euphemistic use of "exempt"

[Wilson Gray]

On Wed, Sep 17, 2014 at 9:03 AM, Geoff Nathan <an6993 at wayne.edu> wrote:

> In some other unionized context (such as universities) 'exempt' means 'not
> a member of the union' and therefore not subject to restrictions on
> hiring and firing


At Harvard, "exempt" predates unionization, but the thought behind it is
the same as that which Geoff notes. The exempt - also known as "officers
(of the University)" - were and are excluded from enjoying any of the
bennies allotted to mere "staff." [Strictly speaking, only faculty are
truly "officers," whereas some staff are exempt and some aren't, but all
exempt human resources have the same rights and privileges. "A difference
that makes no difference is no difference."] For example, the officers
supposedly have such high salaries that they are "exempt" from overtime
pay, whether it be for putting in more than forty hours a week or for
"opening up" their offices and/or departments and divisions on holidays and
snow-days or for the special benefit of visiting money-bags and other VIP's.

When Prince Charles visited Widener, only such highly-placed exempt staff
as the Librarian of Harvard College were obligated to work on that august
occasion, permission to gaze upon the royal visage being their sole
compensation.


-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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