390
submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by shalafi@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

She had interviewed and met both remotely and in person, this guy was merely an HR drone confirming her documentation. I was a little bent when she told me he had asked her to remove her blur filter "to have a look at her working environment, make sure it's not cluttered" (something along those lines). No one else at this company requested such. Was he way out of line?

I should note, this is my PC in our living room and not where she will be working from. And this guy wants a look around our home?! Told my wife to bring this up once she's settled in, ask HR if this is policy. She started today!

She thinks it's a racism thing. I'm not so sure, but I don't have any other explanation.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] tacticalsugar 145 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

It sure sounds like racism and poorphobia to me. HR trying to make sure her surroundings don't look like what a "typical poor person" would have (clutter, children, signs of disability, "drugs", etc.) It's not super common, but it's common enough that I hear about it every so often.

I can't offer any kind of legal advice, but it sounds like this job will be potentially problematic and HR will definitely be one to watch out for.

ETA: There's a lot of paranoia in the US right now about "laptop farms". Remote jobs are paranoid about people getting remote work to send money back to North Korea. It's completely ridiculous, and it's causing issues for a lot of people, mostly marginalized people. I think it's useful context to know why this kind of thing is happening more lately.

[-] LazaroFilm@lemmy.world 53 points 4 months ago

This could be raised as discrimination. Not only regarding income, but could also be against disabilities. People with ADHD (hello it’s me!) are really bad at organizing, especially desks and work areas (I work in layers of papers like sedimentation). I would definitely take notes on this incident and if it continues or if he job gets changed following.

[-] tacticalsugar 37 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Definitely! However if your first experience with HR is being discriminated against, raising concerns about discrimination can be dangerous. Who do you go to when HR is causing the issues? HR is there to protect the company, not you. If the easiest way to protect the company is to fire someone, HR will probably do that.

I'm not trying to talk OP or anyone else out of going to HR, they aren't always sharks waiting to fire someone. It's just good to be careful here and OP and their wife should be aware of the risks before taking any action. Definitely document this incident. If this becomes a repeat issue, documentation can be the difference between getting fired and winning a wrongful termination lawsuit.

[-] LazaroFilm@lemmy.world 16 points 4 months ago

That’s why I said keep notes. Recount the event with timestamp. If things continue or get worse you now have a file with all occurrences. And if you get fired for calling out HR, that’s an easy lawsuit.

[-] shalafi@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago

HR can protect the company by reigning this guy in. I really feel it was a lone wolf thing, not policy.

I'd like to approach them anonymously, but it might be obvious who I was talking about.

[-] tacticalsugar 9 points 4 months ago

HR can protect the company by reigning this guy in. I really feel it was a lone wolf thing, not policy.

Very true! Like I said, I'm not trying to convince you to not bring it up, just that it's something to be careful about, and to make sure you have evidence or documentation.

[-] Moah 3 points 4 months ago

I would suggest unionizing and talking to a union rep

[-] tacticalsugar 4 points 4 months ago

Agreed. Unfortunately a lot of people don't have a union, and sometimes unionizing just isn't possible.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (9 replies)
this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2024
390 points (100.0% liked)

Asklemmy

44130 readers
602 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS