REMINDERS ABOUT EMPLOYING FAMILY MEMBERS IN CALIFORNIA

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1 CONSUMER e-alert (June 3, 2014) Please add to your address book. This will ensure delivery into your inbox and not your junk, spam or bulk e mail box REMINDERS ABOUT EMPLOYING FAMILY MEMBERS IN CALIFORNIA Do you employ family members? FACTS Every California employer using employee labor, including family members, must purchase Workers Compensation Insurance (Labor Code Section 3700). If you fail to have Workers Compensation Insurance for your employees, it can be expensive as the DLSE is required to issue and serve a stop order/penalty assessment prohibiting further use of employee labor until you do purchase Workers Compensation Insurance. The penalty assessed for failure to have Workers Compensation Insurance is $1000 per employee employed at the time the citation is issued. The citation amount increases to $1,500 per employee effective January 1, However, there are exceptions for partnerships, if the only persons performing labor are the partners and corporations where the corporate officers are the sole shareholders; in which case, the corporation, officers and directors come under the Workers Compensation provisions only by election. Must pay certain family members working for you minimum wage. Under California labor law a niece or nephew is considered an employee. An employee is defined as someone you engage or permit to work. Even though your niece or nephew is part of your family, (s)he is considered an employee and you, as the employer, must provide Workers Compensation Insurance to cover in case of a work-related injury. In addition, you are also required to pay the minimum wage unless the employee is your spouse, parent or child and you are a sole proprietor or partnership. Corporations do not have children and therefore, no family relationship to the officers of the corporation can be exempt from these requirements. MORAL If you are going to have a family member do some work for you, be aware of these laws as well as others. CHECK ON SOLICITORS OF WORK IN CALIFORNIA FACTS Do you want to know if the person soliciting you to do repairs is licensed and has the proper contractor license? Check their name and or license number by going to Page 1 of 7

2 If you cannot find the license or if the name with the license is different than the one given to you or if the license itself does not allow them to do the work that you want done you might want to reconsider and also report them to the contractors licensing board which can be done on line. DO YOU HAVE A CONSUMER QUESTION? WOULD YOU LIKE AN ANSWER? SUBMIT IT TO US BY REPLY TO THIS E MAIL AND WE WILL ENDEAVOR TO PROVIDE YOU WITH AN ANSWER OR EXPLAIN WHY WE CANNOT DO SO. Were you injured in an accident? Do you know your medical providers have an automatic lien against any recovery you might receive even if you have insurance? Do you know these liens can be negotiated? Just a word to let you know even though you have medical insurance, the insurance carrier has a lien as well. You can read it in your insurance contract under Third Party Liability. HAVE A NICE SUMMER. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE OR TAX ADVICE. THE AUTHOR MAKES NO CLAIMS ABOUT ITS ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, OR UP-TO-DATE CHARACTER AND THAT APPLIES TO ANY SITE LINKED TO THIS DOCUMENT AS WELL. NO AUTHOR OR OWNER OF THIS DOCUMENT AND ITS WEBSITE IS ACTING AS YOUR ATTORNEY. LEGAL RULES AND TAX RULES CHANGE FREQUENTLY, THEREFORE, WE CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN OR ON A WEBSITE IS ACCURATE OR UP TO DATE. Page 2 of 7

3 SPEAKERS AND SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS DATE: JUNE 10, 2014 TIME: 8:30 A.M. -10:00 A.M. LOCATION: 4437 W SLAUSON AVE, LOS ANGELES, CA TOPIC: HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF DURING A CALIFORNIA BUREAU OF REAL ESTATE AUDIT SPONSORED SOUTHWEST ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS BY: SPEAKER: HERMAN THORDSEN, ATTORNEY AT LAW REPRESENTING REAL ESTATE BROKERS AND MORTGAGE LOAN ORIGINATORS FOR OVER 25 YEARS MANUAL: MEMBER ATTENDEES WILL RECEIVE A SELF-AUDIT MANUAL. NON-MEMBER ATTENDEES CAN JOIN AT THE MEETING AND RECEIVE ONE AS WELL. DATE: JULY 15, 2014 TIME: 11: a.m. 1:00 p.m. LOCATION: WEST SAHARA LIBRARY-9600 WEST SAHARA AVE., LAS VEGAS, NV TOPIC: HOW TO DEVELOP BUSINESS FROM REAL ESTATE BROKERS WITHOUT VIOLATING RESPA SPONSORED NEVADA ASSOCIATION OF MORTGAGE PROFESSIONALS BY: SPEAKERS: HERMAN THORDSEN, ATTORNEY AT LAW REPRESENTING REAL ESTATE BROKERS, AND MORTGAGE LOAN ORIGINATORS FOR OVER TWENTY FIVE YEARS COST: $15 MEMBERS. $30 FUTURE MEMBERS For over 40 years and its attorneys have represented clients in many areas of law For over 40 years has represented clients in many areas of law including personal injury, trusts and wills, criminal white collar defense, administrative actions, copyright and trademark protection, bankruptcy, civil lawsuits, as well as well as general real estate matters. Among others we are Page 3 of 7

