TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
This doc is kind of interesting if you like legal briefs. Otherwise, skip it.
This case and appeal took place in the 6th district court (Michigan and Indiana). CA is in the 9th district (I think someone said this started in CA. This court is a Federal Appeal Court, which would mean it was a federal court case and would apply to all states, but I am not a lawyer and don't play one on TV or listservs.
Here's something else that I found that I thought was helpful and summarized the findings in real people-speak:
Exempt professional employees include lawyers, physicians, teachers, architects, registered nurses, and other employees performing work requiring advanced education or training. These typically are intellectual jobs requiring specialized education and involving the use of discretion and judgment.
This exemption also includes creative professionals such as writers, journalists, actors, and musicians. Typically, such jobs require imagination, talent, and unique contributions to the employer.
Note: This exemption does not include skilled trades, mechanical arts or other work that does not require a college or postgraduate degree.
An aside: Years ago, when I went to work at Microsoft (in WA) and converted from contract to perm, my manager told me "she" expected me to put in an "extra ten" (wink wink) hours a week at least for the first few years if I expected to get ahead.
The funny part of that was I couldn't find anything in our department that I could do, so I ended up reading internal sites and finding out about emerging technologies. Here's the funny part. I learned about this new technology called ActiveX and became one of the first writers to write about it. So, while I was putting in my extra ten, I ended up getting writing gigs on the side (with her permission), and I got paid extra money.
After that, I took on getting extra training. It isn't legal to ask and I don't think it was back then, and this was in the early 90's, but I found a way to make it work. That's my attitude about life. I'd rather just get it done and find the good in it than stew about it and get angry. If I didn't like it, I could always leave. And at that time, who would want to leave Microsoft? They were the number one selling software company in the world.
Today it is a different world. I won't go out of my house to work. Remote or go away. Isn't if funny how we and the world are changing? I'm wondering how much more changes are coming our way in the next few years.
Is there another version of Fahrenheit 451 coming out? Will we even have books in a few years?
Well, back to work, while I still have a writing job, right?
Lin
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+linlaurie1=hotmail -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com <techwr-l-bounces+linlaurie1=hotmail -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> On Behalf Of Jay Maechtlen
Sent: Monday, January 17, 2022 11:57 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: California laws - techwriters exempt?
I''m not sure how the law came about, but the Sun lawsuit may have given it a push.
One or more members of the defunct San Gabriel Valley chapter was part of that, but we never heard much about it.
But it seemed that Sun liked its techwriters to work a lot more than 40 hours a week.
And there was no financial reward for those efforts. I really can't blame them for taking action.
If a company's management is reasonable, then salary/exempt is fine.
If they expect you to work 50-60 hours a week for 40 hours a week wages, then there's a problem.
Oh, well. Hopefully none of you-all get caught in such a crunch.
(an occasional 'crunch time'? sure. Regularly? plan better or reward the
crunchees)
Cheers
Jay
On 1/17/2022 6:37 PM, Robert Lauriston wrote:
> I think the non-exempt bit is unique to California. Some leftist
> writers' organization managed to get it into a bill updating the Labor
> Code during the dot-com era.
>
> I've never seen a job ad with a list of states like that. I don't
> think right-to-work would be the motive, it's not like anybody's
> organizing a union of remote tech writers.
>
> On Mon, Jan 17, 2022 at 4:19 PM Jonathan Baker <jbaker2525 -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>> Iâve noted more and more ads for remote tech writer that list only 5-6 states that they will hire from. Iâm guessing that most of those states are right-to-work states. So, if you live in CA, MA, NJ, or other progressive states, donât bother to apply.
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 17, 2022 at 6:07 PM Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com> wrote:
>>> Per California Labor Code section 515.5(b)(5) you're not exempt from
>>> overtime if you are "a writer engaged in writing material, including
>>> box labels, product descriptions, documentation, promotional
>>> material, setup and installation instructions, and other similar
>>> written information, either for print or for onscreen media or who
>>> writes or provides content material intended to be read by
>>> customers, subscribers, or visitors to computer-related media such
>>> as the World Wide Web or CD-ROMs."
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jan 17, 2022 at 12:03 PM Jay Maechtlen <techwriter -at- laserpubs -dot- com> wrote:
>>>> Some years back, there was a lawsuit in California that resulted in
>>>> technical writers having to be non-exempt / hourly only.
>>>>
>>>> I don't see anything recent on that topic, has the exempt/non
>>>> exempt rule changed?es @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
>>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>> Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content
>>> strategy and content development | https://techwhirl.com
>>>
>>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>>
>>> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as jbaker2525 -at- gmail -dot- com -dot-
>>>
>>> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
>>> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>>>
>>>
>>> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>>> http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.
>>>
>>> Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our
>>> online magazine at http://techwhirl.com
>>>
>>> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our
>>> public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy
> and content development | https://techwhirl.com
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as techwriter -at- laserpubs -dot- com -dot-
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.
>
> Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our
> online magazine at http://techwhirl.com
>
> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our
> public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
Jay Maechtlen
Maechtlen & Associates
(626) 840-8875
www.laserpubs.com/techcomm
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | https://techwhirl.com
Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com
Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | https://techwhirl.com
