Reputation worth 1000 US bucks
- RFERL Watch
- Apr 15, 2023
- 11 min read
Reputation or good reputation is something that expresses the degree to which a certain subject is in accordance with objectively recognized positive qualities, such as honor, credibility or reliability. This term can include generally intangible and separately incalculable values, which in the case of a legal entity can be manifested in its professionalism, whether it enjoys the favor of the public and whether the quality of the services it provides corresponds to the declared claims.
Reputation is always assessed as a whole and does not refer to individual properties. A good name is built by actions that are consistent with all objectively recognised positive characteristics, and is weakened by actions that do not fulfill such characteristics. It goes without saying that this is a lengthy and often exhausting process.
Reputation is hard and long to build, but easily and quickly lost. Building a good name is often accompanied by the efforts of many people, while its loss is often the result of the activities of only a handful of them.
So let's see how the Radio ГА / ГA company understands the good reputation and how significant price for it really has so-called company goodwill.
It is 2020, or rather its COVID March, and I have the last few days at work ahead of me. Under strange circumstances and without a deeper explanation of the reasons, after 15 years of trouble-free work, I was fired by a team of super-humans, and according to the rules of the well-known children's game, my countdown began. Palms to eyes and one big wish for them - may the evil master be gone as soon as possible and we can continue in our all-embracing goodness!
Here, too, something previously unheard of happened. In addition to the lawsuit for the invalidity of the notice, which Radio ГA / ГA was already used to in the past and appropriately professionally and personally prepared, a lawsuit against discrimination and unequal treatment was also delivered. So how do you deal with such a dilemma?
It started, as it used to be at Radio ГA / ГA, on a good note - aren't you serious? Do you want to waste time and money with another lawsuit? Aren't you sorry? One lawsuit to invalidate the notice is enough, isn't it? Anyway, the second one is about the same thing, and remember that there is a judge in the court who is not curious about any of your discrimination claims and will "properly sweep" you, they tried to collegially agree with us. Actually why not? We still wore the same company T-shirt.
It didn't help. The subspecies simply couldn't get their more experienced colleagues to agree, so an independent lady judge had to help. The lawsuit was amended so that the address of the defendant, i.e. the company Radio ГA / ГA, unlike the first lawsuit for the invalidity of the notice, was not an organizational unit in Prague, but a company from Washington, USA. Now, thanks to the judicial qualification "FOREIGN", both lawsuits could be definitively "merged" and independent trials could begin.
Both lawsuits by the same court panel, which has been successfully tested for years - how brilliant. Just an ideal brand!
Clear wine was poured, but something still floated in it. It was tried again after a good time, this time in June 2020 at the circuit court at an informative meeting - of course without an audio recording, with an additional protocol on request and "about nothing". All this with only us, the troublemakers, still not understanding her goodness.
Well, as you wish, the judge said to herself after the meeting. The rest of the righteous team from the opposing side said to themselves afterwards that there is no help for those who are not advised. And so January 2021 came with the clanking of weapons, the deception of the body, and finally the fight at close quarters. In this tug-of-war, always pulling on a shorter and shorter rope, but fighting without fear or shame.
Whoever digs in the dirt always gets himself dirty and pollutes the surroundings with this dirt.
When looking at the files and from information from public sources, very strange contours of something that was hidden from us at the beginning of both trials and should have been so until their ends began to emerge. With the findings, we turn to the #MS ("Justice"), the superior court at the hands of #RV ("Dr. Veverička"), the "ombudsman", the management of Radio ГA / ГA represented by #KF ("Kristína Fšetko"), including to its founder #USAGM ("US Global Media"). The only reaction of those affected institutions is - "we strongly reject anything and everything", neatly wrapped in the usual phrases about their high moral values, and after presenting suspicions with evidence only their silence, obfuscation or (in)timidation. On the contrary, from those not involved in those processes, and therefore not immersed in them, we only encounter trivialisation of our findings and justification of the first ones.
Don't worry, we'll cover each of them in a future post.
But now you may be wondering why I am writing so long and general about it and only "Cimmerman-like" hints instead of facts?
Please hold on a little longer, the reputation and the money will be there at the end.
On 31.8.2022, i.e. after more than 2 and a half years of trial and tribulation, we walked humbly to the Municipal Court in Prague for a court hearing regarding our appeal against the #JH judgment ("Dr. Hustá”) in the matter of discrimination and unequal treatment, codenamed “Waterloo” internally to us. Trained by experience with the opposite party from previous negotiations, when the lawyer Radio ГA / ГA #MV ("Mgr. Prasátko") once again and traditionally, 24 hours before the court hearing, sent us an answer to our appeal after more than 6 months "aka" an appointed mediator, we expected a classic course. The process will be the same as last time with resume - that everything happened according to the law, that everything during the trial of the judge of the first instance was crystal clear, and that, on the contrary, we are the ones who still do not want to understand the justice.
