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Writing is a process. Quite often the writing goes on
while you are walking around the lake or sitting in
the sun. It is usually not billed, but it is still
part of writing the document. It is also done during
lunches with colleagues or other team members. Does
your manager know this? Probably not. I've found that
most writers, myself included, do not tell managers
because the assumption is that they would not
understand. I believe they need to be told. They need
to know the process.
Additionally, as you all know, every project has a
"feast and famine" cycle. That, I am guessing, is why
they want you to be hourly.
(Just my 2 cents)
--- "Susan W. Gallagher" <sgallagher5 -at- cox -dot- net> wrote:
> Pardon my rant, but... <g>
>
> What everyone always misses when this question comes
> up is that it isn't how
> they pay you, it's what they think you do for a
> living, and to me, calling a
> technical writer a non-exempt employee is a slap in
> the face akin to making
> one of our primary duties the answering of
> telephones.
>
> See, the US labor laws define certain occupations
> exempt from the normal
> overtime laws, and the test for exemption is the
> following:
>
> ----------quote-----------
> employee must be paid at least
> $250 per week on a salary or fee basis; have a
> primary duty of (1) work
> requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field
> of science or
> learning customarily acquired by prolonged,
> specialized, intellectual
> instruction and study, or (2) work that is original
> and creative in a
> recognized field of artistic endeavor, or (3)
> teaching in a school
> system or educational institution, or (4) work as a
> computer systems
> analyst, computer programmer, software engineer, or
> other similarly-
> skilled worker in the computer software field; and
> perform work
> requiring the consistent exercise of discretion and
> judgment, or work
> requiring invention, imagination, or talent in a
> recognized field of
> artistic endeavor.
> -----------end quote-----------------
>
> We are creative. Our jobs require specialized
> knowledge. We are similarly
> skilled to our friends the devs. We are called upon
> to exercise discretion
> and judgement, and our work requires invention,
> imagination, and talent. And
> if anyone tells you that technical writing is
> usually included in the
> "guidelines" as a non-exemptcategory, you can tell
> them that technical
> writing has evolved far beyond parts-list-creator
> since the law and
> guidelines were written. <g>
>
> I've seen this question come up in M&As before --
> that's pretty much the
> only time that the legal department gets to run the
> show. A reasoned
> argument based on the tests above usually lets them
> check the box and file
> the form.
>
> Interestingly enough, this exemption is often called
> the "white collar"
> exemptions, but otherwise is categorized as
> "executive, administrative, and
> professional".
>
> HTH
> -Sue Gallagher
>
>
> > My company was recently acquired and we're going
> through the
> > >growing pains of assimilating to their HR
> systems, among other
> > >things. My manager was recently told by the new
> powers that be that
> > >we writers should be hourly rather than salaried,
> which was a huge
> > >surprise to us (since we've always been
> salaried). My manager thinks
> > >there may be legal reasons for this and that the
> government may have
> > >defined what we do as being an hourly-type job
> (to ensure we are
> > >paid OT). I was wondering if there were many of
> you who were hourly
> > >or if anyone has had to "defend" being a salaried
> employee.
>
>
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Sincerely,
Sonja
Skillful speech not only means that we pay attention to the words we speak and to their tone, but also requires that our words reflect compassion and concern for others, and that they help and heal, rather than wound and destroy.
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