• Flying Squid
      9•9 months ago

      I doubt it. Engineers don’t get to yell at executives at meetings.

      • @[email protected]
        1•9 months ago

        Please don’t disturb the overlords while they distribute kool-aid and tell you how good the kool-aid is good for you.

        • Flying Squid
          2•9 months ago

          Do you think you could get away with something like that at your job?

          • @[email protected]
            1•9 months ago

            In the US - no. In some European countries, totally. The fact I can work without being worried that I’m going to get fired because I’ve upset some MBA is great for my mental health.

            • Flying Squid
              2•9 months ago

              I find it hard to believe that, even in Europe, standing up in the middle of a presentation and accusing your boss of being complicit in genocide, even if it’s true, would not be a fireable offense. Otherwise there would be a lot of yelling matches.

              • @[email protected]
                2•9 months ago

                You can get fired, but not “on the spot” and at worst, the employer has to pay your next month’s paycheck. That stands even if you were fired with good cause.

                So here’s what would have happened, were this a Dutch company. Employee does the thing, employer says that they should leave, and they offer 1-2 months of a severance so the employee resigns on their own volition and the company avoids going to court. If the employee has more than 2 braincells, he gets a lawyer (there are good pro bono lawyers who work for free if you’re not well paid enough to get one). Lawyer advises asking for 6-8 months.

                Company has two choices:

                • Pay 6-8 months of severance.
                • Drag the employee into labour court, which usually leans towards employees, and try to publicly argue about whether what they are doing is legal. Obviously it’s not going to about whether it’s about Google committing genocide or not, but obviously the media won’t care, and the words “Google” and “genocide” are going to be in the news in various combinations for a good year. All the while the company has to keep paying the employee, the most they can do is to order him to give back all equipment and prohibit him from contacting coworkers.
                • Flying Squid
                  2•9 months ago

                  Okay? No one said anything about what he gets for being fired. Only that it makes sense that he was fired.

                  • @[email protected]
                    2•9 months ago

                    I guess the difference is that instead of being fired, you most likely get to leave on your own terms that you dictate largely. What I mean is you don’t get fired, you resign, and can refer to the incident as you have resigned. If you don’t want to resign, you can most likely stay in the fucked up work relationship.

                    I guess the main difference is not what you get, but that Google would have to argue in court that it is fine to fire the guy. And the court case comes before the firing, so if it lasts 10 years like all those cases you hear about, the guy keeps being employed.

          • @[email protected]
            1•9 months ago

            Could I get away? It’s a gamble I guess. But I’ve raised my voice at meetings more than once in my life and never lost my job over it.

            To be fair, I’ve never worked in a big company like google, so they can replace you yesterday.

            But if you are at that point, you are ready to lose/switch jobs.