Workplace Misconduct in the News: November 2023

While most people spent the past month deep in Q4 or bonding with family, others were engaging or dealing with the ramifications of past misconduct issues like fraud, harassment, intolerance, or even gross negligence. Unfortunately for many organizations across industries, these kinds of misconduct issues take a reputational, legal, and even financial toll. Below are examples of workplace misconduct scandals that made headlines in the past month across 5 of the top sectors.

Business and Financial Services

Warring Billionaires, a Rogue Employee, a Divorce: One Hedge Fund’s Tale of Woe: Two Sigma, the $60 billion quantitative trading firm, has been beset by troubles this year that have tarnished its image and could hurt its future. (NYT)
Judge Approves JPMorgan’s $290 Million Settlement With Epstein Victims: The nation’s largest bank was sued for ignoring red flags about Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation while he was a client. (NYT)
'Notoriously hostile' | Citigroup MD sues with claims of sexual harassment by ex-colleague (HR Grapevine)
Law Firms Warn Universities About Antisemitism on Campus: Two dozen major Wall Street firms sent a letter to top law schools to crack down on discrimination (The New York Times)
B.C. lawyer disbarred following decade-long history of misconduct (Victoria News)

Government & Law Enforcement

Strip Clubs, Lewd Photos and a Boozy Hotel: The Toxic Atmosphere at Bank Regulator FDIC: Employees say sexual harassment, misogyny pervade federal agency tasked with ensuring stability of nation’s banks, driving women to leave (WSJ)
The Supreme Court’s New Ethics Code: The substance is fine, but the partisan critics won’t be appeased. (WSJ)
Federal Correctional Officer Sentenced To 96 Months For Sexually Abusing Multiple Female Inmates (Justice Department)
‘I hate Black people’: San Jose officer in controversial police shooting resigns over racist texts: Mark McNamara, the officer who shot K’aun Green in 2022, was under investigation when the offensive messages surfaced (Mercury News)
Former Police Officer Pleads Guilty in 2018 Excessive Force Case Involving Gay Man (The Advocate)
Citizen-led panel holds BPD accountable, hearing nearly 400 cases of alleged misconduct (WBALTV)

Healthcare

Bay Area Doctor Convicted Of Health Care Fraud And Kickback Scheme For Referrals To Medicare-Funded Home Health Services (Justice Department)
Saskatoon psychiatrist accused in $90K billing fraud now facing professional discipline charges (Saskatoon Starphoenix)
Suspended chiropractor facing court over alleged sexual misconduct and unlicensed practice (12 News)

Media & Entertainment

Those Online Trolls Attacking TV Critics? They Were From HBO: The push to attack television critics through fake Twitter accounts became the talk of the entertainment world on Wednesday after it was reported by Rolling Stone. (The New York Times)
So, Is Jim Harbaugh a Freakin’ Cheater?: Michigan football’s ridiculous, dumb, and unfortunately altogether perfect scandal. (Slate)
Arizona Cardinals Owner Michael Bidwill Accused of Workplace Misconduct (Front Office Sports)

Technology

Omegle Shuts Down as Founder Acknowledges Crime on Video Chat Site: Omegle’s popularity surged during the pandemic. But critics said that it let online sexual predators go unchecked. (NYT)
Man vs. Musk: A Whistleblower Creates Headaches for Tesla: An employee who was fired after expressing safety concerns leaked personnel records and sensitive (NYT)

As we look ahead toward the end of the year and into 2024, more and more organizations are looking for ways to keep their business, employees, and customers safe. That means taking steps to proactively prevent misconduct issues like the ones above.

The good news for organizations wanting to take a proactive approach is that most people don’t engage in gross misconduct that make headlines like these. In fact, our research found that less than 11% of candidates had misconduct issues last year. But, when people had misconduct issues, they had an average of 10 separate instances of misconduct found by Fama. Looking at the data that will come from our upcoming 2023 research, that number is unfortunately increasing, as well.

Luckily, there are so many great ways for companies to proactively identify and prevent misconduct like this to keep their workplaces safe, productive, and profitable. Take our new industry benchmarking quiz to assess your risk factors, and learn more about the process of buying an online screening for misconduct solution here.