore from its current, basic approach to the newer model of community engagement, frequent instore events, partnerships, big author events, etc. The job would involve the event planning, working with publishers, marketing, managing a presence on social networks, etc. It will also involve serving as the assistant manager, the second of two fulltime staff in the store. About half the time would go to the marketing and events, the other half to bookselling and management tasks. I wouldn't do hiring or payroll.

The store is in an affluent Northeastern college town. The goal is revenue growth through increased event sales, and increased overall sales from newly-built customer loyalty. So there are some success measures that can be built into this job.

It's a newly created job; I would largely define what directions it develops in. I have all the required skills.

We're at the stage where I need to communicate my salary requirements to them. I'm coming from the world of nonprofit management, so it's not like I'm expecting hundreds of thousands; I already work for modest wages. But I'm afraid of both lowballing them, and coming in way too high, and I can't find any references. There's a baseline I need to make, but if I can beat it by a lot, I will definitely try. Does anyone have any idea what a job like this could command?

Would you take this deal?

aquafortis — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:49:29 -0800

P/T rookie real estate agent in NYC: is 25% of 3% fair? I'm a freelance research analyst who's about to get my real estate salesperson's license in the state of New York to take advantage of an interesting opportunity. Someone who's involved as a partner in two unrelated corporate finance deals I'm working on offered to be my sponsoring broker and pay me 25% of his share of the standard 6% commission he's splitting with another broker for every condominium unit I help sell. Is this fair compensation for someone who's just getting started? The deal is I'd commit to two hours of on-site work per day, showing units and answering questions about the property by phone while there. Since the units average a cost of 1.4 million dollars, I'd stand to make around 21 thousand dollars on each one, give or take. Even if nothing sold for awhile, I have plenty of other sources of income, so that isn't a consideration.

I know NYC real estate law states that if you're working for commission, you can't be required to put in a fixed number of hours each week. However, I really don't have a problem with it, since left to my own devices, it's almost guaranteed I'd work far more. In effect, it puts a nice cap on the "part time" commitment, which is a lot of the reason I'd be making 25% and not more.

I'm inclined to think this sounds reasonable, especially given that the broker said it could be re-negotiated as take on more responsibilities and gain more experience. Other positives: the site is a few blocks from where I live and work, and two hours a day leaves me more than enough time for all my other projects.

I'm going to insist that everything be spelled out precisely in a work agreement --"good contracts make for good relationships"-- but I'd like some second opinions on whether or not this is a fair deal, and would be interested to hear your thoughts and experiences. If you can think of any books or websites I should be reading to get up to speed, I'd be glad to hear that too. Thanks!

How to manage two consecutive car accidents?

fermion — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:03:28 -0800

My parked car got hit by a truck. Then, before I could get it fixed, it got hit by another truck. How do I handle two claims at once? The first accident was a couple of months ago--a truck hit my parked car and ripped my rear bumper halfway off. The wheels of paperwork have been grinding slowly, partly just because I've been busy, so I'm still working things out with that insurance company and hadn't fixed the damage yet. This morning, a garbage truck hit my (again, parked--I haven't driven it at all for a few months) car and did some damage to the door and mirrors, as well as taking my bumper the rest of the way off.

What do I tell the garbage truck's insurance company about this most recent incident? I don't want to get compensated for the same damages twice, but I also don't want to give them an excuse to claim all the damage was pre-existing. I know that the appropriate actions in situations like this can be counter-intuitive, so I'm hoping you folks can give me some advice.

Potentially relevant info: I'm in Washington State, and my insurance is liability-only (it's an old car) so I'm dealing with the other insurance companies directly rather than through my own insurer.

Vacation All I Ever Wanted.

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 08:43:35 -0800

If I get laid off, will I be compensated for my outstanding vacation time? I work for a corporation based in Charlotte that has regional offices. For the last week I've taken on another office's work and next week I'll absorb another office. They've let the administrative people from those offices go.

