KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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license holder issues / workers comp
April 14, 2018
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license holder issues
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Ken
    I am a Florida EF Qualifier for an out of state alarm company. They found me thru your site, 
The Alarm Exchange.  They claim that they are ceasing sales in my state and are terminating me.  Are they required to to be qualified if they own the systems or are still monitoring even thru a third party CS?  What about serving the already installed systems?  Am I still liable after termination?  I do not have any written agreement with this company.  
Please keep me 
anonymous
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Response
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    You were foolish to enter into this arrangement without our 
Qualifier Agreement.  That agreement would clearly specify both your, and the company's, responsibilities and termination issues.  
    Generally a license holder is not going to be liable for subscriber losses, but the license could be in jeopardy and there could certainly be possible risk to the license holder for company activities.  
    Florida requires the license holder to accept considerable responsibility, perhaps more than other states.  You mention that the company found you through 
The Alarm Exchange.  If so, then you and the company were counseled to use the Qualifier Agreement.  By going off on your own you now have questions that should have been addressed before you accepted the obligation to hold the license.  Florida does require a license to monitor alarms, so if the company continues to invoice for monitoring then it should have a license.
    I want to head off comments about the arrangement between license holder and company.  I do not encourage or condone license holders "lending" or "availing" their license.  The undertaking is a serious one and both license holder and company need to fully understand their respective responsibilities.  The 
Qualifier Agreement lays that out.  Some of you are too smart to keep me or my office in the loop; I guess you think you saved some money on lawyers or you didn't need any protection or advice.  Well, good for you.  For the rest of you, I suggest you keep my office in the loop.  If you're on or using The Alarm Exchange [for licensing issues] you need to keep my office in the loop to avoid problems later.
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workers comp
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Ken
    I Sign up for workers comp services and they send me a quote for about $2,800.00 for the year 2016.  When I send employee that I want to insure I gave them a list of my filed employees.
    In the 2017 they made a post audit and they told me that i have to put every employee including admin and field workers.  Now my audit came out that I owe them close to $3000.00.
    No one explained me that I had to include all my employees in the beginning.  Is there  anything that I can do?   Now they send me to collections. 
Thanks
name withheld [out of pity]
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Response
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    Is there anything you can do?  I think so.

  • You can pay the invoice and avoid legal fees and procedures

  • You can work with a broker who can explain your insurance needs

  • You can start running your business like a business and engage professionals to assist you

    If you read the article on broker liability [April 12, 2018] you would know that your broker is only required to give you what you ask for, and explain matters only when you ask for information.  Unless you asked the broker to get you all the insurance you needed, and the broker assured you that he would do that, you have nothing to complain about.  Also, you should have known that all your employees have to be covered by workers comp insurance.  Who knows what else you haven't handled correctly, but I am going to go out on a limb and guess you also don't have up to date contracts.  Did I not recommend that, many times?  
    While I am discussing workers comp I want to mention why even single member owned businesses need workers comp if you are working as a subcontractor.  You may be a sole proprietor, sole shareholder [corporation] or member [Limited Liability Company] and not be required to carry workers comp in your state.  But if you don't the company hiring you is going to have to include you along with its employees for calculation of the workers comp premium.  The hiring company won't want to do that so it will require you to carry your own workers comp.  It will come in  handy if you get hurt on the job.
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
516 747 6700
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com