Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/827403
6 • June 2017 • S I G N & D I G I T A L G R A P H I C S __________________________________________ Publisher James "Ruggs" Kochevar – ruggs@nbm.com Executive Editor Ken Mergentime – kenm@nbm.com Managing Editor Matt Dixon – mdixon@nbm.com Digital Content Editor Tony Kindelspire – tkindelspire@nbm.com __________________________________________ Art Director Linda Cranston Graphic Artist Iveth Gomez Multimedia Producer Andrew Bennett __________________________________________ Advertising Account Executives Adam Decker – adecker@nbm.com Diane Gilbert – dgilbert@nbm.com Sara Siauw – ssiauw@nbm.com Sales Support Dana Korman – dkorman@nbm.com __________________________________________ Contributors in this Issue: Matt Charboneau; Vince DiCecco; Ryan Fugler; Paula Aven Gladych; Charity Jackson; Paul Peterson; Stephen Romaniello; Bill Schiffner; Andy Stonehouse; Rick Williams; Ray Work, Ph.D. ___________________________________________ Vice President/Events Sue Hueg CEM, CMP – susan@nbm.com Show Sales Damon Cincotta – dcincotta@nbm.com Exhibitor Services Antoinette Vernon – avernon@nbm.com ____________________________________________ National Business Media, Inc. President & CEO Robert H. Wieber Jr. Vice President/Integrated Media John Bennett Vice President/Finance Kori Gonzales, CPA Vice President/Publishing and Markets Dave Pomeroy Vice President/Audience Lori Farstad Director of IT Wolf Butler B Y K E N M E R G E N T I M E The Long View E ver see the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still"? No, not the 2008 remake starring Keanu Reeves; I'm talking about the origi- nal old black and white 1951 classic. In the movie, a humanoid alien visitor named Klaatu arrives on earth in a space ship, accompanied by an eight-foot laser beam wield- ing robot called Gort. He has come in peace, but warns humanity that their flirtations with atomic war are becoming a concern to the powerful beings that rule the galaxy. Klaatu's message to earth: Learn to live peacefully, or else. At one point, to prove that the visitor's sober warnings are indeed enforceable, Klaatu neutralizes all of the man-made electrical current on the entire planet for a period of time. Cars wouldn't go, phones went dead, lights wouldn't light and trains wouldn't run. The earth stood still. After re-watching this wonderful old flick, it got me wondering what happens when the power goes out in a sign or commercial graphics shop? Major power out- ages and blackouts are not just the stuff of science fiction. In the shop, common sense safety procedures should be followed, but in my mind the question arose—how should shop owners pay their employees during an outage? It seems there are basically three shop scenarios in the event of a power outage: a) require the employees to remain at work to wait for the power to return; b) send the employees home early and tell them to return the next workday; or send the employees home early and then call them back in if the power returns. According to advice from the law firm Fenton & Keller, when it comes to pay- roll obligations during a power outage, shop owners need to consider the type of employees that need compensation—exempt and non-exempt employees. Exempt employees (usually salaried employees) are not subject to overtime pay require- ments; but non-exempt employees (generally employees earning hourly wages) are entitled to overtime pay beyond 40 hours a week. In all three scenarios, employers must pay exempt employees a full day's pay if they worked any part of the day. But paying non-exempt employees can be a little more complex. If employees are asked to stay at work and wait for the power to return, these employees may not be able to perform any of their work duties because of the out- age. Nevertheless, even though these employees are not performing any work, they are under the employer's control, and employers must pay non-exempt employees for the time they spend waiting for the power to return. Employers may find that after waiting for an hour or two for the power to return, it makes more sense to send the employees home. "Reporting time pay" rules do not apply here as the cir- cumstances are beyond the employer's control. However, if a non-exempt employee is sent home because the electricity has gone out, the employer need only pay the non-exempt employee for the time actu- ally worked that day. Seems only fair. Meanwhile, if the outage has extra-terrestrial origins, remember this: "Klaatu barada nikto." Okay, back to work. The Day the Shop Stood Still Got something to say? Join the S&DG Discussion Group at: