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All the Perl that's Practical to Extract and Report

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Carp.pm and Exporter.pm No Longer Open? 9 Comments More | Login | Reply /

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  • This company deserves a protest! I can see waiting until Ben finds another employer. But there needs to be some economic disincentive for folks doing this sort of thing. It's not quite as easy for people to wrap their heads around as ten years olds in sweat shops, but it still deserves a clear message being sent about what is unethical and unacceptable.

    Also, people need to be made aware of which companies are clueless enough to attempt to enforce these employment contract clauses so we can avoid them f

    • Protest what? What action would you have them take? They apparently said they won't take action against past work, and only prohibit future work. So it is entirely up to him. Of course, his personal circumstances may be such that the leaving the company may not be easy, but still, it is entirely up to him.

      The company should not feel obligated, morally or legally or otherwise, to allow him to continue to do open source work while in their employ. They might have very good reasons for it; since you don'
      • Uhm, why should a company feel that they have any right at all to tell an employee what he can and cannot do in his spare time? This example of "professional employee" goes way too far! It's not like we're still living in the Middle Age!
        • Why should anyone have any right to tell an employer it doesn't have that right? You don't have to sign the contract.
          • Why should anyone have a right to tell a company it can't have people sign a contract agreeing to work for 5 cents an hour? Or agreeing not to complain about being exposed to poison gas? Or promising the company their first-born child?

            Can we really rely on market forces to do everything? Besides, protests and complaints against corporate practices are part of the market environment, too.
            • If your examples had the least bit of relationship with the point at hand, I might feel compelled to respond.
              • I'm sorry, I guess that was overly rude. Still, I can't see a comparison to exploiting people for extremely low pay and putting limits on what you, as a knowledge worker, do with your knowledge. You can go elsewhere. You can not sign the contract. If you are "exploited" it is because you specifically chose to be. These are not comparable situations.
                • Perhaps my examples were a bit over the top. I was reacting to your seeming outrage over the idea that someone would criticize a company for the behavior in question. I wouldn't find it outrageous even if someone suggested making the behavior illegal, but what you seemed to be reacting to was someone simply suggesting that it was immoral.

                  I agree that the examples I gave are much more extreme situations, but the difference seems to me to be more quantitative than qualitative. Demanding the rights to all an employee's creative output, regardless of its connection to the company or its business, is a less serious abuse of employees than paying them starvation wages, but it's still an abuse.

                  Whether people can choose to go elsewhere depends on the job market, and I'd prefer not to have to depend on a good economy to avoid being abused. I don't know whether such contract provisions should be illegal, but I certainly find them immoral, and I don't think it's unreasonable to say so.

                  To respond to your question that set me off, everyone has the right to tell an employer it doesn't have that right. It's called free speech.
                  • I am reacting to the idea that competent adults are expected to be protected from themselves. I cannot see how it can possibly be immoral for me to sign a contract that says anything I produce in relation to computers, while employed, belongs to my company. I cannot see how that is anything remotely abusive or immoral.

                    As to what set you off, I was using the same language as the poster *I* was replying to. "Why should any company feel they have a right to tell an employee" begat "why should anyone feel t
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