Over at his weblog, Tom Tomorrow writes about a problem he had that I've also had and that many freelance writers and artists have endured. In his experience, he wrote something for Slate and then, months later, they sent him all sorts of forms he'd have to sign in order to get paid for the work. He found some of these forms objectionable but that almost isn't the point. Even non-objectionable terms should be disclosed and mutually agreed-upon before the work is done. Once you do the work, you're pretty much stuck. You can't undo the work, can't take back the time and effort you put into it.
Sometimes, you can argue them into dropping the requirement that you sign away your First Born to get the $300 that they owe you, but sometimes you can't. At least three times that I can think of in my career, the following situation presented itself: I was hired by someone with whom I had a good, ongoing relationship. In other words, a friend. After the work was done, that person came to me and said, often apologetically, "The front office says you have to sign this to get paid. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it before but I just found out they have this procedure on work of this sort." So if I object and don't sign, I don't get paid and I get my friend in trouble. I once had one call me and say, in effect, "Please…I was new here, I didn't know about the procedure. They're going to fire me if you don't sign."
Another variation: You do the job January 1. By February 1, you haven't been paid so you inquire. They send you a new contract form which went into usage on January 15 and they say, "Here's what you need to sign before the accounting department can issue you a check." You object to the content of that form and you point out that they're changing the terms of the work after you've done the work. They say, "Well, this is how it is. The parent company, which is in Botswana and where no one speaks English so you can't talk to them, has instituted this new policy. The accountants are strictly forbidden to issue a check unless they have that form on file." This has also happened to me at least three times, probably more.
Writers, artists and other kinds of freelancers get burned by this, one way or the other, no matter what they do. There have been times when I've walked away from money that was owed me. There have been other times when I've signed contracts that I'd never have signed, had I seen them before I did the job. Sometimes, I've felt baited-and-switched. Other times, I've felt it was primarily my own fault for not saying to the person doing the hiring, "Okay, but before I do the work, please send me a copy of all documents that pertain to this assignment." This is not always easy to say, especially when they're calling you with a great job or one that they need in a hurry. But it should be said, especially in the age of the Internet and fax machines when they can have that information to you in a matter of minutes. We all need to say it often enough that it becomes Standard Operational Procedure.