by admin_lauth | Jan 26, 2017 | Investigations
Jack E. Sandline, an Indiana Senator and owner of private investigation firm Jack Sandline and Associates, shared a post on Facebook mocking the women who participated in the post inauguration Women’s March as being fat and unmotivated. Sandlin shared a picture of the march which read: “In one day, Trump got more fat women out walking, than Michelle Obama did in 8 years.”
The post was quickly deleted, but it was too late. People had already taken screenshots of the post and it began spreading like wildfire. After the post was deleted, a second post appeared on Sandlin’s Facebook wall apologizing, but it was also deleted shortly after. Sandlin told the Indy Star he didn’t make either post, but he allow the possibility that he, “…could have hit something.”
Social media is a powerful tool. It can connect you with your audience directly to strengthen your brand. It can also destroy all of your hard work if you post the wrong thing. Here’s a few times people’s social media posts got them into hot water.
Saturday Night Live Writer is Suspended for Barron Trump Tweet
It’s no secret that Saturday Night Live and Donald Trump have an adversarial relationship. Alec Baldwin has been portraying Trump in less than flattering ways ever since Trump announced he was running for president. While SNL has a history of lampooning anyone and everyone, even they had to draw the line when one of their writers tweeted about Trump’s youngest son, Barron.
On the day of Trump’s inauguration, SNL writer Katie Rich published a tweet that said, “Barron will be this country’s first homeschool shooter.” The reaction across social media was swift and strong in its condemnation of the tweet. People were outraged Rich targeted a child with an insult.
Rich deleted the tweet and even deactivated her Twitter account after the backlash, but it was too late. Executives quickly suspended her for indefinite amount of time for the tweet. Rich’s name was removed from the credits of the following show.
Justine Sacco Caused a Social Media Meltdown and had no Idea
Justine Sacco was the director of corporate communications at IAC when she caused a social media meltdown. Sacco was sitting on a plane waiting to take off for Africa when she tweeted, “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” Sacco’s flight took off shortly after the tweet was sent.
Sacco didn’t have internet access as she flew and had no idea her tweet was causing the uproar it did. With only 170 followers, it’s unlikely Sacco expected any significant response to her tweet. Unfortunately social media is unpredictable and it’s difficult to know what will and won’t blow up. By the time Sacco’s plane landed, there were numerous blogs calling her a racist and she had lost her job.
PacketSled CEO Resigns after Tweeting Death Threat to Trump
In case you thought only lower level employees would lose their jobs over social media posts, Matt Harrigan is here to prove you wrong. Harrigan was the CEO and President of PacketSled, a network security company before resigning due to some ill advised social media posts.
In multiple posts across his Twitter and Facebook pages, Harrigan wrote about wanting to personally kill Donald Trump.
Twitter and Facebook accounts tied to Matthew Harrigan, the President & CEO of PacketSled, included comments threatening Trump Sunday afternoon, according to an NBC 7 source.
“I’m going to kill the president. Elect,” was one of the posts on Harrigan’s Twitter account. It was followed by the comment, “Bring it secret service.”
“…getting a sniper rifle and perching myself where it counts,” reads a post to Harrigan’s Facebook account. “Find a bedroom in the whitehouse [sic] that suits you motherf—er. I’ll find you.”
After Harris’s social media posts began to garner attention, he tendered his resignation to the PacketSled board of directors who quickly accepted. As if losing his job wasn’t bad enough, his comments were also reported to the Secret Service. Harris did apologize for his comments, but it was too late.
David Schroeder, Blog Writer, Lauth Investigations International
by admin_lauth | Jan 23, 2017 | Corporate Investigations
When Hiring a CEO Goes Wrong
Hiring a CEO is a long and arduous process. Companies can’t afford to waste time and money on the wrong candidates. It’s bad enough when someone gets a CEO position and isn’t good at their job. It’s even worse when they have to resign in embarrassment.
More frequently than you might suspect, companies hire someone for a top executive position without doing a thorough background check. Instances like these not only waste company resources, but they hurt the company’s image and make securing top talent in the future harder. Here are a few times a more thorough vetting process could’ve protected a company’s resources and reputation.
Monica Crowley
Monica Crowley was a research assistant to Richard Nixon in the 1990s. She received a PhD from Columbia University in 2000 and was a political commentator for The Wall Street Journal, Fox News and MSNBC, among others. She has published multiple books as well.
When Donald Trump won the presidency he initially nominated Crowley to be the Senior Director of Strategic Communications for the National Security Council. Quickly after her nomination reports began circulating that Crowley had plagiarized large portions of the books she had written.
Initially the Tump administration said they stood by Crowley and that the attacks on her were politically motivated. However more and more evidence of Crowley’s plagiarism began to mount.
