
Freelance Isn't Free Act Passes in NYC - Mz
https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2016/10/27/freelanceisntfreepassed/
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relics443
My first freelance job was for a prestigious organization. They refused to
pay, because (in their words) "no one will listen to you if you file anything
anyways" and they had denied that I did the work.

I told them that they had 24 hours to pay me and acknowledge my work, or I'd
put porn on their landing page. 24.5 hours later I got paid.

~~~
crdb
After I had a similar issue, I decided to offer all clients a 10% discount for
paying upfront, monthly. It has the added advantage of no notice period: if
they are fed up with our work they can just stop paying and we stop doing any
more work.

The amount of stress that has gone from my life was totally worth the 10%
discount.

~~~
brightball
After doing freelance for a while you learn to insist on an advance. The 10%
discount is a great way to incentivize the process though.

Additionally, rush rates are critical. The first time I gave up a weekend with
the kids for something a client "had to have by Monday" and then we monitored
to see it wasn't even looked at for 3 weeks was the last. If something has to
be done outside of your normal scheduling, charge a rush rate of double. When
there is a cost higher than asking, it's shocking how much stuff isn't really
needed by Monday.

~~~
themodelplumber
Rush rates and their cousin, spectrum quotes. Good, better, and best tiers,
with accompanying price and delivery time differences. This always helps me
get a better read on the client. If they constantly choose the cheap and fast
option, I know they are not going to be as profitable as other clients, so I
know where to put my sales efforts in the future.

~~~
dmichulke
Can you tell me how spectrum quotes work?

All I found was "Inspirational Quotes about Spectrum" or some consulting
companies with "spectrum" in their name.

~~~
themodelplumber
Oh, that's just what I call them. Pretty sure there's another term because the
principle is used all over the place, not just in freelancing.

When the client asks for a quote, just try adding in one extra option from
your usual. They want a WordPress site? Do some research on their business and
offer, for example, one quote for a WordPress site, along with another quote
for standard WordPress plus a custom mobile product library for their sales
team to reference when pitching products.

The client then has a choice between two really nice alternatives. You thought
through their needs and they'll notice that, too.

I've found that even if the client doesn't go for the extras, they'll usually
say, "let's definitely talk about this when we work on our sales budget next
month. I want the team to tell me what they want." Then at that time, when
they give you some bullet points for desired features and ask questions about
what's possible, you reply with e.g. three options, including one that is the
base price you quoted originally and covers a reasonable amount of features
but is just good, plus another price point that's better because it adds
another really nice-to-have feature, and then the "best" price point, where
every single one of their bullet points is covered and the thing is just
really slick. For example, maybe it lets them edit the product prices and save
them to different lists for each sales pitch.

The point here is that you are getting a sense for what is important to the
client. If you don't have many clients, the bullet points you got from that
sales team are gold because you now know much more about their needs and can
pitch more while working on the project.

And finally, watch for scope changes and bill for them. There are guys with
yachts that were paid for by scope changes, and in fact their businesses count
on those changes in order to keep the client relationship in top shape. A
scope change is easy money because the client is pitching you rather than the
other way around.

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busterarm
Having been in NYC nearly my whole life and the entire time seen a culture of
contractors getting fucked over on payment, especially in
entertainment/media/fashion/advertising, this is a great, GREAT day.

Animation studios here are among the worst. Most people I know had to fight
for months to get paid and many did years of work without ever getting paid.
YEARS. Like they did it for the love or something.

A few years back, a whole studio was contracted for a project and mid-way to
completion the client came to them and said "I spoke to God and He told me not
to do this project" and walked away from it and never paid for anything. The
studio didn't even have any kind of protection against this sort of thing.

You can't imagine how bad an environment this is for getting paid for creative
work. Indefinite illegal internships, lowball salaries and "for the exposure"
jobs abound. Folks are so desperate to come and work here that they put up
with it -- I just don't know how they afford it.

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tehwebguy
FYI you can fill out a 2-3 page worksheet to file a breach of contract lawsuit
in LA county.

It's not limited by small claims caps and is an inexpensive first step
compared to hiring an attorney to send a scare letter.

Didn't end up needing to file the one I wrote up last year but it was
liberating to know that there was a half-step measure.

Before doing it I called 12 attorneys in Los Angeles and everyone respectfully
told me a $20k unpaid bill is not worth their time, but the last one told me
about filing on my own.

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bluetwo
Good to see, even if it doesn't impact me. I like the idea of penalties for
non-payment.

I've never had a problem collecting $5,000, but people will regularly avoid
paying small amounts ($500) because (I assume) they know you won't put as much
effort into collecting.

