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BENEFITS PROVIDED TO SECURITY OFFICERS BY CONTRACTOR
Benefits provided the to the officers by the contract service, after a probationary, apprentice or cadet period, should include the following:
Fully paid health and hospitalization insurance to include a comprehensive major medical plan; or a comparable HMO or self funded benefit trust. Beware of companies which claim to provide this benefit, but require employees to "participate" in the payment of premiums. While it may be reasonable for employees in this relatively low wage bracket to contribute up to 25% percent, some guard companies require contributions as high as 90%.
An option for officers to purchase dependent coverage at group rates.
Fully paid life insurance--$5,000 minimum, typically more.
Paid vacation of one week after one year, two weeks after five years--or a comparable program based on the number of hours worked.
Holiday pay (time and a half) for at least six holidays--for holidays actually worked by the officers.
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A tax-free uniform allowance to provide for cleaning, replacement, and maintenance of the officers' uniforms. A weekly allowance of $10 - $20 appears to be reasonable, yet not enough to be considered taxable income. (In the big picture, the contractor and the officers all come out ahead since payroll taxes do not apply to this benefit.)
Note: Many quality firms do not provide uniforms: The officers must purchase them on their own. I do not see this as objectionable when the officers are being paid the wages recommended in this guide. Some firms reimburse the officers for the initial purchase after a specified period of employment. One theory here, that seems valid, is that only those applicants intending to remain with the contractor for some time would be willing to invest this front money for relatively expensive uniforms. Another plus here is that the uniforms often look better than those issued by other contractors who provide them. Of course, some security companies only issue new uniforms. In fact, one large Midwest quality service has a professional tailor on staff and all newly hired employees receive new uniforms, custom tailored for a perfect fit. Other low end contract services, however, often provide ancient, worn-out secondhand uniforms in such disrepair they would be rejected by the homeless in favor of a serape found in a dumpster. It stands to reason that an officer beginning a security career in a sharp new uniform will have a distinctly different attitude than one reporting for work in a shabby outfit two sizes too large.
There are some security agencies which pay minimum wage and provide uniforms, but do not pay a uniform allowance. This has been found to be illegal, since the required cleaning and laundry of uniforms drops the employees' true earnings below minimum wage.
Officers should have a basic pension plan, profit sharing retirement program, 401K, or IRA available to them after a reasonable period of employment. The contract service should contribute a minimum of %25 of the total contributions to the plan.
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