Employers think they own their workers. They have no qualms about unceremoniously laying folks off, but the boss rages and threatens legal action as soon as they decide to leave for greener pastures.
One worker came to the internet to tell their tale involving a former company and legal threats against a new employer.
Laid Off
The Original Poster (OP) was laid off from their technical job nearly two years ago. They found another position with a similar role and better overall package and couldn’t be happier.
Refer a Friend
Once stable in their position, OP referred their former colleague, who was laid off when they were, for a job at their new company. She got hired, and they’ve worked for the new company for about a year.
Slowly but surely, others from the first company heard about the better offerings at the new company. Eventually, the folks who didn’t experience layoffs began jumping ship and heading for greener pastures.
Old Company Threatens Legal Action
The old company figured out where all their workers were going and couldn’t handle that everyone left for the same place.
They threatened legal action against the new company for stealing their employees.
Can They Do That?
In our litigious society, anyone can sue for anything. Whether they have a case or not is up in the air. If they don’t have trade secrets and reasonable non-competes, there’s no reason why employees can’t leave for a better offer.
Isn’t This How the Market Works?
Many users were confused by the threat. Companies want workers, and workers want money. Companies must offer competitive compensation packages to get the workers they need. Workers choose which company to work for based on what will benefit them most. This system is the entire premise behind the job market, right?
So why would a company think they have a leg to stand on in court?
Rules for Thee, Not for Me
It comes down to the insidious idea some wealthy folks have about who constituents a free person. Company executives made it very clear that they’d enslave people if they could.
They don’t want workers to have opportunities; they want to force people to work for them and pay as little as possible for the effort.
“Companies don’t own employees (talent), and therefore, they can’t be stolen,” said one user.
Another got to the crux of the issue, saying, “It’s an attempt to drive down wages and salaries in the region, not just in one business, but in all businesses.
They’re suing the new company to keep wages artificially low because they don’t want to pay free market rates.
Companies Need To Value Labor
One of the biggest problems in today’s society is that bigwigs in their C-Suites don’t see low-wage workers as people. They see them as endless cogs in their profit machine and attempt to lower labor costs whenever possible while ignoring the humans behind the wages.
Workers must fight against this paradigm at every turn and demand respect due to them as people first and valued parts of the company second.
Source: Reddit