Writing 'free' for our newspaper... what the hell?!?

Reading some of these posts, I guess my co-worker I are lucky. We're paid hourly, but we clock in a minimum 45 hours a week and the publishers has no problem playing us the OT. That might have something to do with the fact that our SE quit two years ago and they haven't replaced him, but whatever.
Since our hours are examined more than most - and we're the only two people at our company allowed to do OT - I've made it a point to make sure my hours are honest. If I screw around on SJ, I'm off the clock. If I'm checking baseball scores because I'm tired of going through photos, I'm off the clock.
The only thing that it's done is made me more angry at co-workers, who sit around and look at YouTube videos and count it as work, or our ads and business people taking smoke breaks every hour and counting it as work.
If you're complaining about work hours, make sure they're honest hours. While 5 minutes here or there doesn't seem like much, if you check SJ for five minutes once an hour in a normal work day, that's 40 minutes you stole from the company.

 

No doubt. Spent 20 hours of my "work week" getting to and from an assignment this week. Some newsside people see that as "fun." Fuck that.

 

In my state, breaks are mandatory if you're working 8 hours. I think it's a 15 minute break and a 30 minute lunch break, if I'm not mistaken. So technically, checking SJ three times during your shift for 5 minutes wouldn't be counted as theft. Using your computer for non-work purposes, though, can be punished by the company.

 

Colleagues at one of my stops were bitching one dayy about our MLB writer (home games) taking time off whenever the team was on the road.
Having previously covered that team for another paper, I had to chime in.
They all agreed he should be at the stadium in time to do notes.
"I don't know (current manager's) schedule, but that means getting there no later than 4 pm for a 7pm game, because that's about the latest a manager meets with reporters," I said. "And it could be earlier."
Then I pointed out that our bit of suburban paradise was 90 minutes from the stadium on a good day for traffic. But two hours was routine.
"So even before he's covered any game of a seven-game homestand, he's worked 35 hours. Figure the game is three hours (yeah, right); that's 21 hours. Add minimum of an hour interviewing, writing and rewriting, for seven more hours. Late-night traffic isn't bad, so call it 90 minutes for 10 1/2 hours.
"That's 73 1/2 hours -- minimum -- for a seven-game homestand. So yes, I'd say he ought to be off during road trips."
I lost it when somebody questioned if the travel/commute time was really work time.

 

I see the argument for work only 40 hours a week, all that's all well and good on paper. However, my problem was that I put my byline on my stories and that forced me to put in every scrap of energy I could to write the best story I could. Only once in eight years did I "phone in a story" because I didn't feel like working long hours.

Also, because I wanted the paper to be a quality product, I worked just as hard during my desk shifts.

Was I taken advantage of? Yes, in some cases I was, but it also allowed me to move up to better papers because, I believe, my effort showed in my clips.

 

An editor of mine long, long ago once said travel/commute time to an event or assignment was not "work" time and therefore could not be counted.

We disagreed. He eventually relented.

 

During my last work-related out-of-town trip of any length, which I discussed with both my editor and HR in detail, HR told me commute/travel time could and did count toward my hours worked over that weekend.

I don't think the bean-counters were trying to do me any favors, so I have to assume it's time they're legally obligated to pay you for.

 

Absolutely. That 11 hours I drove on Friday was work time. If it wasn't work time, I would have been doing something more productive, like drinking. But it was work time. I don't see how anyone can argue against that. There's work time, and off time. No gray area here. Your time fits into one or the other. And driving a long distance to get to a work assignment is work time.

 

If I'm the road for an overnight trip, I don't get to count time not spent covering or travelling. This bothers the heck out of me. I sure didn't choose to be three hours away from home on a Friday night, so why am I not getting paid for it?

 

If it's grown-ups working for grown-ups, this shouldn't be a big problem. But when one side or the other doesn't bring a mature approach to the situation, then you get these strains.

Of course an employer isn't going to keep you on the meter from the moment you leave your home on a work-related trip to the instant you return. You'd be sleeping some hours anyway, and there is some trade-off involved for getting the work/holding the job in the first place. Then again, it's not as if you'd choose to drive to eastern Kentucky just for the hell of it on your day off.

The best places I ever worked counted by "days" rather than "hours" even though we all were technically hourly workers. Since the boss there acknowledged and adjusted for the frequent long "days," neither side ever felt abused. We didn't often get cash overtime, but if the schedule imbalance couldn't be made up in a given pay period, we did get realistic comp time, typically at time-and-a-half.

The less-than-best places I've worked, not so much.

 

That's factually incorrect. Only newspaper editors are able to be legally classified as exempt employees. If you are not an editor (and on up), it doesn't matter if you are on "salary," you are a non-exempt employee. Litigate as such.

 

What a turd of an editor. It's not work time traveling to get to the event?
That was a great post about the 7-game homestand. Way to fill those people in on what it takes to cover a beat. I'd like to see those office workers work that kind of schedule a couple weeks without bitching about it. I wonder how many hours that baseball writer got paid for? I'm sure it was 40 and they just tell him to take it easy in the offseason. Might be easier said than done in this day and age of all major sports being covered heavily year round.