It was announced on Monday that the goal is to shift all the administrative duties to Charlotte, meaning I would be out of a job. I have over a week of paid vacation that I haven't taken (things have been so crazy here, as you can imagine). If I get laid off, will I be compensated for my outstanding vacation time? Or should I just take it all now and screw the three offices that I've been handling?

Bonus!

GuffProof — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:13:22 -0800

Hourly bonus programs- anyone have experience / advice? I have been tasked with creating / implementing an attendance bonus for my company's production workers. These are hourly employees, not salaried.

The bonus would pay out as an increase in their hourly rate of pay as a reward for perfect attendance.

Example: My regular rate of pay is $8.00 per hour. If I meet all bonus criteria for attendance, I will be rewarded with an extra 35 cents per hour for all hours worked during that pay period.

Any over-time I worked would also be calculated at this higher rate of pay if I earned the bonus.

If my attendance record does not meet the criteria this pay period, I stay at $8.00.

It all sounds very simple, but it can't be that easy. Do any of you have experience with an hourly bonus program- whether for attendance, performance, or some other criteria? How did they work? What else should I know?

The bonus programs with which I am familiar offered a flat, set amount. Example- $50 a month for perfect attendance. I have no experience with hourly bonus programs affecting the employee's actual rate of pay.

I'm not as concerned about setting the criteria for earning the bonus. We have a pretty clear attendance policy for these employees, and coming up with a bonus-earning standard shouldn't be too hard.

I am more concerned about the payroll aspects of it, employee response, and any pitfalls or complications that I haven't foreseen. Your experiences will be appreciated!

can overtime be paid with vacation instead of wages?

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:16:15 -0800

My employer gives me extra vacation hours instead of actual pay for overtime. Is this legal in California? I am an hourly wage employee, and I don't fall under the "exempt" category of CA overtime laws as far as I can tell (I am a low-skill assistant for medical research with no degree or training beyond a bachelors). Therefore, the law says I get paid 1.5 times my normal wage for overtime. However, my boss does something a little shadier; we get 1.5 times the overtime worked as extra paid vacation hours. That means if I work 2 hours overtime, I mark my time sheet with the normal hours, add 3 hours to an under-the-table vacation tally, and then when I take that vacation, mark that I actually worked those three hours on my timesheet. Yes, I do essentially get paid in the end, but it reduces my total earnings potential and if I end up with any of this secret paid vacation left at the end, I never earn anything because HR doesn't know about this so it can't get paid out in a final paycheck like normal unused vacation. I won't report this now if it is illegal, because I'd rather keep my job, but at the end of my employment I would consider blowing the whistle if I get robbed of compensation and it is a valid claim. So is it legal or not? There was a suggestion in a previous thread that "comp time" in lieu of overtime pay is illegal, but that was in AZ. What about CA?

How to get insurance company pay for my car accident?

coolnik — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:57:38 -0800

Car accident insurance filter: Insurance company refuses to provide for rental car before sending me the money. What to do? Details:
My car got rear-ended 14 days ago. No fault of mine--this is confirmed by the police report. I took the damaged car to the body shop. 10 days after the accident I got the rental car, and have been using it for last five days.

For the first time in last 14 days, today I heard from the other party's insurance company. The car is deemed total loss. I have been offered two choices, one of which lets me keep the car, while if I go with the other I will have to say goodbye to my car. Now that I have been "offered" compensation, the insurance company wants to cut-off my rental car within 2 days. The insurance company agreed to pay $30 per day for loss of use for the duration I did not have rental car, but that was only upon my strong insistence.

Here is my problem: How can insurance company cut-off my rental car without sending me the money, or in other words, how am I supposed to buy a new car without having any money from the insurance company, and till then why shouldn't the insurance company pay for my rental car?

More, I have been asked to tell my choice for the compensation within one day, or else (I have been told by the insurance company) the body shop will start charging me for car parking fees and so will be rental car company.

