6 ms·

Meta fires staffers for using $25 meal credits on household goods

18 points by botanical 2y ago

not_your_vase 2y ago
One thing I don't understand is, who accepts these vouchers for non-food items? Asking this as someone who is not familiar with this particular system. I lived in countries where I got meal vouchers, but every place that accepted them only allowed me to buy food with them, and they outright refused to sell anything that can't be eaten (if they even sold anything like that)
- ctchocula 2y ago
  Most likely they were in the form of UberEats or Doordash credits, which can be used to purchase retail items like the ones described in the article.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
fwungy 2y ago
Show me the person and I'll show you the crime. -Stalin This was a person they wanted to let go and needed an excuse to get rid of that would save them severance and lawsuits, I'd wager.
- HelloNurse 2y ago
  "In situations like this when a role is eliminated, we work hard to find other opportunities for impacted employees" They clearly work hard to find opportunities to impact employees.
- shitlord 2y ago
  That quote is actually attributed to Lavrentiy Beria, one of Stalin's top goons.
seanhunter 2y ago
I'm definitely not the person who would normally leap to the defense of the bigtech employer firing somebody, but I have absolutely no sympathy for people who fiddle expenses. The company doesn't provide a laundry detergent/wineglass/acne pad benefit. They provide a food benefit. If they give you uber eats or doordash vouchers and you choose to spend it on something that is not food, you are committing expenses fraud. You may think to yourself "all dollars are green, what's the harm?" but it's not even close to ambiguous for me. They provide that voucher for food. If you spend it on something else, that's exactly the same as if you just stole the money.
- Doxin 2y ago
  While I don't disagree, it still seems rather crass to immediately fire people for it. Surely you'd first tell people to knock it off before firing them? Of course that sort of assumes that the firing wasn't the end goal.
  - Ekaros 2y ago
    My understanding is that some people were fired, others were warned. This was most likely done by number of times they exploited the system. Say tens of infractions compared to a few. There likely was some threshold which some went over and everyone fired should have known based on written policy.
    - Doxin 2y ago
      > should have known based on written policy Ah yes, it was in the EULA. Which everyone always reads. If you've got an otherwise good employee it's incredibly dumb to lose them over this. Clearly they can see when people are abusing the system, so why not warn them before they go over the threshold for getting fired?
      - acdha 2y ago
        Your terms of employment matter more than a EULA, and at the pay scale in question they can be expected to be literate or hire a lawyer. I’d be quite surprised if they weren’t given clear instructions the first time they used the system at a company big enough to have had lawsuits before. “Incredibly good” is a value judgement we don’t have evidence to assess but I don’t think you could support that claim here in any case: people who break ethics rules on small things are pretty likely to break them on big things. No mstter what else they’re bringing to the table, that’s a risk.
benjaminfh 2y ago
I had mixed feelings until I read the quote “better not to waste the credit”. That attitude rubs me up the wrong way for (a) a take what you need if/when you need it type perk and (b) someone being paid 400k. I wouldn’t want to employ someone who saw their sick leave as something they deliberated used up in full each year (even when they didn’t need it). It’s a similar attitude IMO.
- ZiiS 2y ago
  (c) being paid 400k by someone worth >$100b on their work.
ilrwbwrkhv 2y ago
Facebook is on the way down. These are the signs.
DonsDiscountGas 2y ago
> Some had been pooling their money together Why is this against the rules exactly?
rightbyte 2y ago
"Staff are given daily allowances of $20 for breakfast, $25 for lunch, and $25 for dinner" Doesn't it seem quite extravagant to pay 20 USD for breakfast or lunch? Are the 70USD taxed?
- j7ake 2y ago
  Not extravagant in high cost of living areas.
  - rightbyte 2y ago
    Have relative restaurant pricing in 'high cost areas' in the US changed since the 2010s? I remember SF as being about as expansive as about anywhere else for the equivalent quality.
    - lotsofpulp 2y ago
      $20 is what I would plan to spend on a decent (not fancy setting, just not low quality) meal in SF. For waited service, I would budget $30, excluding even non alcoholic beverages. Could be $5 less though, if you go out of your way to find lower prices. Same in the other west coast cities and NYC, except Portland. Portland is probably $5 less. Note that the article says the meal credits are for prepared food delivered to a Meta office location, so the meal credit also includes cost of delivery: > Staff based in smaller offices without a canteen are offered Uber Eats or Grubhub credits, for example, for food to be delivered to the office.
      - j7ake 2y ago
        Honestly McDonald’s plus delivery is probably going to hit 15-20 dollars these days.
- naveen99 2y ago
  Personal meals are 100% employee income. Business meals are 50% employee income and 50% business expense. Which is the real issue. If nsa / irs / sec catches Facebook under policing , they will take a pound of flesh from Facebook, instead of the finger sticks from the employees. same way, banks get fined for under policing money laundering.

