4 ms·

But people have absolutely sued, successfully, for discrimination. Just not in the context of being treated like an adult by an interviewing system that gives

by dmoy 3y ago

But people have absolutely sued, successfully, for discrimination. Just not in the context of being treated like an adult by an interviewing system that gives actual feedback. Notably virtually no big companies will give feedback by policy, because of their own lawyers. All the engineers on the other side would freaking love to give constructive feedback. Their own lawyers prevent them from doing so.

Apocryphon 3y ago
Source? Which tech companies? Or is it just the amorphous possibility of suits?
- dmoy 3y ago
  Yes tech companies get sued for discrimination in hiring on a routine basis. The issue with giving feedback is the you hand evidence to the opposing side in a future lawsuit. There's very little benefit for the company, and a lot of risk. Microsoft settled three years ago on a race discrimination in hiring thing. And two years ago for discriminating against non-citizens (and in some twist, Facebook settled the same year for discriminating against citizens, so... damned either way). Just this year Workday got sued for discrimination in hiring, which is mildly hilarious because they're the HR-as-a-service company. > Or is it just the amorphous possibility of suits? It's mostly this, driven by the lawyers. They've seen a few previous settlements and just decide "well, none of that here". I don't know if you've ever done hiring at a big company, or sat through the legal training things, but even if you don't draw a lawyer who tells it to you straight, it's pretty easy to infer what's going on.
  - dmoy 3y ago
    Right, to be specific, the worry isn't: Give feedback -> get sued due to something in the feedback The worry is: Give feedback -> ??? -> get sued for discrimination-> feedback is used as evidence that the hiring decision wasn't for a concrete/justifiable reason once its torn apart by a lawyer in front of a jury of 12 random people, only 7 of whom you need to convince.

by dmoy 3y ago

Apocryphon 3y ago

Source? Which tech companies? Or is it just the amorphous possibility of suits?

dmoy 3y ago
Yes tech companies get sued for discrimination in hiring on a routine basis. The issue with giving feedback is the you hand evidence to the opposing side in a future lawsuit. There's very little benefit for the company, and a lot of risk. Microsoft settled three years ago on a race discrimination in hiring thing. And two years ago for discriminating against non-citizens (and in some twist, Facebook settled the same year for discriminating against citizens, so... damned either way). Just this year Workday got sued for discrimination in hiring, which is mildly hilarious because they're the HR-as-a-service company. > Or is it just the amorphous possibility of suits? It's mostly this, driven by the lawyers. They've seen a few previous settlements and just decide "well, none of that here". I don't know if you've ever done hiring at a big company, or sat through the legal training things, but even if you don't draw a lawyer who tells it to you straight, it's pretty easy to infer what's going on.
- dmoy 3y ago
  Right, to be specific, the worry isn't: Give feedback -> get sued due to something in the feedback The worry is: Give feedback -> ??? -> get sued for discrimination-> feedback is used as evidence that the hiring decision wasn't for a concrete/justifiable reason once its torn apart by a lawyer in front of a jury of 12 random people, only 7 of whom you need to convince.