If your state can't help you (many won't) the federal Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division will. I would suggest talking to the other RPLS first, but don't let him get away with it.
Rooster,
Firstly I am sorry you are in this position.
Secondly, surveying and engineering have a long history of honesty and integrity that is practiced by better than 90 percent of the licensees.?ÿ
The fact is, those few individuals that don't adhere to these high standards, are well known by their colleagues. If your new boss is willing to bend, skirt, or break the rules, word is already out, or will be out soon. You are on a sinking ship. If he is stealing from his employees, whom he knows and works with, why wouldn't he cheat the clients, the taxman, or fellow professionals.
This is the time to reach out to other professionals, and see about changing employers. Don't muddy your current employer, but do it before your coworkers are doing the same thing and creating competition.
?ÿ
I have a question.?ÿ I was hoping to keep it private, but I guess as a new member, I am not allowed to send messages yet.?ÿ First off, I am not sure I set my account up correctly. Want to make it clear that I am not an RPLS, but a Party Chief for the last 17 years with the company I am working for.?ÿ?ÿ?ÿ I am not going to name the company unless it becomes absolutely necessary, because I am not petty enough to start smearing someones name unless really pushed to do so, and have good cause.
Anyway, I can't seem to find my answer online, and found this link while trying to do so.?ÿ My question involves what I believe to be a professional ethics violation.?ÿ For several years now, the owner of the company I work for has more or less stepped aside and let the new RPLS take over and start running the show, because the owner who is also an RPLS is planning to retire and sell the company to the new guy.?ÿ I am discovering that the new boss is really lacking in honesty and integrity, and he is absolutely hostile about anything that doesn't work according to what he thinks is a well thought out master plan, though he spent a minimum amount of time in the field to experience some of the problems that arise, and how to deal with them.?ÿ To the point that I am just about ready to report him to the board, seek legal advice, and then begin my search for a new job.?ÿ He lies, he uses others names to get things his way, he cheats the clients on a regular basis.?ÿ An example would be, send us to a job to do what should be 2 hours of work, but make us sit there for 8 hours so he can charge them the full day.?ÿ Now the clients are starting to catch on, and giving other companies the work, which is putting us employees in jeopardy of having to find new jobs.?ÿ He has also on several occasions threatened our job, if we didn't stay and work the extra hour, but without getting compensated for that extra hour in the form of OT or bonuses or anything to make up for it.
My question boils down to, I know what he is doing is definitely unethical, dishonest as well as immoral, and illegal as for the OT, but is it a "professional ethics" violation??ÿ
As I stated earlier, I am not a petty person.?ÿ I do not want to just go reporting him, without researching first, and giving him the opportunity to correct his ways. I am an honest person, and I do not like being forced into a situation that makes me look like a dishonest person.?ÿ I would rather get fired, then tarnish the good reputation I have built over the years.?ÿ?ÿ?ÿ
Can you help me answer my question??ÿ Or at least a link to where I can find what I am looking for??ÿ I'm not a youngster any longer, and it is getting harder to find a new and better job when you have the experience I have, due to my age.?ÿ I am feeling a bit trapped into a corner.
Thank you in advance for any help, or pointing me in the right direction.
In the situation you describe, I'd get out at the earliest opportunity.?ÿ You said that you would rather get fired than have your reputation tarnished by engaging in the fraud your boss wants you to participate in.
If he were to fire you and you had good evidence of his fraudulent practices, he'd be in a heap of trouble not only for those practices, but for retaliation toward you.?ÿ He could end up owing you a lot more than wages for time he cheated you out of.
But don't wait around to be fired.?ÿ Start looking for other employment now and get out as soon as you can afford to.?ÿ A good reputation can be seriously damaged just by association and proximity.?ÿ If you stay there for any significant amount of time, the stench of the boss', or the company's bad reputation will be something you will need to overcome with other employers or clients who are aware of the boss's/company's reputation for dishonesty, poor work quality, or whatever.
You also indicate that the outgoing owner has a very good reputation and that you have a good deal of respect for him.?ÿ Once you put in your notice, you may want to have a conversation with the outgoing owner to make sure he is aware of what the incoming owner is doing.?ÿ The outgoing owner might take exception to the new owner putting the reputation of the company he (outgoing owner) worked so hard to build.?ÿ When a retiring owner sells the business they built, rather than just the assets, and especially when they are involved in an extended transition period, include a morals/ethics/reputation clause of some kind whereby the agreement can be terminated if the incoming owner engages in illegal or unethical behavior which has a likelihood of damaging the reputation of the company or the outgoing owner.
Don't concern yourself with giving the new owner a opportunity to correct his ways.?ÿ You've described outright fraud that he has enlisted (conscripted is perhaps a better term) his employees to participate in and that he coerces employees to work time for which they won't be paid.?ÿ A person who is that corrupt has no interest in correcting his ways so as to behave ethically.?ÿ
To a person like that, correcting his ways means changing his methods to make it less likely that he will be caught or turned in by an employee.?ÿ One of the first "corrections" a boss like that is apt to make would be to fire the employee who intends to give the boss an opportunity to straighten up before turning him in.?ÿ ?ÿYou could find yourself being fired for one of his ethical breaches that he set you up to take the fall for.
