A businesswoman has been banned from asking for ‘hard-working’ staff in a job ad because it discriminates against the lazy.
Beryl King was told by a Jobcentre that her advert for warehouse workers discriminated against people who were not industrious.
Beryl, 57, told the Daily Mirror: “I couldn’t believe my ears. Has our world gone mad?
Yes, Ms. King. Our world has gone mad.
(Hat tip: Crowhill)
{ 16 comments }
INSANE!
Upon following up, I see that this comes out of the UK. They went off the deep end several years ago. The only problem is that we are following right behind them!
Montie – I know it’s happening right here right now. This is the case in many government agencies, especially the DC government. There’s a twist, though. The lazy in government employment are protected from getting fired. What a waste. A guaranteed government job, and you can be as unproductive and incompetent as you want to be, all at taxpayers’ expense.
You can’t call this insane! It’s discriminatory against the Nutso-Americans.
But don’t put it past some employers to treat workers like this is a 3rd world country, denying overtime pay even though you worked overtime, denying bathroom breaks, etc. Hardworking=Productive for most to us. Hardworking=No more workplace standards for some employers. That’s why so many people are out there scrapping for temp jobs. Employers would rather outsource the work to “hardworking” people who they can pay pennies and abuse than deal with the US that has minimum standards.
I’m not saying that was this particular employers’ intent; she may have just wanted to screen out slackers.
LOL!!!
I N S A N E !!
{Geez its hard not to discriminate these days!}
Bathroom breaks(interpret as cigerette breaks), Lunch breaks, overtime, minimum wage, health insurance, etc, etc. None of these things are necessary for one to perform their proposed duties at a place of employment. If someone wants to work they will, period.
An employer should not be forced by the state to offer “benefits” to its employees. Not offering such things doesn’t equal a lack of workplace standards. It is to the employers benefit to offer safe, clean work environments.
“Employers would rather outsource the work to “hardworking” people who they can pay pennies and abuse than deal with the US that has minimum standards.”
None of what I mentioned above are minimum standards and are quite expensive for most employers. It is a myth that employers want to abuse their employees and exploit them, such behavior is actually counter-productive and would lead to a loss of profits.
La Shawn,
Actually you are right. I have worked as a “government employee” for the last 19 years and have witnessed what you speak of countless times. Even at the local municipal level I have seen incompetence and laziness rewarded with promotion. I have been pressured to “do a little less” and to not “work so hard” because it made others look bad. I have seen productive, intelligent, competent officers lose their jobs because supervisors were fearful that they might “take their job”. Now at the state level, I see even more of it.
But, the thing that really rubs me the wrong way is what I have seen in the Federal agencies I have worked with on various cases during my career. Many of their officers go out of their way to avoid work. I have watched a lot of them do absolutely nothing worthwhile to warrant getting a paycheck, yet they were being paid 3 or 4 times what I make.
I have often wondered how anything gets done at the Federal level. Obviously somebody is working, I just haven’t seen any of it.
At least for now, we haven’t reached the point of being accused of discrimination for asking for “hard workers” in job descriptions in this country, but I’m sure it’s not far off.
Chrissy,
In the years ‘75-2001, 2.8 million jobs were outsourced to other nations. In that time, 4.7 million jobs were insourced (other nations sent work here).
Now, in my many, many jobs, the only ones that treated us like you describe were either govt-contracted jobs or a small business beneath the radar. And both of those small biz’s were owned by an immigrant or green-carder, and both needed constant reminders of US labor laws.
Now, before I get flamed, I am sure there are US small biz owners that are also b@st@rds towards their workers.
Hmmmmm…maybe I should apply for a government job. Oh shoot! Did I just say that I was lazy?
On an aside, I hope that Beau is okay after Hurricane Frances. I kinda miss his reparte.
Let’s speculate on how far this “discrimination” thing is going to go.
“Making sheets with green dye is discriminating against red dye.”
“Requiring clothes to work at a business is discriminating against those who wish to go nude.”
“Sending E-mail is discriminating against your poor, hardworking phone.”
“Talking in public is discriminating against those who are deaf.”
“Buying a purebred cat is discriminating against the alley cats.”
“Taking a trip to the California Redwoods is discriminating against the Arizona desert.”
“Cars are discriminating against blind people; they should be outlawed.” (The environmentalists would love that!)
The list could go on and on….
ROFL, Shayne, shall we go on? Using a stapler is discriminating to tape. Using tape is discriminating to the stapler, and nevermind Duct Tape. If you use that, are you saying that regular tape is too lazy to do the job?
I don’t want anyone to ride a motorcycle. They are discriminating against me because I drive a car.(Vice versa for motorcycle riders)
And on…and on…and on.
If people spend this much time worrying about what might discriminate against someone or something, they need more work to do.
Maybe that’s why they don’t want lazy people discriminated against. They are the lazy people.
Well, It’s about time! I have been needing protection for a long time! It’s a jungle out there!
Joel, your wish may come true if kerry wins.
After all, he’s skated thru 20 plus years of do nothing politics. He might be inclined to ensure that we the people get to skate thru life with nary a care.
On second thot, I’ll take my chances in the jungle, before I trust him with my welfare.
I am a government worker. The great majority of us are industrious and hard working. We do not get paid as much as a person in the same job in the private sector (by law – to prevent the
government from stealing all of the private sector’s workers!). This is not to say that some of us are not lazy. However, I feel that it should be known that low performing people do get fired – although many times that appears to not be the case because the firing process is a long (but necessary) one. It is this way to prevent Government managers from firing people on a whim, such as for political reasons (which was rampant in the past – as for the near past/present, anyone remember travelgate?). Speaking of lazy government workers, there is a reason many of us are not as productive as we could be – taxes! That’s right, we pay taxes right along with everyone else. I am an electronics technician with the Navy’s Military Sealift Command and I am constantly on the move maintaing and repairing my ship’s electronic equipment. Many times, I must work overtime to keep everything ’ship-shape’. If I work more than a certain number of hours overtime, I end up getting paid very little for those hours because of taxes – so, many minor tasks (that usually end up growing into major crises down the road) go undone because the present minor nature of the tasks make it just not worth working an hour or more to do them for two or three extra dollars per hour in the paycheck – the rest having been eaten up by taxes. Note that I am not asking for anyone’s sympathy, I am just trying to help those who otherwise would not know to understand some of the work habits of government workers. I hope it helps.
Thanks for commenting, Ursius. I used to work for the government, myself, and I’ve seen the incompetence up close. Of course not all are, but the stereotype is really close to the truth.
I shouldn’t pick on the government alone. Private industry has some pretty lazy and rude employees.
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