[mccannable]

My wife started her "dream job" teaching ballet last year but things are not all that dream, for me. Her good friend started the studio and things took off. They expected about 80 students and ended up with about 250 the first year which is great.

The pay scale is easily overlooked because of the amount of hours she is required to work that she is not compensated for. She is an employee not a contractor and is only paid for class time teaching not; competitor tream, registration, set up and tear down, meetings, and tons of other time invested equalling over 15-20 hours unpaid time a week. If there not bad enough she has to drive her own car/gas, pay her own hotel, food, and convention fees to the many conventions and comps they do each year.

She teaches more classes/students then anyone else and pretty much is the only reason the place is still open. She see(now a little more than at first) nothing wrong with the picture and none of the either teachers do either.

I believe she is being taken advantage of and this has caused many issues with us, not the money but the time she volunteers for someone else's success.


Am I out of line?


Cliffs: wife works 20 hours a week for free for her dream job and is already underpaid.

[ShopVac]

Originally Posted by mccannable

I believe she is being taken advantage of and this has caused many issues with us, not the money but the time she volunteers for someone else's success.

Am I out of line?

Cliffs: wife works 20 hours a week for free for her dream job and is already underpaid.

So, my wife has taught figure skating since we've been dating...I can't see this as being any different. Technically, your wife's students should be paying for travel to competitions, paying compensation for the time she spends during that day (relatively, same as a lesson fee), and all hotel fees. I can't see why dance would be any different?

Does your wife have the students herself, or are they members of the school, which she teaches?

[amanda hor$t]

cut off the studio owner, your wife should own her classes and teach at the park! and if it works out, get her own studio.

[mccannable]

Originally Posted by R Grubba Balls

cut off the studio owner, your wife should own her classes and teach at the park! and if it works out, get her own studio.

I wish I had the time and care to help
Her do this.

It's students of the school but she is the only ballet and pointe teacher and brings in the most money for the business.

I believe the owner is just ignorant and is failing to see she is taking advantage of people she calls her friends. She says certain program aren't profitable so employees aren't paid. I don't believe that is a good excuse or legal.

[amanda hor$t]

Originally Posted by mccannable

I wish I had the time and care to help
Her do this.

It's students of the school but she is the only ballet and pointe teacher and brings in the most money for the business.

I believe the owner is just ignorant and is failing to see she is taking advantage of people she calls her friends. She says certain program aren't profitable so employees aren't paid. I don't believe that is a good excuse or legal.

the teacher is the school. i've taken ballet before, equipment required is minimal. a few pads, rubber bands, a boom box, and balance bars. print some flyers, spread the word. if there's enough for a class, great. otherwise, tutoring or private instruction is also an option.

scams like this don't last long. the last studio i was at (situation seems very similar), most of the instructors are gone... i'm guessing the studio owner is underwater or close to shutting down. she was paying instructors like $30/class, and now she's teaching almost all the classes. don't think anyone would work like that unless they're really hurtin'. lol

[mccannable]

Funny thing of it all is the owner left her old studio for these same reasons.


Umfortantly the wife doesn't want to the rock the boat so it's really just my problem. My solution is to just for her todo the minimum. But that's my solution not hers

[kevinbahnz]

i just saw an episode on HGTV where a couple converted their unused garage into a dance studio.

[JMX328]

Originally Posted by mccannable

Am I out of line?


Cliffs: wife works 20 hours a week for free for her dream job and is already underpaid.

What is the organization of her being an employee of this studio? What papers were signed surrounding the employment agreements, etc?

Does the agreement state she is exempt from FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act)? Did the original offer/agreement state a certain hourly amount, or a set amount (either weekly, monthly, annually, etc)?

[Zeros and ones]

Originally Posted by mccannable

My wife started her "dream job" teaching ballet last year but things are not all that dream, for me. Her good friend started the studio and things took off. They expected about 80 students and ended up with about 250 the first year which is great.

The pay scale is easily overlooked because of the amount of hours she is required to work that she is not compensated for. She is an employee not a contractor and is only paid for class time teaching not; competitor tream, registration, set up and tear down, meetings, and tons of other time invested equalling over 15-20 hours unpaid time a week. If there not bad enough she has to drive her own car/gas, pay her own hotel, food, and convention fees to the many conventions and comps they do each year.

She teaches more classes/students then anyone else and pretty much is the only reason the place is still open. She see(now a little more than at first) nothing wrong with the picture and none of the either teachers do either.

I believe she is being taken advantage of and this has caused many issues with us, not the money but the time she volunteers for someone else's success.


Am I out of line?


Cliffs: wife works 20 hours a week for free for her dream job and is already underpaid.

This is nothing out of the ordinary. The dance studio that I go to and teach at every once in a while (Mainly has a hobby) does the same thing. It is not the only one that I know of either.

Both teachers and parents volunteer to do all the extra work for competitions, shows, exhibition dances, etc. All costumes and extra needed for the show needs to be bought by the parents for the students.

[MiddleAgedAl]

Originally Posted by mccannable

Funny thing of it all is the owner left her old studio for these same reasons.

Everybody thinks the management at their employer is incompetent, and it would be easy for anyone to do a better job than that. Then if they actually end up on that side of the fence, and they see the rest of the iceberg that was not visible to them before, they realize situations and problems are not as simple as they appeared to be.

Being an armchair quarterback is always easier than being a REAL quarterback.

[mccannable]

Originally Posted by MiddleAgedAl

Everybody thinks the management at their employer is incompetent, and it would be easy for anyone to do a better job than that. Then if they actually end up on that side of the fence, and they see the rest of the iceberg that was not visible to them before, they realize situations and problems are not as simple as they appeared to be.

Being an armchair quarterback is always easier than being a REAL quarterback.