So pay the costs to the other party and "bye bye".
We were expecting another record for the shortness of the court's decision and we were secretly placing bets - last time it was 15 minutes, now it will be 10, right? And how will we be financially at the end? Again, minus another 6,000 "crowns" for the lawyer for his 2 actions - one for writing an answer at the last minute, for which it is impossible to prepare in terms of time, and the other for showing up and approaching? As always with a smile and like dancing - understand just like that and lightly, while cheerfully chirping with #LA ("Leklá Andělka")? That I couldn't choose a better job, it occurred to me then, as many times before.
After 15 minutes of deliberations, when both my sister and I stated that neither of us won the bet this time, we suddenly realize that the deliberations of this court panel are in a completely different league. We are surprised to find that our comments and statements are finally being read, their validity is evaluated and compared with the law. How incredible after so long! A professional approach to the conduct of the meeting and preparation for it with a lot of notes directly in the text of our appeal and on paper outside of it. Another world! In the recess before the final judgment was handed down, I remarked dryly - if I were to lose all these trials, then with a judgment signed by this lady judge! The sister was happy to prove me right.
So what was put on the imaginary scales and what did I want to get to know in this legal odyssey?
Don't expect any millions - just the very ordinary apology, the text and justification of which I present below.
The Defendant is obliged to apologise to the Plaintiff in writing and publish this apology together with an attachment of a copy of the judgment in the form of an e-mail sent by internal e-mail to the e-mail group "ALL STAFF", containing the addresses of all the Defendant's employees, in bilingual version (Czech and English) with the text: "We hereby apologise to Mr. the treatment that the employer committed towards him by not allowing him for a long time to supplement his qualifications and increase the expertise necessary for the proper performance of his work, that he did not comply with internal principles and regulations, the Company's Code of Ethics, the Collective Agreement and the laws of the Czech Republic, especially the Labor Code." when the sender of this electronic mail message is the statutory body of the Defendant, the copy will contain the private email address of Plaintiff, within five days of the entry into force of the judgment, with the day of dispatch being a standard working day and the time of dispatch being between 9: 00 and 17:00 CET and the defendant is obliged to reimburse the Claimant for the costs of the proceedings within three days of the judgment becoming final.
In addition, it was written in the justification:
The actions of the Defendant in the period from spring 2012, until the moment of filing the lawsuit, i.e. until 19.3.2020, consisting in not allowing the Defendant, due to his age, to complete the qualifications and expertise necessary for the proper performance of the work and the actions of the management employees of the Defendant towards the Plaintiff, consisting in non-compliance by the Defendant with the published internal principles and regulations, the company's Code of Ethics and the Collective Agreement and the laws of the Czech Republic, is discriminatory and unequal treatment.
The Defendant is obliged immediately from the acquisition of legal force of this judgment to desist from unequal treatment and discrimination against the Plaintiff in the form of applying and complying with the internal principles and regulations published by the Defendant, the Company's Code of Ethics and the Collective Agreement and laws of the Czech Republic.
The Defendant is obliged to eliminate the consequences of discrimination and unequal treatment in the form of a personnel audit for the period 2012-2020, focused on compliance with internal principles and regulations published by the Defendant, the Company's Code of Ethics and the Collective Agreement and laws of the Czech Republic by the Defendant's management, to prepare a binding methodology to prevent discrimination and unequal treatment, especially towards Czech employees, within 60 days of the acquisition of legal force of this judgment and to extend its regular annual internal training of the Defendant's employees, primarily related to "harassment", also to the area of compliance with the laws of the Czech Republic in relation to the field of work, civil and criminal law.
Did I want that much from Radio ГA / ГA?
Wouldn't it be possible to sit down together out of court and resolve it as adult, university-educated people and once and for all in the spirit of the familiar "what are we - what are we"?
We tried it a total of 4 times. Every time, instead of an answer, just another tightening of the screws according to the familiar - employees, let alone former ones, are simply not negotiated at Radio ГA / ГA!
Let this be a small taste of how the independent judge #JH ("Dr. Hustá") judged this matter independently at the court of first instance on November 2, 2021, and which we publish here outside the topic of this post. This text transcription was created from a recording that came to us shortly after the meeting from an unknown sympathizer, and we present it here now as a small taste of the events of the stormy autumn of 2021.
