Why doesn't Haskell/GHC support record name overloading

Question

I am a Haskell newbie. I have noticed that Haskell does not support record name overloading:

-- Records.hs

data Employee = Employee
  { firstName :: String
  , lastName :: String
  , ssn :: String
  } deriving (Show, Eq)

data Manager = Manager
  { firstName :: String
  , lastName :: String
  , ssn :: String
  , subordinates :: [Employee]
  } deriving (Show, Eq)

When I compile this I get:

[1 of 1] Compiling Main             ( Records.hs, Records.o )

Records.hs:10:5:
    Multiple declarations of `firstName'
    Declared at: Records.hs:4:5
                 Records.hs:10:5

Records.hs:11:5:
    Multiple declarations of `lastName'
    Declared at: Records.hs:5:5
                 Records.hs:11:5

Records.hs:12:5:
    Multiple declarations of `ssn'
    Declared at: Records.hs:6:5
                 Records.hs:12:5

Given the "strength" of the Haskell type system, it seems like it should be easy for the compiler to determine which field to access in

emp = Employee "Joe" "Smith" "111-22-3333"
man = Manager "Mary" "Jones" "333-22-1111" [emp]
firstName man
firstName emp

Is there some issue that I am not seeing. I know that the Haskell Report does not allow this, but why not?

Answer 1

Historical reasons. There have been many competing designs for better record systems for Haskell -- so many in fact, that no consensus could be reached. Yet.