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Exempt (salaried) and Nonexempt (hourly) are defined by the Federal Fair
Labor Standards Act (FSLA). Whether you are exempt or nonexempt under the
law relates to the specific duties you perform in your job. While I can't
speak for California (which tends to go off in its own direction), I can
say that if you are using professional judgment as described in the
statute, you qualify as exempt and therefore are not entitled to overtime.
Regarding the government contracts, the government might be tying specific
tasks to a specific title and the title of tech writer might not be
considered a "professional" position and therefore entitled to overtime.
This is just a guess.
The buckets described by the FSLA are somewhat subjective, and a tech
writer as defined by one company or the government can be doing very
different work from a tech writer as defined by another company. You need
to look at the language of statute and assess it against the tasks of your
own job.
Lynn
(an attorney who is not currently practicing and is not giving legal
advice)
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+lchesler=auspicecorp -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lchesler=auspicecorp -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Allan Ackerson
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 12:54 PM
To: Jay Maechtlen; TechWrl list; Jay Maechtlen
Subject: RE: employment law, overtime
Not always, Jay. A lot of corporations doing business with the feds
classify tech writers/editors as something else (in the case of my
company, information analysts) because that labor classification doesn't
require overtime pay, whereas the labor law on government contracts
requires tech writers/editors to get overtime pay. Unethical? Perhaps,
and you can take it up with the Dept of Labor and get what you got coming
to you and count it in the unemployment line.
Cheers!
Al
> Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 09:16:43 -0800> From: techwriter -at- covad -dot- net> To:
> techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com; jay -at- laserpubs -dot- com> Subject: Re:
> employment law, overtime> > Jay Maechtlen wrote:> >> > > Well, I
> thought I wrote it, anyway.> Sorry about the previous messages - it
> seems that various stuff was > hiding in HTML format- I took it into
> Notepad, and reduced it to text.> > This may be of interest to those
> in the US who work unpaid overtime.> > > It was written:> > "... I
> informed my manager that I will not work 80 hours a week as> a rule.
> They'll get the usual crazy OT out of me at milestones and> deadlines,
> but I will no longer give my company two writers for the> cost of one.
> That may sound horrible to you, but I spent a decade> working nutty
> hours, and all I got was sickness, no social life, and> less money per
> hour. ;-) How will upper management ever feel the> pain if we writers
> continue to perform miracles? My boss not only> agrees with me, he was
> horrified to think I'd cons
ider anything> else. I hope your manager is as understanding."> > > >
Recently we had a talk at our local STC chapter regarding work rules,>
hours, etc.<br>> It develops that we techwriters are entitled to overtime
compensation> in nearly all cases.> Unless the writer is also the boss,
overtime rules apply.> At least, that's the case in California.> I believe
it applies nationwide. If your company compensates properly,> you writers
should be making a bucket of money!> Overtime compensation is not just a
nice idea, it is the law.> > -- > Jay Maechtlen> 626 444-5112 office> 626
840-8875 cell> www.techpubs.com> >
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True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
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