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E52: Workplace Legal Plans: What You’re Not Being Told
11 Plays9 days ago
This week we're taking a hard look at those legal plans your job offers—the ones that seem like a great deal until you actually need them. We’re breaking down why cheap or “included” estate planning services can leave you with missing documents, outdated language, and way bigger problems down the road. We’ll share real examples of what can (and does) go wrong and why quality matters when it comes to estate planning.
And because we can’t stay serious for too long, we’re also rating some of the best (and worst) workplace benefits we've ever heard of. Spoiler: paying to wear jeans is somehow a real thing.
Tune in for estate planning tips you need and workplace stories you won’t believe!
Join us every Wednesday for new episodes! Subscribe now to get notified.
Where you can find Burch Law:
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- (972) 385-0558
Visit burch-law.com/podcast to reach out!
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Transcript
Introduction to Wills and Estate Planning
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of One of Us Knows What They're Talking About and the other one is you. I'm Lori Birch, your host. Join us as we discuss and unpack wills, trusts, estate planning, and probate law in a way that's actually informative, interesting, and well, hopefully entertaining. Because if you don't have a will, the state of Texas has one for you.
00:00:27
Speaker
Let's dive in.
Workplace Legal Plans: Pros and Cons
00:00:40
Speaker
All right. So on today's thrilling episode of one of us knows what they're talking about and the other one is you. ah Since we've added the like intro outro, I don't feel like I get to say it as much.
00:00:55
Speaker
And that's sad. That makes me sad. Tears. I can still say it. Yes. So something that comes up, and i feel like we've talked about this or alluded to it before, but what we're going to talk about specifically today is um something that it's been going on for a while, but with in the DFW area, we have of of corporations here and so it seems to be bigger companies banks that offer these type of hr benefits and hey i'm all for hr benefits like good job good job but one of the things that they provide are these workplace legal plans and they're provided
00:01:44
Speaker
by certain companies, they've had different names, but basically where you can get reduced or included legal services.
00:01:55
Speaker
And I am not here to talk about any of the quality of these legal services when it comes to anything outside of wills, trusts, and estate planning.
00:02:08
Speaker
Like that's what I've seen lived and breathed with this. So if it's a great place to get, ah
00:02:20
Speaker
you know, ah divorce or have a child custody modification, or if it's a great way to be defended from your DUI charge. Like, I don't know. Although I don't know why you'd want your, a company that's employed by your, what's used by your employer to know these things, but hey, whatever.
00:02:38
Speaker
So, I mean, maybe that's okay. I truly can't answer that. But I can answer it looks in our world. And i personally, on the employer and HR side of things, things it sounds like ah great think it sounds like a great idea. Like, awesome. Because more people need to have this planning. I mean, if there's anything we consistently harp upon, it is that.
00:03:04
Speaker
However, it's it's one of those things that's just like any sort of quick fix, reduced fee, ah magic diet pill. You know, it just...
00:03:16
Speaker
The proof is in the pudding and it still yields really bad results, unfortunately. um Very similar to all the stuff that we talk about with DIY stuff, but we'll talk about it specifically with these plans. And it works.
00:03:32
Speaker
it It works a little differently. I will tell you that a couple of times along the way of the 20 years that Birch Law has been around, I've looked into participating as a provider as a, and that, and every time I'm scared off by it, because one of the things is they require you to significantly reduce your fees and compensation.
00:04:04
Speaker
And if you're truly trying to provide a quality service, a customized service, something that people truly need and will hang on, everybody work. when you need it, there's no shortcuts there.
00:04:19
Speaker
There's no magic one. There's no better than nothing kind of concept. I mean, one thing that we see a lot is it either is nothing or sometimes even worse than nothing. It can be worse than nothing for a lot of reasons, but one of the reasons it's worse than nothing is because at least people who don't have an estate plan know they don't.
00:04:39
Speaker
But people who are like, oh, yeah, I did this form and I filled it out and all
Challenges with Reduced Fee Structures
00:04:44
Speaker
of that. um So, I mean, it might be a tier above better than some of the DIY and and online services. But in many cases, it has the same net result.
00:04:57
Speaker
So and the other thing I will say, though, is at least the biggest company that provides this I won't mention names, but they do provide reimbursement up to a certain amount if you go with an out-of-network firm. And so that's something we've worked with a lot of clients on where we can fill out, submit the invoices and help you at least get kind of the best of both worlds where you're getting a reduction or reimbursement, but you're also getting a thorough customized plan for you at the same time for less.
