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Gene Kim-Eng wrote:
> It probably depends on the timing. i.e., how long she
> worked those long weeks before complaining about the
> hours, and how her performance was rated before the
> complaint. Another unanswered question is whether
> her coworkers were also putting in those long weeks
> or if they were somehow managing to get their work
> done satisfactorily in fewer hours, and if her complaint
> about hours was just the last straw for a manager who
> was already displeased with her work and would have
> been just as happy if she had managed to "improve her
> performance" without working 60+ hours a week. I would
> not be surprised if we hear Sun maintain that they never
> demanded that she work those specific hours and that
> she just wasn't able to do the same work other writers
> were getting done in less time.
Some managers do have the prerogative, fair or not, to give the really
messy work to the writer(s) they disfavor, If one writer is in that
position and the employer tries to make out that the writer isn't
competent, then lookout if the writer is strong-willed, for it could be
an explosive situation.
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.
Not a lawyer, but a fairly keen observer,
Ned Bedinger
doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com
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