RE: Technical Test

["David Berg" <dberg -at- dmpnet -dot- com>]

> [mailto:bounce-techwr-l-42532 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of barry
> batorsky
>
> We are an under-litigated country, especially in the area of employee
> rights.  I hate but am as ready as any employer to hire lawyers.

The willingness to hire a lawyer and the ability are two different things.
Several years ago, I unsuccessfully tried for nearly a month to meet with
management (yes, they flat-out refused to even talk with me). I finally
addressed my concerns about my job by walking into my supervisor's office
and telling him, and showing him in black and white, that the recent changes
they had made to my job requirements and compensation (all of which had been
specifically addressed before I agreed to accept the position) were so
drastic that they were in violation of federal wage and labor laws in
several areas. Roughly 24-hours later they called me into the office and
fired me.

I was living and working in a small town at the time, so it didn't surprise
me too much when no local attorney wanted to take the case. What really got
to me was when I contacted numerous lawyers up to 90 minutes away and the
only response I ever received was "we only represent management in labor
disputes." And yes, I did try asking for referrals to anyone willing to
represent an employee, but no one I spoke to could give me a name.

I disagree with Barry that we are, as a rule, under-litigated. Practically
any area with the promise of big bucks is _well_ litigated. On the other
hand, any area where there is little promise of riches, such as helping the
"common man," or standing up for rights and principle, is often
under-litigated.

For a tiny TW tie-in (which I won't pretend is enough to bring this back on
topic), I do worry about the extent that legal wrangling has made our
culture so paranoid that we have to write absurd disclaimers and warnings to
protect against imaginative attorneys who make a living at misconstruing
obvious intent.

David Berg


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Develop HTML-Based Help with Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 ($100 STC Discount)
**WEST COAST LOCATIONS** San Jose (Mar 1-2), San Francisco (Apr 16-17)
http://www.weisner.com/training/dreamweaver_help.htm or 800-646-9989.

IPCC 01, the IEEE International Professional Communication Conference,
October 24-27, 2001 at historic La Fonda in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
CALL FOR PAPERS OPEN UNTIL MARCH 15.  http://ieeepcs.org/2001/

---
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.