Tarifas, impuestos y reglamentos; sentencia de la EEOC sobre religión y cargos ocultos de los restaurantes

Hey, everybody, it's Gene Marks and welcome to this week's episode of the Paychex THRIVE Week in Review, where we take a few items in the news and talk about how they can impact your business. So, let's get right to it. 

Obviously, we are just after the presidential elections and obviously, president-elect Trump is gearing up to take office in January. The question is, how will this impact small businesses around the country? I'll be talking about this more on this podcast in the future, as well as writing about it in the various places that I publish. 

But just so you know, this is a good report out of the Wall Street Journal that came out this week about Trump's impact on the economy and they really break it down into three big things. One is tariffs, the second one is taxes, and the third is regulation. 

When it comes to tariffs, just be aware. the Wall Street Journal reports that the consensus of economists and investors is that tariffs will put upward pressure on inflation, while tax cuts could spur growth and add to deficits. That's what both of them together would add, you know, nudge interest rates higher. 

And indeed, the Wall Street Journal reports that long-term Treasury bond yields had risen recently on strong economic data and Trump's improved polling shot up again the day after the election, along with stock index futures as his victory became apparent. 

So, those are the three big things we're going to be looking for under a new Trump administration. Trump has already said that he wants to impose significant tariffs not only just on China, but other, you know, countries that we do trade with. And, yeah, there's a lot of pros and cons when you talk about tariffs, but one of the biggest is that they do lead to inflationary pressures. 

Number two, there will be significant tax discussions going on this year as the Trump administration tries to extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. That is going to have a significant impact on both you and me, both personally and our businesses. 

And finally, on the on the thing of regulations, Trump is already planning by, you know, his first week in office to rollback a lot of regulations on environmental and other regulatory areas. Workplace regulations are also the same thing. So, look for potential changes, in rules that have been issued before by the Department of Labor and other agencies.

Just be aware, these are the three biggest areas, according to the Wall Street Journal, that Trump's new administration will be impacting businesses. 

Speaking of regulations and agencies, a report this past week was published by jdsupra.com, which is a law site – legal site – about the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and this is a case that could impact you and me, and we need to be aware of it.

The EEOC, according to JDSupra, announced that it has reached a settlement agreement and a lawsuit that was filed against a Pennsylvania company alleging failure to provide a religious accommodation under Title VII. The suit claimed that the employer had refused to allow the employee unpaid time away from work after he failed to provide certification from religious leader or religious organization demonstrating that the request was a legitimate requirement of his professed religion. 

The employee resigned and after informing the employer that he was not a member of any congregation, therefore could not provide the requested documentation.

Well, the EEOC weighed in on this, and they found in favor of the employee. In addition to paying $60,000, the employer agreed not to require certification as a prerequisite for granting religious accommodations. 

The EEOC stated that if an employee has a sincerely held religious belief, they are entitled to accommodation, even if the belief cannot be verified by a third party.

So, your takeaway there is that if you were asked to make accommodations for an employee based on their religious beliefs, you really can't require any documentation or certification of this. You take them at their word and that's what it is. That's how the EEOC ruled, and we need to know that as employers. 

Finally, an interesting story that came out – this is from the dailydot.com. Now, I'm going to tell you I – this actually happened like a couple months ago – but when I heard about it on a podcast, it was actually David Spade and Dana Carvey's podcast, they were discussing it and I had to look it up. And here's what the story is. A woman posted a viral TikTok video of herself going to a bar. She said she bought $150 worth of food and her bar, her total bill came out to $530. Why? 

Here's why. Upon further examination of the bill, she discovered that every cocktail that was ordered came with an additional – you guys ready – prep fee. These fees were not insignificant. Well, the skinny spicy margarita was listed as $14. There was an additional prep fee on top of it of $3. The woman was like, what's crap? You charge $3 to shake the margarita. 

As the prices of items increase, so, too, did their prep fees. For example, a $32 drink – I mean, that's a pretty expensive drink right there – had a prep fee of $13, and another drink listed at $28 eventually came to $75, with the cost of making it a double and additional prep fees.

So, this is a bar – and she actually was professional enough not to mention and call out the actual bar – she was just surprised at what they were doing. You go to get a drink and they're adding on fees to shake the drink or put ice in the drink or actually make the drink, and they're calling it prep fees.

If you as a business owner remember doing this kind of a practice, you might want to reconsider or else you might be the victim of a viral video by somebody that might not be as kind to you as this woman was to this unnamed bar that she went to.

My name is Gene Marks and you have been watching and listening to this week's episode of the Paychex THRVE Week in Review. If you'd like any help or advice or tips on running your business, please visit us at paychex.com/thrive and sign up for our newsletter.

We'll be back with you next week to talk about more news that's in the news that's impacting your business, and a few thoughts on how to navigate around that. Thanks for watching and listening. We'll see you then.

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