This all seems to me an attempt to twist my arm and make me agree to what they offer. MeFi, please help.

How Do Retainer Agreements Work?

Jeff Howard — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:22:03 -0800

Are retainer fees common outside of the field of law? How do they differ in other professions? I'm not looking for legal advice, but I am interested in how the concept of a retainer fee works. I'm particularly interested in variations on this theme from other professions. It doesn't necessarily need to be called a retainer but something in between a full-time salary and a discrete project-based payment.

What other professions use retainers successfully? At the corporate level (not the individual freelancer level). What are the advantages/disadvantages?

Asking for tuition support instead of a raise

Miko — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:43:43 -0800

There will be no raises this year - so be it. But I'd like to try negotiating for tuition reimbursement in leiu of a raise. Can you give any advice on conducting this conversation with my boss? Background: I work for a nonprofit museum. I report to the President/Executive Director. I've been here 4.5 years and gotten two merit raises in that time, the last of those being two years ago this month. The monetary compensation is still a bit below par for the field, but otherwise the job is quite good - excellent health benefits, retirement, security. My boss, the director, has also been extremely supportive of professional development for me; he's authorized essentially unlimited support for conference attendance, encourages me to be active in national organizations which require meetings around the country, and last year paid for me to attend a lengthy seminar out of state with a bill equivalent to what I might have got as a raise. All that is good and, essentially, this job is a pretty good place to be for a mid-career person such as myself.

But we had a sombre meeting a few weeks ago, as many nonprofits (and for-profits) did, laying out the financial prospects for the next 3 years. It was clear that we are going to be in very lean times, drawing a lot less from our endowment and fighting for revenue in a tight economony. So there's much less slush in the budget. For this reason, the President and board let us know that across the board, there would be no raises given in 2009.

Which is a bummer, because I was just about ready to ask for another raise. In the time since my last one I've brought a lot of grant money into the institution, developed new programs, and led the staff through some major changes, with good outcomes. I feel I have a strong case, but I understand that no raises means no raises.

Instead of asking for an exception to be made, I thought of asking for support for graduate school tuition. That would come from a separate pot of money from payroll, so wouldn't qualify as a 'raise,' but would be esentially just as helpful. I'm trying to finish my Master's and will be starting some coursework in spring. I could ask for the total tuition amount, for some undefined amount, for half the tuition, for tuition + books and transportation..I'm a little at sea as to how to make the ask and whether I should be asking for a specific amount, or just what he's willing to offer.

And I feel tentative about this because I know money's tight. And I have the usual feminine aversion to asking for raises - I'm no wily negotiator. In this climate it will take me a little more courage than it would have last year. Can anyone give me advice on initiating this conversation and preparing for it? I haven't been job-hunting, so I don't have a fallback position to move to if I don't get what I want - so I feel like I'm in a little bit of a weak negotiating spot. If I don't get what I'm asking for, I will have to sit tight for a while anyway. So I'm interested in getting something from the interaction, even if it's a token of some kind (ideas welcome).

Thanks!

Determining salary and compensation requirements, prior to interview with new employer

valannc — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:23:02 -0800

Interviewing at new employer... how to determine salary and compensation requirements? My husband is about to have his third interview with a large IT corporation. The HR rep has asked for his compensation requirements -- base salary, equity, and bonus. Any tips on how to determine for the correct compensation figures, and how to negotiate? We don't want to lowball the salary request. We are clueless about requesting equity, as that has not been an option with previous employers.

If my husband takes the position, he will be a manager/analyst responsible for hiring and leading a small team. This is a high profile project and a great opportunity. There are other consideration outside of "typical" salaries for the job. He is an experienced SME with an advanced degree and professional certifications. We would need to relocate, which we would be happy to do.

I see several web sites that list compensation history for specific companies: payscale.com, vault.com, glassdoor.com, the US DOL's Occupational Outlook Handbook
Does anyone know which online resources have the best data and give the best advice?

