Bioinformatics Lawsuit filed against Martin Luther University

[narain]

Experience from Martin Luther University - Halle, Germany, where the law of the land allows the employer to fire the employee without giving any reason immediately. Several researchers have had this trouble, and have been fired when their ideas were taken away from them in mere 3-4 months. So, please have a backup plan prepared if such a thing happens, as the European Commission or the local court or employee union will not be of any help and you would have no other choice than to go back home. Many previous researchers try approaching them but were unsuccessful and some had to pay penalty as well for trying to take action against the University, and the amount equaled the yearly salary of the fellow.

[Bukowski]

Citation for this please?

[colindaven]

Any details, was fraud or misconduct alleged here ?

[dpryan]

Umm, it's incredibly difficult to just fire someone in Germany. I'll reiterate what Bukowski said, citation please?

[Michael.Ante]

Umm, it's incredibly difficult to just fire someone in Germany.

Not in the first 6 month; that the usual probation period. In this period you can be fired without reasons, but you can also just leave.
After this period it is clearly more difficult to fire someone; especially with a fix-term contract.

[dpryan]

Not in the first 6 month; that the usual probation period. In this period you can be fired without reasons, but you can also just leave.
After this period it is clearly more difficult to fire someone; especially with a fix-term contract.

If they were fired during the Probezeit then sure, but I'm not sure who is coming up with ideas worth stealing as a student or even post-doc within that time.

[narain]

Citation: Case of Martin Luther University Dr Rujescu as employer at Halle(Saale).

Its more common in research because research jobs are all about ideas. Once the idea is generated, you would be disowned and fired, as they would not need you anymore , and others in the team will implement and publish your ideas on their name. 6 Month Probziet does goes to a severe strategic disadvantage to a foreign national, as even though they pay taxes and social contribution from their salary, unlike Germans, they are not entitled to any benefits once they are jobless as it requires minimum 1 year of job to get the benefits. The laws are carefully crafted to allow employers to cheat and misuse foreign employees in Germany.

BTW, my new book on bioinformatics based 'Genetic Engineering Strategies' just got published for which I am attaching part of its cover page for advertisement.

[narain]

You missed out the point @ecSeq. I never said that GERMANS don't pay taxes and social contribution. Just that these money they pay they can get back if they get fired. This is not the case for foreign nationals. They have to pay the taxes and social contribution, and despite that you don't get any employment protection or social benefits it you get fired in first 6 months. The employer knows this and so uses this financial benefit information to their advantage to bring foreign scientists to Germany, take their ideas , and fire them without any reason in the first 6 months, publish the ideas on their own name.

[HESmith]

@narain, you seem obsessed with people stealing your ideas without attribution. This post is entirely unrelated to bioinformatics. Perhaps you can find another forum that's better suited to your topic.

[narain]

@HESmith

A scientist/researcher work not just for money but also for reputation that gets generated via his idea and work. If someone steals your ideas that you worked and built upon, modifies it little bit here and there, and does not put you as co-author or even in acknowledgement , that is something ethically questionable for sure.

I do use this forum for technical questions as well, if you look at my previous messages. However, I don't think that this forum is limited only till technical questions, as I have seen people advertising new bioinformatics product, jobs, openings, papers, etc. Likewise, its absolutely useful to many (particularly the ones in the beginning of career), to know the practice in the trade. Such discussions of awareness in bioinformatics/research industry might not be useful for well established senior members like you, but I am sure a lot of the community do get benefitted by such discussions.

N

[HESmith]

From the SEQanswers FAQs:

"While the site is intended to be oriented toward life sciences and next generation sequencing, any scientific topic related to genomics is open for discussion."

This lawsuit post has nothing to do with genomics. There are a few bad actors in every profession - research is no different. As you so eloquently state, reputations are important in our discipline. You impugn those reputations by claiming that idea theft is "the trade in the field."

[GenoMax]

@Abhishek: Please refrain from posting about/attaching a preview of your book in multiple posts. You have already created a new thread for it. It is unrelated to the original post here.

[narain]

@GenoMax - Point taken

@HESmith - I would say that the percentage is higher in this domain of ethically wrong people than in other domain in specific parts of the world, such as in Germany, and especially since the law itself is framed such that the employer can and should take maximum benefit from it.

[HESmith]

@narain, you're entitled to your opinion. But this forum is not the appropriate venue for airing it. Let's stick to genomics, shall we?

[narain]

@HESmith

I do have complete intentions to discuss technical issues of Genomics as well over here, as I have had in past. Its sad to learn that senior members like you do not want to talk about matters that matter as equally important for being a successful bioinformatician.