Google's Second-Class Citizens

theodp writes "Valleywag reports on a new caste system at Google, which will mean compulsory lunch breaks, two additional unpaid 15-minute breaks, limited OT, and e-clock punching for those reclassified as hourly workers starting April 1. Could be worse, though. Google also offers gigs through WorkforceLogic (the company that helped Microsoft deal with its pesky permatemps), which come with a guarantee of unemployment after one year. Guess that's what passes for the Best Employer in the US these days."

Best Employer

[LoudMusic]

Since when does being 'the best employer' mean you have to let your employees walk all over you? Pay them what they're worth, send them away when they're done.

Remember when

[elrous0]

Anyone remember when a worker would just go in, get hired by a company, and work for them? Now it seems like everything but the most professional jobs are getting outsourced either oversees or to temp, staffing services, and contractor agencies.

How many people here still work for companies where the secretaries and janitors (sorry, don't have the inclination to use the newer politically-correct terms) actually are full-time, fully-vested, non-contracted company employees? I'm praying there are are least a few of you who do.

only a matter of time

[DaMattster]

I think a lot of people smelled this one coming and it was only a matter of time before it hits. Many industries are going to outsourcing and nowhere is the impact more visible than on the devoted employee. I checked one of the links and was sickened by the fact that the appeal to Bill Gates for assistance from a quasi-temp with brain cancer and raising a family as a single parent went unheeded. If I was even a minor functionary at Microsoft and I saw that letter, I would make certain it got routed to the Chairman somehow. Are we so self-preserving that we cannot help out another human being? This even sickens me further because Gates runs a charitable foundation. I guess it must only be "en vogue" to help foreign countries because a blind eye was turned to a legitimate plea here at home.

I am not a particularly religious person but a rabbi once lectured on charity and its importance to being a good citizen. He even said that, "The highest form of charity is the anonymous donation." He said also said that true charity is not supporting a cause celebre. My cheers to those who stepped in to help that quasi-Microsoft employee. Your assistance was in the true spirit of charity.

From TFA:

[Brunellus]

threat of a black mark on the review of anyone who fails to punch in properly to the time-tracking window on their desktops. "Retarted." says our disgruntled informant.

Guess we know why that monkey's punching a clock. Welcome to the real world, kids, where the boss wants you at work on time. I work a similarly menial job. What I want to know is what the hourly wage for clock-punching down at the Googleplex is, and whether it beats my current wage.

Come work in the AEC industry

[Overzeetop]

Architecture/Engineering firms typically hire everybody, and everybody is in-house, form the mail room to the partners. Of course, everybody but the partners get paid poorly and work long hours without overtime (exempt folks, that is), so it's not like you're getting off scott free. Oh, and layoffs are pretty common as the building market swings up and down. *shrug*

Re:Best Employer

[Bacon Bits]

"There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible." -- Henry Ford

Libertarians will kindly note that Henry Ford died in 1947.

Re:Remember when

[Dan Ost]

Every time I've been involved in replacing manual work with some sort of automation,
nobody has ever lost a job. However, they do get less overtime pay now.

Re:That's fed law.

[cayenne8]

"Having your job classified as exempt from FLSA laws carries with it a certain status, though. Employees like to be "salaried," and not have to fill out an hourly timesheet, even if filling out a timesheet means the occasional opportunity for overtime."

While I don't like that 'mandatory' lunch and break periods...I don't really see the gripe.

Since I turned to full blow contractor...that's the way I prefer it. No more working for 'free' ever. I never want to give my working time for free again, which is what you do on salary. If it makes them think twice before asking me to work OT...that's great. I means they won't be asking me unless they damned sure need it.

I'm willing to do my all for the job when needed, but, they're gonna pay for it. My free time is VERY valuable.

Now...I wonder if Google would let these people inc. themselves, and work for them on a contractor basis? That way, they could get great tax benefits, and if doing something like an "S" corp...could potentially reduce drastically their income that is subject to FICA, Medicare, etc...the 'employment' taxes....

Re:That's fed law.

[Rob the Bold]

I've worked as a hiring manager for more than one company, and I've rarely ever seen an hourly employee get paid for breaks. It's not a common thing. They get paid for the time they work, which is the essence of an *hourly* employee by definition.

I guess no one thought to check up with the Department of Labor Compliance Assistance office. And as a "hiring manager," you really should be familiar with this stuff:

http://www.dol.gov/compliance/topics/wages-other-b reaks.htm [dol.gov]

From the summary:

. . . if employers do offer short breaks (lasting about five to 20 minutes), federal law considers these short breaks time for which employees must be compensated.

Re:Best Employer

[illegalcortex]

"When the powerful Jew is at last traced and his hand revealed, then comes the ready cry of persecution and it echoes through the world press." -- Henry Ford (from The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem , ISBN: 978-0765315526)

Typical Slashdot Idiocy

[einhverfr]

I own a sole proprietorship which specializes in helping businesses use open source software. So I know a little bit about labor laws, and other aspects of this article.

In general, if Google didn't employ some workers as hourly, that would be problematic in my view, not from a legal perspective, but rather that some work is best managed in terms of hours. Hourly workers must take lunch breaks (min. 30 minutes in most states), and in most states (including Washington) these are unpaid. Certain other break requirements apply, and these may be paid or not depending on state law (in Washington, you are entitled other short breaks, which are paid).

I have also subcontracted through companies such as WorkforceLogic. Interestingly enough, one of my customers through them is Microsoft. I am the author of the MySQL and PostgreSQL papers on Port25 [technet.com]. While I certainly have some complaints with WorkforceLogic, they are not overwhelming. If Microsoft wants to retain the services of my business indefinitely, that is fine. I am just a service provider, and Microsoft is not my only customer. Whatever my (reasonable but small) complaints with WorkforceLogic, I do not think they are a Permatemp problem.

I would certainly consider offering services to Google as well if they wanted to be my customer. Why is this a bad thing? Isn't there a time and place to bring in outside ideas and people?