When Is It Time To Move On

[sparkyrick]

Does he not have his own license?

Rules are different in different places, here you would have to have minimum liability insurance requirements on file for that license holder or no permit is issued. You could still hold a master or contractor license but not need the insurance if you are working for someone else and not filing permits under your name/license.

No, he doesn't have his own license. Who knows what he did behind my back. All I know is I walked into the job trailer at a project and saw my "signature" on the electrical permit. I confronted him about it and he thought it was all right because I was working on the project. Yeah, right!

 

[__dan]

No, he doesn't have his own license. Who knows what he did behind my back. All I know is I walked into the job trailer at a project and saw my "signature" on the electrical permit. I confronted him about it and he thought it was all right because I was working on the project. Yeah, right!

If you brought that complaint to the State's Electrical Supervisory Board for your jurisdiction, I'm sure the payments to the attorney to dig him out of that would be more the the van payments.

 

[just the cowboy]

Getting older

Getting older

You say you have 25 years with him plus your starting age. That makes you at least 40+ years old, If you want to make a move do it soon because age discrimation is out there.

 

[chris1971]

He used my licence once that I know of (without my permission). He probably uses his brothers licence now. I'm still going through with the phone interview today, just to see what they would offer.

That would be very upsetting if I found out my license was being used without my permission. Did you confront him? I would also make sure he's still not using it without you knowing.

 

[JoeyD74]

He used my licence once that I know of (without my permission). He probably uses his brothers licence now. I'm still going through with the phone interview today, just to see what they would offer.

I would have walked then and he would be getting his ass sued. Imagine that job you pulled a permit for, but didn't know about, had something go wrong and injury or death resulted.

 

[kwired]

You say you have 25 years with him plus your starting age. That makes you at least 40+ years old, If you want to make a move do it soon because age discrimation is out there.

Depends on the job, general construction electrician yes younger blood is often desired, but sadly not a lot of young people have that good of work ethic these days either so that don't mean as much as it once did.

Looking for a job as an inspector or instructor - maybe some experience is preferred.

 

[rt66electric]

????? what happened to his licence???

????? what happened to his licence???

If he is using your name on a permit. Who is covering the liability insurance and Bonding requirements???

If the your name is on the permit whose name is on the insurance???? has he set you up for a fall-guy or patsey??

You are taking all the risks and he is taking all the money.

Go for a 50/50 profit or leave...

Why does he not have a licence???

find out the truth then blackmail him.

 

[mivey]

find out the truth then blackmail him.

Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun. Stuff like that has rewards only in stick-in-the-eye points. Otherwise, not much good can come of that. It seems like he gets along well enough with his boss.

 

[John120/240]

Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun. Stuff like that has rewards only in stick-in-the-eye points. Otherwise, not much good can come of that. It seems like he gets along well enough with his boss.

sparkyrick does get along with his boss because boss had a New van in the driveway & $4/hour raise. Using sparkyrick's licence without knowledge or consent to me would be a big issue. Agreed Blackmail in not the route to go, but additional compensation would be in order.

 

[iwire]

I have used blackmail once with an old employer not for a raise but to get the few thousand dollars they owed me. In my case it worked out but I would never use blackmail to get a raise, at the least your days left with the company would be limited.

 

[jim dungar]

Using sparkyrick's licence without knowledge or consent to me would be a big issue.

You cannot take your local 'legal requirements' and assume they are universally applicable. Some times the devil is in the untold details.

For example; the state, in which the OP is located, does not require a licensed Electrical Contractor to actually have a Master's license. However all of the electrical work must be supervised a licensed Master. His immediate municipality electrical permits require both the EC license and the license number of the Master that will be running the job. So, I would expect that the employee's license is regularly used to obtain permits for projects he is assigned to work on.
Of course, there would be a 'problem' if the employee's license is on the permit, but he is not actually the supervisor. And then there is also the possibility of fraud due to forging a signature.

 

[Fulthrotl]

I went through my company phone list I keep on my laptop. We've lost 28 electricians in 25 years.
24 of those quit and went elsewhere and 4 became disabled. Not a single person has ever retired from here. Guess that should have told me something.

yeah, it tells you that you are this companies anchor point.

you mention you've been continuously employed for 25 years,
with three weeks paid vacation, etc. $24 an hour seems a quart low,
but now it's $28. i'd have a heart to heart talk with your boss, and
explain that forging your signature, aside from being a crime, is a
bit rude, and if he signs your name without your knowledge and permission,
you aren't going to be able to trust him, and see how it goes from there.

forgeries are committed every day. if he forges your name to something,
and it goes amiss, you will find out in due course, and then he's got forgery
to deal with in addition to what went amiss.

sparkies quit and go elsewhere. and they become disabled. irregardless
of where they are, and who they work for. the problem is, you don't know
what you don't know. you've been collecting a check when there is work,
for a quarter century. and i'm guessing you haven't missed too many checks.

i'd stay where you are at. you've got a bunch of folks on an internet forum
saying "screw him", but it's your life to live. it's almost impossible for someone
who isn't in your labor area to give relevant advice. i was making $28 an hour in
1982, and in 1982, 3 bedroom tract houses where i live carried mortgages of
$2,500+ a month.

the last paid holiday i had was before i entered this line of work, in 1977.

being self employed is great, unless there isn't anything to do. my net taxable
has varied from $300K+ to $165 a year.

i'd stay where you are, for what it's worth.

