Strange Update on Liveops Lawsuit

Liveops has Prevailed in the lawsuit! To read the article, click here!

This post is in response to the original post on a Liveops Lawsuit. To view the original click here.
Though I find the Livops lawsuit a very important topic to cover, I have said my share, and this will be my last post on the topic. (Except for the results, of course!) From now on, my posts will be about working at home, how to get started, and basically everything in general on the topic (with some interesting additions thrown in! Just wait and see.) Ok. Now on to a Liveops update. While browsing Yahoo, I decided to do a search on "liveops lawsuit" just for curiosity. I saw two things that surprised me. For one, my post wasn't even on Yahoo results, while it is #1 on Google. Shame on you Yahoo! The second thing that I noticed was even stranger though. In the area where the search advertisements usually are, I saw this ad: (image below)


When I clicked on the image, it took me to this site: http://www.overtime-flsa.com/

The site appears to be a lawyers website, since the title bar says "Unpaid Overtime Pay and Claims Lawyers." Additionally, the site says "Michael D. Lore, P.C. is a Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated law firm that focuses its practice on representing workers in claims and lawsuits involving unpaid overtime wages." The reason I found this strange, was that at the bottom of the website, it says "Not Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization." So, then who and what are they? Also, the site has a form with which you are supposed to fill in your information, if you think that you are entitled to overtime pay and submit it to them. The site also provided a phone number in the toolbar. As I was curious, I called. The person who was on the other end answered the phone as "the law firm." What law firm? Who are these people?! When I said that I had been an agent, the person told me that they were collecting information, and that there currently was no class-action lawsuit against Liveops. Hmmm. So apparently, it looks to me like other firms are testing the waters, to see if they can make some cash off of Liveops as well. Whatever it is, I would have liked if the site, as well as the person on the phone, gave more information on who they were.
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Update on Liveops Lawsuit Post...

Liveops has prevailed in the lawsuit! To read the article click here!

To view all posts related to the Liveops Lawsuit click here.

A few days ago, I made a post on how Liveops, one of the largest known work at home companies, is being sued by two of it's agents. In one day, my blog received more hits that I have seen the whole month. At the same time, I have noticed that people have had a few misconceptions when reading my post, so I want to clarify it now.
Though I side with Liveops and hope that they win, there is an extremely fine line between an independent contractor and an employee. The IRS uses three categories to determine the difference: Type of Relationship, Behavioral Control, and Financial Control. Liveops could be on either side of the fence with these. For example, Liveops does control how its agents behave. An agent can't say random things to a customer, scripts must be followed, sometimes verbatim. Secondly, as I said in my last post, signing a contract saying that you understand that you are only an Independent Contractor does NOT always mean that you are one. For example, in 1996, someone filed a class action lawsuit against Microsoft for almost the exact same reason. Microsoft had been hiring people as independent contractors who had to sign a contract saying that they were such. The U.S Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit heard the case. One of the main arguments was that people had their jobs defined by Microsoft, and worked for long periods of time (usually years.) Many agents at Liveops have been doing the exact same thing. In that case, Microsoft settled before a decision was reached, for almost $100 million dollars! Similar things have happened to Time Warner and other large companies.
So basically, it is up to the judge to decide on this one, and he could go either way. If Liveops loses the case, they might have to change all of its agents to employees, and as I said in my last post, most of them probably will not want a set pay, as it could be a lot less than what is made now. This could be a landmark case for all call order work at home companies, so let's hope for the best!

Want more info to decide for yourself? Check out some of the links below!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permatemp
http://www.contingentlaw.com/Costly_legal_myths_in_contract.htm
http://jobsearchtech.about.com/od/laborlaws/l/aa121800.htm
http://jobsearchtech.about.com/od/laborlaws/l/aa121800_2.htm
http://www.businesstaxrecovery.com/Independent_contractor_employee
http://www.vault.com/nr/newsmain.jsp?nr_page=3&ch_id=400&article_id=52996&cat_id=1088
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Upsells, Downsells, Affinities, Oh My!

Hi again!
Today I'm writing about one of the bad sides of working with some of the work at home phone order companies. Most people think "Oh, I'll just have to process someone's order and get paid for it!" Sorry, but it's not that easy, and I want to clear up this misconception now. In addition to selling the product that the customer has called in to order, you also will be trying to get that customer to buy multiple other items, from additional items similar to the one that the customer is purchasing, to different magazines and membership clubs.

For example:
If Linda calls in to order a juicer, it could then be an agents job to try and sell her another juicer, some cookbooks that she could use with that juicer, and maybe even a fitness program or a magazine subscription.
So in addition to Lisa just buying the juicer, we would be offering her upsells (additional items along with her juicer), downsells (reducing the price of the additional items if she turns it down), and even affinities (magazine subscriptions, free vacation getaways, and membership clubs.)
As an agent, most companies require us to offer her every single item, since there can be a large profit made from these items. Because there can many items to offer, a call that could take five minutes might even reach half an hour. This can make the customer very frustrated if they do not want the items, and they sometimes might start yelling at you that "No, for the last time, I DO NOT want anything other than what I ordered!" The only way that you can usually skip all of the offers is if the customer says that they will hang up or cancel. Usually, you finally get to the end of these call with the customer frustrated and you tired from saying that you're sorry but you are required to read these offers. Though I still think that working at home is great, I just want people to take this into consideration before applying.

(Additional Note: Not all work at home companies do this with the calls they take. With the ones that do, not every call is this way. What happens is the call company's clients (the ones who are actually selling the product, will decide whether or not they want to add additional offers to the product they are selling. Also, you will usually receive an incentive per additional offer sold.)



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HSN Now Offering Work at Home Jobs!

Hey everybody!

I was just looking at the Home Shopping Network's website, and they are currently offering work at home jobs. Their job benefits are the best I have seen so far with a work at home job. Basically, you would be taking calls for people who are calling in to order products shown on HSN.

The job's benefits include:

• Employee Discounts
• Paid Training and Paid Time Off (Most Work at Home Jobs Don't offer this!)
• Stock Purchase Plan
• 401K

Most of the benefits listed above are unheard of with most home jobs. The pay is $10/hour, which is o.k., but I think it is worth it due to all of the great benefits. Here are the some of the requirements:

• You must live in: Florida, in either Pinellas, Hillsborough, or Pasco County
• Previous Sales or C.S. experience
• Strong Computer Skills in: Windows, Internet, Excel, Work, and Outlook
• Good Organization Skills
• Good Communication Skills, and Desire to Make Customer Happy
• Be able to connect with customer, and bring excitement with the call

Here are the Tech Requirements:

• Home PC with Windows XP, 2000, or Vista
• At least 10 MB free Disk Space
• 17" or bigger color monitor that's able to display a 1024 x 768 resolution
• High Speed Internet (cable, ISDN, DSL)
• Antivirus Software Installed
• Regular Telephone Service, with wired jack close to your PC
• Telephone Headset
• IE Version 6 or Higher

This seems like a great work at home job, especially since it is with Home Shopping Network. Many people have told me that this job is a lot more fun than with other call companies, and also that there are less upsells to read. I would definitely apply for this job, only I'm not in the area.
If any of you are interested, you can visit the link here:
Work At Home Call Agent - PT
Or you can go to the HSN website at hsn.com, and scroll to the bottom area of the site, where you will see a like that says "Careers at HSN". Click it, and on the next page click the Search button. A window should pop up, and in the keyword search box, type in "work at home". Then, click the job that says : Work At Home Call Agent - PT
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