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Comment by serge2k | Hacker News Reader

That's all the more reason to demand overtime pay.

Yes, to demand it. My point is you can demand whatever you want. (Unlike the cleaning staff, who can "be shown the door if that's how they feel about it.")

It's not like being exempt means an employer is not allowed to offer you overtime pay. They can still do it. You can still demand it.

> "Unlike the cleaning staff, who can "be shown the door if that's how they feel about it.""

Cleaning staff are (overwhelmingly) entitled to overtime pay, by law.

yes, that is my point. they're entitled to it precisely because they're not in a position to demand it. (according to this possible logic.)

I guess I didn't recognize your point, because I don't see a huge discrepancy in ability-to-demand overtime, between cleaning people and technology staff.

Tech workers are more-well-paid than the cleaning staff and generally better situated to negotiate for any given job. But I don't see how that necessarily carries over to increased success in negotiating payment schemes that differ from the legal and industry standard for the position.

I think the point was that a regulator would be more sympathetically inclined to 'protect' the cleaning workers by legally mandating overtime since they necessarily have less negotiating leverage than white-collar workers.

In Silicon Valley, cleaning staff are hired via contractors: http://www.mercurynews.com/localnewsheadlines/ci_9331274

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