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Topic: When is it ok to steal from freelancers?
| Author | Message |
| joyeuxnoelle | Posted – 4/10/2008 9:15:04 AM | show profile I've been freelancing for a company that I used to work for; they produce several publications. Normally they pay on publication, but it's a short lead time so it takes about a month to get paid. Fine with me. I recently inquired about payment for an issue of the publication that came out recently and I was told that the payment system has been changed and that I will be paid at some non specific point a month or two up the road. Fine. I don't have a choice because the work's been published. But I was working on a feature for the next issue. I told the editor that I couldn't complete the piece because I can't afford to wait indefinitely. The editor then basically said that if I don't do the piece - she'll assign my idea to another writer. She claims that she thought I knew about the change. I can respect that they need to change their policy for financial reasons - but retroactively altering our agreement and appropriating my idea - preventing me from selling it to another pub just seems really unethical to me. Is any one with me here? |
| joyeuxnoelle | Posted – 4/10/2008 9:22:39 AM | show profile and another thing I already started working on it quite a while ago. |
| noname1234 | Posted – 4/10/2008 10:16:04 AM | show profile what does your contract say? |
| jcpatterson | Posted – 4/10/2008 11:08:50 AM | show profile JN: My opinion: You won't be working for this client again any time soon, right? Because an abrupt switch from "pays at a specified time" to "pays whenever we feel like it" is a signal that things are not financially healthy, and you will eventually get stiffed. In this case, I would look at your own personal economics. How much have you already invested in the piece? That investment is a sunk cost right now. How much work do you still have to do? That is what you are gambling with. I think if it wouldn't take much work to complete the piece, I would do so and tell the editor the next time she calls that you can't consider any more assignments until the payment structure gets sorted out. Then fingers crossed until your outstanding checks appear and you find a new client to replace this one. Realistically, as multiple and heated discussions on this board point out, any idea you put out there could, at least theoretically, be stolen. It is a sunk cost as well at this point. How the pub deals with you on this issue will give you a lot of information about their standards, and you can make a well-informed decision about if they are ever worth the risk of working for again. |
| chucho | Posted – 4/10/2008 12:07:22 PM | show profile Ideas are not intellectual property. At the same time, the editor cannot prevent you from selling the feature you're working on to somebody else. (Even under contract, since in most cases this contract assumes "upon receipt", etc.) Also, you are not obliged to tell other editors at other publications that this publication is working on the same story. If I were you I'd write the feature and submit it and deal with the payment delay, provided you're sure you will receive the money. And as long as the company isn't going bankrupt you can always file a small claim (under $3,000 in NYC, I think) against the non-payer later. It costs about $35, the court date is set within a month, and it doesn't require a lawyer. On the other hand: if getting the money fast is a major issue with you, then you're in the wrong profession or you need to find a job with reliable paychecks to tide you off until you can get on a schedule of having money coming in from freelance gigs on a reliable roll. Don't ever assume payment on delivery and you'll be better off. Anything I do nowadays I assume I won't see money for 2-3 months from delivery. When the money comes sooner, it's a windfall. Moral of the story: design your freelance career so that the unexpected works in your favor and everything else which is beyond your control is predictably SNAFU. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 4/10/2008 2:03:39 PM | show profile It's almost always ok legally to "steal" from freelancers. However as you have proof that you've done some work on this story, the editor may have entered into an oral contract with you to do it. She can reassign the idea but if the story is similar to the one you have discussed --including sources, interview material, research material, even a title --and these materials and exchanges are in writing (email, for instance) you can go to small claims court with a claim of violation of oral contract. It sounds like she's blackmailing you, which won't sit well with any judge. Morally, it's never ok to "steal" from anyone--not a writer, not a freelance writer, not another staff editor who got the idea from a freelancer, not an idea. Morally, it's wrong. And editors don't like to hear that this stuff goes on. You have a few options other than legal recourse. Talk to the editor and inform her that you feel you are being blackmailed. Tell her you are considering taking this issue to her boss. Then, if she remains unresponsive, take it to her boss. Start with the Managing editor (or write a letter to your editor and CC her boss and the managing editor --and if you can, an attorney who is a close friend (Just add the name to the CC). You can also try real fast to sell the idea to a competitor, but this first company has a head start and you'll look bad and make the competing pub look bad if they run the same story after a rival comes out with it. Normally editors who do this just never respond to queries or kill a story and reassign it. This editor is really being dumb about this. |