Respondents to an earlier Askmefi post asserted that salary surveys are not reliable. Any opinions?

How to reward a group for returning a lost item?

nzydarkxj — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:47:01 -0800

Rewarding a good deed - We accidentally left something sentimentally and monetarily valuable in a pastry/bread store. A week later they returned it to us. What is a fairly inexpensive reward/gift that all the employees could enjoy? My initial two ideas were to bake cupcakes or cookies but, being a store that specializes in that type of thing, it would be a pretty useless gift.

Some relevant details:.
--This type of honesty doesnt seem too common here among strangers. It seemed more likely someone would have given it away or sold it, especially after so many days. We'd like to do something but on a small budget, probably similar to the price of giving cookies, etc..
--I live in Chile. (Everything thought of might not be available, but if not maybe we could work off of it). Gift certificates are out.
--We think that multiple workers were involved and probably all of them were temped or gave advice on whether to wait around to see if the owner (us) came back. Hopefully this reward could be enough to go around/be shared by all the employees, we're guessing around 10.

Feel free to be creative. I have a lot of time on my hands and am excited to reinforce such a good deed.

How much to charge for use of original music?

Area Control — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 06:31:07 -0800

How much should an unknown band charge an acquaintance to use one of their songs in a podcast? Podcast is highly targeted and may initially be heard by 80-100 people.

Contractor damaged our hardwood floors - now what?

NailsTheCat — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:25:08 -0800

We're in the middle of having a new kitchen installed. As part of the remodel we knocked down a couple of walls. The house has hardwood floors throughout yet the contractor did not put anything down to protect the floor(!!) when they did the demolition. No surprise then that there are scratches and a couple of gouges on the floor. We're not happy. How to approach this? What rights do we have? When we first raised the issue with him he said they were planning to "buff and varnish" and this would take care of all the scratches and he apologized for the gouges. He also mumbled something about possibly resanding / finishing that level of the house and that he would split the cost.

His floor guy just came round, took one look at the scratches and said that buffing wouldn't fix them -- let alone the gouges. The kitchen floor wasn't fantastic before but it didn't need all these extra scratches. The other damaged room was fine before.

So it seems our only option to recover the floors is to sand and refinish this level of the house. It's 800 sq ft, which at $2 for just two coats, is a cost I could do without. Should we contest that he should foot the entire bill? Or, if we decided to live with the damage, should we be asking for compensation? He's bonded by the way.

We went with the cheapest contractor so perhaps it serves me right -- someone else is doing the cabinet installation. I don't particularly want the guy to take a loss (we're paying around $9,500k) or not make any money but nor do I want to be a chump because of his incompetence. (I mentioned the lack of protection on day 1 and they didn't remedy it for the second day of demo either.)

(Old oak floor. Been refinished at least once before. Denver.)

I thank you all.

Compensation package for an inventor working for a non-profit

Cardboardbox — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:38:02 -0800

I'm an engineer/inventor who is in salary negotiations with a non-profit and I hold the patent for a mission critical technology. I have some questions about how to secure the best offer. I am dealing with some rather unconventional compensation negotiations. Here is the story:

I am working with a group of folks at a non-profit that, according to the business plan, will be able to produce its own capital. The revenue stream for this organization is generated by multiple installations of an engineering technology that I have patented, developed, and have extensive, unique experience implementing on a small scale. The revenue is directly related to the number of installations. The proceeds will then be used to fund other, less profitable projects thus the non profit status.

The patented technology is the only revenue stream for this venture. however, the patent itself is only enforcible in the US, so they don't really need to license it from me. At the same time, the technology that is needed for this project is far enough from the one in the patent that they can't just get rid of me and deploy the technology. It will require at least another year of development under my supervision before it is ready. Because I am so familiar with the technology it would likely take someone else quite a bit longer than that.

My job in this venture will be to direct R&D to improve the technology to the point that it can be deployed on the proposed scale (hundreds). My responsibility will be to continue the R&D, and develop the construction management and maintenance operations. Essentially everything except for the finances, legal and regulatory matters.