~~~
devoply
If you are collecting 5k at a time, you are doing it wrong. Your client should
not be holding more than 1,000 of your money at a time.

~~~
blhack
$1000 is what a well paid software consultant makes in about a day. I can't
think of a single person that does _daily_ payments for consulting, and I feel
like this would be a huge red flag if they asked for it.

~~~
devoply
That's a very small portion of the market.

~~~
Justin_K
You aren't charging enough.

~~~
devoply
I am not talking about me, we are talking about freelancers in general. That's
a huge market filled significantly with the lower end.

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Freestyler_3
I think it's great they finally got some protection. Why wasn't it there
before and what was the oppositions point of view on this?

~~~
mc32
My guess is most people thought the current small claims process would be the
tool people would use. Maybe it worked when it was a small portion of the
workforce, but now as more people do freelancing, it makes sense to have a
dedicated state for them to seek redress.

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blisterpeanuts
This law _sounds_ good, but what kind of unintended consequences might result?

I wonder if instead of stiffing their contractors, customers will instead be
the ones getting stiffed by unscrupulous contractors. I.e., contractors over-
billing: "If you don't pay the amount I'm demanding, I'll report you."
Companies might indeed pay the bill rather than risk a fine, but at the same
time, they might become much more reluctant to hire contractors at all.

I worry that this kind of well-intentioned law will in fact reduce
opportunities for free-lance people, in favor of consulting agencies.

~~~
Ensorceled
Well, this is mainly intended to enforce contracts NOT disputes for
uncontracted services so how would you be in this mode.

It will force less boilerplate contracts.

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misotaur
An indication also that self-employment is growing everywhere.In a few decades
it might even be the new normal.

~~~
mastre_
In tech, I think it will be a lot sooner than in few decades. I think things
will change at such a rapid pace that we can't even accurately predict what
will be the new normal in a few decades, particularly in tech. Also, we must
also consider the possibility, and implications, of strong AI in a few
decades.

~~~
drdeadringer
I'm embarrassed to say that it took me 8 years to realize that staying at any
one particular employer for "a long time", e.g. 4+ years, is increasingly an
unrealistic life goal.

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willcodeforbeer
Almost a decade of freelancing with customer all over the world with little
more than an email exchange most of the time and I have had next to zero issue
with getting stiffed. Requiring written contracts will likely force businesses
to use services Freelancer.com which will just mean that instead of one on one
relationships you'll be forced to compete against a pool of competition racing
you to the bottom and won't get paid directly.

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joatmon-snoo
The site itself isn't too clear about the specific benefits of the
legislation[1], but the most recent committee report on the legislation is
much more enlightening (the tl;dr being that it introduces powerful remedies
for freelancers who are denied their just desserts - I don't understand the
emphasis on the contract stuff, but IANAL):

> Any action alleging a violation of section 20-929, unlawful payment
> practices, would have to be brought within six years after the acts alleged
> to violate the proposed chapter. A plaintiff who prevails on this cause of
> action would be awarded double damages, injunctive relief and other such
> remedies as appropriate. All awards of damages would also include attorney’s
> fees and costs.

> Any action alleging a violation of section 20-930, retaliation, would have
> to be brought within six years after the acts alleged to violate the
> proposed chapter. A plaintiff who prevails on this cause of action would be
> awarded damages equal to the full value of the contract. All awards of
> damages would also include attorney’s fees and costs.

> Section 20-934 of the chapter would provide for a civil action for a pattern
> or practice of violations. Where reasonable cause exists to believe that a
> hiring party has engaged in a pattern or practice of violations, the
> Corporation Counsel may commence legal action on behalf of the City in a
> court of competent jurisdiction. Such an action would be commenced by filing
> a complaint setting forth the facts relating to the alleged pattern or
> practice of violations and requesting relief, which could include injunctive
> relief, civil penalties and any other appropriate relief. The filing of a
> pattern or practice complaint by the City would not prohibit any complaint
> or civil action by a freelance worker. Upon a finding that a hiring party
> has engaged in a pattern or practice of violations, the trier of fact could
> impose a civil penalty of up to $25,000.

