Alan Crone appeared on WREG News Channel 3 to talk about the new tax cuts in his “Big Beautiful Bill” and how that can help the working class. He also talks about the Tennessee Human Rights Commission’s elimination, and what that means for your discrimination claim. Watch the video below, or read the transcription below!
Alex Coleman
Welcome back. President Trump’s promise to eliminate federal income tax on workers tips became a reality this month when he signed his so called Big, beautiful bill into law. The White House Calls the tax cuts a win for the working class, while critics say the benefits are temporary and won’t help most low wage workers in the long run here to talk more about the bill and other issues impacting Tennessee, is labor attorney Alan Crone, Alan. Alan, long time Good to see you here. Have you been doing
Alan Crone
I think this is the first time since COVID that I’ve been in studio.
Alex Coleman
We got to change that for sure. Yeah, we’re glad to have you here on the news at three. Let’s talk about the big, beautiful bill, especially when it comes to workers. Is this a win for low wage workers? Or how do you kind of see it?
Alan Crone
Well, I don’t see how it can be anything other than a win. I mean, it may not be a huge win, yeah, not the Super Bowl, but it is a cut on taxes for tips up to a certain amount, and the same thing for overtime, and that’s a big benefit. Most people, you know somewhere between 20 and 33% tax and withholding. And I think if you can give a working person a couple $1,000 to 10 or $15,000 I’ll bet you most people know what to do with that.
Alex Coleman
Will this, though, simplify things when it comes to that tax season for those low wage workers, or workers in general, how do you say it? Or is this going to complicate it?
Alan Crone
Well, in theory, they those workers should have been keeping track of their tips all along. Yeah, and so that won’t change, and then it’s just a matter of math in terms of of deducting it from their gross income. And I’m not a tax lawyer, but I don’t think it’ll it’ll complicate taxes too terribly much. Now, it’s true, these are temporary. Just like the the big tax cuts were temporary, they’re going to have to be passed again. But I think, I think both parties really embrace this idea. This was, I heard Kamala Harris talking about this on the campaign trail, and the devil is in the details, but we’ll see how it goes.
Alex Coleman
So that individual worker right now, Alan, how should she or he, how should they really kind of approach things going forward with those tips and other things like that.
Alan Crone
Well, I think you need to document it. The something that goes along with it that’s interesting is the tip pool tax credit, which long story short on that is, if you’re if you wait tables and they pay you 213 an hour plus tips. That means that those tips now are going to be tax free. So I think one of the things that the policy makers wanted is to people to fairly report their tips, so that everybody can kind of figure out what what’s really going on. You know, if they go through the credit card machine, that’s one thing, but if it’s cash on the table, you know, I’m sure everybody reports every any of that. But you know, from my perspective, when you from now on, when you go after those damages for tax year 2025, and beyond, right now, they take, they take taxes out of it. Okay, well now that there won’t be any taxes to take out of it up to a certain point. Now that may be the if there’s a if there’s devil in the details, it’s that it’s not all tips and overtime. I think it’s capped at 25,000.
Alex Coleman
I got you covered. Well, I got you here. I do want to ask you about the status of the Tennessee Human Rights Commission. There’s been a lot of talk about that, especially July 1 of this year. And what went into effect? What happened? What’s the status of that?
Alan Crone
Well, right now, the status is that July 1 the Human Rights Commission went away, that enforcement power is now being undertaken by the Attorney General’s Office. So it’s not like they just, you know, threw it out and didn’t have a replacement. The biggest impact is, at least for now, before July 1, if you if you were wrongfully terminated, you would have 300 days to bring an action with the EEOC or the Tennessee Human Rights Commission. Now that we don’t have the Tennessee Human Rights Commission. You only have 180 days from the date of the last discrimination to bring a claim to the EEOC.
Alex Coleman
I was going to ask you just about that when it comes to employment discrimination claims, where should that person go from here? I mean, is there still the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission? Or how do you kind of work this out now?
Alan Crone
Yeah, you need to go to the EEOC, okay, and then keep in mind that if you have a state law claim, you’ve got a year to file a lawsuit. There’s no requirement. Never has been that you had to go to the Tennessee Human Rights Commission or that you have to go to the Attorney General’s Office. Obviously, the Attorney General’s Office is not in a position, neither was the commission to take every case. Comes along, right? They’re going to rely on private lawyers more than that, but you’ve got the takeaway here is you’ve got a very, very short window. Okay, under both laws, and if you really believe that you have a claim, you need to either go see the EEOC, or come see me, or another employment law.
Alex Coleman
I was going to say, Alan, I would imagine, with so many changes going on these days, you are staying probably busier than ever
Alan Crone
Well, that’s That’s right. Unfortunately, people aren’t make people continue not to make good choices when it comes to how they treat their employees, and we’re doing everything we can to transform that, but it’s going to take a while.
Alex Coleman
Alan Crone, always good to see you definitely want to continue this in the future.
Alan Crone
Absolutely! Love to be here.
Alex Coleman
Look forward to it.