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How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

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Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#161
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is my understanding that you haven’t quit until your notice period is over, you just have given notice. As such it is not surprising to me that you still have to do the job or face some consequences; you signed a contract after all. You would sue your employer too if they fired you and then immediately stopped paying you.

Depends, in Eastern Europe "suing" does not happen often, in fact, it is quite rare, for both employers and employees. I see how people in the US are threatening to sue all the time, but that is not the case around here. It would take too much time and money and usually is not worth it.

I don’t know statistics but here in Germany many people have insurance that pays for attorneys in case of conflicts related to employment and would make use of it.

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have examples ? I have never heard European people being sued for quitting either. The opposite of at-will employment is not that you can't quit. Just that employers can't suddenly fire you without repercussions.

In the UK, an employee can't legally walk off the job without notice but it does happen albeit rarely. Nobody ever sues them. The only reason people don't do it more often is so they have a reference for their next employment. The more common way to do this these days is to feign an illness like stress and get signed off work, paid, by the doctor, then quit later.

The notice period is kinda odd. I've known people who want to leave immediately and haven't had a lot of trouble doing so because the relationship with their employer has soured that much.

Paid by the doctor? I think sick pay comes from the employer initially and later statutory sick pay(state).

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was stunned when I realised my Irish work contracts had a forced notice period, not just a courtesy. Accenture uses this as a tool to stop people quitting - forced three month notice even for super low level employees. Makes it hard to interview for new jobs!

It does not. New jobs know about notice periods and plan ahead.

Long ones can be a deal breaker though. It was for me when I was looking for a new job before. It's similar to being willing to relocate imo.

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#164

Funny seeing a post about these as that's what I was recently reminded of when reading this post: https://x.com/DOGE/status/1857076831104434289 ("80+ hours per week" ... what kind of a psycho even writes this down and puts it out there as if it was normal in any way...)

Matt Levine covered what was an absolutte banger of a press release from JPMorgan

> JPMorgan Chase & Co. will limit junior banker hours to 80 per week in most cases, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Exceptions may include extra work to complete live deals, the person said.

My favorite part if the analysis was by far

> If there is nothing particularly urgent for you to do, it’s fine for you to come in at 9 a.m. and leave at midnight Monday through Friday and work just one afternoon per weekend, but obviously if you’re on a deal you’ll need to do more.

https://archive.ph/2DI49

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm thinking you misinterpreted the comment you responded to? I read it as saying that you don't necessarily have to have employment linked healthcare just because you have at-will employment. The "inexplicably" being a commentary on the wisdom/sanity/compassion of linking healthcare to employment, rather than a claim that the parent comment had made an inexplicable leap of logic

But the discussion wasn't about "generic at-will" employment. It started as "American at-will" employment. > > I have come to the conclusion that the American “at-will” employment model is actually a good thing and benefits workers It may seem like you can just walk away from a job but realistically most people can't.

"Most people" are not dependent on health insurance for their average needs, except in the long-term or unexpectedly.

Then of course, being unemployed, you have the option of COBRA (you probably don't want that though), and if it does not make you immediately eligible for Medicaid in your state (40 of 50 have Medicaid expansion), it would make you eligible for the ACA subsidized plans. NB: more than one-third of employer-sponsored plans are HDHPs, meaning employees have deductibles in the thousands of dollars anyway.

It's certainly a disruption, and it's one more thing to consider, but the idea that "most Americans" are one job loss away from being killed by lack of health care is not remotely true - most people don't need health care that regularly, unemployed people have insurance options, and at a last resort, for the most part, you can accrue unlimited medical debt in most places with few real-world consequences.

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was stunned when I realised my Irish work contracts had a forced notice period, not just a courtesy. Accenture uses this as a tool to stop people quitting - forced three month notice even for super low level employees. Makes it hard to interview for new jobs!

It does not. New jobs know about notice periods and plan ahead.

Three months is definitely very much on the high side.

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what every employee of Musk's companies should look forward to That's what their ideal compensation and workload be if their boss would have their way

The thing is, Musk claims to work that hard himself (or more), but the difference is that he is a direct beneficiary and earns millions per hour. Whereas a regular employee earns X amount per month, that's it. Maybe some scraps in stock market value, but one of Musk's tweets has more of an impact on those than a career of 80 hour work weeks would of any employee.

Also, one might be forgiven for doubting him on that; unless he's counting 'painfully stupid tweets' as 'work', the sheer volume of them would call the _possibility_ of this into question.

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#168
this article was a bit annoying - several paragraphs of filler background, then a video from some movie - then a list of bad companies

... and then finally at the end you get told what exactly black companies are -list of common characteristics of black companies. Made for an irritating read

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

America has very low unemployment and median household incomes are among the highest in the world. You get to continue your existing health insurance 18 months after you quit if you wish, you just have to pay for it. Most people can and if you can’t then the government pays for it. While getting terminated is disruptive, it isn’t the end of the world for the typical American. The relative ease with which most people…

The other part is that companies are much more willing to hire people if they know they can get rid of them if either that person ends up sucking or business starts to fall off. I believe it’s the case that in some places, bureaucrats can basically just say “no” if you decide to lay people off. Why would you want to hire people in the first place if there were a risk of that happening, especially if you have the opti…

> The other part is that companies are much more willing to hire people if they know they can get rid of them if either that person ends up sucking or business starts to fall off.

That and other reasons (few vacantion days, request to overtime, etc) is why one should avoid American companies in Europe, if possible.

Trust goes both ways.

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK, an employee can't legally walk off the job without notice but it does happen albeit rarely. Nobody ever sues them. The only reason people don't do it more often is so they have a reference for their next employment. The more common way to do this these days is to feign an illness like stress and get signed off work, paid, by the doctor, then quit later.

The notice period is kinda odd. I've known people who want to leave immediately and haven't had a lot of trouble doing so because the relationship with their employer has soured that much. Paid by the doctor? I think sick pay comes from the employer initially and later statutory sick pay(state).

You're right, the doctor thing is just bad grammar or sentence structure on my part
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