00:05:29
Speaker
But for any that firm Any quality firm that truly cares about putting a lot of time, effort, customization, and value into this, there is no way you can operate with these reduced fees. And let me tell you, I've talked to some firms that provide these services, and I know some of the shortcuts they are taking in order to be able to participate.
00:05:53
Speaker
and it is not beneficial. It's very, very basic. Are there certain instances where this could be better than nothing? i suppose, but at least have that conversation because it's few and far between.
00:06:06
Speaker
So let's talk specifically about where we see this. So I've heard different stories. I mean, the upside is, i believe for the most part, these are done by real law firms.
00:06:19
Speaker
So that's a plus that are licensed in the state of Texas. That's far and above the online sites that not only are not based in Texas, but are not have there are no licensed attorneys associated with knowing what they're doing. So there is that.
00:06:34
Speaker
But I've heard varying degrees of where there's really not any in-depth meetings with an attorney um where maybe you fill out some questionnaire and you submit it and it gets drafted. And then the documents get sent to you with instructions on how to get it signed, which we talk a lot about how things don't get signed properly.
00:06:55
Speaker
um If they do help you get it signed, good. If they do review things, good.
Missing Documents in Legal Plans
00:07:00
Speaker
But at the very least, it's all very basic and cookie cutter. So if you have any sort of nuanced situation, if you have stepchildren, if you're in the LGBTQ community, if you own property in multiple states,
00:07:14
Speaker
um if you're a business owner. I mean, these are all things that have some nuance to it, particularly if you're interested in doing revocable living trust plan with the idea of avoiding probate.
00:07:27
Speaker
And the only way that that's going to work is by connecting your assets to the trust through deed work, through getting bank accounts changed, beneficiaries changed. There's really none of that support that happens.
00:07:39
Speaker
So basically you're walking out of there and you got nothing. um
00:07:46
Speaker
So, yeah, it's just not it's it's kind of it's kind of the same thing. So what I was going to go through is one of the most recent workplace legal plans that we've reviewed. I was going to go through just as a um an example.
00:08:00
Speaker
You call this like a case study where it. Yeah. So where it goes through like this was just our review of one of these plans. Yeah. So our ah client that we had worked with said, you know, we thought we had everything set up with work, ah with the estate planning benefit.
00:08:19
Speaker
ah But here's here's what we found. So first of all, not all the actual planning documents were included. Specific ones that weren't included was one, a HIPAA medical record release.
00:08:34
Speaker
I've done all the talking now. Who wants to ah share what is important about that document? This document allows whoever you name your agents to be able to get access to medical records that are protected by HIPAA laws.
00:08:52
Speaker
And typically, this should be match up with whoever your medical power of attorney is because they're the ones who get to make the decisions. So can you imagine your medical power of attorney trying to make a decision about your health care, like what's going to happen if you're unconscious or you can't make decisions, but they can't be informed thoroughly about what's going on with you.
00:09:17
Speaker
That sounds real fun. I'm just saying. Good time. That sounds real like a real hot time. Yeah. No, seriously. So this is something we've had to address the Privacy Act for Medical Records. I mean, this has been going on 20 plus years. It's not brand spanking new.
00:09:32
Speaker
And We found in this particular case study, but with some regularity, that there is no accompanying medical record release with the medical power of attorney.
00:09:45
Speaker
Now, we keep we have them as two standalone documents. However, it it is okay to
Importance of Medical and Burial Documents
00:09:52
Speaker
have that HIPAA release language in in the actual medical power of attorney document. So what we're talking about is it's just not addressed at all.
00:10:01
Speaker
Which basically, with the privacy of medical records, means the person you name to make medical decisions and your medical power of attorney can't do anything. Because they can't be told anything.
00:10:13
Speaker
Well, do you want to pull the plug? What's the condition? Oh, we can't tell you that. So do you want to pull it?
00:10:21
Speaker
Depending on what it is maybe. Yeah, i go ahead. I mean, we're aware of the amount of uninformed decisions people make, so, you know. Yes.
00:10:31
Speaker
Another... planning document that we do standard that we have seen missed, and in this particular one was missed, is a a declaration of guardian or a designation of a guardian event of future incapacity.
00:10:46
Speaker
And it's kind of weird to think about this, but it is it is important because if if something more severe happens to you and permanent, so whether it's ah Alzheimer's, dementia, brain aneurysm, if you are in a condition where you cannot make decisions for yourself,
00:11:04
Speaker
so and And great, maybe you have a medical power of attorney, maybe you have a financial power of attorney, but that doesn't preclude you from making decisions. It just says who else can make decisions. So what if you're a danger to yourself? What if you're making bad decisions? ah that That is one example where if you lack capacity, there might need to be a court appointed guardian. and that can be initiated family what if you have and so what if you have painstakingly named the people that you want to make these decisions for you, but you don't have this document.
