Former Tampa Trib sports writer suing Media General

And them some ... and all of his colleagues as well ... and while we're at it, sports writers at EVERY Media General newspaper ....

 

Good luck with that. Not sure how they record their hours, but if he put in for 40 and doesn't have proof that someone told him that he had to work more than 40 and not get paid, he's gonna have a hard road.

However, I suppose Media General might pay off to keep the feds from coming in and talking to folks and finding out its standard practice.

 

Good for Brett.

 

Many newspaper executives squirming at this development, I would think.

 

I hope he gets it, and that some Media General execs are exposed for the below-average human beings that they are and have been for years and years.

 

Gotta agree with Ace here.

There's almost no way to prove compulsory and unpaid overtime. Even if he kept records of all the time he worked, it's still a he-said, timecard-said issue. A personal accounting of time worked won't have the same impact because the timecard will be signed by multiple sources (the employee and the employer) and OK'd by someone higher up the chain, while a personal accounting would have no corroborating evidence.

Plus, it's not like the act of writing hours down makes it trustworthy in and of itself; were I of a mind, I could create a fictitious hours diary and it would have the same unprovability and undisprovability as a legitimate one. Unless he can come up with something else that proves he worked all the hours he said he did, that's going to be a hard sell. And the defense team can and likely will grill him on why he continued to work the unpaid hours and why he didn't take steps to bring it to the attention of supervisors, their supervisors or the labor board.

On principle, assuming this guy's complaints are legitimate, I hope he wins. I just don't see how.

 

My favorite part of this story itself is the reporter calling the sports editor for a comment. Methinks the reporter needs to start a bit higher up the food chain---sports editor ain't getting sued, the umbrella company is. Like, in this case of a corporate wage and hour issue, calling the sports editor to comment is akin to calling the janitor at Microsoft if and when Bill gates ever gets sued.

Hey, I hear there's a copy clerk over in preps who's willing to comment. Let's pick up the phone and call him!

 

And there is a reason that wink-wink deals are done that way.

There is no paper trail. No outright statement by management. Just your belief based on what? looks, body language, vague promises? that you will be compensated down the road.

That protects management, not you.

 

i'm sure he can call a number of witnesses who would vouch for 12 hours spent at the stadium on saturdays and hanging around usf during the week. airline tickets, expense receipts, records the usf it department (and other schools) may keep regarding his connectivity to the school's computer networks that would identify his mac address, access card records entering/leaving the trib building -- there is a lot of evidence that might exist out there.

 

Well, the sports editor is the one who presumably would have been directing the reporter to work overtime or knew that he did or could say that he's crazy. Whatever.

 

This might explain why some of the Media General shops have suddenly gotten very strict about hours worked.

We've been trying to figure out why they didn't care about people working at home for years and now when the region has gotten record snowfall the company is saying you can came to the office and work or you can take a vacation day.