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I was laid off in retaliation for anti-discrimination whistleblowing

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Re: I was laid off in retaliation for anti-discrimination whistleblowing

#151

Post by autoexec »

biomcgary wrote: post #67
yamtaddle wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you don’t like your manager, taking the view that if you escalate a formal complaint to HR (in doing so lose all trust you manager and HR may have in you), you’ll be vindicated and live on happily ever after… it’s a fairytale. Go work somewhere that makes you happy. Leave toxic environments - it’s not your job to fix them/right wrongs. Know where it's not a fairytale? Unionized workplaces. Source: I know several…

My first job was at a unionized workplace. I ended up doing more work to cover the guy that was loafing around under the protection of the union. Who protects you from the protectors? Rational or not, since that time, I am suspicious of the personal work ethic of those arguing for unions.

Why would you cover for someone who wasn't doing their job? Unions don't make it impossible to fire a bad employee, they just require normal things like documentation and giving the employee a chance to improve.

If I started doing someone else's work making it impossible for the bad employee's boss to know there was a problem that's not really a issue with unions.

Re: I was laid off in retaliation for anti-discrimination whistleblowing

#152

Post by autoexec »

busterarm wrote: post #146
yamtaddle wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you don’t like your manager, taking the view that if you escalate a formal complaint to HR (in doing so lose all trust you manager and HR may have in you), you’ll be vindicated and live on happily ever after… it’s a fairytale. Go work somewhere that makes you happy. Leave toxic environments - it’s not your job to fix them/right wrongs. Know where it's not a fairytale? Unionized workplaces. Source: I know several…

I've been in three different unions and never saw anything like that happen. Mostly I saw things like rampant sexual harassment and nepotism at every level. Anyone who so much as squeaked about things being wrong saw management and the union reps team up to screw the person for fucking with the status quo. Heck, at my last job like that, they were cousins/roommates. Unionized workplaces can be just as toxic as any ot…

> Anyone who so much as squeaked about things being wrong saw management and the union reps team up to screw the person for fucking with the status quo... Unionized workplaces can be just as toxic as any other workplace.

This is true, but unlike any other workplace, if your union is filled with corruption and nepotism you can vote to change your union leadership or even to disband it entirely and replace it with a new union under entirely different leadership, operating under new rules written to specifically address the problems with your old union.

Unions at least give you the option of improving the situation if the vast majority of union workers agree that there's a huge problem.

Re: I was laid off in retaliation for anti-discrimination whistleblowing

#153

Post by mjbeswick »

nicolas_t wrote: post #108
wiredone wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

… but you have to ask - why can’t this person find a job? Surely not every employer is non-inclusive. There’s smells of a partial story all through this.

Anecdotal story time, when I was a young student in France, I believed that discrimination was mostly a thing from the past, I believed that in 2000, being black wouldn't affect hiring decisions that much and wouldn't make it much harder to find a job. Then two very good friends of mine graduated, they were both black, they were both French citizens from the French islands, they both graduated as electronics engineer…

Many manager are reluctant of hiring members of certain minority groups, as they are afraid of the potential HR issues; as far too many people play the discrimination card when they are involved in any kind of conflict or face disciplinary action. Sometimes measure to prevent discrimination can do the opposite.

Re: I was laid off in retaliation for anti-discrimination whistleblowing

#154

Post by tossout367844 »

ryandrake wrote: post #133
wintogreen74 wrote: post #55

This workplace sounds like a scary environment; this person presents themselves as someone who takes a lot of effort to try and make happy. Frankly it sounds exhausting. I don't get it; I manage 15-20 people and this stuff never comes up. They're visibly quite a diverse group and the rest of it has just never has been an issue, or any of my concern. I advocate for them against their goals and desires and have never c…

> this person presents themselves as someone who takes a lot of effort to try and make happy. Frankly it sounds exhausting. Your comment reminds me of the Ashley Gjovik story that made the rounds on HN a few times. She was reportedly a project manager at Apple, but reading through her billion-word blog[1], it seems she spent all of her time as an activist filing complaints to regulators and fighting literally everyon…

I worked with her. She was a bully. She spent most of 2020-21 on various leaves with her fictional health and toxic workplace issues. She complained about her role so they did what she asked and now it’s listed as retaliation. She went on to report everyone who criticized her to the government for “intimidating a witness”. This woman at least seems sane.

