“Attorney Spoke in terms that were clear and understandable and advised me as if the problem were her own.” Member from Leechburg, PA

I will never, ever, be without my LegalShield Membership.  I am so very thankful to all the Attorneys at Welch, Gold, Siegel & Fiffik and to LegalShield for offering this necessary service. Member from Kingston, PA

Very Informative!  Explained options in detail, responded in a timely manner and put forth the extra effort to wrap things up quickly!! Member from Clinton, PA

I was thrilled at the lawyer’s knowledge and skill in handling my situation.  I was immediately put at ease and grateful to have the Attorney as a member of my team. Thanks, Member from South Park, PA

Thanks for your help, I’ll tell you, every corporation should operate the way you guys do! Member from Franklin, PA

Partner Michael E. Fiffik, Esquire was the keynote speaker at a recent event sponsored by Concordia Lutheran Ministries, one of the state’s largest providers of senior care, physical rehabilitation and home care services.  Concordia is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities for a wide variety of aging services.  Read more about the event.

By Michael E. Fiffik, Esquire Private mortgage insurance (PMI) protects the lender if you stop making payments on your loan. Lenders may require you to purchase PMI if your down payment is less than 20 percent of the sales price or the appraised value of the home. PMI premiums are added to your monthly mortgage payment and can be as high as $100 per $100,000 borrowed. If you’ve taken out a mortgage in the last five years, you can reduce the length of time you pay PMI by taking a few simple steps. This can save you six to twelve months of PMI payments. For most loans, you pay mortgage insurance premiums until your loan-to-value ratio (LTV) — this is simply the amount of money you borrowed divided by the value of the property you bought — hits 80 percent. For example, let’s say you bought a $100,000 home and put down 10 percent, or $10,000, and got a $90,000 loan to pay the rest. Your LTV in this case would be $90,000 divided by $100,000, or 90 percent. The longer you pay down your mortgage, the lower your LTV will become. On government loans, mortgage insurance is normally required regardless of the LTV. Lenders must give you a written statement explaining that you have PMI and when you’ll be allowed to cancel it. That statement is probably buried in the reams of paper that you didn’t have time to read but signed at your closing. Dig it out and look at it – it can save you money. Conventional Mortgage insurance rates vary — usually, the lower your down payment and/or the lower your credit score, the higher the premiums — but typically the premiums can range from $30-70 per month for every $100,000 borrowed. So, if you bought a $200,000 home, you might pay about $100 per month for mortgage insurance. On FHA loans, there is an up-front MIP (mortgage insurance premium) and annual premium which is collected monthly. VA loans have an up-front fee (funding fee) and no annual or monthly premiums. The Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 governs PMI and gives homeowners certain rights to cancel PMI payments. Once you’ve built up a certain amount of equity in the house, typically 20 percent, the mortgage insurance policy usually may be canceled. The lender usually won’t automatically cancel PMI until you’ve reached 22 percent equity based on the original appraised value of the home, but you can request cancellation at 20 percent of the current market value. You can get to 20 percent equity by paying down the principal or if there’s appreciation of your home’s value due to the market or improvements that you have made. How do you know what your home is worth? Homeowners can contact a local appraiser and ask whether they do “PMI Cancellation Consultations.” Some local appraisers will do a quick check for you for a small fee. BUT, that will only tell you if you’re in the ballpark. The good news is that most of these appraisers will credit that small fee towards the full appraisal you’ll need to cancel PMI. Expect to pay about $300 for a full appraisal. The amount you can save in PMI payments can more than make up for this fee. In order to request cancellation of your PMI payments, you must have a good payment history on the loan and submit a written request to your lender. A sample written request can look like this: Attention Customer Service: Subject: [Your loan number] [Names on loan documents] [Property and/or mailing address] This is a “qualified written request” under Section 6 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). I am writing because: I believe that my loan-to-value ratio has reached 80 percent due to [number of payments, appreciation in value of home, etc.] Attach copies of any related written materials [such as a recent appraisal]. List a day time telephone number in case a customer service representative wishes to contact you. I understand that under Section 6 of RESPA you are required to acknowledge my request within 20 business days and must act upon my request within 60 business days. Sincerely, [Your name] The request should not be sent with your mortgage payment. Your lender probably has a different address for correspondence not including payments. If you aren’t sure, you can check your lender’s website or call customer service. If you are a LegalShield member, we encourage you to call us for a consultation on your PMI situation. We can review and help you understand whether you are eligible to request cancellation of your PMI and submit the request on your behalf to the lender. You can initiate that request with us by calling (800) 375.3089.