00:11:38
Speaker
So let's say you know, you, your brother is a ne'er-do-well. And so you wanted to make sure that you've got your sister that find your sister, ah is your backup.
00:11:50
Speaker
Then that means that brother could come in if you don't have this document and say, sorry, sis, I'm going to take the power from you guys. Without the declaration of guardian where you've named, okay, if I'm ever in this situation, this is who can be appointed by the court as my guardian, then it leaves the door open for somebody else, perhaps someone you would not want.
00:12:10
Speaker
Even if ah if it doesn't, even it's all the right people, a declaration of guardian can speed up that process and it waves bond so that whoever gets named your guardian doesn't have to post a bond with the court. I mean, there's just a lot of benefits. So it is an important document.
00:12:26
Speaker
And then finally, and ah commonly missed planning document, but in this case, we saw it as well, which is really sad purely on the fact that it's just the greatest title in all of the state planning, but also because it does something very important.
00:12:40
Speaker
But they did not have the ah appointment of agent to control disposition of remains.
00:12:51
Speaker
I have fun story on this one. Oh, goodness. Good. Hold that for a second. So if it's not painfully obvious from the title, this is a document designating who can oversee any type of funeral, barrackation cmation burial, or cremation.
00:13:06
Speaker
And it can specify if you have any specific wishes there. I know that some people may say, well, I put that in my will. um And I've seen that time and time again. And I don't know if before I started practicing, things went down differently or what.
00:13:20
Speaker
All I can say is ah will does have to go through a probate court process and you're at least 30 days from getting a hearing, getting an executor appointed from the date of death. and every single cremation or burial I know of happens within 30 days of death.
00:13:43
Speaker
That's a long time to be sitting on ice is all I'm saying. So, ah and you may not want the same person as executor be handling those things. But anyway, Cynthia, you have a story about this? Yeah.
00:13:54
Speaker
Yeah. so this actually happened maybe, ah when was I still doing signings? um Four years ago? It's been a bit.
00:14:04
Speaker
So we had a client who they came in to do their own estate planning. um They had recently lost their brother and their brother had named our client as the executor. They are the ones who were handling all the ah aspects of, you know, go to the probate, settling the estate, things like that.
00:14:26
Speaker
However, One of the things that they the brother did not have was this document or anything similar to it. So in Texas, in order to be able to be cremated, there's there's a list of certain people who can sign off on that, who can approve for a body to be cremated.
00:14:44
Speaker
And they have to be a certain level of like relative to the individual. ah Part of this is like to ensure like if there's no foul play suspected things like that. So the our client's brother didn't have anything like this in place and the person who the funeral home wanted to hear from and get some documents signed by was the the brother's ah daughter.
00:15:10
Speaker
So our client's niece. Well Our client's niece lives in London. So the funeral home here in Texas, in Dallas, wanted her to come or her to sign some documents saying that she was signing off on the cremation and they weren't going to do it until they had her signature.
00:15:31
Speaker
So they had to do a couple of things because I believe that the funeral home wanted the original signature. They didn't want it to be like scanned in or anything. So they had to mail something or I guess I could have emailed it, but she had to print it out, sign and it ah had to be mailed back to us or back to back to Dallas.
00:15:49
Speaker
all way from london so our client's like saying how big of a hassle this was because his daughter's like okay well what do i need to do do i really need to come all the way back for his niece for you know just to do this so ultimately the brother thought hey everything's gonna be fine our brother's gonna able to handle this we will take care of it it will be easy however because the stocking it was missing there was a little bit of a wrench there
00:16:15
Speaker
Wow. Yeah, it's come up so more than I would have thought when I first started this practice. And i actually, like, I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but toot toot.
00:16:29
Speaker
But there, i had one client who's... spouse had passed away. And she told me that when she went to the funeral home and presented that document, that the funeral director was like, this is incredible.
00:16:45
Speaker
Like, who's your attorney? This is exactly what we need. This is, I'm not making this up. I'm really, really not. Girl, that's exactly what they said. This is why you know I'm not making it up.
00:16:58
Speaker
Because my response was, yeah, that's right. I'm amazing.
Issues with Outdated Legal Language
00:17:01
Speaker
but
00:17:04
Speaker
But no, it's really true. And actually ah two instances within the first five years of my practice, because for for those who may not know, we we help everybody, but we do have a special focus on the LGBTQ community.
