"The recruiters accepted our exemptions because they were going after bigger fish: the engineers. The computer engineers who work as W-2 contractors are generally earning $100-300/hr and often work 60-80 hours per week. The recruiters were afraid that if such workers were entitled to overtime pay, the companies may cut overtime work, and therefore the recruiters would lose their 30-50% share of that money (this can be much as $6,000 per week to a recruiter for a single worker.)
Engineers have always refused to organize or even to be aware of their interests: they think recruiters are their friends. One engineer said to me: "Engineers think they're so smart that no one could do such a thing to them. Wow. They got really screwed." The law is an annual loss of as much as $50-75,000 dollars per each engineer. Yep, it's legal. The recuiters wrote a law to take away their money. Silicon Valley engineers were plundered by their "friends"."
Companies don't pay overtime. Those numbers cited would never happen. Instead, employees would simply lose the freedoms they enjoy now to work hours that suit them or spend company time learning.
I was hourly once because my company was very conservative about labor laws. Finally reaching the rank that no longer required me to fill out timecards or justify project time was a big upgrade in my life style. Did I work an occasional Saturday? Sure, but I also left early on other days or worked from home. I couldn't do that when I was hourly.
I'm far from convinced that overtime rules would make anything better for tech workers.
These rules are about hourly contractors, not equity-incented employees. You're comparing hourly to non-hourly. This is about hourly with overtime (tech writers) vs. hourly without overtime (engineers).
"The recruiters accepted our exemptions because they were going after bigger fish: the engineers. The computer engineers who work as W-2 contractors are generally earning $100-300/hr and often work 60-80 hours per week. The recruiters were afraid that if such workers were entitled to overtime pay, the companies may cut overtime work, and therefore the recruiters would lose their 30-50% share of that money (this can be much as $6,000 per week to a recruiter for a single worker.)
Engineers have always refused to organize or even to be aware of their interests: they think recruiters are their friends. One engineer said to me: "Engineers think they're so smart that no one could do such a thing to them. Wow. They got really screwed." The law is an annual loss of as much as $50-75,000 dollars per each engineer. Yep, it's legal. The recuiters wrote a law to take away their money. Silicon Valley engineers were plundered by their "friends"."
See also https://hackernews.hn/item?id=8137958