4 counsel to lenders, realtors, mortgage brokers in California and nationally. We are counsel to state trade associations in California, Nevada and Arizona. 151 Kalmus Drive, Suite B250 Costa Mesa, CA (888) Herman Thordsen, Esq. Jozef G. Magyar, Esq. Sean Thordsen, Esq. REASONS YOU MAY WANT TO CONSULT WITH US ABOUT A CAR ACCIDENT If it is a minor fender bender, hiring a lawyer may be unnecessary. However, if the case is more serious and a lawsuit is probable you may need a car accident attorney. The cost to consult with us is free. As Attorneys we can help you recover money for your damaged property, medical bills, and personal injuries suffered by you and gather the evidence that presents your case favorably. Here are the five signs you may need a car accident lawyer. If there is serious injury or death. Car accidents in which serious injuries or deaths occur are not only traumatic but they usually result in complex litigation due to the seriousness of the harm. Not only are there multiple legal issues as to liability involved but the damages suffered can be very high. You will need an attorney to help you calculate the damages; guide you through the various legal claims and the liens that may be placed by medical care providers. Where there are multiple parties involved in the accident as for example, unsecured cargo may fly off of one car and cause another car to swerve and hit a third vehicle or pedestrian. These create issues as to who is at fault but to what degree. One or more parties are uninsured. If so we review your policy for uninsured motorist coverage and if not enough the uninsured or underinsured driver can be checked for assets to determine if a civil suit should be filed against the driver and/or owner if the driver does not own the vehicle. Collecting evidence. A court order to obtain some car crash evidence may be necessary and a lawyer can help you obtain it if the case is going to mediation, arbitration and/or trail. For example, most new vehicles come equipped with a "black box" that records a few seconds of information during a crash. The information may be able to tell you how fast the car was going at the time of the collision or if the driver was wearing a seatbelt. The consultation is free and the lawyers is only paid if the trial is one or a settlement is entered into with your consent and then only paid if collected. Settlement agreements can be entered into before trial and save you time, anxiety and let you move on by the savings in litigation costs. Settlement talks are all about negotiation, which is something an experienced car accident lawyer can probably do better than you. Page 4 of 7

5 Bottom line: If at any time after a car accident you're unclear about the law or how to proceed with a personal injury case, it never hurts to contact us at no cost to find out about your rights. Our trial lawyer for our personal injury cases is Alan Brown a member of the National Trial Lawyers Association and past president of the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association. The National Trial Lawyers of America is by invitation only to the 100 top trial lawyers in each state. We are quite proud of Alan s accomplishment and the fact that we may serve those of you that have been injured so that you receive just compensation for your injuries. Recently he has settled two or our cases for the policy limits. Perhaps we can assist you. The consultation is free and in the event of serious injury we will come to you. Alan Brown is a member of the National Trial Lawyers Association. It is by invitation only to the 100 top trial lawyers in each state. He obtains excellent results. NOT BEING PAID BY YOUR EMPLOYER PROPERTY? We can interview you at no cost for consumer and wage and hour lawsuits. Some examples include 1) failure to pay overtime, 2) failure to pay for all hours worked (i.e., training time, time working while at home or away from the work site, travel time to different work sites during the day, time spent donning and doffing uniforms, working off the clock); 3) mis-classification of employees as Independent Contractors; 4) failure to pay for maintaining uniforms (i.e., time spent driving to the dry cleaners and/or ironing); 5) failure to reimburse for expenses incurred by employees such as mileage, paying for uniforms, expenses for tools, interest on uniform deposits, or dry-cleaning of uniforms; 6) failure to provide a duty free meal period and/or rest break; 7) not properly compensating employees when paid for piece rate work; and 8) failure to calculate overtime at the correct rate by not including non-discretionary bonus pay when calculating the overtime rate. These are just a few examples. If you have any questions, call Herman Thordsen at no charge (888) for a free consultation. TOO MANY CREDITORS BOTHERING YOU? Bankruptcy can potentially stop a fraud judgment from being entered against you thus reducing the risk of a non dischargeable judgment being entered against you and the risk of losing a professional license. If a foreclosure occurred the lenders on the junior mortgages have the right to sue when it is a non purchase money mortgage but there are certain exceptions. The lenders can sue on the junior mortgages Page 5 of 7

6 as unsecured promissory notes and they are doing just that. The bankruptcy can prevent or stop this lawsuit. Bankruptcy is a form of asset protection believe it or not. It can in certain circumstances protect OVER $175,000 and more. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy may be able to remove that second and even third mortgage by stripping it down as an unsecured lien and paying a percentage of the amount potentially allowing you to save the home. Past due Income Taxes under certain circumstances can be discharged in bankruptcy. Under certain circumstances you may be able to legally keep one or more of your credit cards after the bankruptcy so you have something to reestablish credit and to use when traveling. DISCLOSURE The services or benefits with respect to bankruptcy relief are under Title 11 of the United States Code. In doing this: We are a debt relief agency. We help people file for bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code within the meaning of Title 11 United States Code Section 528. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE CONSUMER E-ALERT AT NO COST PLEASE SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION to FAX TO or contact us at NAME: ADDRESS: CITY, STATE, ZIP CODE: TELEPHONE: If you do not desire to receive any further e mails from our firm please reply with the word UNSUBSCRIBE and you will be deleted from our e mail for all purposes. Page 6 of 7

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