[singular]

So it's ok to be an abusive arsehole as long as you're honest about it? The only crime is to be a dishonest arsehole?

How about being a decent reasonable human being/employer? Or is that just off the table altogether in this discussion?

With limbo-like justifications like this I'm not surprised these kind of diseased company cultures exist.

[nightski]

Yes. You are acting like this job is not voluntary.

[VexXtreme]

So a job that advertises terrible working conditions is suddenly morally upstanding and ethical just because you know what you're in for? What if you need money to feed your family and the job ad says that as a precondition to getting hired you need to give them one of your kidneys?

This is exactly why labor law exists and why libertarian/extreme capitalist societies could never function. The argument "it's a free market" doesn't hold water. Without a system of checks and balances exploitation will always take place because there are always people desperate enough to do anything to make a living. No matter what you say about "free markets" and "voluntary agreements", you can't convince me that it's right and ethical and a good idea in any capacity.

[eridius]

Labor laws? Holy crap, you are deluded. We're talking about a cushy white-collar job here. Yes, the expectations sound pretty bad, relatively speaking. But it's a far cry from exploitative labor.

[VexXtreme]

Calm down, go back and re-read the sub-thread. We are talking about general principles behind the practice, not necessarily about this concrete example.

[eridius]

How very patronizing of you.

In the entire category of white-collar jobs the idea of requiring labor laws is ludicrous.

[tesseractive]

Just because accepting a job is voluntary doors not give license to employers to exploit their employees. 100 years ago, that same argument was advanced by people opposed to worker safety laws and child labor laws. People use that argument to justify jobs where you have to sleep with the boss to get the job. The fact that some people are desperate doesn't give an employer endless license.

[wpietri]

That some naive person "volunteers" to be exploited and abused doesn't make it any less exploitative or abusive.

[na85]

Unemployment is really high right now. A lot of folks might feel compelled to take any job.