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To: Les H who wrote (56672)	5/14/1999 12:31:00 AM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Les on that temp issue... from what I know about it, msft actually had temp workers at one point and that is the class in the suit. No high tech companies have direct temp workers that I know of anymore out here - they force everyone through an agency now, or you can incorporate and become your own agency, but the old 1099 temp worker status has all but disappeared as a result of these cases and also some tax laws put into effect during the bush administration. I also take issue a little bit with why this case is coming up for msft. I think its because there is a lot of money involved with msft stock. But it trivializes the issues and makes the temp workers look like opportunists etc. The real problems with temp workers arise in companies like Tyson Chicken which truly acted unethically by outsourcing all lower wage jobs in an attempt to shield themselves from benefits regulation regarding executive benefits - 401Ks etc. I wouldn't mind if the government socks it to Tyson Chicken for that but with these msft people I'd want to know more. For example I had some people working for me at Cisco and I would have liked to hire them but they wanted to consult for more money (through agencies though). Say they had been allowed to 1099 and then cisco stock went through the roof - this makes it look like they could have sued when it was their decision to temp in the first place. I don't know, just hypothetical but I wonder if thats what happened with msft because i know their salaries are low.