Apple fired the father of the viral YouTuber

[deany]

A lot of things don't add up here.

After the embarrassing leaks prior to Steve Jobs Theatre event you have to ask whether these were crocodile tears and this whole thing was a stunt to show apple are back in control of their security.

 

[unibility]

One would hope any Apple employee being filmed would have warned her father about the ramifications from posting said video.

 

[fischersd]

I can't get over the people arguing that Apple's actions were too severe....or that this shouldn't happen in this era, as Steve's gone. Guys, this is the norm in the tech industry. You sign an NDA when you're hired. Most big companies have employment agreements you have to review and sign each and every year. Then to get pre-release (alpha or beta) devices, you have to sign another NDA. Many, many times it's drilled into you "You leak, you're no longer employed here".

As for those thinking he can take his company secrets and peddle them elsewhere. I guess you've never heard about patents. Or liability. To say nothing of the employment agreement he's signed. I don't know what Apple's limit is, but I know Microsoft used to have veto power over anywhere you wanted to work for 5 years after you left the company. If he's foolish enough to divulge Apple's intellectual property then he'll be unemployed and filing for bankruptcy.

I really don't think you guys appreciate the level of incompetence that's required on his part to have allowed this to happen.

 

[Switchback666]

Jobs was turning on his grave while the video uploaded.

 

[Jax44]

Every single video ever take on a big ol’ DSLR gets automatically posted to YouTube? Poor guy probably thought it was just for a home video. She’s probably always filming.

I understand rules are rules but this phone was no secret and many were photographed and videoed out in the wild already... I think Apple could have showed some leniency here. It’s not like anything they release is a secret any more, so they’re doing a crappy job of being a super secretive company as it is. Don’t try to come off as a super secretive company when any schmuck with access to the Internet knows exactly what you’re releasing months before jacka$$es

It was probably the notes page, secret project names, code on the edge of the phone, etc. that really got him in dutch.

 

[swinery]

dude is rich looking at their house

richer than 99% of ppl on this forum after shelling out the cash for the iphone x imo

 

[Steve686]

Outcome if this was Jony Ives’s daughter?

 

[JPack]

Outcome if this was Jony Ives’s daughter?

HR would mark the departure as "Voluntary leave of absence" instead of "termination."

 

[Menel]

I doubt the father is clueless.
The man was an engineer at Apple....

He has a kid. He obviously cares for his kid, and was willing to break to rules for her.
You sound incredibly bitter....which is strange, because the man who just lost his job, is at peace with the outcome. lol

Is he? I havent seen him speak up.

 

[Steve686]

HR would mark the departure as "Voluntary leave of absence" instead of "termination."

I also wonder what severance package employees receive on top of an embargo from being hired at competitors.

Stock options rescinded for NDA terminations?

 

[fischersd]

I also wonder what severance package employees receive on top of an embargo from being hired at competitors.c
Stock options rescinded for NDA terminations?

They'd likely still get their full severance, but, yeah, stock options not activated yet would be null/void.

The "what if's" are kinda pointless (Jony's daughter), but in this case I'll tell you - Jony is a C-level, that mean's he's an officer of the company. That means any actions he takes the company is actually liable for. Officers of the company ARE the company, so if Jony held a press conference and let everyone play with the X device and video it, no actions would come of it, as he has the authority to do so.

Now, is Jony stupid enough to do something Tim would frown on? Obviously not. None of the senior leaders are (obviously) as careless as this engineer is.

 

[touchme89]

The video showed Apple Pay working rather well with Face ID, looks pretty seamless to me

 

[JPack]

I also wonder what severance package employees receive on top of an embargo from being hired at competitors.

Stock options rescinded for NDA terminations?

It would be considered termination for cause. Most employees don't get much. No severance obviously.

SVP offer letter:
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/320193/000119312515023697/d835533dex1014.htm

 

[davidjearly]

Horrible decision from Apple.

