341 Question

[epiphany]

Does one have any say on when their 341 is held?

My job is pretty flexible but four times a year I have to do some brief out of town training. It looks like I am going to be required to do this about 1 month after I file.

Can I tell my lawyer not to schedule the 341 for certain dates? I'd hate to have to hold off on filing yet again because of this.

EP

[lrprn]

The court schedules your 341 when your case is filed. Your lawyer has no say in it. However, given that your lawyer has been handling other cases, he/she should have a handle on when your 341 is likely to be scheduled and if you are going to have a conflict or not.

Asking to reschedule a 341 for anything less than a life-and-death emergency is frowned upon by the trustee - the goal is to stay under the trustee's radar and not bring special attention to your case. Best to plan ahead now for how to tell work you can't attend the training if there is a conflict.

[epiphany]

The court schedules your 341 when your case is filed. Your lawyer has no say in it. However, given that your lawyer has been handling other cases, he/she should have a handle on when your 341 is likely to be scheduled and if you are going to have a conflict or not.

Asking to reschedule a 341 for anything less than a life-and-death emergency is frowned upon by the trustee - the goal is to stay under the trustee's radar and not bring special attention to your case. Best to plan ahead now for how to tell work you can't attend the training if there is a conflict.

Thanks lrprn. Problem is, I can't skip the training, I am the trainer. If I don't attend, the staff in our outlying areas can't do their job. Work is really very good to me as far as giving me whatever I want off and letting me work the hours I want (I pretty much come and go as I please) except for these small time frames out of the year. I will know the schedule for the entire two months shortly...we are doing a grayeyard hardware rollout so I guess if I am scheduled out of town around the time that the 341 is anticipated, I will just delay filing for a few more weeks. The 341 is usually about a month out from date of filing, is it not?

I appreciate the response very much.

ep

[lrprn]

Problem is, I can't skip the training, I am the trainer.

Yes, that definitely does add a different spin to things, doesn't it?

Question for you - what would your employer do if you had a family emergency and needed to miss one day of the mandatory staff training? I was a hospital staff educator for years - there was always an emergency Plan B hiding in the training wings somewhere. Since you would have time to cross all the T's and do some coaching ahead of time, could someone else handle the training for you for one day? Might even be only a half day depending on what time of the day your 341 is scheduled.

[epiphany]

Yes, that definitely does add a different spin to things, doesn't it?

Question for you - what would your employer do if you had a family emergency and needed to miss one day of the mandatory staff training? I was a hospital staff educator for years - there was always an emergency Plan B hiding in the training wings somewhere. Since you would have time to cross all the T's and do some coaching ahead of time, could someone else handle the training for you for one day? Might even be only a half day depending on what time of the day your 341 is scheduled.

I hear what you are saying and believe me, if there were a family emergency, I would not hesitate to phone it in. But we have such a retention problem right now and are not lucky enough to have a plan B. Things get winged in a pinch or they get aborted and rescheduled. I know I shouldn't worry about that, but as I said, they are good to me and I don't like letting them down.

That being said, there really is no coaching that can be done long distance ahead of time. Not only do I work on various projects between rollouts but we are constantly in training mode with an inexperienced staff. This coming up rollout is a big one. I work for a very large corporation and we are replacing hubs with switches in our retail environment, among other things. The newer people need a lot of hand holding...they are scared to death of these things until they truly understand how they work. And once they figure out how things work and are comfortable, they quit and go work somewhere else. Not, that I blame them. My company does not pay enough.

It will be a graveyard shift and if the shift happens to be in town on the day that the 341 is scheduled, I will definitely be able to make it, sleep deprived or not. However, if I have to go to an outlying area, it could be as much as a 125 mile drive each way (for two or more days in a row) and that would definitely change things. Add potential traffic in (I am in the LA area) and it really gets ugly.

I guess I'll wait to see what the rollout schedule actually is before I decide what to do. I do appreciate knowing that I cannot play with the 341 date.

I imagine a couple more weeks to file won't matter much in the scheme of things. It's just that I keep having unexpected expenses, so have been postponing, and am finally going to be able to pay the lawyer his final payment (knock on wood and everything else I can find) on the 28th. Oh well, I hear patience is a virtue. I certainly hope that's true.

ep

[epiphany]

I thought about what you said

I saw the schedule for the next two months today and I would have to wait at least that long to file if I waited to find a time that was convenient for work. I thought about what you said, lrprn, and I am just going to let work know now that I will have a family thing to do in court , but don't know the date yet. Once I get the 341 date, I will tell them when. They can like it or not, I don't care. I am hoping to get the lawyer paid on the 28th.

It doesn't hurt that somebody pissed me off at work today. Just when you think everything is going great, someone does something to remind you that they don't really care.

Thanks again for your advice.
ep

[FreshLikeADaisy]

Ep, for what it's worth, I think you're doing the right thing. In the end, this means a lot more to you and your life than their rollout (I'm in IT too -- or was, will again when I go back to work -- so I know *exactly* what you're talking about with travel and graveyard rollouts... *shudder*) and like you said, if you wait for the right time, you'll wait a good long time.

And btw, one person doing the work of three is generally NOT incentive for an employer to hire additional staff... You didn't say this, I've just seen it enough to make an educated guess. Good luck!!!

[epiphany]

Ep, for what it's worth, I think you're doing the right thing. In the end, this means a lot more to you and your life than their rollout (I'm in IT too -- or was, will again when I go back to work -- so I know *exactly* what you're talking about with travel and graveyard rollouts... *shudder*) and like you said, if you wait for the right time, you'll wait a good long time.

And btw, one person doing the work of three is generally NOT incentive for an employer to hire additional staff... You didn't say this, I've just seen it enough to make an educated guess. Good luck!!!

Thanks Flad. We actually have a "head count" and are always hiring cause we can't keep people. But even if we were ever to be at full capacity, it would never be an experienced staff so it would be just like having not enough people.

You are intuitive, I do do the work of three people, not because I bust my butt, I don't have to. I am just able to get more done in less time that most of my peers...... I also do project coordinator work that I do not get compenstated adequately for...though I don't want that job. Heck, I don't even want the one I have.

I put up with it because of the flexibility of what I can work (most of the time) and if I don't want to work 40 hours, I don't have to. As long as I get MY work done, I am golden. Plus I get 5 weeks vacation.

However, I don't enjoy hardware. I have my side business with eBay and I am seriously thinking about turning that into full time once I get discharged. I can't wait to file.

ep