[nfbmi-talk] (no subject)

Sun Sep 15 23:18:47 UTC 2013

Very good point!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "joe harcz Comcast" <joeharcz at comcast.net>
To: <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: "Rodgers, Edward (LARA)" <rodgerse at michigan.gov>
Sent: Sunday, September 15, 2013 6:21 PM
Subject: [nfbmi-talk] (no subject)

what is you retirement sir
September 15, 2013

Paul Joseph Harcz, Jr.

1365 E. Mt. Morris Road

Mt. Morris, MI 48458

joeharcz at comcast.net

To: Ed Rodgers, BSBP

Via E-mail

Dear, Mr. Ed. Rodgers,

I noted with interest your inane comments to the MCBVI convention relative 
to the alleged one million of expenses two  retirement benefits of retired 
BEP operators over years. First, you make an assertion, but like always you 
do not support contentions with documented facts. Secondly, I point you to 
this:

Opinion #6882

The following opinion is presented on-line for informational use only and 
does not replace the official version. (Mich Dept of Attorney General Web 
Site

- www.ag.state.mi.us)

STATE OF MICHIGAN

FRANK J. KELLEY, ATTORNEY GENERAL

Opinion No. 6882

November 29, 1995

COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND:

Operators of vending stands in government owned buildings

Blind vending stand operators under the Michigan Commission for the Blind 
Business Enterprise Program are not state employees.

Lowell W. Perry

Director

Michigan Department of Labor

P.O. Box 30015

Lansing, MI 48909

You have asked if blind vending stand operators under the Michigan 
Commission for the Blind Business Enterprise Program are state employees. 
You indicate

your question is prompted by the claims of some operators that they are 
employees of the State of Michigan and, thus, do not have to comply with 
state

laws applicable to employers concerning paying unemployment compensation 
taxes and providing workers' compensation insurance.

Under 1978 PA 260, MCL 393.351 et seq; MSA 17.581(1) et seq (Act), the 
Michigan Commission for the Blind operates a program designed to aid blind 
and visually

handicapped individuals. Section 9 of the Act requires that "[a] concession 
in a building or on property owned or occupied by this state shall be 
operated

by a blind person." I have previously concluded under this Act that blind 
persons have the exclusive authority to operate concessions in state owned 
buildings,

OAG, 1989-1990, No 6651, p 356, 357 (July 24, 1990), and that the Department 
of Management and Budget may not charge rent for the operation of a 
concession

by a blind person. OAG, 1981-1982, No 5940, p 279 (August 4, 1981).

In order to carry out the mandates of the Act, the Commission for the Blind 
has established a Business Enterprise Program (BEP). In section 13 of the 
Act,

the Legislature has also designated the Commission to implement the Randolph 
Sheppard vending stand act, 20 USC Sec. 107 et seq. This is a federally 
funded

state program that seeks to provide opportunities to blind individuals by 
placing them in vending facilities in various government buildings. Under 
section

5(g) of the Act, the Commission for the Blind has promulgated administrative 
rules to implement the BEP. 1983 AACS, R 393.101 et seq.

This office has been informed that following evaluation, training, and other 
services, a blind person is placed as an operator in the BEP running a 
concession

in a government building. The operator and the Commission for the Blind 
enter into a contract that provides, among other things, that the operator 
will

pay a certain percentage of the concession profits to the Commission in what 
is called a set-aside fee. The Commission, in turn, will provide supervision

and advice, needed equipment, and an initial stock of goods. The operator 
sets his own prices and purchases his own stock after the initial stock is 
provided.

The operator must obtain a comprehensive liability insurance policy. The 
operator may hire other individuals as employees and is required to provide 
workers'

disability compensation coverage for any employees hired. Rule 393.107(c).

Under the contract between the operator and the Commission for the Blind, 
the operator is not paid by the State of Michigan for performing work for 
the

state. Rather, operators receive the proceeds from the operations of their 
vending facilities after paying their operating costs and set-aside fees. 
Rule

393.106(2).

If the blind vendors were state employees, it would be necessary for the 
Civil Service Commission to classify them in the classified state civil 
service

in accordance with Const 1963, art 11, Sec. 5, which provides, in part:

The classified state civil service shall consist of all positions in the 
state service except those filled by popular election, heads of principal 
departments,

members of boards and commissions, the principal executive officer of boards 
and commissions heading principal departments, employees of courts of 
record,

employees of the legislature, employees of the state institutions of higher 
education, all persons in the armed forces of the state, eight exempt 
positions

in the office of the governor, and within each principal department, when 
requested by the department head, two other exempt positions, one of which 
shall

be policy-making. The civil service commission may exempt three additional 
positions of a policy-making nature within each principal department.

It has been held that except to the extent that a position may be exempt 
under this section, all employees of the state are required to be classified 
into

the state civil service. Commissioner of Insurance v Michigan State Accident 
Fund, 173 Mich App 566, 582; 434 NW2d 433 (1988), lv den 433 Mich 872 
(1989).

The position of vending stand operator has never been exempted from the 
classified state civil service or classified in the state civil service by 
the

Civil Service Commission.

Blind concession operators are included within the state employees' 
retirement system. Section 13a of 1943 PA 240, MCL 38.13a; MSA 3.981(13a) 
provides in

part:

Effective January 1, 1973, blind or partially sighted persons licensed as 
vending stand operators within the controlled programs of the bureau of 
blind

services are deemed to be employees within the meaning of this act for state 
retirement purposes only, and except as hereinafter provided are entitled

to all the rights and benefits of state employees covered by the provisions 
of this act. [ Emphasis added.]

The language "for state retirement purposes only" evidences an intent that 
blind vending stand operators are not considered state employees for general

purposes.

It is clear that blind vending operators in the BEP are clients rather than 
employees of the Michigan Commission for the Blind. With the exception of 
those

services provided by the Commission in accordance with the Act and 
implementing administrative rules, the operators are independent 
concessionaires with

the authority, in their capacities as employers, to employ other persons.

It is my opinion, therefore, that blind vending stand operators under the 
Michigan Commission for the Blind Business Enterprise Program are not state 
employees.

Frank J. Kelley

Attorney General

http://opinion/datafiles/1990s/op06882.htm

Finally aren’t you an outright hypocrited being a highly paid political 
operative and administrator who is vested very deeply in the Michigan 
retirement system for virtue of same along, with of course, your cronies and 
fellow travelers like say Mik Pemple and the new layers of administratition 
created under your domain like BADBP under BSBP?

Gee, wouldn’t it be ironic if some challenged your retirement benefits upon 
your retirement?

Of course I’m only a citizen with no stake in this game of screwing state 
employees under you or those clearly established in the BEP program by state 
law under the BEP program for retiree benefits as the AG opinion suggests as 
I am not a “Hack” like yourself or a former BEP employee.

Some might say as Bill Clinton once said, “I don’t have a dog in this hunt.”

But, I do sir. I am a citizen and yyou and the state of Michigan work for me 
and not the other way around. And I want justice and I want you, a nominal 
lawyer working for the State to foollow the law and not to act with willful 
indifference and arrogence to it.

Now, how much are you, Mr. Rodgers vested in the Michigan State Retirement 
system? In other words once you retire what is the liability of the 
citizens, including me to your retirment sir?

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