Re: "Are technical writers the unsung heroes of document generation?"

[Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>]

I think it was more that the NWU is a socialist-minded group that
thinks that everyone should belong to a union and get overtime. I
believe a strong majority of California legislators think so too.

California Labor Code Â515.5(b)(5)'s exclusion applies to writers who
are "engaged in writing product descriptions, documentation,
promotional material, setup and installation instructions, and other
similar written information." That clearly applies equally to hardware
and software tech writers. It would also seem to cover marketing
writers as well, though so far as I know that has not been tested in
court.

Employers can hire tech writers on W-2 salaried or hourly, they just
have to pay overtime. Or they can hire them on 1099, but if the
employee is not really an independent contractor and the employer is
doing it just to avoid paying payroll taxes, overtime, etc. they may
get in trouble with the IRS.

On Sun, Jun 21, 2015 at 11:45 AM, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:
> Yes, a group called the National Writers Association pushed this through,
> apparently under the impression that all software industry writers were just
> underpaid, overworked DTP operators doing nothing but formatting what
> developers throw over the walls at them.  I don't know, maybe those software
> writers who belong to the NWA actually are. So if you work in California on
> products that are primarily software, under the NWA's stupid pet law you can
> only be hired hourly, unless you can somehow manage to carry your own 1099
> contract. Fortunately for people like me, the NWA was apparently also under
> the impression that there are no other technical writers BUT software
> industry writers, because that section of code is very narrowly targeted and
> fairly easy to avoid as long as you are not working on products that are
> primarily software.
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