Suicide of an Uber engineer: Widow blames job stress, racism
sfchronicle.com
sfchronicle.com
I really hope this means it's okay to do that with discussion before the employee goes on vacation. If not, holy crap that really does sound awful.
Uber denied the benefits claim through its insurance carrier. In California, workers’ compensation usually does not cover psychiatric injuries until after six months of employment. Joseph Thomas had worked slightly less than five months at Uber when he killed himself.
But there is an exception to the six-month rule. It doesn’t apply “if the psychiatric injury is caused by a sudden and extraordinary employment condition,” according to California law.
Do I feel remorse for people starving in Venezuela? No, as I have done nothing to directly cause the starvation. Nobody's agony should have a claim on your financial resources or your property.
Because it's the right thing to do (in this case).
Please explain how it's the right thing to do. Somebody committed suicide, was not covered by life insurance, didn't get life insurance.
There's more to "doing the right thing" than simply "doing the bare minimum that the law requires you to do."
“He was always the smartest guy in the room,” said his father, Joe Thomas. But while working at Uber, “he went down the tubes. He became someone with very little confidence in himself. The guy just fell apart.”
“It’s hard to explain, but he wasn’t himself at all,” said Zecole Thomas. “He’d say things like, ‘My boss doesn’t like me.’ His personality changed totally; he was horribly concerned about his work, to the point it was almost unbelievable. He was saying he couldn’t do anything right.”
What are you advocating for?
As another poster said, you seem to be implying fault.
In your opinion, uber obviously disagrees. Why is life insurance tied to a company in the first place?
Again, my focus is on the suffering that has been caused. Not statutory or contractual liability.
That seems like an extremely terrible move, even if Uber might be technically correct. Deciding to do that makes them look awful, and I think that's what matters most, given everything else contributing to their public image right now. It could have been a great opportunity to look magnanimous.
The real issue here is unfortunately ONCE AGAIN, a lack of mental health awareness and services.
A psychiatrist has diagnosed someone with "high anxiety"...why aren't they are being subscribed treatment in the form of therapy or medicine? He went to ask for help, and was told something wasn't going well...let's do something to remedy that! If assistance was in fact prescribed and Thomas denied that it would help him, the fault then is placed on social awareness and acceptance regarding men receiving mental health care.
As someone who has gone through my own suicidal thoughts and had therapy and medication literally save my life, this infuriates me to no end.
There's just too much. Companies will always make someone angry, but there's just TOO MUCH.
I will never use Uber, and I'll encourage everyone I know to avoid it as well. Do we REALLY want this company getting a monopoly?
Is the racism claim based purely on lack of hiring diversity? If Thomas was given unforgiving or impossible tasks, why would he refuse to quit?