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Carol Gardens
04/09/09

In reply to MTV's Freelance Slave Trade
You lie. They do not eat at Olive Garden. They go to the lodge to flirt.
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Carol Gardens
04/09/09

In reply to MTV's Freelance Slave Trade
On the other hand, they qualify for unemployment--UNLIKE true freelancers.
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Carol Gardens
04/09/09

In reply to MTV's Freelance Slave Trade
The thing is...most MTV permalancers are paid on a W-2, not a 1099. They work on premises, usually 5 days a week (or more), fill out a timesheet, use company desks, computers, and supplies, etc. etc. and most likely MTV is their ONLY client. That is why MTV is skating on thin ice with these people. It is rather amazing that they have not gotten in trouble until now. That is NOT freelancing. That is why they are trying to avoid "conversion" into full-time with benefits by forcing them to take breaks.
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Perhaps Not
04/09/09

In reply to MTV's Freelance Slave Trade
A question for a servicey type: if, hypothetically, I was a "permalancer" - someone who had been employed by a temp agency for going on two years and did all the work of a regular employee and then some - where are the laws saying that this is not cool and my bosses should fucking shit or get off the pot?

Purely as a thought experiment, you understand.
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Kari's Favorite Mark
04/09/09

@Perhaps Not: I'm going to post some stuff here so you don't have to click onto websites that might cause suspicion with your 'employer.' Bottom-line is, yeah, you're an employee. When jobs are plenty, the government probably doesn't care so much, becuase even if you were misclassified you can still find a job elsewhere is you're laid off and the government is collecting lots of fees from employers so they don't need the money they would get if you had been classified as an employee. But now the reverse is true: the NYS unemployment fund is borrowing money to pay all the claims and probably wants as much money as it can get from employers, so they'll be more likely to question an employer's classification of you as an independent contractor.
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Perhaps Not
04/09/09

@formerly it takes a lot to laugh: How does one, say, encourage them to do so?
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badasscat
04/09/09

In reply to MTV's Freelance Slave Trade
Ok, it *can't* just be me for whom the reply button isn't working... I've deleted cookies, cleared cache, everything I can think of. It just puts me back at the top of the page when I click it.

Anyway...

@Botswana Meat Commission FC:

The trick is these people were never "hired" in the first place. That's what "freelance" means, which is their technical designation. There's certainly no law that says anybody has to follow through on an offer of work when one is promised, if no contract is signed. The only way these people would have a leg to stand on is if they had a signed statement of work.

Being freelance also means either you or the employer can terminate employment at any time for any reason. That's mostly true of regular employees too, but there are some exceptions, at least, for regular employees. Some people like that freedom in a good economy, because if they don't feel like going in to work anymore, they just stop going and find something else. But obviously, the balance of power shifts in a bad economy.

I was freelance at my company for a year when I started... luckily I did get converted to staff. But when my company got bought out about six months ago, basically all of the freelancers were either summarily dismissed or at best converted to independent contractors working from home (which sounds cool to me, but isn't a full-time gig).
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oohthatgirl
04/09/09

In reply to MTV's Freelance Slave Trade
Actually, this is pretty standard practice with all the major networks, NBC, ABC, CBS...they've been doing the 9/3 month dance for years. Look into Disney's history and you'll find a similar battle with their contractors. It's a labor law to have to convert freelancers into staff or provide benefits after they worked x amount of hours.

MTV just took longer to comply and their implementation is probably the worst I've ever seen. And to top it off, many of the freelancers at MTV are ill equipped to work anywhere else so they get mad when they are...you know....unemployed.
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LatestBy
04/09/09

@oohthatgirl: Add Time Inc to that list too.
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If_I_Had_a_Poodle
04/09/09

In reply to MTV's Freelance Slave Trade
i thought they fixed this after the protests

guess not

call the labor cops -- this is clearly awful. this is why unions were invented
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TallulahSkankhead
04/09/09

In reply to MTV's Freelance Slave Trade
I think Ezra Pound, today, would rail against permalancing even more than he did usary.
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BadUncle
04/09/09

@TallulahSkankhead: And blaming the Jews, all the same.
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Botswana Meat Commission FC
04/09/09

In reply to MTV's Freelance Slave Trade
Can't the NY attorney general get involved? Seems like they're pretty obviously flouting employment laws when they fire people like that while telling them they'll be rehired.
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