00:17:16
Speaker
And within the first five years of my practice, I had two instances with clients. One where, and this is pre-marriage equality, so not husband or spouse, but partner passed away. And the parents were like, we're taking our boy home home and having him buried in our plot in Oklahoma. And the partner was able to say that's not what his wishes were. And I have this document and it was resolved.
00:17:39
Speaker
The second one is ah a different scenario that I see happen a little bit more often, thankfully-ish, I guess. I call it institutional uncertainty.
00:17:51
Speaker
um And it's where a funeral director was saying to our client whose partner had passed away, ah look, I respect your relationship.
00:18:02
Speaker
I want to listen to you. ah You there's no family here. There's no next to kin that's fighting you or disagreeing with you. But I don't know if legally I can listen to you.
00:18:15
Speaker
And because he, I don't know why he didn't present this at the beginning, but that's fine. Not all our clients really listen to what we do for them. It's fine. But at that point, he said, well, I have this document that we got prepared. And the feudal director said, great, wonderful. This gives me the legal ability to be able to honor your wishes.
00:18:36
Speaker
um Well, your partner's wishes, but your wishes in regards to making those decisions. All right. But that's not all that was missing everybody from this. work policy plan.
00:18:48
Speaker
We also, um so the living will, that is a generic term and it's, it's misused so much. What a living will is, it's that document that we all are actually familiar with the concept of, and that is, do you or do you not want your life artificially prolonged, right?
00:19:09
Speaker
So many different states call this different things. In Texas, this is called a directed to positions. And it lays out if I'm in an irreversible condition, ah doctors determine that I'm not going to recover from that within six months.
00:19:25
Speaker
I'm loosey-goosey with this language. um Then I want everything, life-sustaining mechanisms to be removed other than those to keep me comfortable. Essentially, it's that. Or...
00:19:37
Speaker
If you really like to have a good time, you're saying, no, keep me alive. That sounds awesome. Let's drain all the money that I have and my family has and make them suffer. So that's also a choice and it's your choice to make and we respect
00:19:53
Speaker
So, yes, things get things get updated. Like there are statutory requirements. What's a statutory requirement? I'm not going to ask you, Sarah. Anyway, ah of what has to be in documents.
00:20:07
Speaker
This isn't just some free for all where we just put anything in there. No, there's requirements in order for it to be valid and upheld. the law changed on substantively on how this particular document is supposed to look. I think.
00:20:24
Speaker
I mean, like 20 years ago, like in the early two hundred ah two thousand
00:20:31
Speaker
I'm going to cry. I'm going to cry. That was really good, Sam. We both loathe at the same time. You can see our little spike. know You know what I was thinking? Last night when I was doing the seminar and I was talking i was meaning to refer to the early 2000s and someone said the early aughts, which is correct.
00:20:53
Speaker
It really threw me. or that they're really threw me. So was kind of like going back through that. Anyway, it it changed significantly. What's sad is that you would think that attorneys that do a estate planning would get wind of this.
00:21:11
Speaker
ah Right? If they don't, then who's going to do it? So this was just within, so this case study, this is a real thing. Okay. I'm not just like piecing together an amalgam of the problems that we've seen. This is just from one plan we reviewed.
00:21:25
Speaker
It was within the last year. They had language that predated the early aughts, that predated the old statutory language. That's just frightening.
00:21:36
Speaker
The other thing is the trust didn't clearly define um the kids. So you really do, it you have to define who you're married to to establish a marital relationship or who you're not married to.
00:21:52
Speaker
And, or if you're not married, because who you're not married to is a long list. Although it's a lot shorter for some people who've been married a lot. ah Anyway. We need to get Duncan on here because he's really good at following you. is my rim shot.
00:22:10
Speaker
Like i can always count. i can There's two things I can count on with my jokes. Is that Sarah will laugh and Duncan will give me a rim shot. That's it. You can always count that I will just not laugh.
00:22:22
Speaker
I might groan. Yeah. Nice. ah
00:22:28
Speaker
But it's very important to define children as well so that it closes the door for many other children claiming that they have any sort of rights or a more recent trend from the courts stepping in and saying, well, we need to have an attorney ad litem appointed from the court to research all the heirs and descendants to make sure that these are the only ones.
00:22:51
Speaker
we could We could probably do a whole episode on just what I described. So make a note of that, Sarah. actually pretty Actually, that would be pretty fascinating. Yeah, it would be. Especially we can get fun stories.
00:23:02
Speaker
Well, that, but also, ah do we know anybody who regularly serves as an ad litem? Because they would be a great guest. And who's good at it? Oh, have you? Yeah, no, I do.
