GDG- Tour guide group to fight new rules at Gettysburg Battlefield

[Margaret D. Blough]

J.D.,

The license in this instance is the critical matter which makes the licensee relationship, which is the relationship the LBGs have with the federal government, the critical one even if they may act as independent contractors with others.  As for the independent contractor v. employee struggle, it's one with which I'm very familiar, and, while it is fascinating and complex, it simply isn't relevant to the current situation. Neither the NPS nor the LBGs contend that the guides are federal employees.  I read your blog and you are quite wrong that it is an issue of the NPS trying to treat the guides like employees instead of as independent contractors. The issue is that this is a profession that requires a government license in order to engage in legally and the government sets conditions for obtaining and keeping such licenses.

The fact of the matter is that while someone can guide outside of park boundaries without a license, as a matter of federal regulation, they cannot legally guide on a regular basis within the boundaries of a national military park with a licensed battlefield guide service without a license (individuals can get special use permits for single occasions, IIRR).  I've known people who were fined (and it's a substantial fine) for guiding without a license within the boundaries of GNMP, and, from what I've seen,  LBGs do report people who are conducting tours in the park who aren't LBGs and who don't have a permit.  It would be like trying to operate a restaurant serving liquor in Pennsylvania without a liquor license.   It's illegal, and the state will take action as they do as they would if I engaged in the practice of law or a doctor engaged in the practice of medicine without a license.

In addition, in any licensing situation, the more limits that are placed on the number of licenses granted, the more valuable the licenses become because the limitation restricts competition for business.  

In any event, the regulations governing the NPS, clearly indicate that the Department of the Interior and the NPS, and, in most instances, the park superintendent has the final say.  

I hope it can be worked out amicably, but the regulations give the government the final say, not the guides. In addition, I find the following statement regarding the ALBG opposition to establishing a reservation system for individual tours that appears in the article that you reproduced deeply troubling:

>>Advanced reservations and advanced payments, park leaders maintain, are industry standards. “We see no reason for the (Gettysburg) Foundation to collect our money in advance and hold it for several weeks after a tour has been given,” said Hohmann. Battlefield officials insist that the scheduling format will be accommodating to every individual guide.
“It will be flexible enough to match their personal schedules, and flexible enough to match visitors’ schedules,” Lawhon said. “When visitors want to go on a tour, they can pick the times. We’ll match it with the schedules that are provided by the guides.” The Guide Association, which makes up 80 percent of the licensed guides in Gettysburg, isn’t convinced.

“The visitor choosing the time of the tour is like movie-goers calling the theater and telling the manager what time they want to see the latest Harry Potter film, as opposed to the theater determining show times,” Hohmann said. “Their plan will result in fewer tours, fewer visitors served, less income for guides, (and) less productivity.”<<
The park does schedule tours whose time is set, but, to make Mr. Hohmann's analogy valid the LBG's would have to offer such tours on a regular, large scale basis.  Instead, what we have are situations, which I have witnessed on more than one occasion in which tourists try to get a guide only to be told that there are no more guides available and, if they want a guided tour, they will have to come back at 8:00 am the next day to take their chances on a first come, first served basis.  Of course, that does depend on whether or not they will be there the next day and can make it to the VC.  Most tourists do not know individual guides whom they can contact directly.  A reservation system for individual tours would appear to offer a better opportunity to match the supply of guides to the demand for tours and minimize the number of instances when a guide is twiddling his/her thumbs in the guide room and when tourists are turned away because no LBGs are available.
The regulations make it very clear that the purpose of licensing national military park guides is to ensure consistency in providing quality, pricing, and availability of professional guides to visitors to the parks.  It is not like running a movie theater.
Margaret

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "J. David Petruzzi" <jaydee at pennswoods.net> 

> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes: 
> 
> 
> Hhmm, I wouldn't entirely agree with that - one can also be a licensee AND an 
> IC, as in my career. I'm quite familiar with the laws and definitions 
> concerning licensees and IC, having been involved in legal cases of a company, 
> with whom I'm licenses, attempting to treat me (and other such insurance 
> brokers) as an "employee" without having to pay the resulting expenses such as 
> payroll, staff, payroll taxes, etc. There is only a fine line between 
> "licensee" and "independent contractor" (as this very issue came up in front of 
> the courts and was stated as such by the judge) and in my opinion the Guides are 
> as much IC's as they are licensees. 
> 
> Coincidentally, I just put a post on my blog tonite on this very subject when I 
> read the Gettysburg Times article in yesterday's issue about the Guides leaving 
> the new Visitor Center and setting up their own headquarters. See 
> http://petruzzi.wordpress.com 
> 
> J. David Petruzzi 
> My website: http://www.jdpetruzzi.com 
> My blog: http://petruzzi.wordpress.com 
> My book: http://www.stuartsride.com 
> 
> 
> 
> Bob, 
> 
> They keep referring to themselves as independent contractors, when they don't 
> actually meet the general definition of that as a legal term. They aren't 
> federal employees, either, of course. What they are is licensees. I'm attaching 
> definitions of licensee, license and independent contractor from the legal 
> dictionary on findlaw.com 
> 
> 
> 
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