By Michael E. Fiffik, Esquire The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday struck down a regulatory scheme that required home-care providers for Medicaid recipients to pay fees to a union, but declined to overturn precedent allowing public sector unions to collect fees from nonunion workers. The decision has implications for other “partial-public” employees such as day care workers whose businesses are paid with state-funded child-care vouchers given to parents who hold low-wage jobs and receive public assistance. In 2009, Gov. Pat Quinn (D-Illinois) signed an executive order that authorized the state to recognize a union for personal assistant (PA) home-care providers, even though they are not actually public employees. Most home-care providers do not work for the state but receive a subsidy through Medicaid to provide care for someone that is disabled, which in many cases is a family member. Pam Harris, a mother in northern Illinois, takes care of her son with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities and was forced into a union by Quinn’s order. Harris declined the offer to join the union and then filed a lawsuit in 2010 to avoid being forced to pay the union “agency fees” despite her decision to not join the union. In a 5-4 ruling in the case of Harris v. Quinn, the high court found in favor of Ms. Harris’ challenge to the Illinois law. The contested regulations considered home health workers “public employees” for union-organizing purposes and required them to pay “agency fees” to a union for representing their interests in front of state agencies — even those workers who were not members of the union and not actually employees of the state for any other purpose. Despite finding against the Illinois regulatory scheme, the high court’s majority stopped short of overturning precedent set in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education. In that 1977 decision, the Supreme Court had allowed public employers to require all employees — both union and nonunion workers — to pay union fees, so long as workers were not forced to pay a portion of the fees that covers ideological activities. The court makes clear that individuals not fully employed by the state (“partial-public”) cannot be forced to pay agency fees. Now states must review their employee complements to see who, if anyone, would be considered a quasi-state employee or something less than a ‘full-fledged’ state employee, as they cannot be forced to pay agency fees or dues. Monday’s ruling is also likely to spell more lawsuits contesting mandatory public-sector union fees, in part because it appears to lend judicial backing to so-called right-to-work laws, which generally prohibit forcing nonunion workers to pay union fees and which have been passed or proposed in multiple states.

I am writing in regards to the service provided by Attorney Love. He was hightly professional and made me feel very comfortable speaking with him. He listened to me intently and responded with clairty. His advice was on target. I felt bricks had been lifted from my shoulders after speaking with Attorney Love. With warm regards, Member from Pittsburgh, PA

Letters from our Members: December 27, 2013 Dear Welch, Gold, Siegel & Fiffik, P.C., I just had to drop you a note letting you know how grateful I am that you helped me in resolving my traffic incident. I am sure that things would not have gone very well without you intervening. Thank you so much and have a wonderful new year. Sincerely, Member from Pittsburgh, PA #legalshield

By Michael E. Fiffik, Esquire Warmer weather is a popular season for home improvement projects such as new floors, renovated bathrooms and larger decks. If you plan to hire a contractor to do the work, know your rights under Pennsylvania’s Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act. Your Contractor Should be Registered with the State The Act requires all home improvement contracts to be registered with the Attorney General’s office. Your contractor will have an “HIC” number if registered. You should check on your contractor here. The registry will tell you if the registration is current, list any complaints against the contractor and provide you with valuable information necessary to make a decision whether to hire this company for your project. Don’t Sign The Contract With These Items Missing The Act also requires the contractor to provide you with a written contract containing certain key terms, including: the approximate starting date and completion date for the work; a description of the work to be performed, the materials to be used and a set of specifications that cannot be changed without a written change order signed by the home owner; the total sales price due under the contract; the toll-free number of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Consumer Protection; the three-business-day notice of the right of rescission pursuant to the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law; and cannot require a deposit of more than one-third (1/3) or less of the contract price in home improvement contracts in excess of $1,000, plus any special order materials. You must be provided a copy of the signed contract for free and cannot be required to pay any deposit until you receive the fully signed contact. Contracts that do not comply with the Act are not enforceable by the contractor. We Help Resolve Contractor Disputes We help homeowners who have disputes with contractors. Common problems include shoddy work, project delays, failure to start or complete projects, refusal to fix bad work and overcharging. In many instances the contractor has not complied with the requirements of the Act. Failure to comply with the Act can give the homeowner good defenses to a contractor’s unfair claims for payment. In addition violations of the Act constitute violations of the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, which provides for the potential recovery of three times the consumer’s actual damages and attorneys’ fees. We can be effective advocates for homeowners in such disputes. Fiffik Law Group provides a full range of services to residential and commercial property owners. Our real estate and litigations services group consists of Michael E. Fiffik and Mathew Bole. #suingontractor #contractornotshowup #contractorlawsuits #homeimprovement #residentialconstructionproject #homeconstruction #homeimprovementdisputes #contractordisputes

