Examples of Workplace Misconduct in the News in 2023

At the beginning of this year, the Fama team started sharing updates on workplace misconduct scandals that made the news. While the series was planned to focus on quarterly updates, there were so many examples of misconduct in the news – whether employee misconduct, executive misconduct, or even investment misconduct – that it became clear a monthly cadence would better reflect the increases we had seen month over month in our data and in the news cycles.

Since then, we’ve reported on dozens of scandals across industries, and even around the world. Here are just a few of the top stories we shared throughout the year.

Top Stories of Employee, Investment, and Executive Misconduct from 2023

In January, we reported on a scandal out of the company, iRobot, in which employees were using their Roomba vacuums to take pictures of customers in sensitive situations – like on the toilet – and then sharing them on social media platforms like Facebook.

February’s edition reported on the heartbreaking workplace shooting at The Mountain Mushroom Farm, known as the Half Moon Bay shooting in Northern California.

By March, reports from The Wall Street Journal discussed the Justice Department and SEC’s investigations into the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, the FTC found mental health app BetterHelp was selling customer data, and the infamous #Scandoval news broke.

In April’s edition, we started reporting on antisemitic remarks from the athletic association, WWE. This is an unfortunate trend that skyrocketed later in the year. The same issue also reported on two other scandals in sports, media and entertainment related to racism, as well.

May focused on legal and compliance stories, including news out of the EEOC that not only found that a New York pizzeria failed to protect a trans employee from harassment, but also that they plan to prioritize LBGTQ workers as vulnerable workers.

One alarming example from June exposed an incident in which employees left 3 severed heads on a coworkers desk. Yes, this was actually reported on in the Chicago Tribune.

With the summer in full swing by July, one would think there’d be less instances of misconduct while many took off for summer breaks. However, this month featured an FTC investigation into Amazon’s Ring, which was watching and sharing inappropriate videos of women in their homes.

August saw headlines from Transportation and Logistics as well as Education sectors, with reported increases in sexual misconduct occurring on airplanes and a Harvard researcher looking into “honesty” being accused of research fraud.

As the school year picked up in September, districts all over the world started seeing upticks in misconduct and focused hearings on dealing with them. Quebec, Canada found school districts were improperly handling teacher misconduct cases. Wisconsin Public Radio also reported on a new bill that would make it a felony for school employees to sexually harass students.

The Cardinals sports team, University of Michigan, and Chipoltle were all mentioned, yet again, in October’s edition for their toxic work cultures, stealing allegations, and religious discrimination, respectively.

Finally, November’s examples focused on government and law enforcement sectors, with leading stories including the new SCOTUS code of ethics, rampant misconduct among FDIC regulators, as well as a Federal Correctional Officer who was sentenced to prison after sexually abusing multiple inmates, another officer pleading guilty to using excessive force on a gay man, and a citizen-led panel holding BPD accountable for 400 cases of alleged misconduct.  

Data and Trends on Misconduct at Work from 2023

Here at Fama, our mission has always been to give organizations the tools they need to prevent PUREs – previously undetected recruiting errors – like hiring employees, brand ambassadors, or executives who engage in harmful and toxic misconduct at work. Part of that includes reporting on instances like those that made the headlines, as well as sharing insights and trends from our own proprietary data in our State of Misconduct at Work research.

The Fama Solution to Ending Workplace Misconduct Scandals in 2024

As heartbreaking as it is to see misconduct so high across so many industries, we are so fortunate to be in a position to help Talent Acquisition and People Teams, Staffing and Executive Search firms, and even Law Enforcement Agencies, Investment Operations, and Marketing teams can use to keep themselves, their clients, and their communities safe.  

It’s important to note that most people don’t engage in misconduct. However, when someone does, they are likely to be engaging in a lot of it. In fact, when we find a candidate with at least one misconduct flag in their online presence, we find an average of 11 instances of misconduct. This is why it’s so important for organizations to detect and prevent hiring individuals with misconduct red flags. This year alone, as examples, we helped our clients identify a doctor candidate selling body parts online and also prevented a workplace shooting by finding a hitlist and manifesto.

Looking ahead into 2024 and beyond, it’s important to set up your organization for success with the right preparations, policies, and solutions to keep your organization safe. An easy way to do that is by subscribing to our blog and newsletter for updates in our 2023 research and use cases. You can also check out our recent Buyer’s Guide or set up some time to connect with our experts.

Learn more about Fama, our solutions, and our research at fama.io.