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Comment by yummyfajitas | Hacker News Reader

If my employer/boss decide to screw me over, what's the worst that can happen?

Suppose exactly the day after a paycheck they decide to stop paying me. 15 days later I don't get a check, and 7 days later I stop working due to the paycheck issue not being fixed (maybe I gave them the benefit of the doubt, it's a minor snafu). At the worst, I'm out 22 days of pay, assuming their high priced lawyer lets them get away with this (highly unlikely).

I don't need insurance for low cost, low probability events.

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If you think the worst case scenario is that you don't get paid for a single period, you have not thought things trough.

Here's another scenario for you: Your employer accuses you of gross negligence to get out of dealing with a harassment claim you've made. Now you're out of a job, in circumstances that makes you basically unemployable, unless you manage to successfully defend yourself.

What marginal value would a union lawyer add over an individually hired lawyer here?

You don't need to have money to pay them right at the point that you need to save money the most.

Yes, theoretically my employer could slander me. They could also just move from slander straight to murder, I suppose. So I guess I was wrong about what the worst case scenario was.

Incidentally, in the US the deck is stacked so far towards employees that even if I was grossly negligent, the employer is unlikely to say anything other than "he worked here from $START_DATE to $END_DATE."

That's why they don't need to slander you - writing a lukewarm reference does the same job.

I've learned in the Internet that USA jobs contracts don't use to include severance, so it's just another world for me. Also I guess an elite developer in NY is paid well enough not to worry about 22 days of pay.

To be frank, I don't trust most unions in my country, I have seen some very bad cases in which unions simply fucked horribly the people they're supposed to help.

But I also know many cases of good unions that faced terrible situation for the workers and saved the day.

So I understand your position for your POV, but don't overgeneralize. Unions are life-savers for many people in many places.

You are incredibly out of touch with most workers' reality if you think that wage theft is low cost or low probability.

At the worst, I'm out 22 days of pay

22 days without pay if money is tight and you are bringing up kids can be devastating.

It's interesting that your interpretation of "screwing you over" involves them actually stealing the money that you worked for.

In contrast, a union worker's worst case example of "screwing you over" is firing you without proper cause. That didn't even enter your mind, because that is standard operating procedure at most non-union jobs.

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