The week that was for 10/24/10
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Construction workers are happy, but Rivers Casino gamblers were grumbling, in developments in the business arena this week.
Gov. Ed Rendell cut short a shortcut used by some construction companies who've been inclined to classify workers as "independent contractors" rather than employees. That maneuver allowed the companies to avoid paying unemployment compensation when the workers were laid off, and it also allowed them to avoid worker's compensation taxes.
That way, they could better position themselves to underbid competitors.
By signing into law the Construction Workplace Misclassification Act, though, Gov. Rendell made sure there'll be no deconstructing of what "construction worker" really means.
A computer error, according to casino officials, was responsible for what it delicately called an "incorrect distribution" of $1,000 in free slot machine play credits on Monday -- which the casino promptly revoked, resulting in a million dollars' worth of bad feelings for the affected players. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is investigating and casino officials apologized "for any inconvenience" -- but we suspect the players might use different, and perhaps more colorful, phrasing for what happened.
The Rivers' Washington County counterpart, The Meadows Racetrack and Casino, failed to win, place or show in the table games competition.
Just 3 1/2 months after the casino began offering table games, it lags behind all but two other Pennsylvania casinos with a mere $2.4 million in gross table revenue.
However, the Meadows' patrons are apparently willing to risk getting those disappearing free play credits -- the Meadows has one of the busiest slots businesses in Pennsylvania.
Western Pennsylvania employees can expect on average a 3 percent raise in salary in 2011, according to Downtown firm Buck Consultants.
It's good news, except that your contribution to health coverage probably went up 5 percent or more.
Buck also found 76 percent of companies nationwide that had frozen salaries in the past 18 months plan to thaw those freezes by the end of the year.
But, nationally, only 57 percent of executives can expect a raise.
Pennsylvania may not rank high for number of sunny days per year, but a Washington, D.C., group, Solar Foundation, says our state is second only to California in the number of solar jobs, albeit a distant second.
Solar Foundation estimates we have 6,700 solar jobs while California has 36,000.
Texas is third, with 6,400; then Michigan, 6,300; and Wisconsin, 6,000.
First Published October 24, 2010 12:00 am