I am now engaged in compensation negotiations and am looking for ways to present my case in a logical fashion that relies on existing precedents.

About the work

-The job will require me to spend more than half the year living in a decidedly third world country.

-This will be an incredibly high stress job due to the headaches that come with working in the third world and with developing a new technology.

-External factors are forcing us to do this in an accelerated fashion. The milestones are very ambitious and they border on unrealistic. Trying to meet them is going to be a major struggle.

-This single project should have annual proceeds on the order of a few million for a period of 10 years.

-The job will have me managing a work force of a few hundred people

About me
-In the context of these negotiations, I consider myself an inventor, in addition to being an engineer. I do have a BS and MS in the field. Beyond the patent, I have received a couple of national awards for my inventions including the one in question.

-I have 5 years of experience working in the country where the project will take place. Essentially doing the same work on a smaller scale

-After doing this job for about 3 years, the protocols should be advanced enough that they can be managed by someone less qualified than myself. These protocols can be used to duplicate the project elsewhere without my assistance. Ideally, I would work this job for 3 years and be done.

-Due to my experience, I would be very hard to replace. Any suitable replacement would require quite a bit of training.

-At present, this venture has little money and I have been working for them for free with the understanding that I would be paid in the future for that time. There will likely not be any money for at least another few months. If the business doesn't pan out, I stand to loose the value of that time.

-I am not a philanthropist, however, many of the people I'm negotiating with are. This may complicate things.

My questions
1. As I understand, people at nonprofits typically get paid less than their counterparts in other sectors for the same job. Is this because nonprofits usually rely on donations, and donors prefer to see relatively low employee salaries? Am I correct in reasoning that this shouldn't apply in my case, since the org will fund itself through it's business activities?

2. My work will play a crucial role in making the org hundreds of millions of dollars if all goes well and they replicate the project. I think it is reasonable that they give me some percentage of the gross revenue generated by the first project. Is this reasonable? Does anyone have any idea of what this percentage should be?

I know this is a somewhat unconventional situation, but if someone has any numbers from a related situation, I'd love to hear them. Any info on what kinds of percentages inventors get when they help start a for-profit company using venture capital would be helpful. I realize that this is not a question that has an easy answer, I'm just looking for some data points so I can try to triangulate.

3. I will have to live and work on the other side of the planet, in a developing nation, and when I'm there, the work will pretty much be non-stop. I am trying to negotiate a schedule that is similar to that of someone who works on an offshore oil rig. IE a a few weeks at sea, a few weeks off. Does any one have ideas on how to go about drawing an equivalence between normal working schedules/salaries and "oil-rig" schedules/salaries?

Maybe something like "a person with X qualifications could be employed on an oil rig for Y or in a US office for Z"? (It doesn't have to be an off shore oil-rig, that was just the first thing that popped into my head)

Somewhat related, I've heard hearsay that the engineers who work for companies like Haliburton in places like Iraq make pretty large salaries (250k) due to the location and associated risks. Is there any truth to this?

4. Based on what I've said, what would you consider to be appropriate compensation for this work?

5. Any ideas on how to state my case in my counter offer? I'm planning on writing a 3-5 page document that explains my reasoning as to why I believe my counter offer is fair. I'd like to populate this document with some numbers and citations.

Any other relevant advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for the length, and thanks in advance for your help!

Pay / Prevailing Wage Problem:

GuffProof — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:23:29 -0800

Help me convince company execs that it's time to bump entry level starting pay. A search of previous questions turned up a lot of good advice on getting a raise for oneself, but this is not about MY compensation, which is fair, fine & dandy.

I'm a salaried manager, but 90% of our workforce is hourly, unskilled factory labor. The starting pay for these laborers is low. Not minimum-wage low, but down in the bottom 10th percentile (according to our city and state gov't wage data).

