Remember Rule No. 1

The period between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day is usually a shitty time to try and find a project in Temp Town: there just aren't any. This year, there have been a surprising number of projects posted. And in those posts over the last few weeks (including one that posted today), the job advertisements brought us four of the agencies favorite lies about overtime. Rule No. 1, first mentioned here and codified here, tells us these are lies because, of course, they're lying. If you read the statements carefully, you realize they aren't lies in the strictest sense, but merely intentionally misleading. Not sure that's any better.

The first example happened to the wife of a friend of mine. The job was advertised as a 50-hour project. These days, when almost all projects are limited to 40 hours a week, 10 hours of overtime is pretty good. The same agency, at the same time, advertised a 40-hour project starting at the same time. Naturally, my friend's wife applied for the 50-hour project. When they brought her in for project orientation, the project was 40 hours, not 50. She protested and was told that, oh, we already staffed the other project, so we're giving you a spot on the 40-hour project. Because there actually was a 50-hour project, she just wasn't on it, maybe the agency wasn't lying and it really was already full. Or maybe not and they were staffing the less desirable project first to ensure it got staffed, knowing they would be able to find people easily to work a 50-hour project. So maybe not lying, but certainly hiding the ball.

That's more of a bait-and-switch type lie, though. The other three postings included statements that imply you will get overtime when, in fact, you won't. The first: "X$/hour + OT." Sounds like overtime will be available, right? Nope. It just means that if you work more than 40 hours, you'll get overtime rates -- time and a half. But you won't be working more than 40 hours, so it doesn't matter.

The second statement is similar: "X$/hour, OT possible." Also very deceptive -- no overtime is promised, but it is "possible." That is always true because, obviously, there are more than 40 hours available to work in any given week. You just won't be working them.

The last one is possibly the most heartbreaking: "X$/hour, 40 hours at first, client may add OT later." Sure, they may -- the client "may" do anything it wants, because the client is signing the checks. But the client isn't going to add OT, because they almost never do. If clients need the work to go faster, they add bodies, not hours, because it's cheaper. You're a widget, suckah!