Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by great_reversal 1907 days ago
Sure Amazon might not like them for their advocacy, but if they really did unapologetically break internal policies then I think Amazon's firing them is valid.

Assuming they did leak private company information or try to organize a massive social gathering during the pandemic, the response was valid. They were probably targets, but as a target you shouldn't be breaking rules at work.
3 comments
Pfhreak 1907 days ago
> unapologetically break internal policies

I mean, Amazon has an internal policy that you are not allowed to collaborate on any games related projects with anyone who is not also an Amazon employee. Did you go to a game jam? You've just unapologetically broken internal policies.

It's absolutely the case that Amazon can construct policies that are never enforced and easy to break so they have something they can fall back on to say, "Well, they broke our policies, sooo...."

link
bananaface 1906 days ago
Tht's insane. Is that rule in the contract, or is it something that's imposed after employees are hired? (Or is it like, "you agree to adhere to all Amazon internal policies"? Is that even legal to begin with?)

I don't understand how they can enforce something like that without it being an explicit agreement in the contract. Is it the case that they are explicit clauses, but people don't negotiate them out?

link
Pfhreak 1906 days ago
It's not in the contract, and not mentioned until after you start. It (and IP protections in general) are one of the biggest reasons I want tech unions to succeed.
link
bananaface 1903 days ago
How is that legal?

I mean mechanically, how do they get away with it? What legal defense do they use?

link
bananaface 1906 days ago
I'm on the outside here so I might be misreading, but are these internal policies explicitly written into their contracts, or are they secret, internal rules that Amazon unilaterally imposes after you're hired?

It sounds like they're breaking rules they never agreed to. Is it legal for Amazon to impose rules like that? Is this common across the industry? How do companies get away with it, is it just a US thing?

link
heavyset_go 1907 days ago
Seems like those internal policies violate labor law.
link