This is very bad...CVS/ Walgreens not hiring anymore?

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My friend just opened a brand new pharmacy in Southern California. He listed a pharmacist job and wanted to pay cash at 40 dollars/hr. He said he had at least 8-10 people asking him for a job. Also, he even got someone willing to go as low as 33 /hr.

This is a true story...I am not making it up. I wonder if CVS/Walgreens are not longer hiring or something?
 
I work under the table for 40 dollars as well. It is the current under the table rate and those kinds of jobs can be found on craigslist in SoCal. Most of the time when you take work at cash rates of 40, owners tend to provide plenty of help. Plus no one seems to mind you watching movies on your phone since you are getting paid so little.
 
If you are getting paid $61 an hour and are in 35% tax bracket, it comes out to be $40 an hour in cash. That's the way I look at it.

I work for a very good guy 2 to 3 days a week and he pays me $50 an hour cash.
 
farmadiazepine said:
If you are getting paid $61 an hour and are in 35% tax bracket, it comes out to be $40 an hour in cash. That's the way I look at it.

I work for a very good guy 2 to 3 days a week and he pays me $50 an hour cash.
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Is it legal to do so? Srs


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AlwaysContrary said:
Just maybe those pharmacist's didn't want to work for CVS or Walgreens and would rather work for an Independent where they have better hours, better work environment, etc. Sometimes money isn't everything, ya know.
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Would you rather have $60/hr to work your ass off? Or would you rather do $40/hr cash to occasionally fill some scripts and spend most of the day on Netflix?
 
Would you get anyone good at 40/hour even under the table?

You might be able to get 90-100k/year after tax and all tax-advantaged pre-tax deductions (not considering benefits), even single and 401k and HSA max, depending on the chain and if you get 40/week. Yes you would probably have to work harder than at an independent that offers 40/hr.
 
npage148 said:
Also forget any worker protection. Workers comp, short term, labor laws, flma
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Hahahaha, I can almost envision your quarterly self reviews:

"I continually self motivate to drive sales, customer satisfaction, Laser™ Focus® on customers, and am determined to exceed KPM goals every time.

My five year plan in the Emerging Leaders© program us to become Rx Sup then DM.

"
 
I didn't see that the independent was only paying cash. that's kinda sketch, to be honest.
 
You can avoid paying income tax on the first 25 k (legally too): $18 k (401 k) + $3 k (HSA) + $4 k (healthcare cost).


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ChalupaBatman86 said:
Yes, you also get Medicaid, food stamps, and an Obama phone.


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except that program started under Reagan.

But seriously - for a part time job - legality and ethics aside
Get paid $60 an hour to bust your ass at a chain - pay state and federal taxes = ~35 an hour

Heck i would take $33 cash to do less work in a heart beat.
 
Except that the IRS every so often (8-12 year cycles) looks at healthcare professional spending trends and audits small pharmacies to flush that out. The odds are something like 1/50 (except in CA and NY where there is more enforcement) that you'd get caught each cycle (so three cycles...). It's actually not because of independents, the DEA specifically directs the IRS to look for that to see if we are stealing meds and selling them on the sly. If you're an under the table worker and steal a bottle of generic Vicodin weekly, what is that owner going to do?

A shift every so often, no big deal. A regular employment relationship, the owner is risking more than they think.

I also hope that you're not doing something so stupid as depositing the cash or worse, accepting an "under the table" check which would get the both of you audited when you cashed it in regularly.
 
lord999 said:
I also hope that you're not doing something so stupid as depositing the cash or worse, accepting an "under the table" check which would get the both of you audited when you cashed it in regularly.
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this part no one often thinks about - don't ever leave a paper trail - spend cash
 
Small business owners think paying under the table saves them money - ie. workman comp insurance, state / federal taxes, etc. Wait until someone gets injured on the job and the employee sues the employer. The employer can't use their casualty insurance in that situation and will pay for damages out of pocket. There is no cap as to how much they may have to cough up. Not worth it, especially in California where it's such a litigious / serial plaintiff state.
 
ExpressMaiL said:
Wait until someone gets injured on the job and the employee sues the employer. The employer can't use their casualty insurance in that situation and will pay for damages out of pocket. There is no cap as to how much they may have to cough up.
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how many ppl gets injured working in a pharmacy? as a business owner, risk taker, this is something u can bet on. it doesn't happen.
 
sosoo said:
how many ppl gets injured working in a pharmacy? as a business owner, risk taker, this is something u can bet on. it doesn't happen.
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CRW repeatedly used to get in trouble with state insurance commissions over screwing over workers' compensation claims. CA, TX, and NY fined them to the tune of $150M in 2001 and basically told them that they had to use a third-party or else. That was one of the reasons behind Dan Jorndt's "retirement" as that was a huge amount of money. Sedgwick, the company that CRW hired to be the third-party-processor, doesn't do much better at it.

