California: Illegal to Help Your Friend...Gotta Pay The Govt.

The walls are closing in but not enough people are pushing back. And this is the result:

Unbeknown to the Smyth family — and many other California business owners — it is illegal in the state to use unpaid volunteers at a for-profit business.

Among the reasons cited by the California Department of Industrial Relations, was the fact that no income taxes were being collected on the volunteer labor.

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. Read more at www.activistpost.com...

Meanwhile, he and his wife, Jill, are holding a going-out-of-business sale and plan to shut down before the end of the year. The fines represent more than a decade's worth of profits for the winery, which nets about $11,000 a year, Smyth said.

"There's just no money left; they've taken everything," he said.
"We're a small winery, open only 10 hours a week. We didn't really need any helpers; we were just educating people about wine," he said.
Read more at www.activistpost.com...

About half the people the state considered Westover employees were taking a free class at the Palomares Canyon Road winery. Students learned about growing vines, harvesting and blending grapes and marketing the finished product.

No warnings were ever given and the only answer they received is that State Law doesn't allow for warnings.

And not even you can volunteer unless it's for the public sector of course:

"Under the FLSA, employees may not volunteer services to for-profit private sector employers. On the other hand, in the vast majority of circumstances, individuals can volunteer services to public sector employers. (emphasis added)

Apparently you can volunteer for the "public sector" but you can't learn to make wine with your friends.

you must now get permission from the state if you help your buddy out at his shop or farm, and that your buddy must now pay taxes on this activity? That you indeed do NOT own yourself or your energy if you can't choose how to spend your "free" time?

Now, the article does go on to explain workplace issues, child labor, unpaid interns, paid interns and blah, blah, blah...IMO these reasons are used to put everyone in line regardless of a specific case such as this which clearly does not fall into these categories. Although it does bring up the Canadian farmer who was reported for having his children work on the family far. Nope, can't do that anymore.

"Because child slavery exists in the world, your parental rights or custodial "ownership" of your children is to be forfeited to the state for the best interest of the child." According to: United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

BTW, it's been attempted in the US and will come around again:

In 2012, the U.S. Department of Labor tried to ram through "child labor" regulations that prohibited parents from assigning farm chores to their children. This power grab of parental rights was attempted without a formal law. Fortunately, the proposal angered rural communities so much that it was scrapped , for now....

Was the government's plan to fine moms-n-pops out of the parental business, too? Sounds outrageous, I know. Laws like these force you to transfer the legal custody of your children to the wise and benevolent state. Crazy? Unbelievable? You just read how you've already lost custody over yourself and your own free time, so why would this be so hard to believe?

But how does that apply here? It doesn't. This is just a hardworking couple making 11K per year, teaching others about wine and in turn those others helping out. The way it used to be and the way it should be. This Pi$$e$ me off to no end.

This is not about poor migrants or kids being taken advantage of. It's about the taxes the State wants to collect from the farm and workers. It's about the 110,000 fine that he will pay out or the land the Govt. will find themselves in possession of. Nice huh?

More here: www.activistpost.com...

www.mercurynews.com...

www.policestateusa.com...

So be careful folks, don't offer to help ANYONE! Because it's the law dammit! If that old lady needs help crossing the street, too bad.

Peace

You people new to fix this. Come on.. You're really gonna let the government walk all over you like this? If you want any freedom ever again, rebel now, or you'll become as obedient as the Nazis were in Germany during the 2nd world war... And follow your leaders right into failure...

originally posted by: drz400
You people new to fix this. Come on.. You're really gonna let the government walk all over you like this? If you want any freedom ever again, rebel now, or you'll become as obedient as the Nazis were in Germany during the 2nd world war... And follow your leaders right into failure...

It's been shouted from the basements and furiously typed onto the net instead of the roof tops my friend.

Peace

a reply to: jude11

So they fined the couple 10 years of earnings? What greedy tools, the whole lot. I'm almost at the thought that is part of a plan to drive folks that want to work for themselves out of the State and replace them with drones that are in debt up to their a$$ to "the company store" and then when the original debtor dies or commits suicide, those debts are then passed on like genes, to the next 'earner' who isn't earning anything in reality..

The system is out of whack, especially in that State.

I'll be 'Gene" to Your 'Roger' or versa-visa and also give it a:

If I wish to barter my time to a master tradesman for the knowledge i would glean from working with him/her that is my business and not the states. I am not "volunteering' anything. I am trading my time and labor for knowledge.

Volunteer for the 'public' (read state) sector? They want to benefit from free labor, to hell with the little guy. Sounds of jealousy to me.

originally posted by: JimNasium
a reply to: jude11

So they fined the couple 10 years of earnings? What greedy tools, the whole lot. I'm almost at the thought that is part of a plan to drive folks that want to work for themselves out of the State and replace them with drones that are in debt up to their a$$ to "the company store" and then when the original debtor dies or commits suicide, those debts are then passed on like genes, to the next 'earner' who isn't earning anything in reality..