WGSF Newswire:  Unpaid Wages UNPAID WAGES are a fairly common occurrence but most workers don’t know that they’ve been denied wages they are due. As many as 70% of employers fail to comply with wage and hour laws. A common example involves overtime hours worked for which the employee is not paid. Often the employer will refuse to pay those hours citing “policy” that overtime hours must be approved in advance. The worker may accept that as true and be resigned to the fact that they will never be paid for those hours. Has this every happened to you? Well that “policy” probably is not in accordance with the law. There are a number of federal and state laws regulating wage payment to employees, both hourly and salaried, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act being the most widely applicable. The FLSA affects most private and public employment. It requires employers to pay covered employees at least the federal minimum wage and overtime pay for all hours worked over 40 in a work week. Covered employees must be paid for ALL hours worked in a workweek. In general, compensable hours worked include all time an employee is on duty or at a prescribed place of work and any time that an employee is “suffered or permitted” to work. This would generally include work performed before clocking in and after clocking out, work performed at home, training, probationary periods and certain travel and waiting time. Tipped employees may be paid a lower hourly rate but only if the employee’s tips combined with the hourly wage equals the federal minimum wage. If not, the employer must make up the difference. Many wage problems begin with employers misclassifying employees as independent contractors or “management” under the mistaken belief that those workers are not entitled to overtime or other employment-related tax benefits. Employers have many incentives for misclassifying workers. Misclassified employees lose workplace protections, including the right to join a union; face an increased tax burden; receive no overtime pay; and may have no recourse for workplace injury violations and disability-related disputes. Misclassification also causes federal, state, and local governments to suffer revenue losses as employers circumvent their tax obligation. There are many misconceptions about wage and hour laws that deter employees from receiving proper pay. Here are 4 common misconceptions: 1. Salaried workers cannot receive overtime pay. Many salaried employees do not receive the proper pay simply because they and their employers are under the false assumption that the worker is rendered ineligible for overtime pay simply because the worker is paid a salary versus hourly rate. This is one from of worker misclassification that leads to unpaid wages. In order to be “exempt” from the minimum wage and overtime pay rules of the FLSA, an employee must receive at least $455 each week in salary, regardless of the number of hours worked, and must perform a significant amount of supervisory or managerial duties. 2. If I work a flat rate, then I am exempt from overtime. Any “non-exempt” employee covered by the FLSA must be paid minimum wage and overtime regardless of any fixed pay arrangement. If the total of the flat rate payments divided by the number of hours worked in that week do not add up to the minimum wage having been paid, the employer must make up the difference. 3. If my employer issues me a 1099 at the end of the year, I am exempt from overtime. It is very common for employers to believe that they can avoid paying minimum wage, overtime and payroll taxes by simply electing to pay a worker with an 1099 IRS form. This is not true and is another common example of misclassification. Whether a worker is an independent contractor depends on a variety of factors including the extent of control the employer has over the manner in which the worker performs his or her duties, whether the worker is performing work for other employers concurrently and the contractual arrangement between the worker and the employer. In most situations, the employee should not be paid with a 1099. 4. If you earn tips, you are not eligible for overtime pay. Restaurant workers are frequent victims of inaccurate pay. Tipped employees are entitled to overtime in the same manner as other non-exempt employees. There are many misunderstandings by employees and employers on proper pay of tipped employees. Tip pools are frequently used by employers to improperly reduce their cost of ensuring that tipped employees receive minimum wage. As a worker it is important to know your rights concerning your pay. You have 3 years from the date your wages were due to file an unpaid wage claim. You can review your wage payment history from prior employers and raise claims against them. Always be sure to keep track of the number of hours you perform work, whether on the clock or not, and double-check your paystubs to be sure you’re being paid for all of those hours. If you suspect that you are not receiving the correct pay, call us. Michael Fiffik, Esquire and Matthew Bole, Esquire regularly consult with employees concerning unpaid wages. They can be reached at 412.391.1014 or at mfiffik@wgsf-law.com or mbole@wgsf-law.com.