Crowley was found to have not only plagiarize portions of her books, but also her PhD dissertation for Columbia University. Harper Collins, Crowley’s book publisher, withdrew her books from being sold and Columbia said they were reviewing their records.
Crowley’s plagiarism went from minor footnote to national spectacle overnight. After standing by Crowley during the initial accusations, the Tump administration ended up withdrawing her nomination. This whole scandal could’ve been avoided with basic cross referencing and data mining.
Gustavo Martinez
Gustavo Martinez was the CEO of J. Watler Thompson, a major company in the advertising industry. JWT has over 10,00 employees working in more than 200 offices across 90 countries.
Martinez is originally from Argentina and became Global President of JWT in 2014. In January of 2015 Martinez was named CEO. Within a year of his promotion, Martinez was named in a lawsuit alleging discrimination by a female employee.
The lawsuit claimed Martinez had made numerous racist remarks during a company meeting. Martinez is said to have told employees to double check their bags and belongings since the hotel where they were staying had so many black people. Martinez is also accused of making comments about raping female employees.
One of the more shocking aspects of this case is the brazenness of Martinez. All of these comments were made in front of large groups of people. His comments about black people potentially stealing employees belongings are even on video. In fact, Martinez had been known to discuss his distaste for Jewish people.
Martinez’s willingness to speak this way publicly surely could have been discovered before he was made CEO. Instead J. Walter Thompson is now engaged in a high profile lawsuit and lost their CEO. Extensive background investigations can protect your company from embarrassing headlines and wasting money fighting lawsuits that should never have happened in the first place.
Scott Thompson
Scott Thompson is an American businessman with an impressive resume. Thompson had a long career in technology before becoming the CEO of Yahoo in 2012. He had been the Executive Vice President of Technology Solutions for Inovant, Chief Information Officer for Barclays Global Investors, Chief Technology Officer and then President of Paypal.
Thompson’s work history made him appear to be the perfect candidate for almost any job in technology. How could he have gotten so many high level technology jobs without any skeletons being rousted from his closet?
Despite his exceptional work history it turns out that Thompson had been falsifying his resume. After six months as the CEO of Yahoo, Thompson was forced to resign after it was discovered he lied about his college education. Thompson claimed to have received bachelor’s degrees in computer science and accounting from Stonehill College.
When Stonehill College was contacted about potential discrepancies on Thompson’s resume, they would only confirm he had received a degree in accounting. Thompson blamed a headhunting firm for the false information, but the firm strongly denied the allegation. Yahoo has been struggling to find stead leadership ever since.
All of these cases share a common theme; they were all 100% avoidable. There is no excuse for hiring a CEO who has to resign in disgrace with a year of employment or even before they begin the job. Private investigation firms like Lauth Investigations International can identity these issues before your company makes a move.
Companies aren’t just wasting time and money on unqualified candidates, but they’re risking their reputations. Appearing dysfunctional is bad for investors and makes it more difficult to secure qualified candidates in the future. Lauth Investigations International has the investigatory skills to protect your business from self-inflicted wounds.
David Schroeder, Blog Writer, Lauth Investigations International
by admin_lauth | Nov 29, 2016 | Corporate Investigations, Tips & Facts
Human Resources has a tough job when it comes to screening future employees. They’re betting on someone whom they’ve only met in person maybe three times. Not every candidate can be a winner, but that doesn’t mean you should accept the losers.
Every business takes on some level of risk when they bring on a new-hire, but how serious is employee theft? The 2015 US Retail Fraud Survey says, “Overall the biggest area of store loss remains employee theft with 38% of respondents citing it as the number one area of store loss and, across first, second and third highest causes of loss, scoring 59 points.” Here are some ways Human Resources can better vet employees and prevent future theft.
Ask tough questions throughout the interview process
Interviewing job candidates is the best chance you’ll get to learn who they are before hiring them. Take advantage of these opportunities to ask candidates tough questions about their past. This may seem like an obvious tip, but it’s one many people can find difficult to execute.
People can be surprisingly candid about things they’ve done in the past and may be more open than one would expect. In these moments of truth human resources is given the opportunity to evaluate the honesty of the candidate.
Follow-up with multiple references
There’s a reason every business asks for multiple references when considering candidates for a position. After you’ve interview a candidate face-to-face you’ll have a better idea of who they are and what questions you still have about them. Following up with a candidate’s references can be very illuminating.
Calling just one or two of the references should not be seen as enough. Every candidate should supply at least three references to be considered for employment. These should be professional references, not friends or family. Call at least three references when considering any candidate.
Use a Private Investigations firm to help
Human Resources departments only have so much manpower they can put towards vetting employees. With all of the duties HR handles it increases the chances that someone will slip through the cracks and get hired when they shouldn’t have.
You might not need them for every candidate, but Private Investigation firms can help any business be certain about the people they’re hiring. When businesses are expanding they may need to hire people rapidly. Instead of asking HR to do more with less, contact a private investigations firm and see how they can help shoulder the load.