18 points by botanical 2y ago

One thing I don't understand is, who accepts these vouchers for non-food items? Asking this as someone who is not familiar with this particular system. I lived in countries where I got meal vouchers, but every place that accepted them only allowed me to buy food with them, and they outright refused to sell anything that can't be eaten (if they even sold anything like that)

ctchocula 2y ago
Most likely they were in the form of UberEats or Doordash credits, which can be used to purchase retail items like the ones described in the article.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

fwungy 2y ago

Show me the person and I'll show you the crime. -Stalin This was a person they wanted to let go and needed an excuse to get rid of that would save them severance and lawsuits, I'd wager.

HelloNurse 2y ago
"In situations like this when a role is eliminated, we work hard to find other opportunities for impacted employees" They clearly work hard to find opportunities to impact employees.
shitlord 2y ago
That quote is actually attributed to Lavrentiy Beria, one of Stalin's top goons.

seanhunter 2y ago

I'm definitely not the person who would normally leap to the defense of the bigtech employer firing somebody, but I have absolutely no sympathy for people who fiddle expenses. The company doesn't provide a laundry detergent/wineglass/acne pad benefit. They provide a food benefit. If they give you uber eats or doordash vouchers and you choose to spend it on something that is not food, you are committing expenses fraud. You may think to yourself "all dollars are green, what's the harm?" but it's not even close to ambiguous for me. They provide that voucher for food. If you spend it on something else, that's exactly the same as if you just stole the money.

Doxin 2y ago
While I don't disagree, it still seems rather crass to immediately fire people for it. Surely you'd first tell people to knock it off before firing them? Of course that sort of assumes that the firing wasn't the end goal.
- Ekaros 2y ago
  My understanding is that some people were fired, others were warned. This was most likely done by number of times they exploited the system. Say tens of infractions compared to a few. There likely was some threshold which some went over and everyone fired should have known based on written policy.
  - Doxin 2y ago
    > should have known based on written policy Ah yes, it was in the EULA. Which everyone always reads. If you've got an otherwise good employee it's incredibly dumb to lose them over this. Clearly they can see when people are abusing the system, so why not warn them before they go over the threshold for getting fired?
    - acdha 2y ago
      Your terms of employment matter more than a EULA, and at the pay scale in question they can be expected to be literate or hire a lawyer. I’d be quite surprised if they weren’t given clear instructions the first time they used the system at a company big enough to have had lawsuits before. “Incredibly good” is a value judgement we don’t have evidence to assess but I don’t think you could support that claim here in any case: people who break ethics rules on small things are pretty likely to break them on big things. No mstter what else they’re bringing to the table, that’s a risk.

benjaminfh 2y ago

I had mixed feelings until I read the quote “better not to waste the credit”. That attitude rubs me up the wrong way for (a) a take what you need if/when you need it type perk and (b) someone being paid 400k. I wouldn’t want to employ someone who saw their sick leave as something they deliberated used up in full each year (even when they didn’t need it). It’s a similar attitude IMO.

ZiiS 2y ago
(c) being paid 400k by someone worth >$100b on their work.

ilrwbwrkhv 2y ago

Facebook is on the way down. These are the signs.

DonsDiscountGas 2y ago

> Some had been pooling their money together Why is this against the rules exactly?

rightbyte 2y ago

"Staff are given daily allowances of $20 for breakfast, $25 for lunch, and $25 for dinner" Doesn't it seem quite extravagant to pay 20 USD for breakfast or lunch? Are the 70USD taxed?

j7ake 2y ago
Not extravagant in high cost of living areas.
- rightbyte 2y ago
  Have relative restaurant pricing in 'high cost areas' in the US changed since the 2010s? I remember SF as being about as expansive as about anywhere else for the equivalent quality.
  - lotsofpulp 2y ago
    $20 is what I would plan to spend on a decent (not fancy setting, just not low quality) meal in SF. For waited service, I would budget $30, excluding even non alcoholic beverages. Could be $5 less though, if you go out of your way to find lower prices. Same in the other west coast cities and NYC, except Portland. Portland is probably $5 less. Note that the article says the meal credits are for prepared food delivered to a Meta office location, so the meal credit also includes cost of delivery: > Staff based in smaller offices without a canteen are offered Uber Eats or Grubhub credits, for example, for food to be delivered to the office.
    - j7ake 2y ago
      Honestly McDonald’s plus delivery is probably going to hit 15-20 dollars these days.
naveen99 2y ago
Personal meals are 100% employee income. Business meals are 50% employee income and 50% business expense. Which is the real issue. If nsa / irs / sec catches Facebook under policing , they will take a pound of flesh from Facebook, instead of the finger sticks from the employees. same way, banks get fined for under policing money laundering.