Hiring a retrieve crew - thoughts? US

On Sep 4, 2:35 pm, Papa3 wrote:
On Sep 4, 12:56 am, "Mike Schumann" mike-nos...@traditions-





nospam.com wrote:
From a legal perspective, it shouldn't be a problem as long as you deduct
and pay taxes (FICA, FUTA, SUTA, Income, etc...) from their paychecks and
have workmen's comp insurance for your employee. There are simplified
procedures for domestic employees, but you would need to check to see if
this would apply for this type of employment.

Mike Schumann

wrote in message

oups.com...

Paid crew is excellent idea that used to be in vogue back in the
70's. Some pilots like Moffatt and Scott and the same paid crew for
years. Others were total jerks and went through multiple crews in a
season.

The economics strongly favor this over a motorglider for typical (non-
safari ops).

You can pay the crew a lot of $, eat like a king, stay in exellent
hotels and fly all over with the crew at your disposal for a few
decades in oder to equal the cost differential of a motorglider.

I would look for a retired individual who is bored and looking for
something to do. Most modern teen-agers and 20-somethings, especially
those who are urban-dwellers have little or no relevant skills,
mindset, or maturity. Farm- and rural kids would be a better. A
retired truck driver would be perfect.

The Crystal Squadron pilots would be an excellent resource for
procedures, training, and systems.

No clue on legal/liability issues but I speculate that a lawyer would
find the entire concept untenable from a liability/exposure
perspective.

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Mike,

I would imagine that this would fall under the domain of Casual
Employees (if Gary requires more than 1,000 hours of crewing each
year, he's got other problems :-). Though Worker's Comp laws vary
from state to state, I'm not aware of any that would require a formal
Worker's Comp structure in this situation. In terms of liability,
it's along the same lines as hiring the neighborhood kid to mow your
lawn, no? I'm sure you could get any one of a number of legal
opinions on this depending on what you want the answer to be. Best
to make sure you've talked over the scenario with your insurance agent
first (think in terms of excess/umbrella policy).

Erik- Hide quoted text -

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I was being a little too circumspect in the above and maybe it got
confusing. Worker's comp in most US states doesn't apply to Casual
Employees and, for that matter, to companies with fewer than X
employees (several I know of use 5 as the minumum). So, I was
suggesting that the real issue relates to any liability concerns.
There are two angles to this:

- Third-party liability related to injury or damage your crew may
cause to others while operating your vehicle. It gets a bit tricky
when you have a paid "employee" using your vehicle. The standard
Auto Policy that all major insurers use expressly prohibits certain
kinds of business use. This is a variation that I honestly
wouldn't want to offer an opinion on. Best is to describe the
scenario precisely to a good Agent (note: don't talk to the
"assistant" in the agency if you use one; talk right to the senior guy
or gal).
- Liability related to injuries (physical or emotional) your crew may
suffer on the job. "He landed out in bumblef*** Nevada and I was
scared for my life. Now, I can't go near a glider without breaking
out in hives :-)

In the past, I've always tried to keep anything like this as "casual"
as possible and rely on my judgement of the other person (i.e. will
this guy/gal sue my ass off). That's sort of a personal choice.

P3