10 ms·
A note from Keith
- buf 14y agoSaddest news I've read all day. Sex happens. Why ruin someone for this?
- danso 14y agoHuh? From what Keith says, his accuser is claiming that non-consensual acts occurred. Whether that is the case will be up to the courts to decide, but this is not just "Sex happens"
- rhizome 14y agoHe said the suit alleges the relationship was not consensual. There's a difference, and I'm guessing it's oriented around the employment aspect.
- danso 14y agoYes, you're right. The suit apparently alleges that the relationship itself was not consensual. However, that almost necessarily means that acts within that relationship, if they were seen as "necessary to keep the relationship going", would be non-consensual. I don't mean rape (or else I think Keith's response would have a different approach). How Keith describes it, it could be anything relationship-related, just as sexual harassment does not necessarily involve sex.
- buf 14y agoAgain, in any sexual facet not pertaining to rape, I find this news saddening. If I were to enter into a relationship with you, and I said that the only way I would continue the relationship is if you kept it under wraps, then is that really qualification as sexual harassment? The fact that we provide legal representation for people who have the choice to discontinue a relationship is beyond me.
- amackera 14y agoI don't think your example is really what's allegedly happening here. Isn't it implied that the relationship was required in order for the accuser to keep their job?
- jordo37 14y agoIt could very well be the opposite, the case is probably alleging that in order to get / keep the job the accuser had to continue a sexual relationship.
- danso 14y agoActually, I think in many corporate environments, it's OK for pre-existing relationships to continue if both partners end up having jobs at the company...provided they let HR know in advance. I think that this pertains also to relationships that occur during the employment time...because sometimes love just happens. But Keith, according to his note, did not let Square know. And as much as you want to say "what, can't someone's love life be their own business?"...well, not when such an engagement presents legal liabilities and possible conflicts of interests. Even if Keith did nothing wrong toward the accuser, the company can understandably be upset that he did not notify them of the relationship...because stuff like this happens...
- joezydeco 14y agoI'm confused about one detail that either I'm reading wrong, or is missing here. The accuser is claiming that Keith sexually harassed him into interviewing for a job at Square? Or did the harassment start once the accuser was hired? Or both? I'm not sure how the company fits into the picture until the guy was actually hired and working there.
- trompette 14y agoYou don't know what he did to him, maybe that was gay rape!
- kogir 14y agoProof of authenticity? Anyone could have registered that tumblr, and it has no other content. Please leave tabloid gossip to the tabloids until real information is available - and then leave it off HN.
- kevingibbon 14y agoTechcrunch has confirmed it. http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/25/rabois-left-square-over-sexual-harassment-claim/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/25/rabois-left-square-over-sex...
- kogir 14y agoPlease forgive me if I don't count coverage by Techcrunch as verification. Did he tweet it? Link from FB? Send a signed email? It could be legit, but the bar should be higher than this.
- kevingibbon 14y agoEvery tech site is referencing it.
- jorgeortiz85 14y agoKara Swisher says she got the same statement from him. http://allthingsd.com/20130125/keith-rabois-long-statement-on-personal-relationship-with-square-employee-sexual-harassment-claims-that-feels-like-a-shakedown/?mod=tweet http://allthingsd.com/20130125/keith-rabois-long-statement-o...
- selectout 14y agoSad to see things like this happen, but I can't wait to see what he is able to come up with and bring to the world next. He has done amazing jobs in his previous roles and I am excited to see what he brings next from the PayPal Mafia.
- jmcgough 14y agofrom Square: “The first we heard of any of these allegations was when we received the threat of a lawsuit two weeks ago. We took these allegations very seriously and we immediately launched a full investigation to ascertain the facts. While we have not found evidence to support any claims, Keith exercised poor judgment that ultimately undermined his ability to remain an effective leader at Square. We accepted his resignation.”
- jacalata 14y agoIt's interesting that he says Square had no knowledge of the relationship until the lawsuit. I've heard of companies requiring that you tell HR if you are in a relationship with another employee- seems that level of disclosure would be very smart for someone at the top of the company, at least.
- Macsenour 14y agoThat struck me as odd too. When I saw someone I had a single date with was interviewing at the company I worked for, as she left the building I went to HR and told them so that there would be no surprise later. And that was just a single date, not an ongoing relationship.
