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An Educational Trip – Aids Within The Learning Method

Educational trips or tours help remind us of our school days. The term ‘educational tour’ is self-explanatory. In easy terms an educational tour is something carried out to acquire understanding while travelling and touring to some location. Such tours are usually undertaken in schools and educational institutions. It provides students with an opportunity to discover to an entirely new environment and to think out of the box.

Educational trips need not cover far destinations. As already stated, an education trip is done to gain understanding there is completely no need for you to go very far to have it. Often, an educational trip could possibly be within your hometown itself. While planning a trip inside the same country, institutions normally select historical locations and museums. Any historical trip will give the students the chance to check out buildings, models, and documents that can provide them with total knowledge of a particular event. Going to these locations assist in learning about your country and world better.

Various cultures have different understanding and a distinct manner of perceiving issues. So while planning a trip in another country, it’s firmly recommended to learn their culture first. While a book can simply teach students all about the way of life of the inhabitants of a certain country, seeing the country and experiencing and enjoying the cultural display provides a first-hand expertise to the students. This expertise helps them in learning faster and much better.

An educational tour provides you an opportunity to socialize with other folks. Students are encouraged to talk to locals and natives and learn a lot from them. This helps students in gaining understanding. When students talk with neighborhood men and women, they gain the insights to their life as well as their culture. You must have heard the extremely well-known saying, ‘When in Rome, act and think as the Romans do’. This really is an important and useful talent that not all people can do.

Educational tours offer practical knowledge to the students and work as very essential portion of their academics. The extremely crucial aspect of an educational trip is that it delivers students an experience to find out on personal levels with a hands-on experience. You’ll find a number of organizations that support in undertaking such educational experiences for students. They help, guide and organize such educational trips. These companies organize the entire tour for the students. They offer a helping hand to the young generation in developing new skills and to increase their knowledge of international issues as well as other cultures. They help in uniting them as component of the global community. Such companies also supply some type of student travel discounts too, making it simple to afford the new experiences.

Numerous educational institutions employ such businesses to conduct the tours. For all the students who love to travel and have a zest to learn new things, the educational tours are ideal for them. It’s going to not merely present them using a large amount of knowledge and in-depth understanding but will also function as enjoyable experience.

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Imagine Camping on Your Own Property

If you enjoy camping, you know that it can often be difficult to find good old fashioned peace and quiet at the local campground. It seems like every time you go to a campground these days, the campground is bursting at the seams with noisy campers. There are kids and dogs running around everywhere. People are blaring their music which always seems to be playing they type of music that you don’t like. Oh, and then there are those incredibly insensitive campers who crank their loud generators up about the time you’re ready to go to sleep. Do people ever sleep when they go camping? The must not because there are always people talking loudly just outside your tent or camper. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could enjoy the good ol’ outdoors without all these annoying distractions?

If that seems like an impossible dream that will never come true, maybe you should think again. Right now is a great time to buy recreational property. For around $15,000 you can buy a little slice of heaven in Klamath County, Oregon. There are many 2 to 3 acre recreational properties for sale on Bly Mountain. Bly Mountain is about 30 minutes East of Klamath Falls, Oregon. The mountain is covered in Ponderosa pines, Cedar, and Juniper trees. Many of the properties border national forest land.

Imagine only paying taxes on 2 acres but having thousands right next to you to use and enjoy at your leisure! There are very few houses on Bly Mountain so you will actually have peace and quiet when you vacation on your very own private campground. If this sounds good to you, check out the vacation properties for sale on Bly Mountain next time you are in Southern Oregon.

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Tip Pooling in Oregon

Employers use tip pooling arrangements to distribute tips an employee receives among the employer’s various other employees. Frequently, employers create tip pooling arrangements where the employer requires the tipped employee, such as a waiter or bartender, to place a portion of tips received into a pool which is then distributed to non-tipped employees, such as dishwashers and cooks. Some employers even take a portion of these tips for management or to distribute to independent contractors, such as DJs, bouncers or dancers.

Are these types of arrangements legal, in other words, can an employee be required to participate in a tip pooling arrangement?

The answer depends on the law in effect in the state that the employee works. On April 5, 2011 the Department of Labor issued regulations which state that all tips received by an employee are the property of the employee. These regulations clarify the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision which found that tips received by an employee are the employee’s property except in cases where there is a tip pooling arrangement. In that instance, the tips that are subject to the pooling arrangement were not the employee’s property.

The new regulations specifically state that all tips that an employee receives are an employee’s property with no exceptions. The employer may require an employee to participate in a valid tip pooling arrangement or take a credit against minimum wage, but only if the state in which the employee is employed allows such an arrangement or credit.

Each state has different requirements for a tip pooling arrangement. In Oregon, tip credits against minimum wage are not allowed. Additionally, pooling arrangements must be in writing, provided to the employee at the commencement of employment, and posted in a conspicuous place. Management and ownership cannot receive any of the pooled tips. If management or ownership received any of the pooled tips, the employer would be taking a tip credit which is not allowed under Oregon law.

For example, a bar pays its servers and bartenders minimum wage. The bar manager takes 20 percent of the tips received by the bartenders and servers and places the tips into a pool to be redistributed. The manager or owner cannot receive any of the funds contributed to the tip pool. If the manager or owner did receive funds from the pool, then the manager would be taking a tip credit against minimum wage and violating Oregon’s minimum wage laws and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Additionally, the tip pool can only include employees that are “customarily and regularly” tipped employees. If the pool includes cooks, dishwashers or other employees who are not customarily or regularly tipped then the pool is invalid. Additionally, the funds in the tip pool cannot be distributed to independent contractors, such as bouncers, DJs or dancers, since they are not employees.

Failure to comply with the FLSA and Oregon law may result in the employer having to pay back wages, penalties for failing to pay wages, and the employee’s attorney fees. In addition, the employee may have a claim for conversion which could carry punitive damages if the employer’s conduct is egregious.

© 07/12/2012 Kevin J. Tillson of Hunt & Associates, P.C. All rights reserved.