6 ms·

> In at least some cases, Hampton Creek lumped in expenses related to buying its own products with wages paid to contractors, according to five former workers.

by themgt 10y ago

> In at least some cases, Hampton Creek lumped in expenses related to buying its own products with wages paid to contractors, according to five former workers. All five said money they were given to buy jars of Just Mayo were treated as taxable income, making them liable for a higher tax bill than their actual earnings would require. One former contractor provided H&R Block tax records showing this to be the case. Another Creeker asked the company in an e-mail to separate the expenses from taxable income. But the request was ignored, the contractor said. Hampton creek declined to comment about the alleged practice. Sketchy and unacceptable

mathattack 10y ago
Worse than sketchy - it's fraud. People should go to jail for this.
- conover 10y ago
  That's a bit extreme. Non-violent crime and all. A fine perhaps.
  - Normal_gaussian 10y ago
    I'm not so sure. It is obviously fraud, and couldn't appear not to be that way for the perpetrators. So if they only face fines it makes sense for them to weigh up the potential gains against losses - and its not just flat cash. On top of that bear in mind that high sales figures will allow them to grow faster - you can't fine growth very easily.
  - mathattack 10y ago
    Defrauding investors is a serious crime. Think of the widows and orphans and their pension funds. :-)
  - gremlinsinc 10y ago
    Lots of non-violent people go to jail for marijuana use as an example... Lots of violent destructive people never see jail -- you know the kind of people that forcefully take homes and money from people with the help of the sheriff because they knowingly sold homes to them that they couldn't afford..
    - nwah1 10y ago
      This is the worst argument, though, if your point is to argue that these people ought to be in prison. Many non-violent crimes that people go to jail for are activities which should never have been made into crimes in the first place. And if you extend this out, you start to wonder just how many non-violent crimes ought to be punishable with prison. The shoplifting example, for instance, might be something that should only be a civil penalty rather than criminal, as long as it isn't armed robbery. It's hard to know where to draw the line, but if you want these people to go to prison, then don't highlight crimes that the majority of Americans now think shouldn't be crimes.
  - cylinder 10y ago
    I'm willing to bet you'd put a shoplifter in prison for stealing a computer. This type of fraud is a much bigger theft.
  - brazzledazzle 10y ago
    I'd agree if it was just defrauding investors (assuming they valued the company based on this and had no knowledge of it) or the stores (assuming there were contracts forbidding it). But they also screwed their employees by paying out the expenses as salary. Personally I'm a bit less forgiving when it comes to employers defrauding employees. The power disparity and all.
homegarlic 10y ago
Almost anyone in a highly competitive market doesn't play by the rules. Isn't it sketchy when egg-carton has a chicken freely roaming the grass on it? Isn't it sketchy to write cage-free when the chicken is in a dark large container clumped together with hundreds of other chickens? They are selling a product that has to compete with billion-dollar businesses that already have plenty of sketchy and untruthful marketing. They spent a meager 77k on this and somehow that is unacceptable. It's just the same if not less worse than what their competition does.
- thieving_magpie 10y ago
  It's sketchy to call egg-free-white-flavored-oil-mix Mayo. It's sketchy to put a giant egg on your egg-free mayo. "While Just Mayo is egg-free, Hampton Creek Chief Executive Josh Tetrick also emphasized that it doesn’t use the term “mayonnaise,” only “mayo.”" It's mayo, not mayonnaise you silly consumers. http://www.wsj.com/articles/just-mayo-reaches-agreement-with-fda-to-keep-name-change-label-1450394163 http://www.wsj.com/articles/just-mayo-reaches-agreement-with... edit: You know, of all the things I could comment I talk about eggless f'ng mayo. I wish I could delete this :)
  - homegarlic 10y ago
    I did mention that the sketchiness is at least on the same level. In my opinion, sketchiness of the billion-dollar egg-dairy-meat industry is far above Hampton Creek marketing.
    - thieving_magpie 10y ago
      Yeah, I wouldn't disagree with that though I'm far from knowledgeable.
  - Shog9 10y ago
    Meh. Mayonnaise is mostly emulsified oil anyway. The egg helps emulsify it and adds a bit of flavor, but it ain't like you're eating much egg on your sandwich or salad. Which is fine; oil is tasty. I'm sure Just Mayo tastes fine. The misleading marketing (trumpeting health benefits or - like our parent post - less animal cruelty) is fairly ridiculous though.

