It's always something toxic when it comes to US companies. I had to do multiple background checks. In Romania they are unheard of.
Doubly so for Florida.
Dutch employee fired by U.S. firm for shutting off webcam awarded €75K in court
131–140 of 466 posts
Re: Dutch employee fired by U.S. firm for shutting off webcam awarded €75K in court
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article also states that he was "telemarketing worker" without much detail about his job duties. Was the company already recording his screen and voice (if applicable) interactions with customers?
I suspect the article meant teleworking
Me too, but it makes a big difference. Recording sales or support interactions with customers is common.
The article also mentioned "commission" as part of his compensation which may be related to a sales function.
Re: Dutch employee fired by U.S. firm for shutting off webcam awarded €75K in court
#133I love it when US companies meet Dutch labor laws.
European in general. My wife works for a biotech company in Austria which was recently aquired by an american company and it's so funny to hear about their efforts to adapt to EU law and culture. Most of their training material is still unchanged from their US branch so there are things they list as benefits for all employees like - 3 Weeks paid vacation (we get 5 by law) - Health insurance (you know the drill) - 3 w…
>>(we get 1 year for 80% pay, first 6 months full pay, then 5 years protection against dismissal)
That is just crazy.... I would hate to be a chidless person in your country, I can not image the extra amount of work that get places on people that do not have children...
As someone that will never have a child I like the fact that the US does not force this kind of parental leave on employers, I know that will be very unpopular hot take
Re: Dutch employee fired by U.S. firm for shutting off webcam awarded €75K in court
#134It's always something toxic when it comes to US companies. I had to do multiple background checks. In Romania they are unheard of.
I’ve never had a background check for any US job I’ve had, other than a government contractor, so this is not universal. I don’t even think it’s normal. Maybe my sample size of 15 or so is just non-representative, though. I don’t tend to apply to the sorts of firms that specialize in bureaucracy.
>I’ve never had a background check for any US job I’ve had
How would you know? That said, I suspect I have not as the first one was out of school and the few other jobs I've had were all from people I knew.
Re: Dutch employee fired by U.S. firm for shutting off webcam awarded €75K in court
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
While quality of life in Europe is still great, EU GDP share of the world going down is starting to effect European people more (especially now with the proxy war between US and Russia). I wish Europeans were a bit more business savy and corporate, and not see businesses as just bad things that are part of life, but of course when I’m in US I see the other extreme where businesses want to extract all value from me al…
Quite honestly, if anything, I think we (and I truly mean nearly everyone here) in the EU have far more than necessary to have a decent life and doing anything more "business savy" would not have any positive effect on our lives at all. Yes, maybe we could make a little bit more money by being more business crazy, but what's the point if you get nothing you actually desire in return?
This is one of the culture differences between the US and EU for alot of people (though this is changing in the US)
Personally I value my "work". That is not to say I value my efforts for my employer which makes this hard to explain.
I do not find value is laying around, vacationing, sports, or any other traditional "leisure" activity. I like to work
So even when I am not "working" for pay for my employer, I am still working. I am going a personal coding project, or working on my home, or working on my car, or working in some other way.
I work... weather it is for pay, for my own personal pleasure.
Re: Dutch employee fired by U.S. firm for shutting off webcam awarded €75K in court
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
European in general. My wife works for a biotech company in Austria which was recently aquired by an american company and it's so funny to hear about their efforts to adapt to EU law and culture. Most of their training material is still unchanged from their US branch so there are things they list as benefits for all employees like - 3 Weeks paid vacation (we get 5 by law) - Health insurance (you know the drill) - 3 w…
All true, but it might be worth mentioning that most of those benefits are still Austrian law, not European law. So while they generally better than the US, other EU states might lack some of those law.
that's funny considering how someone else here is arguing that labor protection in austria is worse than other european countries.
Re: Dutch employee fired by U.S. firm for shutting off webcam awarded €75K in court
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
European in general. My wife works for a biotech company in Austria which was recently aquired by an american company and it's so funny to hear about their efforts to adapt to EU law and culture. Most of their training material is still unchanged from their US branch so there are things they list as benefits for all employees like - 3 Weeks paid vacation (we get 5 by law) - Health insurance (you know the drill) - 3 w…
>>(we get 1 year for 80% pay, first 6 months full pay, then 5 years protection against dismissal) That is just crazy.... I would hate to be a chidless person in your country, I can not image the extra amount of work that get places on people that do not have children... As someone that will never have a child I like the fact that the US does not force this kind of parental leave on employers, I know that will be very…
sorry what extra work? you know the company is able to hire more people right?
Re: Dutch employee fired by U.S. firm for shutting off webcam awarded €75K in court
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
European in general. My wife works for a biotech company in Austria which was recently aquired by an american company and it's so funny to hear about their efforts to adapt to EU law and culture. Most of their training material is still unchanged from their US branch so there are things they list as benefits for all employees like - 3 Weeks paid vacation (we get 5 by law) - Health insurance (you know the drill) - 3 w…
>>(we get 1 year for 80% pay, first 6 months full pay, then 5 years protection against dismissal) That is just crazy.... I would hate to be a chidless person in your country, I can not image the extra amount of work that get places on people that do not have children... As someone that will never have a child I like the fact that the US does not force this kind of parental leave on employers, I know that will be very…
On the other hand, it sounds like it might be viable to have a kid there. Two parents working full-time in the US struggle when they have a kid, due to the loss of income. Our system worked a lot better when both parents were not expected to work, it's kind of broken now.
Re: Dutch employee fired by U.S. firm for shutting off webcam awarded €75K in court
#139he was ordered to take part in a virtual training period called a "Corrective Action Program." This is the sort of name given to processes uses when an employee is already performing below expectations. (Where I work it’s a more euphemistic Performance Improvement). If that’s the case here then his firing was a bit less sudden than it appears. Though the entire monitoring process seems draconian regardless.
PIPs are a tool for managing out employees that don’t perform well or don’t yield to often abusive company demands like e.g. overtime or pissed of somebody in management or connected to management.
I’ve never ever ever seen a PIP used in a positive way. It’s almost always been a way for petty toxic management that resented an employee not tolerating an abusive environment.
Re: Dutch employee fired by U.S. firm for shutting off webcam awarded €75K in court
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article also states that he was "telemarketing worker" without much detail about his job duties. Was the company already recording his screen and voice (if applicable) interactions with customers?
I suspect the article meant teleworking
The article mentions he was a remote worker up front. I think his job was telemarketing.