The three percent rule

The man is sticking it to me again.

A couple of weeks ago, my department head told me that Nielsen Media, parent company of The Hollywood Reporter, was instituting a "three percent" policy for all freelancers, contractors and temporary employees like me. This means that the company has up to 75 days to pay an invoice. There is an option to have payment expedited but it's not pretty -- they take three percent fee off the invoice total.

My supervisor said the policy hadn't been used on all freelancers yet, so I was waiting to see if they skipped over me (maybe I was grandfathered in because I'd been there so long). However, the guy who sits in front of me and has been "consulting" since October just found out his check is taking the slow boat to his banking account. Even with his consent to take three percent out, they tell him it'll take at least 15 days to process payment. And get this, payment is processed out of India.

Nielsen outsources IT to India and their payroll too. It's a crazy system. If a printer needs a new printer cartridge, you file a help ticket that is picked up and supposedly resolved in India. Instead of an office manager-type replacing the cartridge in-house, someone in India gets the ball rolling on the problem and typically takes days to reply or solve the issue. It took two weeks to replace a printer cartridge. This said, I am not holding my breath about any payment issues.

When asked which option I'd prefer, I said I'd take the 75 days instead of the three percent cut. It's the principle. Why should I give up money for something that is as easy as an electronic transfer into my bank account? How can the company charge me a fee to pay me? Is this even legal? It's one thing to call someone an independent contractor who works remotely and completes tasks independently; it's another thing when that person has to be in the office at set hours with the same pressures and responsibilites as regular employees.

I've never seen this policy in writing , nor have I signed off on it. I'm going to ask to see it in writing and then refuse. My days at the Reporter are numbered anyway, with an intern coming in this month to do a lot of what I've been doing, so I might as well take a stand.