00:23:14
Speaker
i do. I think that's a good idea. Make a note. um Because that, you know, normally i don't know how much because you all sit in on so many webinars and seminars of mine. i don't know if you pay closely at close attention to when I do them but last night uh when we were when I something I don't always bring up because sometimes it's a question somebody asks me that makes me think to bring it up about ancestry and 23andMe and about how that's really opened a door for people finding relatives that they either want to exclude or include
00:23:49
Speaker
That's the nice part of it, right? So it is it is really important um to do that. The other thing was they had, i don't want to get too nuanced in this, but they had a trust, a living trust, which is designed to avoid
Problems with Trusts in Workplace Plans
00:24:05
Speaker
probate. And so when you pass away, the next in line to help sort out your money and assets is called a trustee.
00:24:14
Speaker
But you always have an accompanying will with it. in case there's anything you don't get ah ah transferred to the trust. And then the will is called an executor.
00:24:25
Speaker
And so let's say you have all your assets in your trust, but ah you forgot that one bank account. So you have to go to court to get control of the bank account to transfer it to the trust. So it makes sense, hopefully, with that very overview broad overview description that the trust your trustee would be the same person as your executor.
00:24:46
Speaker
And in this case, it was two different people, which is really confusing as to... there There are reasons, everybody, so don't take this as blanket advice, but in this context, it made no sense um and could cause unnecessary confusion. And...
00:25:00
Speaker
um and conflicts the other thing i'm not done you believe this there's more but wait there's more is this not bad enough oh there's more um there was nothing in the documents to protect the homestead exemption for the home that's bad that's bad by the way and ah speak going back to the whole executor trustee the will actually contradicted the trust um on what they wanted to do right there could really do a deep dive into how it did that, but let's just say for our purposes, it did, because because I'm actually getting really excited about what Sam and Sarah have for us.
00:25:37
Speaker
um And then i was mentioning this at the top before we got into this particular issue, where if you do a trust and you have to connect assets to it, these, these cookie cutter generic firms that, that provide this, I'm not saying the firm themselves do everything like that. I'm just saying for the firms that service these plans, they're,
00:25:57
Speaker
They are, I'm just going to say they are half-assing it because that's the only way they can afford to do it.
00:26:03
Speaker
We like to full-ass things. but But we full-ass things here. Yeah. There wasn't a deed. They didn't create the deed to transfer the property into the trust, which means the home would be subject to probate.
00:26:16
Speaker
ah That's the bottom
Comparing Workplace Benefits and Legal Services
00:26:17
Speaker
line. So, um and all ah all of the things that I just went through, all of them, are things that there's no reason that the client should have known.
00:26:28
Speaker
And that's really the essential issue here is that you don't know what you don't know. And so if the idea is saving money, saving time, when it, again, this is just beating a drum constantly, but spending the time and effort in now and money now is really what's going to save that when it matters.
00:26:49
Speaker
bottom line. So i know it sounds super great. i love the concept of it. um I will say in case people feel like I'm disparaging these companies that provide these benefits, one of the things that I see some bigger companies providing benefits for, which I think is incredible, is a lot of infertility or adoptions and IV treatments and all of that. And I think that's incredible. i can...
00:27:17
Speaker
Speak from experience that that costs a lot of money. Notice I didn't say it was expensive because not having my beautiful children would be a far bigger expense to my life than the money it costs.
00:27:32
Speaker
But it was a lot of money.
00:27:36
Speaker
But it wasn't expensive. um And I think I can speak for Sam, Sarah, and Cynthia that your lives are fuller with Adley and Poppy in them. Very true. And Kaya and Carly.
00:27:47
Speaker
Maybe not Carly, but only because you don't spend that much time with her. Well, whenever I did. She's probably the best one of all four of them. She's got like this little quirky humor that's whenever, every now and then you're like, she's hilarious.
00:27:59
Speaker
No, that was like the biggest thing. She was 10 when I first started dating Kimberly and we like immediately, thought we actually had this, um, battle of who was more famous or something.
00:28:14
Speaker
and so like we kept like trying to one up each other to the point where she um she wrote her name on some blocks and she's like people even have blocks with my name on it.
00:28:29
Speaker
but but Anyway, it's funny. No, she's great. All four them are great in their own ways, their own very unique individual ways. Point is, I think that's an awesome benefit that some companies provide.