- danso 14y agoYeah, Keith mentions this fact in an understated way...but it really is a huge part of this drama. From the reading of the news articles, you could argue that even if the sexual harassment charges were dropped, Square would be justified in pushing Keith out for not disclosing this personal conflict-of-interest.
- Macsenour 14y agoI agree, odd that he wouldn't let them know.
- josephlord 14y agoI'm from the UK and that strikes me as bizarre although I understand there is greater concern about these areas in the US. Unless you have hiring responsibility or they are on your direct reporting line I would see no need to report anything (even an ongoing relationship). That may change in the future if things are reorganized and a more direct business relationship is established. Even then with a single date I wouldn't feel any need to report a single date unless they were reporting to me fairly directly and I was covering my ass. A CEO is on everyone's reporting line and is also potentially a target so there is more of a reason for them to be careful and to report things. None of this matters to me know as I'm married and am currently a one man company with no plans for staff growth.
- abraininavat 14y agoTo those of you who immediately believe the tumblr and therefore condemn the accuser as a liar: On what basis do you make your judgment? Do you: 1. Know Keith or the accuser personally, and therefore have the capacity to make an educated guess as to the veracity of the claims? 2. Believe that rich people, well known people, or people with blogs don't have the capacity to do what Keith is accused of doing? 3. Believe the first side of the story you hear in any given situation? If neither 1, 2, nor 3 is the case, I urge you to not jump to conclusions. There's a human being on the other side of the story.
- falcolas 14y agoThere's a human being on both sides of the story here. And being falsely accused of sexual harassment is a painful event. I can't side with either party right now (due to the lack of facts), but I certainly feel more for Keith than I do the other, anonymous party.
- nbashaw 14y agoThat's the point - just because the other party is anonymous doesn't mean they deserve less empathy. Of course, we're biased to the more vivid human character, but it's just a bias. Let's try and correct it with reason.
- reinhardt 14y ago"Of course, we're biased to the more vivid human character" Not really, we're biased to the alleged victim (aka the accuser). Granted, not as much as if it was female but still.
- FireBeyond 14y agoWhy, because they haven't taken to a blog to talk of the emotional turmoil they are suffering through (allegedly) as the result of these actions? If empathy is a car fueled by how vocal you are in expressing yourself, well... that's not so good.
- doe88 14y ago
- danilocampos 14y agoWhat an impossible position. On the one hand – work has become such a big part of our lives. If we make it impossible for romance and work to co-exist, that reduces a lot of surface area for finding long-term romantic partners. On the other – at a certain level of authority and prominence, you just shouldn't have sex with someone you're working with. There's too much that can go wrong. This is the nightmare scenario for at least one of the parties, though we don't know for sure yet who it is. But even if things don't shit the bed quite this bad, you're just asking for awkwardness and trouble in most cases. Impossible.
- johndevor 14y agoAll very true, but this needs to be handled in-house. I think that's the big issue here. Square should have the right to enforce its own policies, not be subjected to legal harassment.
- danilocampos 14y agoThere's so much implicit wrongness in your statement my mind doesn't know where to lock on to respond. Sorry. edit: I figured it out. You seem to desire a world where Square is exalted to some sort of sovereign status, answerable to no law beyond their own policies and procedures. Which is a horrifying state of affairs. If something happened here that is against the law, I am heartened that a legal framework exists to provide remedies. If it did not, I am similarly heartened to note that the accused at least has resources sufficient to mount a defense. We can argue the injustice of a false accusation, if indeed it turns out the accusation was so, but the accused admits maintaining a physical relationship was in poor judgment. This is one of the realities that comes from that level of success. It's a cost of doing business that you must be much, much more cautious in the deployment of your genitals.
- johndevor 14y agoI guess I just don't see who, other than the couple in question, was harmed here. Is the author being intentionally vague about what really happened? Was Square harmed? Was a third party harmed? You seem to desire a world where Square is exalted to some sort of sovereign status, answerable to no law beyond their own policies and procedures. Which is a horrifying state of affairs. Why would it be a horrifying state of affairs? I'm not saying you're wrong, I just don't understand!
- jjb123 14y agoAm I the only one that was confused about that last line of "already working on something new and hope to announce that in February"... He's gone through something as traumatic as a lawsuit, a resignation, potential for trial, potential embarrassment of family, friends, colleagues all in the last two weeks... And his sign-off is that he has, in the midst of it all, already begun to work on a new startup?
