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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sir Francis Drake who wrote (22680)	5/13/1999 5:25:00 PM
From: John F. Dowd	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

SFD: How many more initiatives can they announce. How many products to they have to have coming down the pipeline? Today's tech weakness due to the following article: Court broadens class in Microsoft "permatemp" case SEATTLE, May 13 (Reuters) - In a case that could have wide ramifications for the technology industry, an appeals court has ruled that thousands of current and former Microsoft Corp. temporary and contract workers are eligible for benefits under the software giant's lucrative stock option plan. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled late Wednesday that many temporary and contract workers who have worked at Microsoft from 1986 to the present are eligible for damages being assessed against the company in a long-running class-action lawsuit, said David Stobaugh, attorney for the plaintiffs. Microsoft had argued that as few as 145 former employees were part of the class, and a federal district judge had limited the class to workers employed at the company from 1987 to 1990. But the appeals court ruled that damages should be paid to any Microsoft temporary or contract worker who worked 20 hours per week or more for at least five months in any year since the end of 1986, Stobaugh said. The ruling could mean that well over 10,000 workers are eligible for damages in the lawsuit, he said. This is a very generous interpretation of a permanent worker and as such will have dire effects on the entire tech industry as such hiring practices are evidently commonplace in the Valley. This thing if it stands up could spell doom for the retail industry as well. No supermarket or dept. store could survive under these terms. 20 hrs per week and 5 mos. per year - Give me a break! JFD