For Private Investigation Inquiry contact Thomas Lauth, Lauth Investigations 317-951-1100
David Schroeder, Blog Writer, Lauth Investigations International
by admin_lauth | Nov 29, 2016 | Personal Investigations, Tips & Facts
What good is a child custody agreement if you’re unable to have it properly enforced? Everyone expects or at least hopes the agreement will be respected by both parties, but that isn’t always the case. When you suspect child custody agreement violations and potential abuse, you need to document them and keep records. That may sound like a lot, but here are tips to make keeping records a little easier.
Take pictures
The easiest way to document violations and abuse is by using the camera on your phone to take pictures. If you think you see bruises, cuts, or marks on your child then you should be taking pictures of them. Photographic evidence is some of the strongest evidence one can have.
Timestamps will tell you the date and time the picture was taken. By default most phones have timestamps on every picture they take, but make sure your’s does too. If it doesn’t have timestamps then go into the app store on your phone and find an app that does it. It won’t be hard.
Write down notes and details in a journal or notebook
The details are important in cases of child custody agreement violations and abuse. No matter how good your memory is, recording as much information as soon after it happens as possible will help in court. If you write about the events and pair them with the timestamped photographs it will bolster credibility.
Back-up your data
When are records useless? When they don’t exist. You must back-up all of your data and records. No one thinks it will happen to them, but one power surge and your hard drive is fried. One slip and your phone is shattered on the pavement. Backing-up your files requires little to no extra effort and can be automated on most devices.
If you’re taking pictures on an iPhone, make sure your saving the photos to iCloud. If something happens to your phone you’ll be able to download the photos to a new one or to a computer. On Android and iPhone you can plug your phone into your computer and back it up to the computer’s hard drive. Back-up your data at least once a week and anytime you’re saving something of particular importance.
Hire a private investigator
Proving violations of the agreement and abuse can be difficult. Depending on how often you get to see your child or the time you need to work each week, your ability to track everything your ex is doing might be limited. How can you prove your children are being taken places they’re not allowed to be at?
Private investigators have nothing but time for their clients and can document everything while keeping an eye on your children. If anything happens that violates your custody agreement then it will be documented. If there is abuse happening you will get the proof you need for court. PIs can be your eyes and ears and help you protect your children.
For Private Investigation Inquiry contact Thomas Lauth, Lauth Investigations 317-951-1100
David Schroeder, Blog Writer, Lauth Investigations International
by admin_lauth | Nov 11, 2016 | Private Investigations News, Tips & Facts
The Family Medical Leave Act protects employees positions from termination in the event they have to take time off to care for a sick family member. According to FMLASource as much as 10.7% of the U.S. workforce is on FMLA leave at any given time. While countless employees have benefited from FMLA, others have taken advantage of the program for their own gain. FMLA fraud costs business million. Here’s how you can stop it.
Require proof
If an employee needs to use the FMLA then they should always be required to provide proof of the medical problem causing them to take leave. Workers can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave under FMLA so it’s fair for companies to require employees provide adequate proof. Make sure you comply with state and federal regulations governing what medical records you legally can and can’t ask an employee to provide.
Familiarize employees on FMLA
Is enforcing the Family Medical Leave Act difficult? Not if you have a good team of informed employees. Supervisors being educated about FMLA will make abuse more difficult because the supervisors will know what to look for and how to respond. It will also save time since supervisors will be able to answer employee questions themselves. Keeping other employees informed about FMLA will clear up confusion about what is required for someone to go on leave. Consider training for employees on FMLA.
Take FMLA seriously
Creating an environment that appreciates the seriousness of FLMA will show employees the importance of treating the program with respect. Companies cannot allow FMLA to be treated as a way to get easy time off. Take potential FLMA abuse seriously. Report fraud to the proper authorities and investigate further as needed. It’s unfair to employees and the company when people take advantage of programs like FLMA. It makes it more difficult for honest employees to receive it and costs businesses millions of dollars.
Keep records organized
Kevin McCarthy from the Kalamazoo Human Resource Management Association said, “Many certifications for intermittent leave list the period of the need for the leave as ‘indefinite’ or ‘permanent.’ ..the employee will never have to ask for an extension of the intermittent leave. Unless the employer receives good information that the individual’s medical circumstances have changed significantly or that the need for an intermittent leave is no longer valid, the employee will never have to submit a recertification. In the types of abusive situations discussed above, this is a major problem…”
Employees may only ever file for FMLA once but will remain eligible for the benefits indefinitely. Employers must stay on top of who is and is not certified and for how long. Spread sheets can be particularly helpful for this task. Organizing all of your employees FMLA records into one place will make it easy to quickly identify who is eligible and for how long.
