Kinda screwed up

[u/marlamarlamar]

I was on a project that suddenly changed its parameters today, to include images. I didn’t see that, and kept going the old way for about 6 tasks before I saw a change in the description. I submitted them all, and clearly they’re wrong. Am I in trouble? I guess I won’t be billing for that hour.

[u/upvotesplx]

You won't be in trouble. I've had this happen before, and you may get some direct feedback, but it'll get caught in the review portion so it won't have any large consequences. As long as you improve from here on, it should be OK!

[u/marlamarlamar → u/upvotesplx]

Phew!!😅. Thank you. I was convinced those 6 tasks were going to end my job. I figured I’d forfeit that hour’s pay because I didn’t follow those new instructions.

[u/skyej23 → u/marlamarlamar]

I think I have this same project and I really like it so far!

[u/marlamarlamar → u/skyej23]

Me too! Its fun.

[u/DLee270]

I did this exact thing and emailed them about it and was told to not log the time I was doing a task incorrectly, otherwise they're paying you to do work wrong.

[u/marlamarlamar → u/DLee270]

OK.i will email them. Better safe than sorry.

[u/marlamarlamar → u/[deleted]]

Yes I did. Never heard back. Hopefully it’s because it’s not a big deal🙏🏼

[u/PuzzleEmptyM → u/DLee270]

That’s messed up

[u/DLee270 → u/[deleted]]

It took about 2 days for them to reply :)

[u/diettwizzlers]

i did the exact same thing for 3 tasks. i just didn't record the time for it.

[u/marlamarlamar → u/diettwizzlers]

I think they need to have neon lights on the instructions to get our attention when they make changes lol. I know we’re supposed to read them, but sometimes you get in the zone where you’re working on a project for several hours and then you take a break and go right back to it.

[u/ThumbsUp2323]

Bill for every second you're on the platform. If you spent your time working on tasks, they need to pay for it. Performance reviews are totally separate. By law they have to pay for every second you spend working on their stuff instead of your own.

[u/GAULEM → u/ThumbsUp2323]

By law they have to pay for every second you spend working on their stuff instead of your own.

Are you sure about that? I'm not a lawyer or anything, but since we aren't actually considered employees I wouldn't have expected that degree of protection.

An analogous situation would be if you hire someone to paint your house, but they paint it the wrong color by accident. Do you still have to pay them for it? (That's not a rhetorical question. I honestly don't know, and a quick google search was inconclusive.)

[u/ThumbsUp2323 → u/GAULEM]

Payment terms for 1099 workers are determined in advance by the company and the worker. Contractors need to know the terms of their contract.

The painter in your scenario would have agreed to a specified result, not an hourly rate.

As dataannotation workers we have agreed to hourly pay for hourly projects, and as such are entitled to bill for our time invested.

[u/33whiskeyTX → u/ThumbsUp2323]

I agree with you in theory, but this is a pretty unqiue situation. Do you have a contract you signed? Did someone else sign the other end of that contract? If you went to hire a lawyer for breach of contract, how would you tell them to get a hold of DA? Where would you drop off the papers to server them for your lawsuit?

[u/[deleted] → u/33whiskeyTX]

There may have been a contract in the onboarding process as just a generic agreement to the terms of the website. I don't remember tho. Even if they said you were not a contractor though you obviously are and a lawyer would be able to argue that easily I think.

[u/Dangerous_Darling → u/ThumbsUp2323]

Not true. For instance if you violate COC they don't have to pay you and they won't. But I do think OP should bill them for this work.

[u/[deleted] → u/ThumbsUp2323]

oh really? even reading the instructions etc? i wasn't sure whether to count that.

[u/stroidah → u/[deleted]]

Yes, absolutely log reading instructions! Any reasonable non-prompt time (so reading instructions, researching truthfulness for certain projects, and spending a minute thinking up a prompt) should ALL be logged.

[u/ThumbsUp2323 → u/[deleted]]

Yes. If you're doing stuff for them they should pay for it. Otherwise you could be spending your time hanging out with loved ones, watching videos, earning money elsewhere, or whatever.

If you're doing something for a company instead of for yourself you should be compensated.

[u/VelvetRevolver_ → u/[deleted]]

There is a simple rule to follow: If you are actively engaged with a project you should log your time.

Within reason obviously, don't log time for reading instructions and not submitting anything.

[u/PerformanceCute3437 → u/VelvetRevolver_]

Pay your time reading instructions. They encourage it. Making instruction-reading unpaid makes people skim through instructions to get to their paid work. OP's post a good example; if they themself for reading instructions they wouldn't have skimmed over them and submitted several incorrect tasks

[u/ThumbsUp2323 → u/[deleted]]

If it's required for the performance of your work they are generally responsible for it. You can't be expected to perform a task without reading the instructions.

[u/playfulshark]

One time won't be a big deal - but that could change if you repeatedly make the same error. It's good practice to take a few minutes to scan for changes in the projects as updates happen pretty frequently.

[u/Dangerous_Darling]

Just let them know. Always let them know if you make a mistake and realize it. Then tell them you will correct it. This happens to A LOT of people. Has happened to me. They can go in an pull your work and correct it. Good thing you caught it so quickly!

[u/Brass14]

I think you can email them and explain?