(03-29-2020, 05:36 PM)jagibelieve Wrote:

(03-29-2020, 10:11 AM)mal234 Wrote: Here is something that some people may have to be leery of regarding the stimulus checks and their employers. Apparently some companies like one in Austin Texas, are trying to take the stimulus payments (including the full amount per individual) as well as half of the dependent payment from their employees. A company in Austin is trying to do this and has sent out a form asking their employees to sign it giving them permission to take this amount from their paychecks.

They sent out a form that they titled the “Employee Acknowledgement of ‘Government Assistance’ Pay Reduction" form, where they are asking employees to sign it and have their paychecks between the weeks of April 6-20th be reduced by 100% of their stimulus amount, plus 50% per dependent amount. An employee who spoke under anonymity stated that this company is a national company that makes hundreds of millions of dollars. He also mentioned they laid off a quarter of their workforce recently. He stated he believed they did the layoffs to try and reduce their payroll. And now they are trying to do this stuff with the stimulus check. Another employee from a company in Texas mentioned their company was doing something similar.

Hopefully, no one here has an employer that is trying to pull something like this. (And it sounds like this may be illegal). But it is something to be mindful of, while people are waiting on their stimulus checks, and we are dealing with the hard impact the virus is putting on the economy.

Here is a link to this article:

https://wgno.com/news/health/coronavirus...hecks-tmw/

I have heard similar stories like this from people that I know.  I have mixed feelings about this.

On one hand if employees are still currently receiving their full pay then they don't necessarily need the stimulus check.  They are not losing any income.

With that being said on the other hand, this money doesn't come from the company it comes from those of us that actually pay taxes.  It's really no business for a company to dock a person's pay because they received a "gift" or otherwise.  Besides that it defeats the purpose which is to put the money into the hands of the people, not give additional aide to business.

On a similar note I know of at least one case where my [BLEEP] company placed someone under mandatory quarantine for 2 weeks (the person had been out of country).  The employee was given the option of using sick time, vacation time or leave-without-pay.  It's just my opinion but I think the company should at least pay the person since they have been told to stay home through no fault of their own, and the company is already getting paid for the employee from the government whether he/she is actually at work.

I'm fortunate enough that even though I self-quarantined I am still able to perform much of my duties from home so I still get paid.

I definitely think it's wrong. And I wonder if some of the companies doing that including the one in Texas that was laying off people already, is doing that to maybe push employees to quit. I could see them going to extremes to try and save money on payroll. And I could see this putting employees in a rough spot, especially if they are also concerned they may be laid off next. It would be rough to agree to give away your stimulus check and then be laid off shortly after. And some of the employees (maybe a lot) could still use stimulus the money even though they are still working. 

It sounds like this might be illegal and I could see some companies definitely getting in trouble over this if people find out who they are. Especially if they are like it was mentioned about the business in Austin, a national company. 

Also, on Friday one of my boss sent us some information regarding the family first Coronavirus response act and the polices that are allowed for people in that act. And we talked about it doing an office call on Friday night. There are different categories for situations regarding the virus where people could still get paid or at least some of their pay for a bit. The person at your company could qualify for one of those categories. People can get paid if they or a family member is diagnosed with the virus, they have symptoms but it's unconfirmed that they have the virus.  They can also get paid if they do a recommended fourteen day quarantine. Maybe the person that works at your company can qualify for that category. 

They can still possibly get paid at their daily rate, for a little bit, if they fall underneath that category. The act even allows for people who are having a hard time with having transportation for the virus, or being unable to find childcare, to get some of their pay. It's 2/3 of their daily rate. It's not the full amount but it's something. My bosses even said people could get some pay (at least with our company) if they can only work some of the days they are normally scheduled, but have to stay home other days due to lack of childcare. We have some employees that are in that situation. Especially with schools being closed down here until at least May 15.

One type of person it didn't really accommodate are people are who are concerned about getting the virus and just choose to self quarantine on their own. I have a young co-worker, who was hired not too long ago, who cares for her grandmother. I believe her grandmother may live with her. She's been worried the past few weeks about the virus and a couple of weeks ago, admitted she was contemplating self quarantining on her own. ( Though, she didn't have symptoms and wasn't knowingly exposed to anyone with the virus). 

Over a week ago, she said she was taking some time off, and hasn't shown up since to do work. (Though, she did bring in a doctor's note). She wasn't getting paid for doing that (and didn't get/take any sort of paid/sick/vacation leave) and she's not one of the people we have working from home. People like her could be granted unpaid leave, at least in our company. And maybe in the act as well. I'm not sure if the doctor's note that she brought in a few days ago, will help her fall into one of these categories and get some sort of pay.

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