Re: I was laid off in retaliation for anti-discrimination whistleblowing

#155

Post by mjbeswick »

wiredone wrote: post #7
jesterman wrote: post #5

This is an incredible piece. The fact that the 20% of the company laid off were all minority groups is absolutely insane. LinkedIn says they have at minimum 50 employees, meaning at least 10 people were laid off. Here is their LinkedIn post (linked on their website), https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7058845... " It is estimated that one in five transgender people will experience homelessness. Unfo…

… but you have to ask - why can’t this person find a job? Surely not every employer is non-inclusive. There’s smells of a partial story all through this.

It's just as possible that potential employers were put off by this personal personality and the HR issues they may present

Re: I was laid off in retaliation for anti-discrimination whistleblowing

#156

Post by nicolas_t »

mjbeswick wrote: post #153
nicolas_t wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotal story time, when I was a young student in France, I believed that discrimination was mostly a thing from the past, I believed that in 2000, being black wouldn't affect hiring decisions that much and wouldn't make it much harder to find a job. Then two very good friends of mine graduated, they were both black, they were both French citizens from the French islands, they both graduated as electronics engineer…

Many manager are reluctant of hiring members of certain minority groups, as they are afraid of the potential HR issues; as far too many people play the discrimination card when they are involved in any kind of conflict or face disciplinary action. Sometimes measure to prevent discrimination can do the opposite.

That's entirely true and I imagine that this article will unfortunately convince some hiring managers that it's not worth hiring for diversity.

Re: I was laid off in retaliation for anti-discrimination whistleblowing

#158

Post by xchip »

tambp94201 wrote: post #110

My read: Person A was potentially discriminated against, which combined with the previous incident of discrimination understandably got the author's hackles raised. Person B may have been fired for any number of reasons, very few of which are any of the author's business. I've had to fire people who were viewed as great by their peers because they were browsing illegal porn at work, or because they sexually harassed…

If you are hiring people that later need to be fired for doing porn, heroin, sexual harassment,... Maybe the problem is not them.

Re: I was laid off in retaliation for anti-discrimination whistleblowing

#159

Post by dudul »

xchip wrote: post #158
tambp94201 wrote: post #110

My read: Person A was potentially discriminated against, which combined with the previous incident of discrimination understandably got the author's hackles raised. Person B may have been fired for any number of reasons, very few of which are any of the author's business. I've had to fire people who were viewed as great by their peers because they were browsing illegal porn at work, or because they sexually harassed…

If you are hiring people that later need to be fired for doing porn, heroin, sexual harassment,... Maybe the problem is not them.

How do you filter for porn addiction during your interview process?

Re: I was laid off in retaliation for anti-discrimination whistleblowing

#160

Post by Hoyadonis »

surgical_fire wrote: post #62
wiredone wrote: post #6

Honestly, while I believe a lot of the perspective shared, there always seems to be a huge lack of objective assessment of options for these folks. In tech there are many incredibly high paying jobs - taking control over your situation has a low bar. if you don’t like your manager, taking the view that if you escalate a formal complaint to HR (in doing so lose all trust you manager and HR may have in you), you’ll be…

One other thing that is great for your mental health in any job, is treating it as a job and nothing else. Something you do for 40h per week to get a salary to pay your bills. You're not there to make the world a better place, to belong to a family, to improve anything. Just do your job and go back to your life at the end of the day. When you're off work, do your best to forget about it. In fact, always prepare yours…

> You're not there to make the world a better place, to belong to a family, to improve anything. Just do your job and go back to your life at the end of the day.

Speak for yourself. I do want to make the world a better place and I'm fortunate enough to have a job where I do that. It's rewarding; my life has purpose during working hours.

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