Monday, January 22, 2018

The 3rd nominee for the “worst employer of 2018” is … the camera creep


The third nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 might be the creepiest I’ve shared yet.

From the Tampa Bay Times (c/o the ABA Journal):
Attorney James Patrick Stanton, accused of secretly videotaping nude and partially clothed female employees of a Tampa company, has agreed to never practice law again in Florida. 
Before a brief hearing today, Stanton signed a consent to disbarment. … 
Among those expected to testify at the hearing was former MaintenX enployee Jeremy Lenkowski, who was repairing Stanton’s laptop in 2010 when found the videos. … 
After leaving the company in 2014, Lenkowski turned the videos over to Tampa police, who arrested Stanton on 123 felony counts of video voyeurism. Prosecutors reduced the charges to misdemeanors, and a judge dismissed them altogether after Stanton’s lawyers argued that the statute of limitations had expired. … 
In 2014, five “Janes Does” sued Stanton, MaintenX and other defendants in Hillsborough County Circuit Court. A Tampa attorney representing the women, Steven Parker, said today that the claims against Stanton had been settled confidentially but that neither he nor the women could comment.

And while this is all very disturbing, it’s what I omitted that earns Stanton’s employer, MaintenX, its nomination:
In a lawsuit he later filed, Lenkowski said he told top MaintenX executives about the videotapes but said nothing was done by the company except to remove the cameras and instruct Stanton to get counseling.

If your learn an employee has secretly videotaped women showering, going to the bathroom, and changing clothes at work, and your only reaction is to remove the cameras and send the employee to counseling, you might be the worst employer of 2018.