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VW engineer sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

reuters.com

101–110 of 134 posts

Re: VW engineer sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't say "No" then, but agree and report to the authorities.

But that would increase the likelihood of losing your job by refusing and decrease the ease of finding a different job?

Yes, it would, but there is a working and rather simple(email) alternative:

> "Dear ,

> I hereby bring to your attention that _xyz_ will have the following consequences.

> My suggestion is that you do _zyw_.

> Please notify me how you want to procede."

If he decides to continue doing what he's asking you to do it anyway. He's now the one liable.

I'd advise you to print that email and the response and store it in a folder at home or at your lawyer, bank, whatever.

If they at some point decide to fire you or throw you to the wolves you can be certain that you won't have access to your emails anymore.

It might feel awkward the first couple of times, but afterwards you might end up with a cozy life.

Re: VW engineer sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

#103
post #11
post #7

Fantastic precedent. When your boss tells you to do something unethical and possibly illegal, you now have a great reason to say no.

Is it a good enough reason though? That would depend on the likelihood of losing your job by refusing, the ease of finding a different job, the seriousness of the unethical request, and the likelihood of getting caught.

If losing your job over something unethical is wrong, I don't want to be right. I would never be able to trust my employer again either way.

Re: VW engineer sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

#104
post #41

Okay, so it's okay to go after an engineer at VW for gaming the system, and causing higher emissions than everyone thought, but not okay to go after bankers for fraud which screwed the world economy? I'm not saying that the engineer shouldn't be responsible - he should - but it's an extreme double standard.

Non-flippant answer, in case this question is genuine: there are no laws against what any individual banker did, or else there is insufficient evidence to prosecute the bankers under any law they hypothetically broke. Not so with this engineer.

Re: VW engineer sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

#105
post #75
post #7

Fantastic precedent. When your boss tells you to do something unethical and possibly illegal, you now have a great reason to say no.

It is likely he will earn a good amount of money for having accepted to be the scape goat instead of VW.

And free smokes in jail!

Re: VW engineer sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

#107
post #97
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... and go find a new job

That depends highly on the local employment laws. In Germany being fired for refusing illegal or unethical tasks screams for unlawful termination. That means a court case, which means the unethical request will become public knowledge. That's a huge thread even if the employer wins in court. Here your job would be safe, though you could be put in some dead-end position where you eventually leave on your own. Or you a…

+ suits in a court for employment-related matters (Arbeitsgericht) are free for the employee in Germany

Re: VW engineer sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

#109

Executives need to be punished - not just lowly engineers who followed orders under the duress of losing employment

He moved to the US specifically to lie to federal authorities. Lowly?

Who was the boss who suggested this be done?

Re: VW engineer sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

#110
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without putting words into w_t_payne's mouth (and at risk of incurring the ire of HNers who are wary of them), unions would be one such form of organization. Other such organizations might include software engineering guilds but I don't think such guilds generally act to protect the interests of software engineers collectively or individually. For various historical and professional reasons, software developers have…

Without getting too much into politics, I agree with you 100%, unions are the way to go.

Tagged unions are an even better variant.
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