Re: Tech Writer Lawsuit

[Ned Bedinger <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com>]

Janice Gelb wrote:
> Ned Bedinger wrote:
>> Having one or more of those projects can be the difference between a 
>> forty hour week and a workload that extends regularly into the wee 
>> hours. Such dis-favoritism could be the driver behind the claims and 
>> lawsuit. I don't know the circumstances in the case at hand, but can 
>> easily imagine that the suit, by a legacy tech writer with no existing 
>> connection to the new group, claiming unfairness and seeking 
>> adjudication, is just.
>>
> 
> My own guess is that her previous working conditions
> were a 40-hour week with overtime paid, and her new
> conditions were not. And that the volume of her work
> might have also increased.
> 
> Also, as for "a legacy tech writer with no existing
> connection to the new group," by and large, when Sun
> buys a company with an existing doc dept (and please
> remember the part where *I am not speaking for Sun
> officially*), that group is kept together and works
> on its traditional product line. If their manager
> remains with the company after the acquisition, then
> they are still usually managed by the same person, too.

I hardly know how to think about the cultural integration that comes 
with an acquisition--I've done network infrastructure acquisitions, but 
never met the people who came with the hardware. People issues must run 
the gamut of personal and professional. Keeping a group together while 
they acquire the Sun culture seems enlightened to me.

It is hard to imagine Sun not being the promised land to a tech writer, 
but I guess we'll have to wait and see what the story is.

Thanks for the balance, I was getting a little lopsided in my neutral 
observer posture, wasn't I?

Ned Bedinger
doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com

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