4 ms·

As dangrossman points out, above, you can be fired for any reason whatsoever, on the spot. I believe the only protections are sex, race, gender, religion, and a

by pstack 15y ago

As dangrossman points out, above, you can be fired for any reason whatsoever, on the spot. I believe the only protections are sex, race, gender, religion, and age. And as for sex, that means you can't be fired for being a male or a female. It has nothing to do with sexual orientation, for which you can still be fired in something like two or three dozen states. (Look into the ENDA which has been repeatedly proposed for the past 17 years, but never passed -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_Non-Discrimination_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_Non-Discrimination_A... ). And for those things which are protected, there is often little you can do. Prove that they fired you for being too old and not just because you smelled bad or performed poorly at work or pissed the wrong person off. It therefore isn't really concerning that someone would not want to deal with the hassle of some jackass and would just ask for him to be fired, instead.

doe88 15y ago
> the hassle of some jackass nice
scotty79 15y ago
US seem like horrible country to work in. You are expected to donate unpaid overtime to your company, you can be fired on a whim. What else?
- davidw 15y ago
  It's easy to get hired because employers aren't afraid that they're wedded to you for life. And you generally make pretty good money - depending on your job of course. I think 'job protection' is a bit misguided. What makes more sense to me is 'people protection' - that even if you lose your job, you'll still be able to pay rent, eat, etc... It would make more sense to aim for that goal directly rather than force employers to keep people they don't want.
- mikecane 15y ago
  >>>What else? You are expected to STFU and be a "team player" despite what trouble the team is cooking up.
- flomo 15y ago
  Many states allow ridiculous non-compete agreements. (Fortunately not California, which is one reason so many startups are located here.)
- cturner 15y ago
  It's a different settlement. You can be fired more easily, but on the other hand it's easier to be an entrepreneur. Also, because it's easier to fire people, it's easier to hire people, because you know if they don't work out you have options. France is an example of a country where it doesn't work like that.
  - scotty79 15y ago
    I'm not sure about being entrepreneur in US. Once I saw blog where someone listed costs of incorporating. Amount you should set aside for health insurance sent chills down my spine. Also more or less obligatory (if you are sane) usage of legal advice for any contract and such seems like a huge burden usually not present in other countries.
illumen 15y ago
This person was fired for pointing out systematic racism at google. If it is true that they have a separate building where the 'people of color' work segregated from the others, that is pretty outrageous. It really does say something about the corporate culture there. I hope it is investigated more closely by other parties, and that Google can make it better If there is something like this happening.
- yummyfajitas 15y ago
  I think you are misinterpreting the story. They have a separate building where low level data entry people work. The segregation is by work function, not race.
- AlexC04 15y ago
  And they don't get free ice cream sandwiches when the ice cream truck pulls up. Is that racism or is it economics? Scanning books is a manual process that is much like sewing or factory work in the repetitiveness. (Maybe less skilled than sewing). The "racism" of the situation happened years before anyone walked onto the Google campus. The socio-economic opportunities of things like safety, education, nutrition, books, time, parental involvement all feeds in to the situation where the workers in building 3.14 get one level of education and the engineers get another. If it were true that they were segregating "people of color" then it absolutely would be outrageous. However, it is absolutely NOT true that they are segregating for reasons of color. It's a red-herring argument. What if the 4 to 2:30 schedule is to control traffic flow. Setting a non trivial number of workers to arrive and leave at a certain time means that the twice daily 'mega traffic jam' arriving and leaving doesn't happen. Which puts everyone at their desks longer. Which saves money. What if the reason that yellow badged workers aren't allowed to freely wander the rest of the google campus is down to security? Would you want low paid wage workers wandering around amongst your industrial secrets?
  - mattmanser 15y ago
    In a corporation the size of Google there will be a lot of other low-paid workers, secretaries, post-room, catering, etc. Are they all yellow badge too? And do they all steal secrets as you seem to imply every low-paid person is bound to do? Seriously, just because someone is low paid doesn't mean they're any less trust worthy. That's one fucked up world view you have there. Also it doesn't make much sense as it's the higher paid workers who can do the serious economic damage as they know what's actually valuable.

by pstack 15y ago

doe88 15y ago

> the hassle of some jackass nice

scotty79 15y ago

US seem like horrible country to work in. You are expected to donate unpaid overtime to your company, you can be fired on a whim. What else?

davidw 15y ago
It's easy to get hired because employers aren't afraid that they're wedded to you for life. And you generally make pretty good money - depending on your job of course. I think 'job protection' is a bit misguided. What makes more sense to me is 'people protection' - that even if you lose your job, you'll still be able to pay rent, eat, etc... It would make more sense to aim for that goal directly rather than force employers to keep people they don't want.
mikecane 15y ago
>>>What else? You are expected to STFU and be a "team player" despite what trouble the team is cooking up.
flomo 15y ago
Many states allow ridiculous non-compete agreements. (Fortunately not California, which is one reason so many startups are located here.)
cturner 15y ago
It's a different settlement. You can be fired more easily, but on the other hand it's easier to be an entrepreneur. Also, because it's easier to fire people, it's easier to hire people, because you know if they don't work out you have options. France is an example of a country where it doesn't work like that.
- scotty79 15y ago
  I'm not sure about being entrepreneur in US. Once I saw blog where someone listed costs of incorporating. Amount you should set aside for health insurance sent chills down my spine. Also more or less obligatory (if you are sane) usage of legal advice for any contract and such seems like a huge burden usually not present in other countries.

illumen 15y ago

This person was fired for pointing out systematic racism at google. If it is true that they have a separate building where the 'people of color' work segregated from the others, that is pretty outrageous. It really does say something about the corporate culture there. I hope it is investigated more closely by other parties, and that Google can make it better If there is something like this happening.

yummyfajitas 15y ago
I think you are misinterpreting the story. They have a separate building where low level data entry people work. The segregation is by work function, not race.
AlexC04 15y ago
And they don't get free ice cream sandwiches when the ice cream truck pulls up. Is that racism or is it economics? Scanning books is a manual process that is much like sewing or factory work in the repetitiveness. (Maybe less skilled than sewing). The "racism" of the situation happened years before anyone walked onto the Google campus. The socio-economic opportunities of things like safety, education, nutrition, books, time, parental involvement all feeds in to the situation where the workers in building 3.14 get one level of education and the engineers get another. If it were true that they were segregating "people of color" then it absolutely would be outrageous. However, it is absolutely NOT true that they are segregating for reasons of color. It's a red-herring argument. What if the 4 to 2:30 schedule is to control traffic flow. Setting a non trivial number of workers to arrive and leave at a certain time means that the twice daily 'mega traffic jam' arriving and leaving doesn't happen. Which puts everyone at their desks longer. Which saves money. What if the reason that yellow badged workers aren't allowed to freely wander the rest of the google campus is down to security? Would you want low paid wage workers wandering around amongst your industrial secrets?
- mattmanser 15y ago
  In a corporation the size of Google there will be a lot of other low-paid workers, secretaries, post-room, catering, etc. Are they all yellow badge too? And do they all steal secrets as you seem to imply every low-paid person is bound to do? Seriously, just because someone is low paid doesn't mean they're any less trust worthy. That's one fucked up world view you have there. Also it doesn't make much sense as it's the higher paid workers who can do the serious economic damage as they know what's actually valuable.