4 ms·

Great for Vaidyanathan and all, but what I really dislike about this article is this "wrongful hire" neologism. Seagate committed fraud, and calling it "wrongf

by bmm6o 15y ago

Great for Vaidyanathan and all, but what I really dislike about this article is this "wrongful hire" neologism. Seagate committed fraud, and calling it "wrongful hire" makes it sound so much weaker. And maybe I'm just paranoid, but the author of the piece definitely operates on the employer's side of these relationships (read his bio), so half of me wonders if this is intentional.

mikeash 15y ago
Fraud is the general class of crime committed, and wrongful hire is a more specific categorization. I don't see the problem here.
- andrewflnr 15y ago
  Because it sounds, until you dig into it, like a flagrant violation of common sense. Most people will not dig into it. They'll just say "how ridiculous!", as I almost did, and at best will get an inaccurate picture of things. This may help them make bad decisions down the line, as other people have suggested on th subthread.
  - mikeash 15y ago
    Maybe I'm unusual, but that "how ridiculous!" reaction is the only reason I read the story in the first place. It sounded crazy, and made me curious as to exactly what had happened, whereas with a simple "fraud" headline I probably would have skipped over it.
    - bmm6o 15y ago
      > that "how ridiculous!" reaction is the only reason I read the story in the first place Sure, but I'm not talking about the first time you hear the term, I'm talking about if this happens to become more widespread. Don't underestimate the power that comes with naming something... people really don't think beyond the label for something they think they are familiar with, and this can have a dramatic impact on the way they feel about it.
forgotAgain 15y ago
I agree and think it was intentional. It won't be long before politicians are mocking "Companies have even been successfully sued for wrongfully hiring someone." as a pretext for cutting employee protection laws.
- pavel_lishin 15y ago
  Hopefully we'd be able to claim that they were wrongfully elected, and get them recalled.
  - marshray 15y ago
    But then they could sue us.

by bmm6o 15y ago

mikeash 15y ago

Fraud is the general class of crime committed, and wrongful hire is a more specific categorization. I don't see the problem here.

andrewflnr 15y ago
Because it sounds, until you dig into it, like a flagrant violation of common sense. Most people will not dig into it. They'll just say "how ridiculous!", as I almost did, and at best will get an inaccurate picture of things. This may help them make bad decisions down the line, as other people have suggested on th subthread.
- mikeash 15y ago
  Maybe I'm unusual, but that "how ridiculous!" reaction is the only reason I read the story in the first place. It sounded crazy, and made me curious as to exactly what had happened, whereas with a simple "fraud" headline I probably would have skipped over it.
  - bmm6o 15y ago
    > that "how ridiculous!" reaction is the only reason I read the story in the first place Sure, but I'm not talking about the first time you hear the term, I'm talking about if this happens to become more widespread. Don't underestimate the power that comes with naming something... people really don't think beyond the label for something they think they are familiar with, and this can have a dramatic impact on the way they feel about it.

forgotAgain 15y ago

I agree and think it was intentional. It won't be long before politicians are mocking "Companies have even been successfully sued for wrongfully hiring someone." as a pretext for cutting employee protection laws.

pavel_lishin 15y ago
Hopefully we'd be able to claim that they were wrongfully elected, and get them recalled.
- marshray 15y ago
  But then they could sue us.