Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by mlyle 1018 days ago
> We don't have debtors prisons.

No one's suggesting such.

We have plenty of disputed behavior and harms that are within the purview of civil courts, and then more egregious versions that are crimes. IMO, withholding significant pay that you have the ability to pay and is unambiguously contractually owed causes pretty serious harm, and society has strong reasons to criminalize this conduct.

Accepting services from someone while having no intent to honor the contract, hoping that disproportionate resources will prevent them from enforcing the contract "feels" like fraud: so let's codify it.
2 comments
hn_throwaway_99 1018 days ago
Exactly: we already have plenty of areas where a civil case can turn into a criminal one like fraud (just ask Elizabeth Holmes).

Saying "we'll pay you severance" with 0 intention to do so sure sounds like fraud to me.

link
JieJie 1018 days ago
Wage theft and fraud are crimes that state attorneys general do prosecute.

https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/attorney-general-f...

link
jntvjnvutnuvt 1018 days ago
Not paying severance is not wage theft. Severance was not included in Twitter's employee contract.
link
piva00 1018 days ago
The kind of technical loophole that America's law system seems to be riddled with (and the "akshually" crowd kinda loves to play with)...

It's not technically wage theft, in spirit it's pretty similar to wage theft since the termination of employment contracts had severance payment as a clause.

Potato, potato.

link
mlyle 1018 days ago
> Severance was not included in Twitter's employee contract.

It likely was once promises were made to continue to pay severance for at least one year, and employees relied upon this promise (instead of immediately seeking to work elsewhere).

link
jntvjnvutnuvt 1018 days ago
Severance is typically not "unambiguously contractually owed." The fact that many here would want company executives imprisoned for not offering goodwill boggles my mind.
link
piva00 1018 days ago
No, they should be imprisoned for misleading, by defrauding. The "goodwill" was promised, in legal documents, and not fulfilled, that same goodwill is a major leverage against the employee, if such a promise was made you will take life decisions differently than if there was no such promise, when that promise is broken and your life is affected (as in: you'd move somewhere else and try a different venture, now you can't because you need to look for a job right now) then it's a fraud and a billionaire should really suffer just due to the power imbalance in the equation.

The fact that you are defending this practice makes me almost want to ask you how do their boots taste like...

link
locopati 1018 days ago
It may not be owed but it was promised, presumably in legally enforceable documents that would have been used if the former employees broke the terms of severance.
link