No shock: this contributes to poor morale (constant complaints about their low pay), very high turnover, and makes recruiting / retention extremely difficult.

It has been nearly TEN YEARS since this starting pay rate was increased. What used to be a competitive wage now lags behind all other major employers in our area.

There are advancement opportunities, and factory employees can work their way up- but the pay for these 'advanced' positions is still less than the starting pay at many local companies. There are also annual raises (which range from 1.5 - 3%.)

Important note: this company is not evil, and is not run by Mr. Scrooge. Or Mr. Burns. I love my job and am completely loyal to the organization. I respect our execs and believe that their intentions are generally good at heart.

But on this starting-pay issue, I am up against a mindset which just baffles me.

When I broach the subject, I try all of the afore mentioned arguments: it's been almost a decade, gov't wage data shows that comparable employers have raised wages 16% during this same period, our employees constantly cite our low pay as their reason for quitting, morale suffers, quality suffers, recruiting suffers, etc. etc.

The response is the same each time:

'Sure, Guff, we could raise wages-- but that would not solve all of our problems. These companies that pay twice as much as we do... they still have high turn-over, they still have morale problems, they still have trouble finding quality workers. So why do it?'

This always shuts me down and I have no idea how to respond.

Please, help me find an answer to that question!

If it helps: we have approx 300 employees; business is good, but it has been a tough year. We can't afford a large increase, but they refuse to see the value in making any change.

Any ideas, suggestions, logical argument / debate tactics that elude me would be greatly appreciated. THANKS!!!!!

Am I entitled to back pay for Sunday work undertaken in Rhode Island?

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:59:50 -0800

Am I entitled to back pay for a year of working Sundays in Rhode Island and not receiving time and a half wages? I work in a small cafe in Rhode Island (there are six employees), and I have been working Sundays for about a year without ever receiving time and a half wages. I am pretty clueless as to the subtleties of RI labor law, and I only even heard about the time and a half statutes recently.

I've tried to decipher the RI labor laws posted on the web, but they're a little too gibberish for me. I believe that the relevant statutes can be found here . Can somebody tell me whether or not I have a case to demand back pay for the Sundays I've worked?

Some other info that may or may not be relevant:

The cafe is open seven days a week, from 7am to 11pm. Employees work on an ever-shifting schedule that changes from week to week. I have been scheduled on Sundays more often than not, but I do not work Sundays every week.

My employers have never given me a stated option not to work Sundays, or mentioned any regulations pertaining to working Sundays.

The owner of the business comes across as pretty shady (he is always dodging collectors who call the cafe during open hours. We are instructed always to say he is not in the building, regardless of whether he is or not). It wouldn't *shock* me if he were trying to save some money by evading the law.

All the same, I am aware that certain businesses are exempt, so I want to make sure I have a case before I bring it forward to the owners and risk termination. If I do have a case, any advice as to the best way to proceed would be much appreciated.

Airline Woes: When should airline passengers expect compensation in the form of tickets or otherwise from an airline?

boots77 — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 07:11:41 -0800

Airline Woes: When should airline passengers expect compensation in the form of tickets or otherwise from an airline? My flight was cancelled at the last minute because of mechanical issues and I really needed to be at my destination in the morning. Though the airline said that they would put us (the passengers) up in a hotel and fly us out later the next day, their deal would not have helped my situation at all as I REALLY needed to be there in the morning. Because of our being close enough to the destination, we asked for a van to take us to the destination. They refused. So I offered to rent a car and drive and asked for them to pay for the car. They refused. I told them that I was disappointed in the service and wanted a refund. They refused. Then I stated that I wanted at least wanted a free ticket for my trouble and.....ta-da...they refused. I couldn't wait any longer and paid for a car and left, but I am really disturbed by this service issue and feel that I was punished for their problem. I really think passengers in my situation deserve some compensation?

Does anyone know when an airline would be forced to compensate passengers? What can I do to help my chances as I think about pursuing this? Thanks.