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Subject:Re: Bad Employers/Clients List From:Maury <alsacien -at- IBM -dot- NET> Date:Tue, 6 May 1997 19:57:48 +0300
Rebecca Carr thinks that such a list is a bad idea because a company that
takes "a long time in paying" is something relative. Let me just give one
example, a true example of such a company in Israel. I'm talking about a
mammoth concern that certainly can afford to treat its contractors better.
The company in question always negotiates with every contractor through
some middleman/agency; no contractor ever signs a contract directly with
the company, so the contractor is already losing a percentage. This company
is forever looking for contractors to do their dirty work, working full
time, long hours, with no benefits whatsoever, often working in remote
locations. Payment conditions in the negotiated contract are for a 30-day
delay after billing, which translates to a 60-day delay. However, what the
unsuspecting contractor learns, too late, is that the company has a fixed
policy that NO invoice is to be paid until at least 60 days have elapsed!
The result is usually a four-month wait for initial payment!
You can argue that the contractor is aware of this limitation. Not so. I
never fell in with them because I know hordes of technical writers who did
and ended up taking the company to court to extract the pay due to them; in
order to do so, the contractor has to sue the middleman/agent, which can
have disastrous implications to the solo freelancer. The lucky ones find
salaried jobs to salvage their dignity and their impoverishment from what
is a standard policy for this company.
Maybe I'm not a good example, but I'd be ready to kill if a company stiffed
me for payment for four months. That, I think does deserve attention. Only
the independently wealthy could argue with that -- but then, they don't
work to support themselves, do they?
- Maury
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