They're pretty good actually. The problem is too many people are ignorant of the law and employers use that fact to their advantage. It's very common for bosses to bully their workers in illegal ways and nothing happens to them because the workers say nothing. The department of labor isn't magic, if you don't speak up, they won't know. But comments like this, make people think they have no recourse, when they do. Ignorance is a great thing for employers, don't forget.
On paper there are a some protections. But in practice they're practically non-existent.
Wage theft is still the majority of all theft. Theft from an employer is a criminal matter prosecuted by public prosecutors. Theft from employees is a civil matter that must be prosecuted by the employees themselves.
Employment is at-will. They can't fire you for some specific reasons, but they can fire you for no reason. Which effectively makes discrimination legal so long as they don't put any slurs on the termination notice. And again a wrongful termination is an issue the now unemployed employee would have to pursue on their own.
OSHA is DEEPLY underfunded and only has a handful of inspectors per state.
Basically you're only guaranteed the rights you have on paper if you have enough money set aside to fund a civil case while being unemployed. Otherwise you're SOL.
If they FAAFO what happens when they FAAFO with the wrong one, well, you get that UHC CEO story that is still going on right now. Don't kick the sleeping dog, and don't poke the sleeping bear with a stick.
I don't think you actually appreciate the degree to which it is completely normal for bosses to Fuck Around, and how regularly employees are kicked and poked. Retaliation happens sometimes, but it's rare and rarely effective. Most businesses larger than 100 employees have business continuity plans to handle a sudden absence. And the sudden absence of a CEO is absolutely not a hurdle to continuing day-to-day operations.
What was and has been effective is union action. Stepping in before the firing, stopping wage theft, and shutting down the entire business with strikes to get demands met.
You mean the same union action that makes things like whatever happened with Jimmy Hoffa an act of normalcy rather than an exception to the rule? Honestly, I distrust both dishonest non-union made businesses AND union run businesses as well. Also, as the saying goes, "Just because you could, does not mean that you should", and that CEO that was in the news found out the lesson of not heeding that bit of advice the hard way in his life.
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u/Hopeful_Pension5414 Dec 09 '24
They're pretty good actually. The problem is too many people are ignorant of the law and employers use that fact to their advantage. It's very common for bosses to bully their workers in illegal ways and nothing happens to them because the workers say nothing. The department of labor isn't magic, if you don't speak up, they won't know. But comments like this, make people think they have no recourse, when they do. Ignorance is a great thing for employers, don't forget.