 

[Steve686]

Horrible decision from Apple.

Legally, they most likely were left with no choice.

If another employee were terminated under similar circumstances and this girl’s father wasn’t...

 

[Jett0516]

Shame. And the dad is at fault.

When you’re hired to work for big corporations..the first thing they’ll tell you is not to post sensitive info to social media. It’s a definite no no.

 

[JPack]

Legally, they most likely were left with no choice.

If another employee were terminated under similar circumstances and this girl’s father wasn’t...

California is an at-will employment state.

An employer can terminate for any reason without warning.

The decision of separation was entirely up to Apple to make.

 

[fischersd]

California is an at-will employment state.

An employer can terminate for any reason without warning.

The decision of separation was entirely up to Apple to make.

That's the same up here. You just give them 4 weeks of severance for every year of service - that's pretty much what they would get in a wrongful termination settlement, so any labour lawyer would tell them to take the severance package and save their money.

 

[JPack]

That's the same up here. You just give them 4 weeks of severance for every year of service - that's pretty much what they would get in a wrongful termination settlement, so any labour lawyer would tell them to take the severance package and save their money.

It’s actually not the same.

At-will means no warning required. Which means no severance pay.

 

[fischersd]

It’s actually not the same.

At-will means no warning required. Which means no severance pay.

Yeah, but it's also "lawsuit happy California" - so people are prone to litigate. Many corporations would just give severance to eliminate any potential litigation - it's cheaper.

 

[jettie1767]

You violate policy, it's ground for termination. Not at all severe as he clearly violated his NDA. All major companies do this especially on Wall St. and IT.

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

She didn’t have to be aware of the rules. She wasn’t the employee.

Her father was the one who signed the NDA. Her father was the one who violated it.

I highly doubt he was unclear on the parameters.

Agreed.

Most NDA’s cover more than just the employee’s direct actions. You are obligated to protect the INFO you are entrusted with, inclusive of not allowing that info to be disseminated through actions you can reasonably control. All the ones I’ve signed state this. I have to take pictures of office interior spaces every day as part of my job. These pics will include the occasional stack of papers, a computer screen running an app, a product prototype or pending marketing storyboards, etc. I’ve seen a lot of stuff that wasn’t meant for consumer viewing just yet...totally by virtue of me having to photograph before/after shots of office interiors (my company specializes in office renovations). So even while I’m personally responsible for protection of anything I capture by accident, I’m equally responsible for any of my employees, suppliers...and yes, even family members....who happen to see this same information and then would leak it. Doesn’t haven’t to be intentional.

He was responsible for how that device was seen/used in public. I’ve no idea what his particular NDA stated, but I’m sure they had rules governing the use/public display of pre-release equipment. Innocent mistake or not....NDA’s exist for a reason. Given how valuable advertising impressions could be for showing a pre-release item from Apple, he effectively reduced some potential value that was Apple’s to own/grant as they saw fit. Sucks for him, and I’m sure his daughter feels bad about it also.

 

[cwwilson]

They should consider themselves lucky that Tim is in charge and not Steve. Were this to happen to under Steve’s watch, he would have sent in his henchmen to “take care” of the situation. I’ll leave it up to you to determine what that means.

Tim showed mercy, and simply fired the father responsible. He’s still alive at least.

 

[Zxxv]

Outcome if this was Jony Ives’s daughter?

Not that stupid to do it in the first place.

 

[JPack]

Yeah, but it's also "lawsuit happy California" - so people are prone to litigate. Many corporations would just give severance to eliminate any potential litigation - it's cheaper.

Unlike Canada, there is no presumption of continued employment in California.

As a result, there is no situation of ambiguity regarding severance pay for most CA companies. If it’s not written in the agreement, there is none. The employer will also ask employees to sign an at-will statement. You can try to sue any employer, but it’s not going to work.

Below is a page from the world’s largest HR professional society.
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandto...s/pages/employment-at-will-in-california.aspx