In order to better understand the context of events, I would like to quote the statement of #KF ("Kristína Fšetko") regarding my disagreement with the employer's behavior towards me:
“All steps and measures taken against you since December 2019 have been taken in accordance with all applicable laws and other legal regulations of the Czech Republic. We have always acted professionally and with full respect for applicable laws, the internal regulations of the Employer and our high moral standards."
And then adds:
We therefore reject as unfounded any of your claims regarding the alleged discrimination against you.
So I take the liberty of transcribing the recording between the individual hearings, in which the independent lady judge teaches her colleague from her court panel what discrimination actually is. Even though it was a break after the hearing of the previous court hearing on the invalidity of the statement, she managed to write for it in 12 minutes and at the same time decide on the rejection of the action for discrimination, which was only to follow after that.
Everything in the spirit of efficiency, economy and of course – impartiality.
Sitters | She said that to herself a little forcefully, she should have told herself that the meeting is over. No one reacted to it and everyone sat like a stone. |
Judge | Hey, but I'm really trying. I try to look at her. Unfortunately, I won't be working out today and I need it like salt, and I won't make it at four. So I'll go to the theater in the evening. |
Sitters | What are you going for? |
Judge | With a friend. I don't know (laughs). I simply told her that I would go to anything today. I have now decided that I will not accept any evidence of discrimination (with a sneer). Which is the easiest for me, we would be there further, still. Hey, that over there, that would still be what's somewhere on the Internet,... |
Male voice | Look, were they instructed at that first meeting? |
Judge | Well, they were, in my opinion… |
Male voice | But there was only one, so I'm not too sure. |
Judge | Hey, come here (points to something, man just goes "um"). And she focused on it after the first one. What did she focus on the mediation, ... She still had nothing here (hmmm). Here she keeps saying that I established, I don't know who.. So I started writing it and then I understood that it was useless... (types into the computer) Look, I don't know if you noticed, but she admitted for a while that he did it (man hmmm), but she started stuffing other stuff in there, … |
Male voice | But that he is not to blame... |
Judge | That he wasn't to blame, that goes without saying, and she tried too, that he did other things well and so on, sure... But why...? |
Sitters | But she kept doing the "funny", and also if there were 15 or 20... |
Judge | Well of course! Look, according to me, he should have taken the agreement and three salaries and goodbye. |
Sitters | Or even the 5 were admitted. |
Judge | Look, they didn't admit. Well, yes, because it was 3 before and I, when he still wanted the 10, so I tried to see if we could make it to the 5. |
Sitters | Look, and why did she turn it on you, that you don't have a mandate? |
Judge | Hey guys, listen to her, it's actually very difficult with her. What? Well, just... As you have it there, exactly. (checks write-up). Look, look how much time and how many people spend here because of her, ... Didn't I let you read that? The president, vice-president, unions, ministries, they have to discuss her complaint, ... I have it here, then I'll lend it to you (the man laughed... and they check the minutes and talk about it together and laugh...) |
Sitters | Let's just agree on when I'll sign it? (...long typing on the computer...) (Everyone reads the complaint and shouts in derision) |
Judge | That really made me laugh... (...and shows something) |
Both | It's your opinion, but really good, good! So let's leave it at that, shall we? This has never happened to me in the entire time I've been working here... |
Judge | I'm also thinking about what else I'll experience here... (they type for a long time on the computer) Here is one procedure that my good friend sent me, it is a constitutional finding. If a person who felt discriminated against when purchasing services, this person must not only claim, but also prove in court proceedings, that he was not treated in the usual way, i.e. in a non-disadvantaging way. If he does not prove this claim, he cannot succeed in the proceedings. Furthermore, they must claim that the disadvantageous treatment was motivated by discrimination on the basis of something. I have a job here... However, this motivation is not needed in the case of ... (reads something quickly and mumbles). Well, it doesn't matter. It's just that he has to ... If the person proves that they feel harmed .... And I'll just try to give it… |
Sitters | What can be taken as proof of discriminatory behavior? |
Judge | Hey, I don't know. I'll get lunches, black people won't get lunches. So I gave vouchers to everyone every year, Nováková simply doesn't get it. Or I'll invite everyone else to the party and I won't invite (some name) |
Sitters | We had a case of discrimination here when someone claimed to have thrown a banana peel on his table. |
Judge | Yeah, we had that here, and he lost it too! (laughing mockingly) |
Sitters | Yeah, but you didn't accept it as evidence... What would happen next with the banana peel? |
Judge | That's what we heard, and of course he'll deny it. That's complicated for you. Someone even wrote a song about it... About "sexual harassment", (and entertains others by explaining what is and what is not harassment) |
