#9to5Nightmares Podcast Episode 13: WRKDefined’s Mandatory Meeting

We talk about misconduct so you can avoid it!

On #9to5Nightmares Podcast Episode 13: WRKDefined’s Mandatory Meeting, hosts Amy Warren and Micole Garatti listen to William Tincup and Ryan Leary share real-life misconduct stories from their past. This special episode wraps up Fama’s previous podcast takeover with WRKdefined’s Mandatory Meeting series, which includes 20 episodes of scandalous misconduct stories from industry professionals and leaders.

William Tincup and Ryan Leary both spent time in HR and recruiting. And, they have some serious misconduct stories to show for it. After hearing dozens of scandals over the years, it’s not often Micole and Amy are left speechless. But, Tincup and Ryan share stories that are definitely ones that require Mandatory Meetings. Hear them for yourself.

This episode includes stories:

4 Examples of Workplace Misconduct from WRKdefined

#1. Marketing Leader Turns into Sexual Harasser

In the early days of social media, Ryan Leary worked at a staffing agency that placed a marketing leader who crushed the interviews, had glowing references, and was loved by the executive team. About six weeks in, Ryan started getting side-channel messages from the client that the new leader was dropping comments that were sexist, passive-aggressive, and “just kidding” type of comments → aka harassment. It turns out the man had previously been accused of the same misconduct as well as making inappropriate comments on women’s social media photos at other companies. The client terminated the new hire and Ryan’s agency had to replace him, while losing serious trust from the client for not finding the past misconduct before the placement.

#2. Finance New Hire is Discovered as a Nazi…Post Hire

Back in 2013, Ryan was staffing a finance position for a biotech company. The company was working on a project that was bleeding money and they needed someone urgerntly to help them stop the bleeding. Two days into onboarding, one of his coworkers saw a tattoo that was visible–a swastika. Turns out the new hire had multiple tattoos with swastikas and hate-speech phrases as well as a long history of public and hateful political rants against several major protected groups. The client fired the new hire week 1.

#3. A Boss and Direct Report Make a Sex Tape… and it Goes Viral

Earlier in William Tincup’s career as an HR professional, an employee walked in his office and showed him a sex tape of two of their other coworkers – a boss and direct report – that had been leaked online and was going viral all over the office. While Tincup didn’t plan his day around having to prevent an internal, personal, and professional crisis, his day quickly became about navigating the #9to5Nightmare.

He called both employees into his office separately to speak with them and then called a company-wide meeting to set the stage that this would NOT become “a thing” in the office and that if anyone tried to make it “a thing” there would be consqueunces. He also encouraged the staff to treat the two individuals in the video with empathy.

#4. Intern Takes Over Company Social Media… and Harasses Competitors

At another employer, Tincup’s organization gave interns access to the company’s social media accounts to help them build the brand. Unfortunately, they used the account to make fun of competitors with public comments like, "How can you trust [the competitor], they fucking wear sweater vests?" Needless to say, the organization learned that interns require supervision and had to clean up the public mess made online.

Despite these stories happening in the past, many of these same encounters happen today. To learn about recent misconduct scandals in your industry, see our latest episode of 12 Workplace Scandals Making Headlines in May 2025.

Request a demo to learn how Fama’s AI-powered social media screening can prevent these costly #9to5Nightmare.