Sedgwick pays $1.13 million to settle California comp violations - Business Insurance

Claims are rare, but they are always high stakes legally such that self-insurance as a workers' compensation policy is considered to be suicidal in anything but the smallest of businesses that risk bankruptcy from even one case.
 
sosoo said:
how many ppl gets injured working in a pharmacy? as a business owner, risk taker, this is something u can bet on. it doesn't happen.
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I nearly removed my index finger working in a pharmacy.
 
lord999 said:
CRW repeatedly used to get in trouble with state insurance commissions over screwing over workers' compensation claims. CA, TX, and NY fined them to the tune of $150M in 2001 and basically told them that they had to use a third-party or else. That was one of the reasons behind Dan Jorndt's "retirement" as that was a huge amount of money. Sedgwick, the company that CRW hired to be the third-party-processor, doesn't do much better at it.

Sedgwick pays $1.13 million to settle California comp violations - Business Insurance

Claims are rare, but they are always high stakes legally such that self-insurance as a workers' compensation policy is considered to be suicidal in anything but the smallest of businesses that risk bankruptcy from even one case.
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Sedgewick is trash.

They basically hire customer service vampires grown artificially in vats to call the customers
 
CetiAlphaFive said:
I nearly removed my index finger working in a pharmacy.
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ah its been 5 years i almost forgot. my first night working nightshift, i was in a haste to close the safe door, and bang my index in between the heavy steel door.
 
sosoo said:
ah its been 5 years i almost forgot. my first night working nightshift, i was in a haste to close the safe door, and bang my index in between the heavy steel door.
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I almost got my nose broke holding down an agitated patient - although the likelyhood of that happening in a retail establishment is pretty low
 
Surely someone has been injured by a carousel. Oh, and how about a needle stick injury? You could probably hurt yourself by sticking yourself in the right location with the right drug.
 
gwarm01 said:
Surely someone has been injured by a carousel. Oh, and how about a needle stick injury? You could probably hurt yourself by sticking yourself in the right location with the right drug.
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There was a Target pharmacist in Waco that got himself in the thumb with an Epi-Pen during a counseling session.
 
sosoo said:
how many ppl gets injured working in a pharmacy? as a business owner, risk taker, this is something u can bet on. it doesn't happen.
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Well if you ever run your own business one day, it will be your call as to whether or not you forego workman's comp in an attempt to save a few hundred dollars over a single year. It's all about risk tolerance. For the cost of dollars per day, I'll gladly pay that per employee to prevent company and personal assets being targeted. Accidents happen and believe it or not, no matter how outrageous the incident, it isn't something you simply sweep under the rug.
 
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ExpressMaiL said:
Well if you ever run your own business one day, it will be your call as to whether or not you forego workman's comp in an attempt to save a few hundred dollars over a single year. It's all about risk tolerance. For the cost of dollars per day, I'll gladly pay that per employee to prevent company and personal assets being targeted. Accidents happen and believe it or not, no matter how outrageous the incident, it isn't something you simply sweep under the rug.
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Exactly.

People forget that things fall on people's heads from ceilings every single day.
The shelving units used in pharmacies are extremely heavy, too.

Como se dice, catastrophic injury?
 
sosoo said:
how many ppl gets injured working in a pharmacy? as a business owner, risk taker, this is something u can bet on. it doesn't happen.
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I've had 3 worker's compensation claims in my life - one in a restaurant, and two as a pharmacist. One was a 5-FU vial that I dropped, and it broke and splashed all over my sandal-clad foot, and the other was when I was compounding a skin cream with phenol, and didn't see the crystals that had fallen onto the counter when I leaned on it later. 😱

My BFF works at an independent, although not for cash, and even though the health insurance is terrible and he's temporarily not living with his family, they're all much happier because (among other things) he doesn't have to deal with metrics. As long as the prescriptions get filled, that's all that matters.

Working a few hours for cash is one thing; I've done it myself. Working regularly for cash? Um, no.
 
