Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

451–460 of 633 posts

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#451

Post by pseudonymousgun »

pseudonymousgun wrote: post #349

This happens all the time, right from when someone joins schooling. In my college, the brahmin domination was easily visible. They would target and harass promising young students from other castes, and make them get into depression. I have simply seen too many people from other castes suffer in my college, these are not any ordinary students, they are really bright and very intelligent ones - their only mistake was…

pretty sure some Brahmin user downvoted this :D This is the reality in India, whether private or government jobs doesn't matter. People who actually work here know this as an unspoken truth. And i merely pointed out Winston Churchill's comments on Brahmins, even that triggers some :D

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#452

Post by blinding-streak »

Jayakumark wrote: post #376
walt0 wrote: post #99

I live and work in India and I would like to throw more light on this. Me and my friends like to joke around that you will never get your dues, either pay raise or promotions unless you have the last names jain, gupta, sharma, verma. I had a guy on my team who was very capable but did not have the right last name, he was being harassed for promotions for 4-5 years. On the other hand the manager class was entirely "ja…

100% agreed, I worked for a big 3 Letter Corp and heard manager speaking in his native language of the State (same as the company was located) to another member of team from same State, saying please work a little and i will promote you as a manager ,who will i do it for, if not for you. In the meantime, we were working our ass off and got nothing. Its there for real, you can easily see it - If you join a multination…

What is a "big 3 letter corp"? Haven't heard this phrase before.

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#453

Post by thewindow »

randomguy2379 wrote: post #282
peroporque wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couldn't people just change their last name? I imagine if suddenly everyone's last name was Gupta, that kind of discrimination would become difficult.

An even better approach is to just change your religion. I was born a hindu dalit but I converted and so have many of my friends and family. Religious conversions have become so common in India that states have started to bring out laws to curtail it. Casteism is a construct of Hinduism and other religions don't suffer from it in the same way as Hinduism does. So you can change your religion , your name and claim tha…

I understand the reason you have described to change religion or become an atheist. But in part of India where I am from, I see people adopting another religion and still taking the cast name with them. They will only allow marriage within "Christian + same cast" people. Even People who have renounced God and become atheist home on to their cast. I guess it is the tribal instincts of human being kicking in.

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#454

Post by 0x8BADF00D »

You need to put them on notice for not speaking English at an American company. They need to learn this is America. Call them out and escalate up your management chain if they don’t stop. It’s extremely unprofessional and egregious to speak in another language that other people cannot understand in a business context.

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#455

Post by mprovost »

AndyMcConachie wrote: post #405
walt0 wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason I joined the private sector instead of the government sector, is that these issues are much much worse in the government sector. I was brainwashed to belive that merit will be valued in the private sector by the HR department and the managers. Which its not in the few places I have worked at. I'm not even low-caste but still faced these issues. My dad worked for the government for 30 years and he was not p…

One thing I've noticed with regards to discrimination at a couple I have worked is the treatment of mediocrity. At one American software shop I worked at early in my career I would see mediocre African American employees catch shit for being mediocre, but mediocre white people would not. So basically if you were not white you needed to be a stellar performer. No one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes, and most of…

The writer Sarah Hagi is often quoted: "Lord, grant me the confidence of a mediocre white man".

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#456

Post by [deleted] »

arethuza wrote: post #326
randomguy2379 wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who was born a lower caste hindu, I don't really mind the british caste system at all. Because the british caste system is fluid. If you are born to servant parents and study hard to become a doctor, you end up at the top of the caste system. Not in Hinduism. Even if you become a doctor, but were born a dalit(lowest caste), you will remain a dalit and so will your future generations. There is no escape fro…

Becoming a doctor does not make you upper class in the UK. You can't really become upper class, at least in the traditional sense - certainly not through a job or money. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_class_in_the_United_Kin... e.g. David Cameron, Eton educated prime-minister, described himself as middle class. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25744526 Edit: You could argue that everyone is middle class thes…

[deleted]

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#457

Post by ab_testing »

blinding-streak wrote: post #452
Jayakumark wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% agreed, I worked for a big 3 Letter Corp and heard manager speaking in his native language of the State (same as the company was located) to another member of team from same State, saying please work a little and i will promote you as a manager ,who will i do it for, if not for you. In the meantime, we were working our ass off and got nothing. Its there for real, you can easily see it - If you join a multination…

What is a "big 3 letter corp"? Haven't heard this phrase before.

IBM

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#458

Post by yellowstuff »

blinding-streak wrote: post #452
Jayakumark wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% agreed, I worked for a big 3 Letter Corp and heard manager speaking in his native language of the State (same as the company was located) to another member of team from same State, saying please work a little and i will promote you as a manager ,who will i do it for, if not for you. In the meantime, we were working our ass off and got nothing. Its there for real, you can easily see it - If you join a multination…

What is a "big 3 letter corp"? Haven't heard this phrase before.

I'd guess SAP or IBM.

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#459

Post by wobbly_bush »

hckr_news wrote: post #450
hungry_haibt wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another anecdote, my previous manager has one of those last names. He was hiring for a position and screening the resumes. He would send them to me for initial phone screen. After a while, I saw a pattern, all the candidates he chose to move forward with had same last names.

Hmm excuse my ignorance. But why couldn’t someone legally change their last name to one of these? Could they really tell what family, tribe, or caste you’re from by face? I suppose regional dialect can be noticed.

It's more about just the name. The best way to understand is to think of India is as similar to European Union with each caste as a country. At some point all the castes intermingled, but they have their own unique set of cultures to this day. So it's more about discrimination against other set of cultures. Loosing your last name at that point is like loosing your culture.

Re: California accuses Cisco of job discrimination based on Indian employee's caste

#460

Post by bluGill »

vishnugupta wrote: post #386
rutherblood wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO Indian parents are some of most sly people to walk earth. They coerce, emotionally blackmail and are obsessive about controlling their child's lives be it professional, educational, romantic decisions. Sometimes I think the quote "Most parents would do anything for their child except let them be who they are" is specifically made for the Indian boomer generation.

Oh boy this hit so close to home that I almost fell off laughing in agreement. I’m trying my absolute best not to be what my father was to me to my sons.

Be careful not to go too far the other direction.Kids do need some direction to get them on a good course.

I don't know you or your kids. So I'll just leave that as a general warning and hope you can make the right decision as to allowing your kids many good choices while keeping them from making a really bad one.

Post reply on HN