 

[kwired]

yeah, it tells you that you are this companies anchor point.

you mention you've been continuously employed for 25 years,
with three weeks paid vacation, etc. $24 an hour seems a quart low,
but now it's $28. i'd have a heart to heart talk with your boss, and
explain that forging your signature, aside from being a crime, is a
bit rude, and if he signs your name without your knowledge and permission,
you aren't going to be able to trust him, and see how it goes from there.

forgeries are committed every day. if he forges your name to something,
and it goes amiss, you will find out in due course, and then he's got forgery
to deal with in addition to what went amiss.

sparkies quit and go elsewhere. and they become disabled. irregardless
of where they are, and who they work for. the problem is, you don't know
what you don't know. you've been collecting a check when there is work,
for a quarter century. and i'm guessing you haven't missed too many checks.

i'd stay where you are at. you've got a bunch of folks on an internet forum
saying "screw him", but it's your life to live. it's almost impossible for someone
who isn't in your labor area to give relevant advice. i was making $28 an hour in
1982, and in 1982, 3 bedroom tract houses where i live carried mortgages of
$2,500+ a month.

the last paid holiday i had was before i entered this line of work, in 1977.

being self employed is great, unless there isn't anything to do. my net taxable
has varied from $300K+ to $165 a year.

i'd stay where you are, for what it's worth.

I have to agree with most of what you said. If you don't know what it costs to live in a particular area as well as other contidions, you really don't know what a fair wage is for that area. My mortgage is less then 2500 a month in a house I had built about 10 years ago. It only cost me around $200,000, but may have been 4 times higher then that if built in your area. Property taxes, sales taxes, other costs directly associated with where you live will vary, some places don't even have a state income tax, others may even have a local income tax. Consumer products do vary some in price from one region to another if anything just because of cost to deliver them to where they are being sold or even state or local taxes added to specific types of items or services.

I too have had self employment income all over the board from one year to the next. That year you mention of $165 doesn't mean you did nothing or didn't see a lot of money pass through your accounts, just means the income exceeded the expenses by $165. If you collected 10 million dollars but had expenses of $9,999,835 you saw a lot of money, likely bought and sold a lot of items, but still only had $165 in profit.

 

[growler]

yeah, it tells you that you are this companies anchor point.

you mention you've been continuously employed for 25 years,
with three weeks paid vacation, etc. $24 an hour seems a quart low,
but now it's $28. i'd have a heart to heart talk with your boss, and
explain that forging your signature, aside from being a crime, is a
bit rude, and if he signs your name without your knowledge and permission,
you aren't going to be able to trust him, and see how it goes from there.

forgeries are committed every day. if he forges your name to something,
and it goes amiss, you will find out in due course, and then he's got forgery
to deal with in addition to what went amiss.

sparkies quit and go elsewhere. and they become disabled. irregardless
of where they are, and who they work for. the problem is, you don't know
what you don't know. you've been collecting a check when there is work,
for a quarter century. and i'm guessing you haven't missed too many checks.

i'd stay where you are at. you've got a bunch of folks on an internet forum
saying "screw him", but it's your life to live. it's almost impossible for someone
who isn't in your labor area to give relevant advice. i was making $28 an hour in
1982, and in 1982, 3 bedroom tract houses where i live carried mortgages of
$2,500+ a month.

the last paid holiday i had was before i entered this line of work, in 1977.

being self employed is great, unless there isn't anything to do. my net taxable
has varied from $300K+ to $165 a year.

i'd stay where you are, for what it's worth.

I don't know if I would stay there but you are right that he should consider this option.

One thing that people usually don't think about is there is more to life than just money. If you can find a job where you are happy and like the people you are working with and for that goes a long way.

Sometimes to get more money you really have to put up with a lot of crap to get it. Then you start to ask yourself is it really worth it.

 

[iwire]

Sometimes to get more money you really have to put up with a lot of crap to get it. Then you start to ask yourself is it really worth it.

I was a service manager for just under three years, my last duty was assigning myself back out in the field.

It was not worth it to me, now I am enjoying life much more.

 

[yanici]

I'd step back and look at the long term picture. You aren't going to get younger and it might be time to consider that inside, insurance company job. It could be a blessing in the long run with retirement benefits, holidays, sick pay, health care insurance, etc. Your body will last longer and you still can do a Saturday job if you want to.

 

[kwired]

I'd step back and look at the long term picture. You aren't going to get younger and it might be time to consider that inside, insurance company job. It could be a blessing in the long run with retirement benefits, holidays, sick pay, health care insurance, etc. Your body will last longer and you still can do a Saturday job if you want to.

You have a point, but I am not planning to have anything to do with the crooked, I mean, insurance industry. Something tells me it maybe less physical, but probably more mentally stressful to be in that industry anyway.

 

[sparkyrick]

Well, hell froze over and I did get the $4/hour raise. I honestly didn't think it was gonna happen. I haven't heard back from the insurance company after the interview. maybe I'm still in the running, maybe not. If that position falls through, I did stir the pot enough to make things better for me and another co-worker here.

 

[ActionDave]

I was a service manager for just under three years, my last duty was assigning myself back out in the field.

It was not worth it to me, now I am enjoying life much more.

So that's why no pics of the food festival this year. I hope you have one place on your list of customers that is good for a free lunch now and then.