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Comment by vonmoltke | Hacker News Reader

> Perhaps I have a negative view of companies as well, but when he said he programmed it on company time, and wouldn't give up the password, I was surprised that the company didn't just sue him for not giving up company property.

> He told his boss, who fired him, but then the boss and manager asked for the password to the program. OP refused, called up the boss's boss, OP was brought in to talk, and given a new job as a software engineer.

He didn't refuse to give the password to the company, just to his scumbag ex-boss.

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Why would they sue him? It would be a huge waste of money for all involved. Instead they could just hire him for a job he was clearly qualified for and then everyone wins.

I didn't add it to the short version, but in the second paragraph the op says:

  I get a call from my bosses boss ....but I was hellbent on refusing to give out the password.

So he refused to give it to his boss, his manager, and his bosses boss (who in the end gave him the job).

More context can't hurt:

"...but I was hellbent on refusing to give out the password. Not to be mean/defensive, but the code was not designed for anyone to use, it was very primitive in the way it had to be setup. I didn't want to be liable for someone using it incorrectly."

As somebody from the Netherlands, this makes me skeptical. He's claiming to be Dutch but his legal perspective is American. He also claims to be fired on the spot. There is no such thing in the Netherlands if he had a long term position: it will always be reviewed first by a government institution called Centrum voor Werk en Inkomen or by a judge (there are exceptions for exceptional cases, like if somebody punches somebody else in the face).

I suspect his immediate superior told him he was going to be fired, and when this came to the attention of the senior manager (as it would) is when the discussion about passwords, etc, occurred. So he was never actually fired... just kicked-up a fuss, and saved his ass.

He probably didn't have a long term position. More likely he was hired through a job agency or on a 0 hour contract in which case yes, you can be (effectively) fired on the spot. Same for his supervisor.

A lot of things stink about this story, but this isn't one of them.

Ah, I missed that in my skimming of the OP. That does make the situation somewhat extortionary.

Oh, give him a break. He's a kid. He got his (manual data-entry) work done.

Yes, legally he developed a program on company time and on company computers.

But he's not being willfully extortionary just because he thought ahead and won't let scumbag boss take all the credit.

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