CetiAlphaFive said:
There was a Target pharmacist in Waco that got himself in the thumb with an Epi-Pen during a counseling session.
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Have heard this one numerous times from an EMT...holding the wrong end of the device
Get your tetanus booster even though it's not required...have cut myself on aluminum seals & when handling warfarin plenty & when ripping off safety caps with my bare hands instead of using a "hooker". I'm waiting for the day when a top shelf metformin 1,000 count bottle or possibly a bowel prep kit gives someone a concussion
 
rph3664 said:
I've had 3 worker's compensation claims in my life - one in a restaurant, and two as a pharmacist. One was a 5-FU vial that I dropped, and it broke and splashed all over my sandal-clad foot, and the other was when I was compounding a skin cream with phenol, and didn't see the crystals that had fallen onto the counter when I leaned on it later. 😱

My BFF works at an independent, although not for cash, and even though the health insurance is terrible and he's temporarily not living with his family, they're all much happier because (among other things) he doesn't have to deal with metrics. As long as the prescriptions get filled, that's all that matters.

Working a few hours for cash is one thing; I've done it myself. Working regularly for cash? Um, no.
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workers comp claim for leaning against phenol crystals???
 
PharmDminus said:
workers comp claim for leaning against phenol crystals???
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Pure phenol is corrosive & toxic through skin absorption... after exposure, if they sought medical treatment, it's conceivable there could be a worker's comp claim. It would also be an OSHA recordable. Seems like a stretch, but it could happen.
 
Z-Qualizer said:
Pure phenol is corrosive & toxic through skin absorption... after exposure, if they sought medical treatment, it's conceivable there could be a worker's comp claim. It would also be an OSHA recordable. Seems like a stretch, but it could happen.
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phenol that was being used to compound...a skin..cream. and i would assume there was clothing on the part of the body that might be leaning on a counter
 
people can get workman's comp for doing stupid things, I am not a lawyer, but I am guessing the company can challenge, but usually it is easier to pay
 
msweph said:
And seem like you're in the wrong for wearing sandals in the pharmacy...
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They were allowed in the dress code, and I was wearing socks with them, as was commonly done at the time.
 
PharmDminus said:
workers comp claim for leaning against phenol crystals???
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You better believe it. After finishing the cream, I did something else and then came back and leaned on the counter, and noticed a few minutes later that I had some odd painless spots on my arm. It didn't take long for my tech and I to figure out what it was. After washing my arm very well, I went to Employee Health, which was in the building, and the doctor examined me, dressed my arm with Silvadene, and wanted to see me the next day, at which time he removed the dressing.

That happened almost 20 years ago, so I really had to mine my memory for that one.

ETA: Those spots healed quickly but took several years to fully re-pigment.
 
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RxVampire said:
Have heard this one numerous times from an EMT...holding the wrong end of the device
Get your tetanus booster even though it's not required...have cut myself on aluminum seals & when handling warfarin plenty & when ripping off safety caps with my bare hands instead of using a "hooker". I'm waiting for the day when a top shelf metformin 1,000 count bottle or possibly a bowel prep kit gives someone a concussion
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At the same job where I had the 5-FU claim, we had a technician who dropped a pneumatic tube on her big toe. 😱 As if that wasn't bad enough, she'd just had an ingrown toenail removed, and was wearing cheapo canvas tennies with the big toe cut out, so there wouldn't be any pressure on that toe. :nailbiting: :wow: Not only was it extremely painful and bled profusely, she was hesitant to go to the ER because she was afraid of getting into trouble. That was understandable, because she had previously worked in a factory and saw people deliberately injure themselves to get out of work. :boom: We told her, "No, this is what worker's comp is for" and she did get it treated.
 
PharmDBro2017 said:
Is it legal to do so? Srs
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It may not be illegal for the employee, so long as they reported the income and paid all the relevant taxes on it. In the process, they'd likely get the employer arrested for a laundry list of charges. Unless they were going to try to construe it as independent contracting work being paid via 1099, rather than employment. But there are criteria that would disqualify it as independent contracting, like if the employer set particular hours that the pharmacist was expected to work, for instance.

Beyond the tax implications... I find it bizarre to hear that licensed professionals are being offered work under the table. Like, if they were caught, wouldn't the fall out from that that have implications for their license as well? I guess it would depend on what their local state board tolerates, but I've known nurses, for instance, to lose their license for breaking laws that weren't directly related to the conduct of their profession, but which called their character/judgment into question.
 
ChalupaBatman86 said:
What time was that?


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Late 1990s.

The cash job I did was at, of all places, Phar-mor. Long story made short: I worked a grand total of 3 hours, and it would have taken longer to fill out all that paperwork (almost) so we agreed that I would be paid from the store's petty cash. It was a VERY dead Sunday afternoon, so I didn't really have to do much in the end.
 
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