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Uber reported to the state that I was fired for "annoying a coworker."

anon-ex-uber.medium.com

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Re: Uber reported to the state that I was fired for "annoying a coworker."

#11

Post by soperj »

ryandrake wrote: post #6

It seems like this employee was in a no-win situation. If he engaged in the non-work-related conversation the co-worker was trying to initiate, he would have been fired. If he ignored the co-worker, they would have found a reason to fire him. Instead, he responded saying he was advised to keep communication to just work topics... and he was fired. The company was clearly planning on firing him for any possible reason…

People have this mistaken belief than HR is for them when they are there 100% for the employer. The only people who are there for you in these situations is the union (if you have one).

Re: Uber reported to the state that I was fired for "annoying a coworker."

#12

Post by mc32 »

delfinom wrote: post #3

Shit, HR doesn't even exist to protect the company sometimes. Sometimes they get so cancerous that they start to operate as if the company works for them. Hence my megacorp's most recent CEO fired the CPO, and hired a long time former company employee with no HR background to go clean house of the infestation of Vice-Vice-Vice-Vice-Vice-Vice-Vice-Vice Presidents in HR.

Ultimately it's the board of directors' call. Sometimes they are oblivious to how much HR undermines the company by bringing in unnecessary distractions and making poor hiring decisions. Like much else, it's subject to momentum.

Re: Uber reported to the state that I was fired for "annoying a coworker."

#13

Post by kenjackson »

ryandrake wrote: post #6

It seems like this employee was in a no-win situation. If he engaged in the non-work-related conversation the co-worker was trying to initiate, he would have been fired. If he ignored the co-worker, they would have found a reason to fire him. Instead, he responded saying he was advised to keep communication to just work topics... and he was fired. The company was clearly planning on firing him for any possible reason…

> His first mistake was complaining to HR about another employee griefing him. HR is always going to consider the initial complainer as "the problem."

I can say this definitely isn't always true. In the companies I've worked at HR has always been extremely reasonable and cooperative with harassment claims. But corporate culture probably matters here, and I've never worked at a place like Uber.

That said, I would be curious to actual know the correspondence that was sent between the two. I can also say being a manager who has had to deal with a situation between two employees (more than once), they often both claim to be the one being harassed -- and usually even a little bit of digging reveals really clearly who the aggressor is.

Re: Uber reported to the state that I was fired for "annoying a coworker."

#15

Post by s_dev »

richwater wrote: post #7
s_dev wrote: post #2

Paywall links shouldn't be allowed on Hacker News. It's not possible to subscribe to every service that could be theoretically be submitted. We're not all on $350k SV wages either. That said it's hard to gauge this story as it's a one sided affair, author maybe 100% in the right but that can't really be determined.

God forbid we support journalism that -- gasp -- costs money. Regardless, in this instance it's someone's blog.

You can support journalism independently of submitting to Hacker News. Paid sites aren't suitable for aggregators like this one including the likes of the nytimes et al. Even if they sometimes have great content we'd simply have to go without.

Re: Uber reported to the state that I was fired for "annoying a coworker."

#16

Post by devsda »

Off topic.

Did anybody read the linked fortune article about Uber ceo expecting people to work on weekends.

It has that paid PR post and satirical piece vibes at the same time. With words like "unparalleled work ethic" working on weekends, wisdom and the part about checking emails right after waking up at 5 in the morning, I was expecting it to wrap up with a hint of obvious sarcasm but sadly it never came.

Re: Uber reported to the state that I was fired for "annoying a coworker."

#19

Post by frankharv »

Moral_ wrote: post #10

The fact this person could not get an attorney to represent them says a lot.

Not really. Most all companies have Binding Arbitration built into employment contracts.

What lawyer wants to have their pay limited thusly?

You can hire your own lawyer for the proceedings but no jackpot payouts in arbitration.

Re: Uber reported to the state that I was fired for "annoying a coworker."

#20

Post by zoklet-enjoyer »

Moral_ wrote: post #10

The fact this person could not get an attorney to represent them says a lot.

All the local lawyers have conflicts of interest?

I know someone suing their landlord and he had to find a lawyer 3 hours away because all the local lawyers work with this property management company.

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