Job - what to do?

[1ke]

1. OP, it seems like part of the issue is that you say “OK” to something then want to change your mind later. Part of being a good employee (and earning pay raises!),is the art of saying no, or at least “perhaps I could try it and see how it goes?” Rather than say yes then want to change your mind.

Yup.

1. Lastly: no one living with their parents and making $14/hour has any business leasing a luxury car. That’s foolish, I mean REALLY foolish, and displays serous immaturity. Sorry.

Double yup.

And many of us weighed in on the lease in another before she leased the vehicle.

Another pattern: Advice solicited but not taken,

 

[StGerardMajella]

1. I think it’s going way overboard to accuse the employer of all sorts of illegal tactics. There’s no suggestion of that: if the employer was going to gouge the employee, he’d just pay her nothing extra.

If the employer was honest, the employer would have offered 54 cents per mile per the IRS guidelines. If the original poster were my daughter, I would tell her to accept and negotiate nothing less.

Further, all sorts of business relationships require hand delivery where scanning and email won’t do; many transactions require an original blue ink signature, for example, or where a fax isn’t good enough, so the fact that driving is needed is not that unusual.

The original poster has not weighed in on this possibility, and it is premature to know where the documents could be digitized until the original poster responds. It is possible the employer hasn’t even considered this alternative as an option. Part of being a good employee is to help the employer save money and make the business operate more efficiently. Digitizing documents does just that.

Further, while what you say is accurate, in the U.S. at least, digital signatures have been acceptable since Clinton was in office.

With advances in technology, more and more documents are being put into electronic format. Even checks can be scanned and deposited from a cell phone image for crying out loud. Not only is it cheaper, but much more efficient for all parties.

Job duties change all the time (unless you’re unionized and I’m pretty sure that isn’t the case here).

True enough, but this employer’s request is not just a change in job duties, but also a request for the employee to bear the burden of expenses that should be handled by the employer. The employee is being put into a position where she will have to incur costs and burdens (repairs, gas costs, etc.) that she never signed up for in the first place.

It is one thing for an employer to change job duties, and wholly another situation when the employer now wants to cut into your pay by making you incur business expenses the company should be covering.

The employer is trying to shift a portion of these expenses onto the employee. 4 cents per mile doesn’t seem like much, but for a low wage worker, such a proposition is a cut in pay, not to mention difficult from a mileage record-keeping and a “reimbursement until tax time” perspective.

Unless an employee is being given a stake in ownership in the business, the employee should not be taking on any business expenses that are truly the employer’s responsibility.

 

[pensmama87]

StGerard - did you miss that the employer was offering 50 cents PLUS gas, not just 50 cents? When I got reimbursed for mileage I always got the IRS rate, but I never got gas money.

The OP could be coming out ahead.

 

[StGerardMajella]

StGerard - did you miss that the employer was offering 50 cents PLUS gas, not just 50 cents? When I got reimbursed for mileage I always got the IRS rate, but I never got gas money.

If that is the case, then the original poster has done a good job negotiating.

 

[Anglewannabe]

Salespeople that are on the road, for example, are typically using their own cars to drive to client appointments, and are - in most cases - reimbursed this business expense based on the IRS guidelines…

In Canada a sales person can be an employee or an independent contractor. I am a bit fuzzy about the actual rules but this is the general gist

Usually an independent contractor will get a tax break and will be able to claim their gas money and receives no reimbursement.

If an employee is reimbursed the government rate, then nothing happens. If an employee is reimburse a rate that is considered ‘very different from the government rate’ whether it is more or less will be considered to receive an employment benefit and would have to pay tax on the allowance

Any Canadian tax accountant reading this, feel free to correct me.

As much as a good employer would give the appropriate rate, people are not the only ones suffering financial hardship. So are companies. Thus, they need to cut corners. Ideally, everyone would seek employment with a good employer. Unfortunately, some people need to put up with more unfairness

 

[PolarGuy]

StGerard, you’re really assuming all sorts of dishonesty on the part of an employer who has voluntarily offered “50 cents a mile plus gas,” which hardly seems dishonest. Further, to the extent you even have the basis to render an opinion on this employer, the only thing you have to go on is the word of a $14/hour employee who uses all the money to lease a luxury car - in other words, someone who may not be a reliable judge of an employer’s behavior.

I would add that OP has not complained that the employer was in any way dishonest. Seriously, you sound like a communist labor agitator, telling employees they are abused when they themselves don’t even think that.

Further, I don’t know why line of work you do, but there certainly is absolutely NO law, requirement, etc., that “digitized signatures” are always acceptable. Quite the contrary, many professions require a real signature (the law certainly does; court filings in my state must always be signed in original).

 

[StGerardMajella]

StGerard, you’re really assuming all sorts of dishonesty on the part of an employer who has voluntarily offered “50 cents a mile plus gas,” which hardly seems dishonest.

No, I said that if she in fact negotiated 50 cents a mile plus gas then she negotiated a good deal. Re-read my most recent post.

Further, I don’t know why line of work you do, but there certainly is absolutely NO law, requirement, etc., that “digitized signatures” are always acceptable.

The Electronic Signatures Act (Public Law No: 106-229) went into effect on October 1, 2000 and gives electronic contracts the same weight as those executed on paper. It is entirely possible that her employer is still operating in the Stone Age with paper documents. Bill Gates was writing about the paperless office over a decade ago. This is not a new concept.

Regardless, you’re missing the point. If, in fact, the employee could demonstrate cost-savings and operational efficiency by suggesting an electronic mechanism for document delivery, the employee should present this idea to their employer as an alternative option. Her time could then be utilized in more productive, revenue-generating activities that are of higher value to the employer.

Making this kind of suggestion, if appropriate, demonstrates ingenuity and thoughtfulness on the part of the employee - two very valuable traits.

Seriously, you sound like a communist labor agitator, telling employees they are abused when they themselves don’t even think that.

Negotiating with an employer for fair reimbursement for legitimate business expenses is a far cry from “communist agitation”. Good grief. Give me a break.