Today, the print version of the Midland Reporter Telegram contained an AP article by T. A. Badger which had the following headline: "Federal raids yield arrests of dozens of undocumented Wal-Mart workers in Texas".
And the online version has this as the headline:
"Undocumented Wal-Mart workers arrested in Texas".
These headlines were very misleading, but we have to read farther down into the article to find out that the undocumented workers weren't actually Wal-Mart employees but instead were employees of contractors with whom Wal-Mart had cleaning contracts.
Sometimes I wonder if some reporters understand the difference between employees and contractors. An ancient copy of Black's Law Dictionary provides a pretty good general definition of a contractor:
One who in pursuit of independent business undertakes to perform a job or piece of work, retaining in himself control of means, method and manner of accomplishing the desired result.
Wal-Mart, like millions of other companies in America, apparently engages in the practice of contracting with companies that specialize in cleaning buildings after business hours. The contractor has to meet certain guidelines, but the contractor's employees are the ones who actually do the work, not Wal-Mart's employees. And the contractor is responsible for its employees not Wal-Mart.
Do reporters really understand how businesses operate? Sometimes I wonder.
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