Preparing to Be Disconnected...Completely
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From someone who is addicted to the great blogosphere, a week without internet is nuts...when I was in Alaska, I found every wifi cafe I could, be that a McDonalds, etc. It was still hard. Still, in some ways it's kinda nice.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
However, whilst most colleagues know that if I'm on holiday I'd rather not be disturbed, there are a few now who phone and text me with minor shit.
This annoys the crap out of me. It has always happened a lot with me. I've never spent the money on a second phone plan as I've never gotten phone stipends/reimbursements for the work use of my personal phone. But, yeah that's the worst part. Honestly I don't think everyone in the company should have IT folks personal Cells nor should it be on a list for people to call/text as it has been in my case. It would make more sense if stuff had to be filtered through managers/CEOs. Owners. etc first before bothering someone who is off of work.
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@thecreativeone91 said:
@Carnival-Boy said:
However, whilst most colleagues know that if I'm on holiday I'd rather not be disturbed, there are a few now who phone and text me with minor shit.
This annoys the crap out of me. It has always happened a lot with me. I've never spent the money on a second phone plan as I've never gotten phone stipends/reimbursements for the work use of my personal phone. But, yeah that's the worst part. Honestly I don't think everyone in the company should have IT folks personal Cells nor should it be on a list for people to call/text as it has been in my case. It would make more sense if stuff had to be filtered through managers/CEOs. Owners. etc first before bothering someone who is off of work.
The handy thing is that in the US, you are guaranteed that vacation time. So if the company has people doing that, you are on full pay and haven't started your vacation yet. You have to be willing to enact the employment protection laws, but federal law is extremely clear on the sanctity of your break and vacation time. Making you work means you are working and they have to pay you, they have no choice.
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@scottalanmiller said:
The handy thing is that in the US, you are guaranteed that vacation time. So if the company has people doing that, you are on full pay and haven't started your vacation yet. You have to be willing to enact the employment protection laws, but federal law is extremely clear on the sanctity of your break and vacation time. Making you work means you are working and they have to pay you, they have no choice.
What law are you referring to? If it's paid time off they can still ask you do to work. Of course in VA there are different labor laws for governments. For example they didn't have to pay us over time, as the state law allows government organizations to not pay and just add time to your future time off (but of course they don't have to grant your time off request). It's odd for sure.
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@thecreativeone91 said:
@scottalanmiller said:
The handy thing is that in the US, you are guaranteed that vacation time. So if the company has people doing that, you are on full pay and haven't started your vacation yet. You have to be willing to enact the employment protection laws, but federal law is extremely clear on the sanctity of your break and vacation time. Making you work means you are working and they have to pay you, they have no choice.
What law are you referring to? If it's paid time off they can still ask you do to work. Of course in VA there are different labor laws for governments. For example they didn't have to pay us over time, as the state law allows government organizations to not pay and just add time to your future time off (but of course they don't have to grant your time off request). It's odd for sure.
Federal US labor law protects your compensation earned. Vacation time is part of that. If they make you work during it they have to still pay you for the vacation AND pay for you working. It's part of basic compensation law.
IT is famous for allowing companies to break the law and believe that they are not protected. And companies have learned to leverage this. But your compensation is yours and it is sacred. Once earned they cannot take it away. And states have no power to override federal law, thankfully.
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But states will TRY to override federal law. I had friends who worked for an agency whose only job was to sue states for violated federal highway laws. Several states, notoriously NY and NJ, tried to make local laws that conflicted making the highway simply illegal to use. The US DOT had to sue them. But sue them they did.
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@scottalanmiller Try Canadian employment law, you southerners treat employees like slaves! One of the reasons I have not moved to Seattle / Portland.
Edit: and look to Europe for a much better system for employees
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Computer Employee overtime exemption.
http://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/fs17e_computer.pdfI always thought this little exemption was complete garbage. Does any other country do this?
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@MattSpeller said:
@scottalanmiller Try Canadian employment law, you southerners treat employees like slaves! One of the reasons I have not moved to Seattle / Portland.
Edit: and look to Europe for a much better system for employees
It's not as bad as it often sounds. The law protects US workers far more than most workers are willing to leverage it. The sad part, though, is that the more than people allow it to happen the more than everyone else thinks that they don't have the rights that they do.
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@s.hackleman said:
Computer Employee overtime exemption.
http://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/fs17e_computer.pdfI always thought this little exemption was complete garbage. Does any other country do this?
That only means you can be FLSA Exempt, not that you automatically are. I've never been an FLSA exempt employee. There are minimum pay per hour of $27.63 for that as well, which is why I haven't been an exempt employee.
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@thecreativeone91 I have fallen close to this grey area in the past. I just don't understand why working on a computer should make a difference from a federal labor law standpoint.
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@s.hackleman said:
@thecreativeone91 I have fallen close to this grey area in the past. I just don't understand why working on a computer should make a difference from a federal labor law standpoint.
It's because only certain types of jobs can be exempt (salaried employees) There's a full list here: http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/screen75.asp
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@s.hackleman said:
@thecreativeone91 I have fallen close to this grey area in the past. I just don't understand why working on a computer should make a difference from a federal labor law standpoint.
It's the "anti white collar" employment laws. White collar jobs are specifically punished compared to blue collar ones in most cases.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@s.hackleman said:
@thecreativeone91 I have fallen close to this grey area in the past. I just don't understand why working on a computer should make a difference from a federal labor law standpoint.
It's the "anti white collar" employment laws. White collar jobs are specifically punished compared to blue collar ones in most cases.
It's gotta suck worse for farm hands though.
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@thecreativeone91 said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@s.hackleman said:
@thecreativeone91 I have fallen close to this grey area in the past. I just don't understand why working on a computer should make a difference from a federal labor law standpoint.
It's the "anti white collar" employment laws. White collar jobs are specifically punished compared to blue collar ones in most cases.
It's gotta suck worse for farm hands though.
That's generally true. I come from farm country and they have it hard. But when you compare to electricians or plumbers who often get extensive breaks, guaranteed overtime, high pay, often can hold contracts ransom, aren't living in fear of losing their jobs for not producing visible productivity every second of every day, don't have to explain and defend their value all day long, don't have to spend tons of free time working hard just to stay abreast of their field, don't get paged out while on vacation.... IT has it pretty hard.
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You know though, I know a lot of farmers that think that farming is nicer than IT.
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Ugh. At the county I had to write an monthly essay to "defend my time" to justify why I was working, why the should pay me, and what I accomplished during the month. It sucked. especially in months you may not have tangible results, when testing things and planning.
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@scottalanmiller said:
You know though, I know a lot of farmers that think that farming is nicer than IT.
More than once I've pondered throwing my career to the wind and going back to college.
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@MattSpeller said:
@scottalanmiller said:
You know though, I know a lot of farmers that think that farming is nicer than IT.
More than once I've pondered throwing my career to the wind and going back to college.
What good career does college help with?
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Nursing, Doctors, Accountants, CPAs, etc
