I always despise when a company,or worse, the government does an investigation and says:
"The employee followed policy." Especially when they say it as if this means they are not a criminal.
Most members of Purdue Pharma followed policy when they pushed opiods. Most members of the KKK followed policy when they terrorized and murdered. Most members of the NYC Police department when they raided the Stonewall Inn.
That is not an excuse, in fact it makes it worse.
If your policy is to commit a crime, that is an indictment of the policy, not a vindication of the employee.
You look at the results and see if that were wrong. Once that is done, then you decide whether to blame the employee or the company.
When you find the employee followed policy, that means their BOSSES ARE THE PROBLEM.
Actually, Person X followed policy is an important statement. It means exactly what you said - Person X probably shouldn't be punished, but their boss's boss's boss should be.
I said "Person X probably shouldn't be punished" Were you killing people with a handgun? Yes. Did a corporate lawyer explain to you it was legal? You should probably be fine for dumping waste X in Y.
Some people, like engineers, we hold to higher standards. But I'm fine giving people the benefit of a doubt - as long as we hold the people who gave the orders responsible. If that means they need to testify against their bosses, that's one thing. But no a bank teller shouldn't go to jail for applying an
Don't forget that a person who follows company policy is by default being extorted and threatened into it, at risk of losing their job or getting blacklisted from the industry.
I have a counter-proposal. Everyone from the person who created the thing on up to anyone above them who even knew they were creating the thing shares culpability.
You can't solve the problem by having only the worker be culpable, but you can't solve it by having only the bosses take responsibility either.
The IBM purchase of ROLM gives new meaning to the term "twisted pair".
-- Howard Anderson, "Yankee Group"
"Company Policy does not make it legal" (Score:5, Interesting)
I always despise when a company,or worse, the government does an investigation and says:
"The employee followed policy." Especially when they say it as if this means they are not a criminal.
Most members of Purdue Pharma followed policy when they pushed opiods. Most members of the KKK followed policy when they terrorized and murdered. Most members of the NYC Police department when they raided the Stonewall Inn.
That is not an excuse, in fact it makes it worse.
If your policy is to commit a crime, that is an indictment of the policy, not a vindication of the employee.
You look at the results and see if that were wrong. Once that is done, then you decide whether to blame the employee or the company.
When you find the employee followed policy, that means their BOSSES ARE THE PROBLEM.
Re:"Company Policy does not make it legal" (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, Person X followed policy is an important statement. It means exactly what you said - Person X probably shouldn't be punished, but their boss's boss's boss should be.
Re: (Score:2)
Depends. Would a reasonable person in an abstracted context understand that what they did was illegal, despite it being policy?
Then you're still culpable. Also, in the eyes of the law, not knowing the law isn't a defense, so policy or not, the whole chain gets to swing.
Re: (Score:2)
I said "Person X probably shouldn't be punished" Were you killing people with a handgun? Yes. Did a corporate lawyer explain to you it was legal? You should probably be fine for dumping waste X in Y.
Some people, like engineers, we hold to higher standards. But I'm fine giving people the benefit of a doubt - as long as we hold the people who gave the orders responsible. If that means they need to testify against their bosses, that's one thing. But no a bank teller shouldn't go to jail for applying an
Re: (Score:2)
Don't forget that a person who follows company policy is by default being extorted and threatened into it, at risk of losing their job or getting blacklisted from the industry.
Re: (Score:2)
I have a counter-proposal. Everyone from the person who created the thing on up to anyone above them who even knew they were creating the thing shares culpability.
You can't solve the problem by having only the worker be culpable, but you can't solve it by having only the bosses take responsibility either.