| oceanvue | Posted – 4/10/2008 2:20:59 PM | show profile Just make sure your contract is explicit enough about the content you're providing. Theft of ideas can be so hard to prove, but say if it was an extremely unusual idea for a publication that doesn't specialize in the topic, and they accepted it, and then someone else's name suddenly appears on the masthead of a story months down the line, after they provide "reasons" why your own version can't or won't run, then you may be on more solid ground. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 4/10/2008 3:07:46 PM | show profile It sounds like they are primarily at fault, but you share some of the blame too. The only reason they could retroactively change your agreement is because you didn't get a contract or written agreement from them. If you have that, they can't change it without your approval. Frankly, this outfit is scum. If you don't do the piece, they'll give the assignment to someone else and you'll have no recourse. However, they can't prevent you from selling the piece you are working on to someone else. You can try to sell the piece to someone else. Or if you've done enough work on it, you might decide to finish it for them and not work for them again. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 4/10/2008 4:15:22 PM | show profile I just want to add that there are many who staunchly insist this never happens -- and others who insist it's very rare behavior. based on my experience (extensive) behind the desks as an editor and an editorial assistant and out as a freelancer, I wholeheartedly disagree. |
| fourfold | Posted – 4/10/2008 4:36:10 PM | show profile | email poster The part of this that sounds warning bells for me is that the company has changed their payment "system." This sounds like a company having cash flow problems. Is there some possibility that the publication will fold? Take that into account when deciding whether to finish your current assignment. Also, I disagree with the poster who basically said, "suck it up, get used to sporadic cash flow." Being paid on publication is bad enough. But being paid months after the piece appears is worse. Working Mother does that, which is why I've stopped writing for them. |
| joyeuxnoelle | Posted – 4/10/2008 6:04:03 PM | show profile Thanks for all the feedback. From what I understand the editor is doing this with the blessings of the higher ups. My problem is that I was supposed to paid this week for previous work only to be told that the system's been changed. What's to say if I complete this new assignment I won't be told up the road that they've changed the system to six months from now. I have other pubs that explicitly say that it will take 75 days to receive payment and I can accept that because they are up front but this feels wrong to me. I don't think I could sell the piece to a competing pub before they're piece came out, plus it would make me look bad. I might look into other pubs though. I'm not concerned so much about the legal aspects of this whole thing, just the ethics. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 4/10/2008 7:58:02 PM | show profile okay, then , the ethic suck. You're being blackmailed. And it's my understanding that that's against the law. |
| joyeuxnoelle | Posted – 4/11/2008 10:29:58 AM | show profile yeah, it sucks, but I'm at least glad I know their true colors. My relationship with this pub has always been like one you might have with a man who doesn't treat you right. You keep trying to make it work until there's a clarifying incident that puts everything in perspective. At least there are no doubts about much or how little they value the relationship. |
| clevergirl | Posted – 4/11/2008 12:54:09 PM | show profile | email poster When is it ok to steal from freelancers? One word ... NEVER! A few more words: unethical, stealing, pinching, pilfering, immoral, unprincipled, disreputable... I've had it done with a number of programs I've written in just the past few months. Apparently its become the "new black" when people are sussing out PR people to have them write a program, take the ideas and try to implement them without the originator. Not cool, people. I can only pray that karma will kick in |
| seeattleme | Posted – 4/11/2008 12:58:31 PM | show profile ...short honeymoon, long divorce--then you take 'em for everything you can. And trash his name all over town. |