by themgt 10y ago

mathattack 10y ago

Worse than sketchy - it's fraud. People should go to jail for this.

conover 10y ago
That's a bit extreme. Non-violent crime and all. A fine perhaps.
- Normal_gaussian 10y ago
  I'm not so sure. It is obviously fraud, and couldn't appear not to be that way for the perpetrators. So if they only face fines it makes sense for them to weigh up the potential gains against losses - and its not just flat cash. On top of that bear in mind that high sales figures will allow them to grow faster - you can't fine growth very easily.
- mathattack 10y ago
  Defrauding investors is a serious crime. Think of the widows and orphans and their pension funds. :-)
- gremlinsinc 10y ago
  Lots of non-violent people go to jail for marijuana use as an example... Lots of violent destructive people never see jail -- you know the kind of people that forcefully take homes and money from people with the help of the sheriff because they knowingly sold homes to them that they couldn't afford..
  - nwah1 10y ago
    This is the worst argument, though, if your point is to argue that these people ought to be in prison. Many non-violent crimes that people go to jail for are activities which should never have been made into crimes in the first place. And if you extend this out, you start to wonder just how many non-violent crimes ought to be punishable with prison. The shoplifting example, for instance, might be something that should only be a civil penalty rather than criminal, as long as it isn't armed robbery. It's hard to know where to draw the line, but if you want these people to go to prison, then don't highlight crimes that the majority of Americans now think shouldn't be crimes.
- cylinder 10y ago
  I'm willing to bet you'd put a shoplifter in prison for stealing a computer. This type of fraud is a much bigger theft.
- brazzledazzle 10y ago
  I'd agree if it was just defrauding investors (assuming they valued the company based on this and had no knowledge of it) or the stores (assuming there were contracts forbidding it). But they also screwed their employees by paying out the expenses as salary. Personally I'm a bit less forgiving when it comes to employers defrauding employees. The power disparity and all.

homegarlic 10y ago

Almost anyone in a highly competitive market doesn't play by the rules. Isn't it sketchy when egg-carton has a chicken freely roaming the grass on it? Isn't it sketchy to write cage-free when the chicken is in a dark large container clumped together with hundreds of other chickens? They are selling a product that has to compete with billion-dollar businesses that already have plenty of sketchy and untruthful marketing. They spent a meager 77k on this and somehow that is unacceptable. It's just the same if not less worse than what their competition does.

thieving_magpie 10y ago
It's sketchy to call egg-free-white-flavored-oil-mix Mayo. It's sketchy to put a giant egg on your egg-free mayo. "While Just Mayo is egg-free, Hampton Creek Chief Executive Josh Tetrick also emphasized that it doesn’t use the term “mayonnaise,” only “mayo.”" It's mayo, not mayonnaise you silly consumers. http://www.wsj.com/articles/just-mayo-reaches-agreement-with-fda-to-keep-name-change-label-1450394163 http://www.wsj.com/articles/just-mayo-reaches-agreement-with... edit: You know, of all the things I could comment I talk about eggless f'ng mayo. I wish I could delete this :)
- homegarlic 10y ago
  I did mention that the sketchiness is at least on the same level. In my opinion, sketchiness of the billion-dollar egg-dairy-meat industry is far above Hampton Creek marketing.
  - thieving_magpie 10y ago
    Yeah, I wouldn't disagree with that though I'm far from knowledgeable.
- Shog9 10y ago
  Meh. Mayonnaise is mostly emulsified oil anyway. The egg helps emulsify it and adds a bit of flavor, but it ain't like you're eating much egg on your sandwich or salad. Which is fine; oil is tasty. I'm sure Just Mayo tastes fine. The misleading marketing (trumpeting health benefits or - like our parent post - less animal cruelty) is fairly ridiculous though.