The system is out of whack, especially in that State.

I'll be 'Gene" to Your 'Roger' or versa-visa and also give it a:

You're right on the Drones issue. This is so clear lately.

NY is next on the list as well so State by State, it'll go.

Peace

originally posted by: occrest
If I wish to barter my time to a master tradesman for the knowledge i would glean from working with him/her that is my business and not the states. I am not "volunteering' anything. I am trading my time and labor for knowledge.

Volunteer for the 'public' (read state) sector? They want to benefit from free labor, to hell with the little guy. Sounds of jealousy to me.

The author's final note:

"Personal note: My wife is currently going through the process of renewing her RN license after a seven-year hiatus to focus on homeschooling. Her refresher course requires 160 hours of mandatory unpaid clinical work. It's annoying and a temporary financial burden for us, but it's not an "unfair" arrangement.
Read more at www.activistpost.com..."

Nice huh?

Peace

Wow, thats insane... That means if i wanted to give my friend a hand over the weekend, helping him to smoke some meat for his BBQ stand, he could lose his business.

I can't help but wonder, how do corporations get away with having interns? They are largely unpaid and there to get experience, just like the up and coming grape farmers were in the OP.

Is there some kind of paperwork you gotta file to have interns and if so, are they available to smaller businesses like in the OP?

I agree that this situation is very over the top, but if there is a way that the owner could have prevented it then the owner is at fault for not jumping through whatever hoops he needed to. Now if there is no way to use unpaid volunteers, aka interns, then something needs to change immediately.

originally posted by: xDeadcowx
Wow, thats insane... That means if i wanted to give my friend a hand over the weekend, helping him to smoke some meat for his BBQ stand, he could lose his business.

I can't help but wonder, how do corporations get away with having interns? They are largely unpaid and there to get experience, just like the up and coming grape farmers were in the OP.

Is there some kind of paperwork you gotta file to have interns and if so, are they available to smaller businesses like in the OP?

I agree that this situation is very over the top, but if there is a way that the owner could have prevented it then the owner is at fault for not jumping through whatever hoops he needed to. Now if there is no way to use unpaid volunteers, aka interns, then something needs to change immediately.

This NEW law of course Deals with unpaid interns:

"First, I should clarify something. It is still legal in every state for for-profit companies to have "regulated" unpaid interns. But California recently became the first state to pass an "anti-discrimination and harassment ordinance" which appears to make it illegal to not at least pay minimum wage to interns.

Fueled by class warfare fervor and a rogue court ruling that said unpaid interns could be sexually harassed by their employers because they weren't "legally" employees, California passed AB1443 last month.
Read more at www.activistpost.com... "

But these were not interns. They were friends who were trading goods for services. Quite Different.

Peace

California is the window into the future plans of the global elite. The residents of California are much more susceptible to accepting Government BS than the rest of the country, but it will be coming to a state near you soon enough.

a reply to: jude11

Good point Jude, thanks for the information.

California is becoming nearly impossible to do business in. I know there is an exodus going on already with business owners in California and stuff like this is only going to make it worse.

California tried so hard to do things right but reforming individual issues doesn't fix overarching cultural/institutional issues. Just look at the banks. The law gets changed but they're already onto the next loophole with their army of lawyers and lobbyists.

I feel like the boulder long ago crested the hill and all the posts on places like this are just documentation of the boulder's path of destruction.

From West to East and all points in-between:

"There's an alarming trend of similar "fair labor" laws across America with New York getting ready to pass identical legislation. Even more disturbing, labor regulations more provocative than these are being secretly implemented without legislation from Congress."
Read more at www.activistpost.com...

Next Stop...New York.

Peace

In this instance it boils down to this...

Barter is illegal

originally posted by: rival
In this instance it boils down to this...

Barter is illegal

It's getting that way.

ALL services must be taxable.

Bastards.

Peace

a reply to: jude11

Government can't tax kindness, volunteering, helping another person.

So they have to make it illegal.

I get 2 or 3 calls a week looking for me to go work in CA. Due to the ridiculous regulations and taxes, I won't touch it with a ten foot pole.

originally posted by: beezzer
a reply to: jude11

Government can't tax kindness, volunteering, helping another person.

So they have to make it illegal.

Someone in Cali should start a church whereby their only belief is helping their fellow man. (unique concept for a church I know)

Not only would it be religious persecution to stop them but the church could enjoy tax exempt status...

Boom!

Peace

Simple:

You charge every person a tuition fee of $15/hour, but you pay them $15/hour. That cancels out, but the fed gets their tax.

originally posted by: stormcell
Simple:

You charge every person a tuition fee of $15/hour, but you pay them $15/hour. That cancels out, but the fed gets their tax.

Nope.

The Dude can't abide. Taxes for helping a friend?

Nope.

Peace