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> Can't they sue Microsoft and get reinstated? Please stop with this. The last time temp workers sued (and won) [1] the rippling effect it has had on 100s and

> Can't they sue Microsoft and get reinstated? Please stop with this. The last time temp workers sued (and won) [1] the rippling effect it has had on 100s and 1000s of contractors since then, is that companies (in Silicon Valley and Bay area atleast) no longer employ contractors for more than 18 months at a time. And due to this a lot of contractors since 1998 have had to leave lucrative contracts at software companies, because the companies that hired them specifically put this max limit after this lawsuit to shield themselves from such a law suit. Personally, I've had to leave 3 separate contracts since 2006 in San Francisco, solely because the clients had this policy of not hiring temp workers/ contractors for more than 18 months, so as to avoid any lawsuit from temp workers suing for employee benefits. [1] Source: [2000] Microsoft to Pay $97 Million to End Temp Worker Suit http://articles.latimes.com/2000/dec/13/business/fi-64817 http://articles.latimes.com/2000/dec/13/business/fi-64817

IanDrake 8y ago
Ditto. I make much more as a contractor than any FTEs I’ve worked with. This has bitten me a few times.
mjevans 8y ago
The best fix for this is to eliminate the "benefits" corporations see by hiring temps/part time over just hiring for a full time job. If a job is really a partial job require pro-rated benefits (and favor the worker slightly so that it encourages just having full-time jobs). That might also encourage businesses/the rich to put their political pressure towards socializing those costs instead of outsourcing them to individual (temp/part time) employees.
- com2kid 8y ago
  > The best fix for this is to eliminate the "benefits" corporations see by hiring temps/part time over just hiring for a full time job. Having worked at a big tech co, our budget for contractors and vendors was different than our budget for full time employees. It wasn't that vendors were even cheaper, the average was close to $100 / hour, and vendors got paid for every hour they worked! But vendors were easier to let go if they turned out to not be good, or if (when) the department budget was cut. Getting approval for head count could take forever, but if I wanted to hire 3 vendors next week, it was only an issue of "is the money there right now?", not "will the money be there for years and years to come". (As an aside, at one point in time the 3rd or 4th highest earning person in the building was one of my vendors, he was earning over 250K per year for awhile, all cash!)
- bdcravens 8y ago
  Presumably contractor pay would be adjusted to reflect this.

IanDrake 8y ago

Ditto. I make much more as a contractor than any FTEs I’ve worked with. This has bitten me a few times.

mjevans 8y ago

The best fix for this is to eliminate the "benefits" corporations see by hiring temps/part time over just hiring for a full time job. If a job is really a partial job require pro-rated benefits (and favor the worker slightly so that it encourages just having full-time jobs). That might also encourage businesses/the rich to put their political pressure towards socializing those costs instead of outsourcing them to individual (temp/part time) employees.

com2kid 8y ago
> The best fix for this is to eliminate the "benefits" corporations see by hiring temps/part time over just hiring for a full time job. Having worked at a big tech co, our budget for contractors and vendors was different than our budget for full time employees. It wasn't that vendors were even cheaper, the average was close to $100 / hour, and vendors got paid for every hour they worked! But vendors were easier to let go if they turned out to not be good, or if (when) the department budget was cut. Getting approval for head count could take forever, but if I wanted to hire 3 vendors next week, it was only an issue of "is the money there right now?", not "will the money be there for years and years to come". (As an aside, at one point in time the 3rd or 4th highest earning person in the building was one of my vendors, he was earning over 250K per year for awhile, all cash!)
bdcravens 8y ago
Presumably contractor pay would be adjusted to reflect this.