00:28:44
Speaker
And so I don't want anybody to think that I'm poo-pooing that um but when it comes to this type of legal planning it just it doesn't it just doesn't cut it it really doesn't so this is not a workplace benefit that i would um endorse and i'm sorry so was there anything anybody had to add to that
00:29:10
Speaker
don't think we i think we yeah circle the wagons on that all right so i'm excited
Exploring Workplace Language and Benefits
00:29:16
Speaker
don't know what that means laurie now you said you don't know what circling the wagons means i don't think i've ever heard that it's not racist isn't that's a new term and okay hold up yeah anytime like a old-timey expression comes out of my mouth i'm like wait a minute what are the origins of that i really don't think it is but oh no
00:29:41
Speaker
Oh no, Cynthia's looking it
00:29:48
Speaker
Well... It depends on how... It depends on... start including the wagons. This is an idiom that means to take defensive position or prepare to defend against something.
00:30:01
Speaker
Now it's like against criticism or an attack or something. So, this originated back from the pioneer days, whenever there was you know pioneers that had throw-in-long caravans with wagons. you know We've all played the game oreggan trail was about Oregon Trail. Oregon Trail. Uh-huh.
00:30:18
Speaker
And it's like whenever there's like bandits or somebody that was going to attack them, they would form circle like to try to protect each other and then to ward off the attackers, whoever they may be.
00:30:34
Speaker
Let's leave it at that. It doesn't matter the attackers were. Nope. Attackers could have been anybody. ah Could have been anybody. Could have been anybody. It it does specify bandits.
00:30:47
Speaker
Bandits.
00:30:50
Speaker
Alright. An old prospector. Alright, so ah home from Toy Story. Yeah. I love the prospector. Even though he's kind of a villain.
00:31:01
Speaker
Okay, Sam and Sarah, what do you got I'm dumb. What do you got that relates to this topic? So we have a list of good and bad workplace benefits. um We're gonna list out a benefit. You guys have to decide if it's a good benefit or a bad one.
00:31:18
Speaker
Okay. Oh! And I start first. Benefit. Allowed to bring our pets.
00:31:27
Speaker
feel like yes. So that's a good or a bad benefit. Yeah. What do you guys think? I think it's good depending on the pet. It depends. It depends. Yeah.
00:31:39
Speaker
Okay. How about Hawaiian shirt Thursday? I'm in. How is that a benefit? do we provide the the Hawaiian shirts? No, you have to buy your own. You have to buy your own.
00:31:51
Speaker
It's a benefit to those want to wear a Hawaiian shirt.
00:31:57
Speaker
I mean, I like it. Is that something you guys would want? great this is the new thing and everyone's like what and it's only us that we're the it's only sam i was
Debating Practicality of Workplace Perks
00:32:13
Speaker
gonna say but poor douggan's gonna have to stop by bucky's to see if there's a hawaiian bucky shirt holly like count did for the christmas sweaters Why?
00:32:22
Speaker
So, Sam, since you're part of the events committee, why don't you add this to, like, once a month there needs to be a theme day. So, obviously, December we do a holiday sweater. And in October we do costumes. Halloween. But but why isn't there a day every month where it has some sort of theme?
00:32:42
Speaker
That would be fun. Okay, we'll get on it. Okay, work on that and then send me a proposal. Okay. Uh, number three, pay to wear jeans.
00:32:53
Speaker
So like y'all pay to be able to wear jeans? Yes. Yes. These are all real, um, benefits that we found by the way. um people Oh, really? Yeah. yeah mom thanks So y'all pay us to be able to wear jeans.
00:33:06
Speaker
I'm down with that. You know what I find interesting? Sarah, don't show your Laura. Is I don't think jeans are very comfortable. No, they're... See, that's my thing.
00:33:18
Speaker
I don't think they're comfortable. Like, it should be paid to wear joggers. They're kind of fun. But, like, the waistband is also always the part where, like, if you're sitting all day and you're wearing, like, jeans, I always find that to be a horrible time. Like, for me. It's fair. I'm just saying.
00:33:35
Speaker
I know some people find them really comfy. I grew up in my teenage years in skinny jeans exclusively, so... I mean, same, but I've evolved. Sarah, you're still constantly in skinny jeans.
00:33:49
Speaker
All right. Live your truth. how about
00:33:56
Speaker
How about oh free water, but only during the hot months? Okay. So obviously we provide water every month. You get hot months and Texas.
00:34:08
Speaker
There's not many that don't coincide that. What would that Venn diagram be for us? But, but you said something a few moments ago that these are all real ones. So you're telling me that there is a place of employment and where they provide free water, but only during hot months.
00:34:25
Speaker
Is it like, is it an like a place where it's like manual labor outside? Yeah. That's what it seemed like. We didn't get details. Okay. They did that deep.
