The New York Department of Labor is considering a new regulation that would require employers to pay a minimum number of hours to people they have on call, according to a recent article written by USA Today’s Natasha Vaughn:

The Labor Department held four public hearings on the topic of employee scheduling this fall.

The hearings focused on scheduling tactics that affect minimum-wage workers and concerns expressed around “on-call,” “just-in-time” and “call-in” scheduling.

The issue some had expressed with these types of scheduling methods is that employers were able to schedule or cancel an employee’s shift without a lot of notice for the employee, which can cause issues with employees who have to find child care or who may have other obligations.

Sometimes with this type of scheduling, employees report for a shift only to be sent home shortly after if they are not needed.

The new regulation does not take into consideration weather-related businesses, such as snow and ice management, where individuals go into action when it snows.

We need every New York snow and ice contractor, every one of your employees, and every one of your service providers and their employees to send a note to the Department of Labor at hearing@labor.ny.gov.

The note should read:

Subject: Call-in Pay
Message: The new regulation for the Call-in Pay needs to specifically exempt the professional snow and ice management industry. Our entire business is weather related. We are “on call” every day during the winter. Forcing our industry to pay for call-in hours is impossible and will eliminate our industry.

If you had trouble getting insurance this season, or your insurance rates drastically increased… YOU and all other Keystone State contractors must take action.

House Bill 624 is hung up in Harrisburg politics. This is the ASCA’s model legislation to eliminate hold-harmless language, which passes liability onto the wrong party.

It seems that some people in Harrisburg don’t believe there is any issue with professional snow and ice management contractors obtaining insurance to guard against slip-and-fall claims.

In order for the HB 624 to start moving again, Rep. Tina Pickett, a Republican representing District 110 in the northeast corner of the state, needs to hear from you. She runs the Insurance Committee, where this bill sits

Rep. Pickett can be reached at: http://www.reppickett.com/contact.aspx. On this page, at the bottom there is a drop down. You can use that to send your message.

Subject: HB 624 
Message: Rep. Pickett, HB624 needs to move forward. As a snow contractor, it is becoming more and more difficult to obtain insurance and remain in business. This bill would be the first step in solving that problem.

If you have a specific story you would like to tell (I got dropped from my insurance, my rates increased 125%, I had to exit the business because I could not find insurance, etc.) please add that to the end of the note.

If you would like the ASCA staff to send a note on your behalf, please send us an email at info@ascaonline.org.

Subject: HB 624. 
Message: please send note in PA.

We would be happy to send the note for you.

We won’t get into the middle of the controversy on Senator Franken’s recent resignation. However, we will address why this is a good thing for the snow industry.

Sen. Franken has long been an opponent of judicial reforms that protect businesses. He has spoken and voted against them for years. He was a powerful member of the Senate Judiciary Committee where just recently, he railed against the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act and four other bills under discussion. Ironically, he used sexual harassment as a reason to rally against these reforms.

Most importantly, you could see by his testimony that Senator Franken didn’t know the difference between big business and small business, nor did he care to educate himself on these differences. This point was never clearer than when he badgered a witness from the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), who was there to represent small businesses with average revenues of $510,000. Yet, he forced her to answer a question on big business after she repeatedly testified she had no expertise on the matter. Senator Franken was more interested in his preconceived idea of the legislation and trying to turn the witness, than he was on educating himself on the matter at hand. For that, the snow and ice management industry is better off with a change in leadership.

Testimony can be seen here.

I’m often asked about the motivation behind the ASCA’s creation. Recently, this caused me to reflect how many times since our inception I’ve heard this question. In 2011, Snow Magazine sponsored a two-day event with 60 of the Top 100 snow and ice management companies in attendance. The last 1½ hours of the conference included an open-forum discussion. This was an opportunity for Snow Magazine to tap into the knowledge of so many business leaders in one setting and to gain insight on the issues owners were facing.

After 90 minutes, everyone agreed the top three issues facing the snow and ice management industry were insurance, insurance, and insurance. At the time, I recall thinking: “Ha, I can’t believe they are complaining about insurance again!” But I remained neutral and committed to investigating the insurance issue.

After a year of intense due diligence the team came to a stunning conclusion. Insurance was not the problem. Instead, it was a symptom of a much deeper and more complex problem. Sort of like grouchy behavior and a runny nose precludes a winter cold.

First, the snow and ice management industry had been deficient in presenting itself to the outside world (clients, insurance companies, attorney’s and lawmakers). Second, the insurance companies did not understand the snow and ice management industry. As a result, they buried it under other policies. This is the reason they lose $2 for every $1 in premiums for their snow programs. Lastly, our lawmakers had absolutely no understanding that we, as an industry, were in peril. We desperately needed voices and advocates to lobby for our best interests.

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