Posted on 09/18/2014 6:57:16 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Rebecca Parr reports in the San Jose Mercury-News:
A small-time vintner's use of volunteer workers has put him out of business after the state squeezed him like a late-summer grape for $115,000 in fines -- and sent a chill through the wine industry.
The volunteers, some of them learning to make wine while helping out, were illegally unpaid laborers, and Westover Winery should have been paying them and paying worker taxes, the state Department of Industrial Relations said.
"I didn't know it was illegal to use volunteers at a winery; it's a common practice," said winery owner Bill Smyth.
State law prohibits for-profit businesses from using volunteers.
At small wineries, the practice of inviting friends and family to help out is virtually universal, as it is a lot of fun, and at harvest time, there is about ten times as much work as usual.
The state’s excuse for ending this party and closing a productive business is pathetic:
Westover was cited for not paying minimum wage, not providing wage statements and not paying workers' compensation insurance, said Peter Melton, a spokesman for California.
"These are not idle things. People should be paid for their labor. The workers' compensation violations are very serious. What happens if someone has a catastrophic injury at the winery?" he asked.
And, he added, "It isn't fair to wineries that are paying their employees
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
It’s a good thing that California didn’t split into six states. Can you imagine six Californian states?
Guess they should call them interns in the future...just like the government does...
Should’ve claimed it was a wine making school and charged $1 tuition.
Example of communists California at work. This State is trashed by the communists democrats.
Crazy.
So two people can’t form their own private contract between themselves anymore without the state becoming involved. It’s their choice if the “worker” wants to exchange his labor not for money but for a good or service. Or at least it should be. Of course if such a barter takes place the state loses out on its cut (like a mobster cheated out of protection money).
That’s what this is. It’s racketeering on the part of the state. They even say so themselves when they justify their oppression by crying “What if someone gets hurt while on the job?”
Absolutely un-American. Sad what’s happened to this family and their country.
From the article:
“As regionally syndicated talk show host Joe Getty puts it, the State of California is like the Mafia: they want a cut of everything that goes on in its turf. And like the Mafia, it will destsroy those who refuse to give them a cut.”
Nailed it right there.
But the wine making curriculum of that school would have to include gender diversity training, have bilingual instructors that belong to a union, and require regular inspections by the State in order to keep its educational license.
Hey Sky, the reason folks want to split is that there are millions of us conservatives who are disenfranchised by the lunacy from Sacramento, demoncRAT super majority.
So before you get all high and mighty and start slamming CA, you would do well to understand the politics behind such a movement...the CONSERVATIVES want to be a separate state...to leave the liberal morons (redundant) and go on about our lives in peace.
I can imagine at least 2 CA states under such circumstances...
Not using illegal invaders is the real crime.
“You didn’t make that”!
Should’ve claimed it was a wine making school and charged $1 tuition.
Then give everyone a full scholarship.
Make every volunteer purchase a .001% share in the company first. Then they aren’t employees, they are self employed small business owners working for their stake in their business.
It’s sad that people cannot make their own decisions about volunteer labor but at least we can all take comfort in the fact the in California everybody is working legally, getting paid above the table, and paying their taxes.
California seems bent on state suicide.
The State of California doesn’t have anything better to do than that? Geez
It seems to me that giving a free education course and a bottle of the finished product is just compensation.
I would like to post this 1,000 times for emphasis, but since Freepers know it, once will do, so here goes:
State of California is like the Mafia: they want a cut of everything that goes on in its turf. And like the Mafia, it will destsroy those who refuse to give them a cut.
Can they put Michael Moore out of business?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.