It is my understanding that an employee can't file for long term workers comp on a pre existing injury. If he reinjured the knee, he could claim medical expenses on that injury but not long term lost income. I'm no expert so I would advise that you speak with the BWC or your comp management organization.

As far as SSI goes - is he supposed to be working at all?

Mike Brinegar
Pride Master, Inc - Dayton, OH

Talk to your insurance agent. The employee might be more susceptible to injury and if it is aggravated on the job he can probably make a claim. I think it would be prudent to have him supply a doctor statement that is can perform the tasks you need done. If he is considering re-surgery, that tells me he is having problems already. My inclination would be to tell him to come back after the surgery and to bring a doctor release with him.

Ed Samson
Ameri-Clean Commercial Inc. Northbrook, IL

Any sort of claim/payout, etc. will effect your workers comp mod factor negatively. Find out if your employee told the doctor/nurse or whoever, whether or not it was a work related injury. If there is even a chance he did say it was work related, then get your workers comp insurer involved. They have as much to lose as you and they will (or should) do the legwork. I used to work for a workers comp insurer and they had an entire dept dedicated to these investigations.

Geof White
Valley Window Cleaning, Inc - Appleton, WI

My daughter is an EMT. Try here for pants; www.bdu.com/F523214405.html - or here for shorts, www.bdu.com/emt-pants-shorts.html

Darryl Kommers
We Wash Windows - Laurens, SC

You might want to try some tactical pants that law enforcement wears. They have plenty of pockets and are very durable. Here are a couple of links to try; www.lapolicegear.com/5tapa.html [and] www.blackhawk.com/catalog/Pants-Trousers,76.htm

John Adank
Crystal Clear Window Cleaning LLC - Onalaska, WI

Here are the tactical BDU pants we have our guys wear. They look sharp, last a long time and you can’t beat the price of $15. www.uniformswarehouse.com/prostores/servlet/-strse-991/Tactical-BDU-Pants/Detail

Judah Clark
Presto Property Services, Inc - Atlanta, GA

I've ordered online from Aramark/Wearguard before. They have a wide variety of polos or t-shirts you can get lettered or have custom designs added to. www.aramark-uniform.com

Warren Allen
Corren Services - Fremont, CA

I've ordered t-shirts many times from www.wearguard.com. They offer various styles and fabrics and are reasonably priced. They also carry outerwear, caps, etc.

Ed Samson
Ameri-Clean Commercial Inc - Northbrook, IL

Have you thought about a Uniform service? We get 12 full uniforms they wash them pick up & and deliver them for around $6.00 per week per employee. This has worked out very well for us.

Mark Reinhart
Award Window Cleaning Services, Inc - Grand Rapids, MI

We haven't had a problem employee in that regard for many years, and all our route workers collect cash from those customers who prefer to pay cash. Our bookkeeper reconciles the invoices marked "Paid" with the cash submitted & they have to match. This way, a worker only could take cash is if they claimed they couldn't get to a job that day, but actually did the job without submitting the invoice. If I suspected that I could call the customer immediately to talk about rescheduling, and see what they said.

A possible scam can occur if the worker is paid by commission, not hourly. Years ago, I fired an employee I caught skipping a job, but claiming he did it in order to collect a commission. We once picked up a customer because their former window cleaner forged a signature for window cleaning that was never done. The accountants had paid for window cleaning for months before discovering the scam.

Phil Bell
Bell Window Cleaning - Concord, NH

Be careful and know your employees. We have tried to get all our customers on invoice only. You can't do that with every customer (especially the mom & pop businesses), but make sure you know who pays cash every time. It doesn't change our cash flow to much because most of our retail pay the same week as the work getting done.

Audra Thompson
Landers Window & Exterior Cleaning Inc- Ponca City, OK

I inform them upon hiring that any stealing is grounds for termination. I did have one employee about six years ago steal from me claiming the customer asked to be remitted on account. The customer had a receipt for a cash pay out, but unfortunately i waited 30 days to check. The employee was terminated. Now I call the customer to confirm what the employee is telling me, with the employee there, and stealing has not happened since that one incident.

Tim Walsh
Fish Window Cleaning - Ontario CA

I think you should consult with your own lawyer on $4,000. Collections will only get you half – maybe.

Geof White
Valley Window Cleaning, Inc - Appleton, WI

I'm no expert but if the work was done in your state you might be able to file small claims locally. You should check on that.

Carlos Samojluk
Wine Country Window Cleaning - Napa, CA

You'll find plenty of collection agencies locally or online. The one time I had to use a collection company, I found rates to be from 20% to 33% of the collected amount. There was no fee if they didn't collect (which they didn't). Collection is the easiest first step; small claims court requires forms to complete, fees to pay, and time. Just make sure the company is solvent or you might be chasing an empty purse.

Ed Samson
Ameri-Clean Commercial, Inc. - Northbrook, IL

Normally the window cleaner doesn't need to prove there's a low-e coating inside the IG unit on the 2 or 3 side. There should not be a low-e coating on the 1 or 4 side, because the coating would look terrible and bread down quickly. (Note - glass surfaces are numbered from the outside in.) But sometimes the glass company will mess up, and if necessary you can prove that to a dubious customer with a low-e contact meter. A low-e coating conducts electricity, and a contact meter simply tests for conductivity when it is placed against the glass. The cheapest contact meters won't detect a coating that's inside a window - on the 2 or 3 side. For that you need one of the more expensive low-e detectors that use a light to detect coatings inside a unit. www.professionalequipment.com/glass-inspection/

On that same web page there is a laser glass thickness gauge that can also tell you where a coating is located, even inside an IG unit. if you look at the drawings in the user manual you can get a sense of how that works. www.edtm.com/usermanuals_MG1500.htm

It’s a simple concept. The laser beam bounces off all 4 surfaces, and you can see all 4 reflections on the gauge. If all 4 laser reflections are the same intensity then both pieces of glass are clear and uncoated. If one reflection is brighter than the others, then the glass is either coated or colored. But you don’t really need that pricy laser thickness gauge if you’re not actually taking measurements. I have been able to detect coatings using a decent laser pointer and the back of a white business card.

So, depending on how much of this equipment you really want to own, you might start out with the cheap contact meter for the outside surfaces, and experiment with a handheld laser pointer if you were curious about the interior surfaces.

Gary Mauer
Window Cleaning Network - Oconomowoc, WI

Please describe what type of laser pointer to get.

Ed Kuvlesky
Best Choice Window Cleaning - Vero Beach, FL

Look for a laser pointer that casts an elongated - not round - "point". In other words, the "point" looks more like a tiny bar than a tiny dot. You want the bar shape, and you want the sharpest point you can get, because it’s hard to compare fuzzy dots.

Unfortunately, you can't just grab one of those $5 keychain pointers. I think I ended up paying $32 for the one that seemed best suited. I suggest a trip to an office supply store large enough to have a good selection, so that you can check out a number of them.

Gary Mauer
Window Cleaning Network - Oconomowoc, WI