The Battle Over Overtime

from the confusion-reigns-supreme dept

Traditionally, most professional jobs were considered exempt from overtime rules -- but changes in federal laws have made it so that certain programming jobs now fall back under overtime rules, leading to some lawsuits from techies who feel underpaid. On the other side of the coin, many complain that the rules are not particularly clear, and leave many more employers open to lawsuits. However, to some extent, you have to wonder if these laws make sense. Obviously, protecting employees from being exploited is a good thing -- but certain jobs don't necessarily make sense from an hourly basis. It punishes the better, more efficient workers, while rewarding the slackers who take their time or the clueless workers who are "learning on the job." The trick is to create the right balance, and it's not clear we're there yet.

3 Comments | Leave a Comment..


If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...
 

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1.  

    No Subject Given

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 17th, 2005 @ 12:27pm

    Pay programmers by the number of bugs they fix.
    I'm going to write me a minivan!

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    ...laws make sense...

    identicon
    jdw242, May 17th, 2005 @ 2:30pm

    "However, to some extent, you have to wonder if these laws make sense."

    amen. but, tell the government this truism, and see the justifications fly!

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  

    hourly pay ...

    identicon
    bob, May 17th, 2005 @ 6:41pm

    Having been forced into the world of contracting thanks to offshore competition, I'm finally seeing a paycheck that's worth my time. Contracting is no less certian than being a "permanent" employee and it gives the added benefit of getting paid for overtime.
    I get no paid vacation and no paid sick leave, but that's an unfortunate byproduct of the commoditization of software work.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Save me a cookie
  • Note: A CRLF will be replaced by a break tag (<br>), all other allowable HTML will remain intact
  • Allowed HTML Tags: <b> <i> <a> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>


A word from our Sponsors...
Follow Techdirt
Flattr rss rss
From the Techdirt Archive...
A word from our Sponsors...

Close

Email This