00:34:36
Speaker
Because I'm like, y'all have ah water... Like, is it Amazon drivers? And so one of their benefits is they give them, like, a cooler on hot months to put in their car? Because then i'm starting like to see, like... Quarter park?
00:34:50
Speaker
Quarter park, maybe? I don't know. Because if it were a professional office building like ours... That seems a little ah little much. Okay, what's next? yeah Wait, hold on. i want to emphasize. Y'all have hot water. Y'all have cold water.
00:35:04
Speaker
And y'all have room temperature filtered water. so And then we have bottled water. No, those are only clients. Those are clients, but like we have them. ah yeah Okay, number five.
00:35:17
Speaker
and look at Specifically the ones you can avocado.
00:35:24
Speaker
I feel that's a great benefit we provide here that everybody has a window. Yeah. We have a nice, everybody has a window in their office. Wonderful view. You do. You can see the outside to the outside. yeah
00:35:37
Speaker
An office to another office. All right. What about flexible? What about flexible work from home options? um The options are nighttime or weekends.
00:35:49
Speaker
I'm in. um Hold on. Y'all skipped number six. Yeah, I was just going to say, I didn't know we wanted to flesh that one out, but you skipped that one. That's my bad. okay Okay, so let's do seven, and then we'll go back to six.
00:36:02
Speaker
I am down with this. um Seeing as to how I am not Lori, I cannot make this decision, but listen... work from home on nights or weekends?
00:36:14
Speaker
I mean, not during the work day. I can make it
Final Thoughts on Workplace Benefits
00:36:17
Speaker
flexible. Do any of you feel like you're precluded from doing that now? I mean, you take all your equipment home with you every day. pro Listen, just because I do it doesn't mean that, like, sometimes if I could go home and just keep going until, like, 3 a.m., send all my emails, and then nap for, like, a good eight hours.
00:36:37
Speaker
Well, no, it's saying down you come home, you, like, come here, work And then you can work from home. Like that's your work from home. Like it's. That's your benefit. That's the flexible part. You work here?
00:36:48
Speaker
Yeah. You still have your like eight hours here. And then you can go home and work from home. I already do that. I'm. Yeah. That's fine. I'm on board. Approved. I already that. Now back to number six.
00:37:00
Speaker
Please go back to six. We all missed an opportunity. Number six. Three days for the death of your spouse. Three days off. For the death your spouse. Paid or unpaid? Yeah. that's the thing and peter like wait a minute but what if it's like a friday and then the following monday tuesday that's what i was about to ask you're be given that's five days i'm gonna need more than five days to to like i was gonna say how to do all this stuff i i have a lot of things that i need to like deal with so you'd say it's a bad benefit
00:37:34
Speaker
I would say it's not enough. I think that's pretty deplorable if that is an actual... Yeah. Especially... you can have in You can have nine days because that's a maternity leave that I took with Adley.
00:37:50
Speaker
That was self-imposed. and that's again And that was consecutive days, not work days. Okay. doesn't say if it's paid or unpaid. Well, they didn't tell us. It's just paid or unpaid. That's pretty shitty, frankly. Okay.
00:38:07
Speaker
And I think you knew that. That's why you put that on there. What's next? Okay. You're allowed your cameras off on Friday meetings. Woohoo. little treat. No, absolutely not. yeah know yeah Y'all don't pay attention in the morning meetings. Although, Cynthia, it would save us from the Blake Stairs.
00:38:26
Speaker
I mean, don't think we would notice a difference. I try to do great action. Sam, you're not a blank stare. I know. Okay. I try to make for everybody else. It's on your face right yeah exactly what you're thinking. Yeah.
00:38:38
Speaker
Yeah. That's true. You're not in that category.
00:38:43
Speaker
Okay. Number nine. ahead. Yes. Okay. Number nine. Mandatory dance party where you're forced to have a dance off.
00:38:55
Speaker
I think if somebody pulls something on the job we're not responsible you'll learn that out is that horseplay that's under horseplay that's forbidden oh if it's like a team event where it's a dance party as long as we have liability you know prior to severance I might have been more inclined but now I think that made me want to dance dancing in the workplace is a little creepy Yeah.
00:39:24
Speaker
Especially when there's only five of you.
00:39:28
Speaker
All right. All right. um Friday Bagel Club. This is where you sign up and you get bagels every Friday. And when it's your turn, you have to buy and pick up bagels for everyone in Bagel Club.
00:39:40
Speaker
Okay. I kind of like this. so let's say just to illustrate if I'm understanding this, there are 13 employees of Birch Law. But let's say it's only the three of you that are part of the bagel club.