> Section 20-935 would provide additional details about how the proposed
> chapter would apply and how it would interact with other laws. Subdivision a
> would provide that, except as otherwise provided by law, any provision of a
> contract that purports to waive the rights granted by this chapter is void
> as against public policy. Subdivision b would provide that the provisions of
> this chapter would supplement and not diminish or replace any other basis of
> liability or other requirement established by statute or common law.
> Subdivision c would provide that failure to comply with the provisions of
> this chapter would not void or impair a contract between a hiring party and
> freelance worker. Finally, subdivision d would provide that nothing in this
> chapter shall be construed as providing a determination about the legal
> classification of any individual as an employee or independent contractor.

[1]
[http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=25...](http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=2530972&GUID=61F8754B-80AF-493E-895E-D6D17209776E)

[2] (warning: DOC file)
[http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4746382&GUI...](http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4746382&GUID=4F62986F-AFE5-4702-9CE1-CA2F40578E4B)

~~~
derekeder1
You can also view it on Councilmatic:
[https://nyc.councilmatic.org/legislation/int-1017-2015/](https://nyc.councilmatic.org/legislation/int-1017-2015/)

Shows the same info as Legistar including all 33 sponsors and every
legislative action taken over the last year.

------
zeveb
> Passing with 51 votes, the Freelance Isn’t Free Act requires written
> contracts for freelance gigs, allows freelancers to file complaints against
> non and late-paying clients with the Department of Labor Standards, and
> institutes penalties against clients found guilty of nonpayment in small
> claims court.

Requiring written contracts seems like a handout to lawyers. Alternatively, it
seems like a clever way to enable folks with only a verbal contract to refuse
to pay, since a verbal contract is now illegal.

Contracts are already enforceable at law, so how does this _actually_ improve
things?

~~~
pm
I'm Australian, the law may be different over in the US.

Usually you want a contract to specify IP rights. You own the work you author,
whether you're paid for it or not, unless you specifically transfer ownership
of the IP in the contract. If you're a programmer, you may assign the IP
rights of the project code to the client, but only issue a non-exclusive
worldwide licence to your utility code. Similarly, if you're a photographer,
you still own the actual photograph, but may specify to a client how it's
legally able to be reproduced. Plenty examples abound, depending on your line
of work.

Mostly, I find written contracts are WAY clearer about who gets what and when,
and shows the client is at least willing to "trust but verify". I wouldn't do
business without them.

~~~
geocar
The law is different in the US.

If you "work for hire" (see 17 U.S.C. § 101) an exception is made to the
general rule that the person who actually creates a work is the legally
recognized author of that work.

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unethical_ban
Isn't this solving the problem of short-sighted freelancers, rather than non-
payment?

I see posts here that reinforce my expectation: Have a contract, and it can be
enforced by law. What does this bill enable a citizen to do, that they
couldn't legally do on their own before?

~~~
jedberg
It doesn't actually allow them to do anything they couldn't legally do before,
but it makes the penalties a lot stiffer to discourage large companies from
breaking the law.

The problem before was that even if you had a contract, the company would
basically say "we have a lot more to spend on lawyers than you, good luck".

Now they have changed that calculation with this law, where if the big company
loses it's a huge cost to them. So now their calculation is that it is cheaper
to pay their bill than to fight you in court.

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sean_patel
How do we get this for California? Is the Freelance job litigated on where the
Freelancer is physically located, or where the client is located?

~~~
patio11
It's where the tort giving rise to the suit happened, a question which is
complicated and lawyer-worthy if this ever comes up. Most MSAs will have both
parties stipulate to the jurisdiction of a particular county's courts;
generally, the party supplying the MSA picks their local court system because
it's cheaper to access, known to them, and has the home-field advantage.

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wheelerwj
Wtf is this nonsense? You want to run an independent business but you don't
want the hassle of billing, just pass a law so that you dont have too!

