|
|
Post by Swimmy on Dec 22, 2008 9:26:15 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by denise on Dec 22, 2008 9:30:10 GMT -5
It was one of the first stories I read yesterday morning.
I don't understand why anyone would work extra for 5 years without pay. That's just crazy.
|
|
|
|
Post by rrogers40 on Dec 22, 2008 10:03:56 GMT -5
The OD web page has been kind of funny for the past few days. There have been very few comments (which is understandable because it is Christmas) but there seems to be a lot of things that you can't put comments on recently. There also there seems to be less articles being posted. And I was seeing things on my rss feed on my homepage before they even showed up on there news page!
|
|
|
|
Post by dgriffin on Dec 22, 2008 13:17:21 GMT -5
I know nothing about this situation, of course, but it seems to me her compensation would have been an on-going dispute. If she always felt she deserved to be paid the extra hours, she would have have continually requested it over the years. If so, what reasons did the town offer in refusing her request? Why are they no longer valid? If she had not previously requested the overtime pay, why not? Something doesn't add up here.
|
|
|
|
Post by clarencebunsen on Dec 22, 2008 22:18:58 GMT -5
Not sure why you said it was hidden, I found it in with the other 2 day old articles. I do remember there being some comments when I first read it. They were kind of Topixish. Maybe they were subjected to the OD version of the crapper. (OK there is the softest lob I can throw, who can hit it the farthest?)
As to the overtime issue lying dormant: A couple months ago my boss called me to say that an audit had found that I had not been paid for some overtime I had worked last year (not $71k I'm sorry to say). She asked, "Didn't you notice?" I couldn't think of a non-embarassing way to say that I had spent so many years as an exempt employee that I really didn't notice a few extra uncompensated hours.
It's possible that this came to light after a labor board audit.
|
|
|
|
Post by Swimmy on Dec 23, 2008 7:50:05 GMT -5
It wasn't on the page when I originally loaded it the day it was posted. But if the site has been having problems then the site has been having problems.
Funny thing is that the town finances have been audited for the last two years and been determined to be un-audit-able. So, how is it that now, they are able to find 5 years worth of unpaid overtime for this woman?
|
|
|
|
Post by strikeslip on Dec 23, 2008 20:31:31 GMT -5
There are a couple things fishy about this story:
(1) Why did the Town have to go to Hancock and Estabrook for an opinion on whether or not Fairbrother was entitled to OT? The Town already retains Jerry Green as its attorney. This is not a terribly complicated issue to research, and Jerry should know how the Town operates . . . or is THAT the problem? Going to an "outsider" for an expert opinion is an old trick lawyers like to play when the "regularly retained" expert knows too much . . . .By retaining an outsider for an opinion, the "facts" upon which the opinion may be based can be carefully regulated to produce the desired result.
(2) Why is Fairbrother paid so much for her regular duties. Of the 3870 people holding the Bookkeeper classification in the Mohawk Valley region per NYSDOL statistics mean pay is $30,280, median is $29,460 and experienced is $34,420. Ms. Fairbrother's pay work's out to about $57,000!
Funny how this story sounds like the Sheriff's secretary's story . . . but the outcome is entirely opposite!
|
|
|
|
Post by clarencebunsen on Dec 23, 2008 23:08:24 GMT -5
Complete financial audit vs. Dept of Labor audit are two completely diferent things. I always found it safest to assume that everyone who worked for my company except my partner and myself were non-exempt. We were the only idiots allowed to work 60+ hours per week without additional compensation.
We never had any problems with payroll issues. Of course we also went out of business, so we may not be the best business model to follow.
|
|
|
|
Post by Swimmy on Dec 23, 2008 23:12:01 GMT -5
For someone not familiar with audits other than I know I want to avoid an IRS audit, what is the difference between a complete financial audit and a dept. of labor audit? Wouldn't everything show up on a "complete" financial audit? How often are each conducted?
Thanks in advance.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ralph on Dec 24, 2008 2:47:51 GMT -5
Bookkeeper - The one who really knows where all the bodies are buried and how much it cost to put them there. The bookkeeper is the one person you always want to make sure is compensated well...........................and often. 
|
|
|
|
Post by bobbbiez on Dec 24, 2008 9:31:38 GMT -5
 Hey Elliot!!  You done it again. Good job! ;D
|
|
|
|
Post by clarencebunsen on Dec 26, 2008 7:17:06 GMT -5
For a financial audit, we paid an accounting firm to review our processes and procedures used to arrive at our quarterly or yearly tax reports (& SEC reports when I was with a public corporation). This typically involved sampling techniques. For example they would follow some purchases to assure that procedures were followed from the initial requisition to receipt of the item and that the expense was properly categorized and recorded in the General Ledger. Payroll expenses would be included in this, but mostly to assure that they went into the proper places on the reports. For example once again, were the labor costs of manufactured items remaining in inventory included in our reported assets.
For the Department of Labor, we supplied the auditor with time card and payroll records for a period of years and he would review to see if we were in compliance for things like minimum wages, proper payment of overtime and classification of employees as exempt or non-exempt, compliance with state laws concerning breaks and lunches.
There is nothing that would have prevented us from paying a private accountant specializing in payroll issues from performing the same type of audit that the state did but we didn't feel the cost would have been justified.
With a public company, reports were done at a minimum quarterly with a major one annually. As a private company, tax filings were due quarterly and annually but our financial reports wer never issued except to ourselves.
DOL audits were done according to their own schedule and criteria, like IRS audits.
|
|
|
|
Post by dgriffin on Dec 26, 2008 10:47:01 GMT -5
An aside ..... I was on a grand jury that indicted a restaurant owner. He had been cheating his employees out of their wages and they reported him to the DOL. These were women he took unfair advantage of, threatened their children, withholding pay for sexual favors ... a really nasty character picking on the less fortunate. The DOL walked into his business one afternoon with a couple of NY State Troopers and demanded to see his labor records, which he kept in a large safe at the back of the office. The restaurateur ask if they could please come back in an hour, or even five minutes. They refused and walked him to the safe and told him to open it up. Inside was 23 ounces of cocaine! We happily indicted the bastard.  |
|
|
|
Post by clarencebunsen on Dec 27, 2008 7:30:36 GMT -5
Has anyone signed him to a contract for the rights to his recipe book yet? I sense a best seller.
|
|
|
|
Post by dgriffin on Dec 27, 2008 8:56:02 GMT -5
Hahahahaha!
|
|
Hey Elliot!! 