Many years ago, I worked for an engineer who was almost as crooked as your new boss.?ÿ He insisted that field crews put in a full 8 hour day on site for projects and that travel time to and from the site not be counted as part of that time.?ÿ He didn't go so far as to refuse to pay travel time, but did refuse to pay it as OT because it was non-billable.?ÿ He did try to change the official place of employment for some employees from the office location to the project location when those employees were working on a fairly long term project that was a little over an hour from the office so that he wouldn't have to pay travel time, but didn't quite have the audacity to force that.
About the time I had made plans to leave, I contacted the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (or whatever it was called at the time) to get some info as to whether his practices were illegal or warranted complaint.?ÿ The person on the other end of the phone took some info from me and said something that gave me the impression that they would consider whether a complaint might be warranted and then hit me up for more info.
A few weeks later, I was moving across country to my new job and didn't give the call to the EEOC another thought.?ÿ A few months later, I received a check for a few hundred dollars.?ÿ I contacted a friend who still worked there and found out that the EEOC had opened an investigation and found multiple serious employee compensation violations.?ÿ Some of the clerical staff, who had worked there for many years were paid for previously unpaid OT in amounts well into 5 figures, and most employees received checks ranging from a couple hundred to a few thousand dollars.?ÿ Unfortunately, they weren't able to find anything significant as to criminal fraud of clients.?ÿ In addition to the compensation he had to pay his past and present employees, he had some sizable fines to pay to the govt., but no criminal charges.
What you describe your boss doing rises to the level of criminal fraud.?ÿ Get out before the stink of that ethical feces starts sticking to you.
@coventx93 As long as it takes a moderator to see it and approve it. There's two of us. Once two posts have been successfully approved, then you can post freely. I believe this was your second, so you should be good now. ?????ÿ
From Bill93's post
?ÿ
By Kent McMillan?ÿ9 months?ÿ ago ?ÿ|?ÿ?ÿLast Post:?ÿ48 years?ÿ ago
My O my! Times just flying now!
N
Memories nothing but memories
this was about one of Kent's obsessions, fixed fee boundary surveys (he was opposed to them, I'm sure he still is). It went on for 21 pages wow.
I just talked with KMc over the weekend.?ÿ He was somewhere in West Texas but that doesn't narrow it down much.?ÿ Maybe someone familiar with the 'hood could figure out his whereabouts from a pic he sent:
Somewhere SE of Marfa, probably out observing the positions of the Marfa lights to the nearest millimeter.
Google Earth will spot you an Antelope Springs, TX near a Nopal Road and an Escondido Ranch Road. It's way out were the buses don't run.
Buses??ÿ What are these buses of which you speak??ÿ Where do they run?
They run were there is some hope that there will be people to ride them.
Here in Norman we had CART (Cleveland Area Regular Transportation) if you remember. It was funded by the County. They got tired of the hole in their pocket. They tried to give it to the university (where most of the use is at) but they didn't want it. They found a sucker and gave it to the City.
Now we pay city funds to operate the buses. I probably costs $15k a year or more to get the two Latino ladies to work at Carl's Junior everyday. It would be cheaper just to buy them a car and let them car pool.
Sadly, public trans just isn't a big thing here. People are just too stuck on their PVs.
A bunch of cities are going to save a fortune on not opening their swimming pools this Summer. They cost far more to operate than they ever attempt to take in as income. For one local city the income represented about one-fifth of the cost of operation.
google earth street view lets you stand in front of that sign
30-17-13.86
103-55-25.73
A bunch of cities are going to save a fortune on not opening their swimming pools this Summer.?ÿ They cost far more to operate than they ever attempt to take in as income.?ÿ For one local city the income represented about one-fifth of the cost of operation.
About the only "recreation" that actually pays its own way is a skeet/trap range.?ÿ Of course you have to have room for one to operate safely.?ÿ I WONDER where in the country one could find that kind of open space?
Andy
eveyone knows that??s the intersection of 3-sigma blvd and GPR Lane....
@paden-cash I live in a metropolis and it costs roughly 10 million dollars a year to run the system beyond fare revenues, advertising income, etc., with about 20 million riders per year @$2.50/ticket, probably closer to $2.00 average because of discounts for seniors, discounted monthly passes, etc. That works out to about a 50¢ subsidy per ticket, or 25% of a ticket's price. Assuming the Latino lady that works at Carl'sJr. 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year is buying two tickets/workday (out and back) that works out to 500 tickets for about $1,000 total, so the 25% subsidy is $250, obviously not enough to buy her a car to get to work. Of course she would instead buy 12 discounted monthly passes for $720 total to save some dough, which jacks the subsidy up to $500, still not enough to buy a beater car.
I'm perplexed that the city doesn't just jack up the ticket price to $3.00 which would cover the present subsidy and make the whole operation revenue neutral. Other dense cities with robust subway/rubber tire transit (NYC & SanFran) subsidise their system @ about 50% of a ticket's price, so they'd have to double ticket prices (which aren't much different @ $2.50-$2.75) to break even, but $5.00 for a metro ticket may be a bridge too far.
I got stuck with no car for a month and used transit to get to work, shop, etc. Truly a life changing experience, what took 10-30 minutes turned into one or two hour slogs, mostly waiting at transfer stations and hoofing it with a backpack. Tried the bicycle thing a couple times but it's dangerous, you end up sweaty, it's kinda hilly around here and you can't carry a week's groceries. Public Trans isn't viable because PVs are much faster, aren't a lot more than transit costs if you're frugal, and make you master of your domain <g>.
