Re: Big bucks in tech writing - show me the money!

["Steve Arrants" <stephen -dot- arrants -at- attbi -dot- com>]

"Andrew Plato" <gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com> writes:
To: "Steve Arrants" <stephen -dot- arrants -at- attbi -dot- com>; "TECHWR-L"
<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 8:12 PM
Subject: Re: Big bucks in tech writing - show me the money!


> "Steve Arrants" <stephen -dot- arrants -at- attbi -dot- com> wrote:
>
> > Nope.  It applies to any W-2 employee. Hourly or salaried.  Doesn't
matter
> > if you are "salaried"--divide your weekly before taxes by 40.
> > The company or agency cannot redefine the position.  Well, they can try,
but
> > the Labor Board here in California doesn't like that.  Nope, not at all.
A
> > couple of SF companies were fined for this.
> >
> > Here's more info http://www.andreas.com/faq-overtime.html
>
> That's not how I read the law or that link you sent. The way I read it,
you have
> to be paid on an HOURLY basis for those laws to apply (ie you have to be a
w-2
> contractor working on an hourly basis.)


It's an example of a poorly worded regulation that can be confusing. (You
can read (painfully) the regulation at
http://www.dir.ca.gov/iwc/IWCArticle4.html ).

California law does not specifically classify employees as "hourly" or
"salary".  California uses "exempt" and "non-exempt" to classify employees
for the purpose of applying wage and hour laws.  If you meet the
qualifications for an exempt employee, certain wage and hour laws--such as
overtime--do not apply to you.  In regards to technical writers (or any
"content" producers), you need to meet the criteria.  One criterion is the
amount paid per hour--doesn't matter if you must punch a time clock or
whether you get a straight salary. If you get a straight salary, your
paycheck must have the hours worked in the pay period and the amount paid
per hour. IF you are paid a straight salary and IF, after calculating your
hourly rate based on a 40-hour work week, the hourly rate is below the
threshold, you are classified as non-exempt, and must be paid overtime.

The confusion comes in because the regulation says "hourly".  An hourly
employee is a non-exempt employee.  A salaried employee is generally an
exempt employee, but not always. If an employee provides written content on
a W-2 basis, and is paid $41 or less an hour for a 40-hour workweek (even in
a situation where no hours are reported), the employee is classified as
non-exempt from the regulation  (and hourly for the purposes of the
regulation).

Another area where employers think they are safe is giving the title
"Consultant" or "Lead" to the employee.  It isn't the title that classifies
you in most cases, it is the actual work performed.

In any case, I don't know of any recruiters who don't hire you on an hourly
rate but hire your for a "straight salary."



> That article from the NWU talks about how they're going to crush all the
> recruiters and drive every last profit making company out of California.
>

No, the article from the NWU talks about how organized workers successfully
had a regulation passed by the legislature and signed by the governor to
ensure a benefit for a class of workers.  Certainly a miracle given that the
NWU didn't have to give large campaign contributions to anyone involved.

I don't think the NWU wants to crush all the recruiters, just the ones that
don't follow the law.

As to driving every last profit making company out of California, the
companies themselves are doing that in a lot of ways.  I'm sure we can all
relate the boneheaded things that companies do to make sure that the
quarterly report shows a profit.

As to whether a technical writer making under the threshold should claim the
overtime, that's another discussion.






^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All-new RoboHelp X3 is now shipping! Get single sourcing, print-quality
documentation, conditional text and much more, in the most monumental
release ever. Save $100! Order online at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

Buy ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 6.0, the most powerful SINGLE SOURCE HELP
AUTHORING TOOL for MS Word. SAVE $100 on the full version and $50 on the
upgrade.  Offer ends 10/31/2002 (code: DTH102250).
http://www.componentone.com/d2hlist1002

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.