Microsoft Caste System

Ericka writes "Computer Source Magazine recently published an article on Microsoft's treatment of its contractors. According to some temps, the work environment for these folks has taken a downturn since the resolution of the permatemp suit."

Comments

Liberal Logic - You get what you deserve

[N8F8]

Company must hire to meet work demand in a fluctuating economy. Government regulates pay and benefits to full-time employees to make them very expensive. Company reacts by hiring more part-timers and temps.

Government regulates temps to try to force companies to hire more full-time workers. Company pushes temps to the margins. Full-time workers given busier workload and longer hours.

Arguably the company may eventually hire more full time workers, but at the expense of a lot of decent part-time and temp jobs.

See where this is going folks?

I remember when the commie pinkos picked up the cause or the "temps" and "contracted workers" a few years ago. Only an idiot would doublt it would end in the same way the "benefits" of unionizing did.

Re:This article is BS

[gamorck]

As usual, another completely uninformed opinion on slashdot.
Really? I guess the fact that you've provided next to nothing to back up your whimsical tale of MS contractors taking it up the tailpipe makes your opinion an informed one... doesn't it?

Microsoft forces a number of employees to switch to contract positions as a means of reducing cost of benefits. Essentially these people are forced into a paycut through a change in employment method. It is either accept this change in status or lose your job.
Even if this were true, guess what? Nobody was forcing these people to work at MS. There was no gun to the head. Besides being a contractor can be far better than being an employee depending on your prespective.

Microsoft continues to treat these former employees exactly how they were treated before their switch to contractor status. Except not pay them benefits. Same responsibilities, same employer-imposed restrictions.
Somebody call the wahbulance! You mean they were still expected to work? Oh NOES! So what if they had the same responsibilities as before? Does this have anything to do with the situation at hand? Nope. A change to contractor status is simply a change in (1) who your employeer actually is and (2) how you are compensated. Bottom line: You have no leg to stand on here as this point is largely useless. These people were no longer working for MS - they were working with MS. Do you understand the difference?

The IRS comes along and says, "these people do not satisfy the 20 questions rule [synergistech.com] for distinguishing between contractors and employees."
After reading through these 20 questions I'm forced to call bullshit. Each contracting position is different and there is no way to guarantee the existence of all or even most of those conditions. Certain conditions on the list should be universally applied yes but the majority of them are frivalous at best and dependent upon the environment. For example being able to set your own schedule really has nothing to do with whether you are a contractor or an employee. Certain contractors have to be at work at certain times and in other cases employees have access to benefits like flex time that provide them with a greater freedom. I could go on all day in regards to this point but I won't. You seem like a fairly intelligent guy who should be able to get the idea rather quickly.

The IRS says, since they are employees, Microsoft must now pay back-taxes on FICA and Medicare. This is double-dipping by the IRS because the contractors have already paid those taxes and they won't get them back, but that is the way the law works.
And MS are the crooks here? You've got to be kidding me. It sounds like the IRS, much like the contractors in this situation got a little bit greedy to me. The contractors were ticked that the employees were living it up on stock options and what not and the IRS was bothered because MS was getting millions upon millions of dollars in tax breaks as a result of their employee stock option compensation plans. Get the picture yet?

In particular, 401K and profit-sharing - the internet bubble was really starting to bulge and the money involved was enough to retire on for a lot of them. They go to court as the infamous permatemp lawsuit and they win a very clearcut case.
Clearcut how? The 20 questions are vague at best. The motivations of the involved parties are highly questionable. Not to mention the fact that NOTHING WAS STOPPING THESE CONTRACTORS from seeking alternative forms of employment during the internet boom that happened between 1998-2001. But of course that doesn't factor into the situation because MS was obviously enslaving these people and threatening the lives of their families and loved ones if they left to pursue other opportunities even though they didn't actually work for MS at all. /sarcasm

So, all this grumbling about how the contractors screwed themselve