GDG- Tour Guides at Gettysburg

[Margaret D. Blough]

J.D.

PLEASE read the regulations throroughly.  They do govern compensation of battlefield guides. In fact, as the ALBG web site information posted by Jim Cameron states, ">From the ALBA website:

Authority:
  The authority for licensing individuals to conducts tours in the National 
Military Parks stems from the War Department's efforts in the pre-World War 
I period to both regulate the quality of tours given, specifically at 
Gettysburg, and to regulate the fee charged for those services. Accordingly, 
Congress granted the War Department the authority to establish guide forces 
at any Military Park. Their successor, the National Park Service, operates 
under these 1915 regulations, now codifed in the Code of Federal Regulations 
as 36 CFR, Chapter 1, Part 25.<<

As for the LBGs being able to contract to give tours outside of GNMP, that simply is one of the indicators that they are not employees but are contractors.  There are a whole different set of issues and permissions that must be obtained before a government employee can engage in outside business activities. For example, as an employee of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, if I wanted to engage in outside business activities, there are a whole lot of requirements that I would have to satisfy first, including following the requirements of Management Directive 515.18, on obtaining my agency's permission to engage in supplemental employment. Please do not try to extrapolate your experience in running a private business with the rights, duties, and restrictions imposed by law on a government agency.  It simply doesn't translate well.

In any event, the regulations give the government, including the superintendent, flexibility in the matter of the licensed battlefield guides.

Regards,

Margaret


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

> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes: 
> 
> 
> Margaret, 
> 
> That's not what I'm saying. What I've said is that due to the IC status 
> (and if the NPS doesn't issue W2s to LBGs, this may NOT be a state vs. 
> federal issue at all. And I'm sure you're aware that LBGs do not work 
> exclusively on the battlefield. You can hire them to take you through town. 
> You can hire them to take you through the countryside. A few years ago, 
> Eric Wittenberg and I hired LBG Gary Kross to take us to Maryland 
> (Westminster) up to Carlisle, then to Gettysburg in preparation for our book 
> tour. 
> 
> So if the LBGs are paid in cash by their clients, and the NPS does not up to 
> this point get involved in their compensation (regulating only their 
> licensing and such parameters) but now wishes to get involved in their 
> methods of hire and compensation, Pennsylvania may look at it as an 
> employer/employee relationship. The NPS may then have to issue W2s, do 
> payroll, provide benefits, etc etc in order to comply. I doubt it wants to 
> do that. 
> 
> These are my opinions based on some lawsuits that my IC associations filed 
> when our licensing companies tried to do similar things to what the GNMP is 
> proposing. PA decided they were attempting to act like an employer without 
> having to do what an employer must (issue W2, pay payroll, etc). We won the 
> lawsuits. 
> 
> Again, only my opinions. But as I said before, I'm sure that if you get 
> employer attorneys involved in this question, I'm sure you'll get a whole 
> spectrum of opinions, and I can't help but feel that the issue is not so cut 
> and dried. And that it's not, again, a state vs federal issue. If a 
> federal entity is not permitted to do something without making law-mandated 
> concessions, then the proposal is moot to begin with. 
> 
> J. David Petruzzi 
> My blog: http://petruzzi.wordpress.com 
> My book: http://www.stuartsride.com 
> 
> 
> 
> >>J.D, 
> 
> On what basis do you believe that any state would have jurisdiction over a 
> federal agency? 
> 
> Regards, 
> 
> Margaret>> 
> 
> 
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