Especially when you have not the slightest idea how to operate a business. Reminds me of the book "E-myth".

[mccannable]

Originally Posted by JMX328

What is the organization of her being an employee of this studio? What papers were signed surrounding the employment agreements, etc?

Does the agreement state she is exempt from FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act)? Did the original offer/agreement state a certain hourly amount, or a set amount (either weekly, monthly, annually, etc)?

The only think signed was a non compete which isn't an issue right now. I doubt either would know anything about FLSA.

Another funning thing is I get FLSA true up on my pays tubs from work to the tune of 2-3k a year and no one can explain it. Maybe it's a
Balance because the wife is getting screwed. Jk

[amanda hor$t]

Originally Posted by MiddleAgedAl

Everybody thinks the management at their employer is incompetent, and it would be easy for anyone to do a better job than that. Then if they actually end up on that side of the fence, and they see the rest of the iceberg that was not visible to them before, they realize situations and problems are not as simple as they appeared to be.

Being an armchair quarterback is always easier than being a REAL quarterback.

if that was true there would be no new small businesses. though many do fail, it's worth trying if you feel you have something better to offer. it's definitely not for everyone, it's a huge struggle to get off the ground, but i know at least 7 or 8 people who were unhappy working for someone else, started their own biz, and did fine.

my last w-2 was in 2003. and then i went from a 150k salary consultant to an online swap meet entrepreneur (ebay). everyone loved to criticize... now, they don't write back anymore

[JMX328]

Originally Posted by mccannable

The only think signed was a non compete which isn't an issue right now. I doubt either would know anything about FLSA.

Another funning thing is I get FLSA true up on my pays tubs from work to the tune of 2-3k a year and no one can explain it. Maybe it's a
Balance because the wife is getting screwed. Jk

Gotcha - then there isn't really a leg to stand on since the studio isn't violating any agreements or in need of corrective action, since it's basically all verbal. Unless the studio owner promised to pay for the full hours put in, with OT, etc, then you could likely push it further, but at time present there isn't much that could be done.

That's bizarre you have FLSA-related pay showing up and no one have an idea as to why. Do you work OT and your payroll department simply classifies it as FLSA?

When I was hourly, my employer denoted OT pay as "Overtime 1.5/FLSA Non-Exempt" on paychecks.

Originally Posted by MiddleAgedAl

Everybody thinks the management at their employer is incompetent, and it would be easy for anyone to do a better job than that. Then if they actually end up on that side of the fence, and they see the rest of the iceberg that was not visible to them before, they realize situations and problems are not as simple as they appeared to be.

Being an armchair quarterback is always easier than being a REAL quarterback.

Isn't that the truth. I had a Direct Report basically call me out, say I didn't do shit, and that she could do my job easier than I could.

So I gave her that option. For a day, I let her try to do my job. She never said shit again after that.

[M3Denver]

Originally Posted by mccannable

My wife started her "dream job" teaching ballet last year but things are not all that dream, for me. Her good friend started the studio and things took off. They expected about 80 students and ended up with about 250 the first year which is great.

The pay scale is easily overlooked because of the amount of hours she is required to work that she is not compensated for. She is an employee not a contractor and is only paid for class time teaching not; competitor tream, registration, set up and tear down, meetings, and tons of other time invested equalling over 15-20 hours unpaid time a week. If there not bad enough she has to drive her own car/gas, pay her own hotel, food, and convention fees to the many conventions and comps they do each year.

She teaches more classes/students then anyone else and pretty much is the only reason the place is still open. She see(now a little more than at first) nothing wrong with the picture and none of the either teachers do either.

I believe she is being taken advantage of and this has caused many issues with us, not the money but the time she volunteers for someone else's success.


Am I out of line?


Cliffs: wife works 20 hours a week for free for her dream job and is already underpaid.

shes hooking up with random dance men

[mccannable]

Originally Posted by M3Denver

shes hooking up with random dance men

There is a bigger chance those dance men wanting to hook
Up with me.


No I get overtime 1.5x ,2x , and 2.5x all broken down on my pay stub.

[shah269]

Yeah dude...it's that sallary fucking pay thing.
On one hand you havea secure stable source of income but on the other you can be ridden hard.
Have her look at her contract to see if she qualifies for overtime...if not then well she is screwed and may have to quit and come back as a contractor.
Sorry wish i could give you + advice.

[Maestro]

all, if her employer required her to travel and do things for the dance studio and she is not paid for it, she maybe able to write it all off on taxes as part of job related expenses not paid by the employer.

[upstatedoc]

Originally Posted by M3Denver

shes hooking up with random dance men

Originally Posted by mccannable

There is a bigger chance those dance men wanting to hook
Up with me.

OP slams troll!

[Foxrus14]

Originally Posted by shah269

Yeah dude...it's that sallary fucking pay thing.
On one hand you havea secure stable source of income but on the other you can be ridden hard.

Know more than everyone else about your area and there is no hard riding. I put my 35 Hours in per week and go home. Anything I don't want to do I hand off to my Engineers, and I basically work on big picture Capital allocation projects.

[Hawkeye]

If she is happy and sees nothing wrong, and her coworkers see nothing wrong then mind your own business.

If I had a job I loved doing I would do extra/outside work for free as well. Maybe there just isn't money to compensate her for the extra effort?

You can deduct the gas and car useage, etc as a business expense on your taxes I believe.

[mccannable]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

If she is happy and sees nothing wrong, and her coworkers see nothing wrong then mind your own business.

If I had a job I loved doing I would do extra/outside work for free as well. Maybe there just isn't money to compensate her for the extra effort?

You can deduct the gas and car useage, etc as a business expense on your taxes I believe.

Because she is my wife it is my business. Especially when volunteering a lot of hours and investing in others success instead of ours.