- austenallred 14y agoIf so, there's not much I respect more than that.
- felideon 14y agoMaybe that's his therapy for coping. Would you rather him tear his clothes and put sackcloth on his waist?
- r00fus 14y agoNo, but a quiet, brief, wander in the woods is generally what people expect - or a strong victory against the lawsuit.
- jmcqk6 14y ago>No, but a quiet, brief, wander in the woods is generally what people expect People expect stupid things. Everyone copes with adversity differently. Having something to occupy your mind is something I would expect. It doesn't matter as much what it is.
- jjb123 14y agoI can totally understand if it's his therapy, it would likely be mine... That doesn't answer the confusion in a teaser of a big work/unrelated announcement being in there though.
- jmcqk6 14y agoIf it's something you're using to keep your mind off of other things, it seems completely natural to mention it. I really don't see a problem here.
- ucpete 14y agoInteresting to read his note after this infamous story: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/06/masters-their-domain http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/06/masters-their-do...
- sonabinu 14y agothat is very interesting
- zapdrive 14y agolol... why is this comment not on the top of this page?
- irollboozers 14y agowow, I wonder what the backstory is to that incident. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Rabois#Early_life http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Rabois#Early_life
- blackguardx 14y agoMore details: http://news.stanford.edu/pr/92/920212Arc2432.html http://news.stanford.edu/pr/92/920212Arc2432.html
- samstave 14y agoWait, Dean Jackson saw the outburst as a fantastic vehicle to pushing discussion among students? I am confused.
- BHSPitMonkey 14y agoHere's the original report: http://news.stanford.edu/pr/92/920212Arc2432.html http://news.stanford.edu/pr/92/920212Arc2432.html
- samstave 14y agoWTF?! I knew Thiel was gay - and until today had no idea Rabois was as well. The story you linked to is the first time I've seen this and to see that they were some ultra conservative bible toting rebels is... Bizarre. Are they Tech's equivalent of the anti-gay senators caught in rest-stop bathrooms? How weird this got quickly
- kiskis 14y agoofftopic, and i'm not a native english speaker, but he refers to his partner as "he and his". does this mean that it's a gay relationship?
- nathan_f77 14y agoYes.
- trompette 14y agoYes, there are many more gays and vegetarian in anglo-saxon countries.
- run4yourlives 14y agoSeveral months after our relationship began, I recommended that he interview at Square. I don't know Keith, anyone at his company, this story or have any opinion on who did or didn't do what to whom. I will just say this: The quote above, regardless of who says it when, is perhaps the worst business decision a person could ever make. Full Stop. Please, don't do this. Especially if you are the boss.
- danso 14y agoThat, combined with this: > Square did not know of the relationship before a lawsuit was threatened; it came as a complete surprise to the company. Is what makes it "perhaps the worst business decision a person could ever make"
- koide 14y agoEven if they do know, it's still an awful decision to take. The less likely outcome is that everything will go fine forever after. It will very likely either become a mess (awkward situations, loss of job even for third parties, etc.) or a disaster for everyone involved (like a sexual harassment lawsuit.) Espcially if you are the boss. And even more if the person wasn't working there to begin with!
- spuz 14y agoI don't understand. Maybe we have different professional cultures. Why is having an undisclosed relationship with another employee the worst possible business decision? (Certainly in my culture I can think of much worse decisions one person could make).
- zaidf 14y agoI think the general accepted idea that the victim of said offenses should remain anonymous while the accused is outed is very sad and makes little sense. It makes the whole "innocent until proven guilty" idea a joke given the ample data that show permanent damage that mere accusation can cause even if you are proven innocent later.
- brown9-2 14y agoThe accused has outed himself.
- someoneannon 14y agoWhen I was in my very early 20s I had a very bad false accusation made against me. It was the most awful time of my life, an ex who had issues and needed better support than I was able to give made the decision to go to the police with a made up story. I was interviewed and spent the next two weeks on a knife edge but ultimately everything was okay. I was very angry with her for such a long time but now now realise that it wasn't her falt and that the illness she suffered from was to blame. If he is in the same situation that I was in, I can only feel sorry for both parties as it is such a terrible thing to happen. (posting annonamusly for obvious reasons)
- VMG 14y agoGood PR move to write a preemptive blog post. Everybody seems to be on his side without having the details.
