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"No one FORCED these people to work overtime - they could always quit
and go get a job that did pay overtime"
Some employers do force you to do the overtime without pay, and your
alternative is to quit. Having a family in America and quitting your job
and having no health insurance is a great idea. Yes, there's plenty an
employee can do when forced to work overtime. I'm sure the tech writer
would love getting the service job ... fries with that oil change?
Are employers always wrong? No. Are employers always right? No.
I took a job with an employer once, at the interview confirmed the usual
40 hours a week plus around deadline time, it gets a little intense and
overtime is infrequently needed. After getting the job, and doing my job
well, accurately, meeting deadlines, meeting or exceeding requirements,
I find that they want to see me in the office doing overtime on evenings
and weekends without pay and without work that justifies it ... because
some of the other employees are. Well ... what about time with my
family? Why, if my job is being done well and I am meeting deadlines
without working overtime? Well, the answer is because that's what they
expect. So, should I have quit, got stuck with no health insurance or
costly short-lived COBRA and a job at McDonalds?
Cheers.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+sbrierley=accu-time -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sbrierley=accu-time -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Jodie Gilmore
Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2008 11:53 AM
To: 'TECHWR-L'
Subject: RE: Tech Writer Lawsuit
<rant on>
Well, pardon me for sounding like a right-wing radical (I can't help
it), but I think such a class-action suit it stupid. No one FORCED these
people to work overtime - they could always quit and go get a job that
did pay overtime (like CNC machine milling, for instance). They must
have known up front when they were hired that they weren't going to get
overtime. If that was an issue for them, they should not have accepted
the position. They could have also tried negotiating with the boss(es)
to see if, like CPAs, when there was a period where they worked TONS of
overtime, they could possibly trade and get a Friday off occasionally
during light periods, for instance. There are lots of creative solutions
that do not require the services of over-paid greedy lawyers. The
litigiousness of our society never ceases to amaze me. Sue Sue Sue. And
I'm not talking about "Sue, a boy named". Frankly, it makes me sick.
Suck it up, work if you want to work, or quit, or negotiate. <rant off>
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