Introduction
The quotation taken from a judgment of US Supreme Court Judge Wiley Blount Rutledge is as true today as when it was handed down in a case nearly seventy years ago. But it is perhaps even more relevant today than it was then, its relevance best understood against some of the practices by employers − sometimes with the complicity of the employees, and sometimes not.
Let me give a few practical examples. Suppose entity A has a defined organisation structure with stipulated qualifications and fixed salaries. And suppose entity A wants to employ a relative of one of its top brass, for a) a position that is not on the establishment; or b) the relative does not possess the requisite qualification; or, c) the relative possesses the requisite qualification,