Sitters | (cites the case of psychiatrist Cimický, who was accused of harassment... |
Judge | Wait, I don't know that at all. (Associate describes the medialized case of the last few days) |
Judge | Well sure, it's exactly the same as with Kolínský. Suddenly you're bothering everyone who comes under your nose... |
Sitters | One dares and the others join. For bravery and courage... |
| ………… |
Male voice | So if they have a problem with that, then if they want to leave, let them go... |
President | Exactly, so let them go... It doesn't matter. |
Male voice | You declare it and it's settled. I wouldn't mess with them at all. |
| ………… |
Judge | So I don't have to teach her about tolectom...? (several people speak) |
President | Well, yes, I teach them, but this is... |
Judge | (trying to explain something to her) ...when she's there she has an awful lot... |
President | Then you reject them all, well! Like what...? Those suggestions. I declare it briefly, as if the motions presented orally by the representative of the plaintiff ...... are rejected. Period! |
Judge | No, no, no, in my opinion, I reject it as a factual statement, she was concentrating, she didn't add it there, so I don't think I need to lecture her? I canceled all the evidence... |
President | Well, I think that according to Article 119, as it were, it is necessary... |
Judge | Because we will never end here! |
President | Well, don't lecture her, come on! So just don't lecture her. Yeah? |
Judge | Okay. |
President | (leaves the room…) |
The court, instead of evaluating the evidence that was proposed and that was presented to the court, preferred to consult “with its good friend” as is evident “from the audio recording of 2.11 .2021 above. When pronouncing the verdict, she was guided by the opinions and opinions of local IT specialists, as she herself stated in her closing speech.
And so, just like in the 50s, other well-known (#RV ("Dr. Veverička") and unknown participants (such as unknown a male voice repeatedly scolding and asking for my harshest punishment).
Just as in the past, petitions of street organizations of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic are figuratively organized, workers in factories meet over petitions with requests for the harshest punishments, and all this just because I allowed myself to dislike their behavior, and even for help your setter in the role of legal representative, to defend! So unheard of and worthy of true contempt! Yuck!
Until today, we have not found out who is that "male voice" on the recordings, so exemplary fighting against us for Radio ГA / ГA.
I am particularly saddened by the way the president of the circuit court leads her subordinate to make procedural errors in order to decide the judgment according to the wishes of the defendant.
The most piquant part of this whole story is the answer of the president of the court, who emphatically denied her presence at the preparation of my judgment on the grounds that it would be contrary to the rules of the OSŘ (Civil Court Code). The judge continued in the same vein, i.e. her subordinate, who refused to confirm her superior's presence here as well. May it be to her advantage that, unlike her, she did not flaunt OSŘ directly, but "only" lied.
We believe that this could also help to some extent in the decision of the appeal court in the appeal hearing described here.
And now "here (figuratively) about that Little Red Riding Hood".
After 40 minutes of discussion, a decision was made.
The verdict of the first-instance court panel, led by #JH ("Dr. Hustá") and the entire court case surrounding my claim against discrimination and unequal treatment in Radio ГA / ГA was canceled by the decision of the superior appeals court and returned to its beginning. Such is our little "déjà vu", in which the main role of judge will, according to the decision of this court, be played by someone completely different.
We already know what it feels like when a convicted person waits in the courtroom for the jury's expected verdict. As if in some "American B-movie", our knees buckled from the news and we both burst into tears in our embrace. After the words "there is no appeal against this judgment", I caught a quick dash of the righteous duo #LA ("Dr. Leklá Andělka") and #MV ("Mgr. Prasátko") out of the corner of my eye.
Holt, I guess we weren't the only ones surprised by his result.
It was written on 19/03/2020 and I, as an employee of Radio ГA / ГA, am once again submitting a more than 30-page lawsuit against my employer against discrimination and unequal treatment to the court of first instance, and I humbly believe in the impartiality of the courts. Today, in the position of his former employee, I am successfully suing him on this matter already for the third year.
Isn't it absurd that such a famous company, "bragging" about owning a patent on respecting human rights in the territory of "I can't see to I can't see", doesn't find it shameful? Or is it just about the huge ego of the self-proclaimed saviors of her good name in this effort of theirs to make themselves visible for good?
It still makes sense to me not to give up and to point out that discrimination and unequal treatment in Radio ГA / ГA is a phenomenon that must be fought mainly internally. If this problem is solved in front of his main entrance on Vinohradská street, his reputation or good reputation suffers.
I expected that a good reputation of the Radio ГA / ГA company is valued in more than the 1000 US bucks which I had to pay so far.
I know, the time is bad. So pay the fat man and pay in cash.
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