- d0m 14y agoIs it considered illegal to have a relationship with someone working at the same company?
- cookiecaper 14y agoNo, but it is illegal to use workplace positions of authority to coerce or pressure subordinates or colleagues into sexual activity. http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sexual_harassment.cfm http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sexual_harassment.cfm
- csense 14y agoTo this, I would add that it's difficult to determine when this has taken place. Often it's a case of "he-said she-said," unless the harasser manages to leave evidence (or in this particular case, "he-said he-said"). The large potential financial payoff from a successful lawsuit gives the accuser a motive to lie or misremember. Also, people are notoriously bad about communicating with each other about relationships. So it's possible that the accuser genuinely thought he was being coerced, when this was not actually the case. I.e. if he'd simply broken up with Mr. Rabois instead of filing a lawsuit, there might have been no work-related consequences whatsoever; but he didn't believe this.
- j98h 14y agowhat this mean "user like this"?? reading the dramatic situation and then view a lots of "user like this". They make me have a little smile, sorry.
- mattdeboard 14y agoIt's a social feature on Tumblr. It's like "Favorite" on Twitter.
- mbell 14y agoI am wildly confused. Who is bringing this lawsuit? The person he had the relationship with? If not, who else and why/how would they have any grounds to do so? EDIT: It appears the relationship ended in December (http://allthingsd.com/20130125/exclusive-interview-keith-rabois-talks-about-sexual-harassment-claims-becoming-a-distraction-at-square-and-whats-next/?mod=tweet http://allthingsd.com/20130125/exclusive-interview-keith-rab...). I guess that that opens up the options for who was possibly behind it and what the possible motivation was.
- rdl 14y agoOMG, that is so fucked up. I can't imagine what Keith is feeling right now. I am sure this will get resolved as well as possible, but even if everything is dropped, it's a huge distraction for him. Keith is an excellent human being and I am confident he acted appropriately (with the exception of being too trusting of this guy, and recommending him for Square, which was probably a mistake, but not a malicious act, rather an overly-generous act). I am confident I would react much more poorly in this situation.
- jusben1369 14y agoIt feels like there are several more shoes to drop still so probably best to hold off too many conclusive judgement calls.
- mwetzler 14y agoCan anyone explain why Keith leaving the company absolves Square of a potential lawsuit? If the company actually did something illegal, isn't the damage already done and still punishable? Seems there are quite a few missing pieces to this story. In any case it's a shame for all involved.
- kevinpet 14y agoI think they could claim not to have had any knowledge of anything until now. It's much easier to sue over things that the company knew about.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- late2part 14y agoAm I the only one that think Square sucks for not standing by their COO against this action that looks like blackmail? His judgement was bad? Enough to fire him over? Or this another case of a corporation putting overly politically correct perception and avoidance of risk beyond taking care of their own? If you believe Mr. Rabois' story, he did nothing wrong, and the allegations are baseless. So, why is Square peeved enough to let him go? I don't believe for an instance that Mr. Rabois is leaving out of altruistic ideals for Square.
- SeoxyS 14y agoI have been refusing to recommend my otherwise perfect-fit girlfriend for a position at my company for precisely this reason. You never know what might happen; and while I love her, I know it's best to keep professional and personal lives apart. You don't shit where you eat. It might sound cliché, but there's truth to it.
- AlexeyBrin 14y agoI've learned a similar lesson the hard way ten years ago. However, in my case there was no lawsuit involved.
- Benoit_ 14y agoI don't understand your reactions. Maybe because I am not from the US. People say: you should NOT hire your partner. So, you should NOT hire friends? So, you should NOT hire people you like? So, you should NOT hire people for who you have any opinion? So, you should NOT have any hobbies other employees can have? Our decisions are obviously biased by our feelings, and it's normal, we want people reliable, people we can trust! What's wrong with that? In some cases, we want objective decisions. In these cases, you should just recognize your incapacity to be unbiased and let other people take the decision. When I read the blog post, Keith didn't seem to have faced a such case, so non-disclosed his relationship seemed to have been the best decision to avoid to influence other people decisions. It's common to meet the "love of our life" where we work, I don't understand why it should be forbidden to those who have a management role.