00:39:55
Speaker
Nobody else wants to participate. So you would only buy bagels for each other. Yeah. Yes.
00:40:03
Speaker
And if you want. I just like. I just like the term bagel club. Right. The person who put this also added when it was finally their turn to do it. There was like 50 people who signed up.
00:40:15
Speaker
So. We'll see. We don't. We don't have 50 people. I mean, thankfully we don't have that. And it's a lot. It's not. It's not as catchy. But is there any way to make it breakfast taco club? Because I am down for breakfast tacos.
00:40:28
Speaker
Yeah. Listen, so I would make them scratch on my day. I'm bringing Kalat. See, let's have a breakfast taco.
00:40:38
Speaker
It could just be breakfast club. oh Breakfast club. You got really excited. And you choose. You choose the type of breakfast. Sam, also for the events committee to discuss.
00:40:52
Speaker
and Do we want to have a breakfast club? But not on Fridays. It's going Thursdays. Yeah, we're lucky that Luke doesn't work here because it'd just be protein shakes.
00:41:03
Speaker
so That's fine. I could, you know, if I, if I'm, it's my turn and I forget, I have enough protein drinks in the refrigerator to supply to all of you. Okay.
00:41:13
Speaker
Sicken to last one. If you're in the, in, if you're in the top 10%, you get to park in the specific parking lot. But if you're just a normal worker, have to, you have to risk your life crossing four lanes of traffic with no lights.
00:41:31
Speaker
First of all, what was the crying? Yeah, what was that? thenny hi It was a motorcycle. and very But high pitch if you're in the top 10%. I don't understand. The top 10% of what? I'm guessing they like earn like commission and stuff. Whoever's the top 10% of sales.
00:41:48
Speaker
Yeah. Does he get commission? and don't say that. She doesn't. She doesn't. and we can't do that. ah No, but... the top 10%, you get to park in this parking lot. But if you're just a normal worker, why aren't top 10% people normal workers?
00:42:04
Speaker
See, this is what I've been trying to get through to you guys. You need to strive for excellence. You need to strive for... Don't worry. The top 10% are the ones who try harder. The 10% are the ones who try harder.
00:42:15
Speaker
So if you're here, on time. All right, we're going to skip. What's the next one? Okay, last one. You get company branded tennis shoes for Christmas, um but they're against dress code at work, so you can never wear them to work.
00:42:31
Speaker
um For example, in this one, she said, when am I going to wear tennis shoes that are company colors and have the logo of a hospital on them?
00:42:39
Speaker
Oh, that's hilarious. Wait, I feel like there are nurses who wear tennis shoes. Maybe she's like, and not at this one. Maybe she's admin. Yeah. Or maybe it's like. So in other words, this is like Sarah's soft launch of Birch Law branded tennis shoes.
00:42:57
Speaker
Yeah, would wear Birch Law branded tennis shoes. I would wear a sweatpants. You know that. With our socks? You know the. Yes, I know. Oh. You know those tennis shoes I have. I i custom designed those for Birch Law colors. really?
00:43:11
Speaker
The red ones? Yes. yeah But there's not. There's not at like a. Peggy isn't on them. I want ones with Peggy. I want to be able to walk in in shoes, socks, sweatpants, and a jacket.
00:43:25
Speaker
And a baseball cap. Sarah wants a bucket hat. but when I want a baseball hat. Can it be like a dad cap though? Not like the wide-brimmed one? I don't know what you're talking about.
00:43:36
Speaker
Like the ones I usually wear. Not the like theyre really wide-brimmed
00:43:43
Speaker
sure yeah you want as yeah someone who has many all caps know exactly what you're talking about i have i have a variety i've lost dead hats nice all right sarah that was our list yeah that is a great list i feel like we need to have part two of this because that's yeah we could find more pretty sure did you did you find other ones like was there a discard list so No, we only discarded one, and that was something about pets.
00:44:15
Speaker
We had two of them. so It was paternity leave.
00:44:23
Speaker
yeah What about pet bereavement? I feel that's more valid than oh sometimes, you know. I feel it's politically valid. It's so fascinating. Maybe we need to look up more and then share it with the team to see if how that makes them feel about their place in employment.
00:44:43
Speaker
I don't know. But anyway, good job, everybody. I think this gives people a lot to chew on when it comes to workplace benefits. Thank you and good night.
00:44:56
Speaker
Thanks for listening. And just to cover all our bases about what you just heard, I'm sorry and you're welcome. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode and tell your friends about us.
00:45:08
Speaker
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00:45:19
Speaker
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00:45:41
Speaker
Much better. Yeah, I thought that had a lot of energy.