LIGHT FINGERS/ SLIPPERY SLOPE
"Of course, I knew it was wrong to let my client run a Ponzi scheme. ... But knowing right from wrong wasn't enough."
- Ex-broker Justin Paperny , convicted of securities fraud, on how easy it is to commit white-collar crime.
But in case you think misconduct is limited to the Bernie Madoffs of the world, ABC News reports that only 18 per cent of fraud is committed by senior management. Stealing usually begins unintentionally, but once an employee starts it's hard to stop.
Judges, however, are unlikely to accept weak willpower as a defence.
SCANNER SECRETS / A HIDDEN RECORD
Yet another reason why it's unwise to scan your face (or other body parts) on the office copier: Unbeknownst to most people, almost every photocopier built since 2002 contains a hard drive that saves every scan, fax and copy it makes, CBS News reports.
Used copy machines, stored for resale, have been found to contain extremely sensitive information, including lists of wanted sex offenders and targets of a major drug raid from a copier once used by police, as well as individuals' social security numbers and medical records.
And to think that all this time you suspected it was the office gossip spilling your secrets.
BY THE NUMBERS/EGOSURFING
69: Percentage of U.S. workers polled by specialized staffing firm Accountemps who say they've "egosurfed" - searched their own names online
31: Percentage who say they've never looked themselves up on the Internet
While egosurfing may sound narcissistic, it's actually a good idea to know what's out there about you, says the Accountemps report, which surveyed 443 full- and part-time workers. That way you might be able to delete online information about yourself that bosses, prospective employers and clients might consider unprofessional or controversial.
VOLCANO AFTERBURN / NO PAYCHEQUE
Couldn't make it back to the office because the Icelandic volcano left you stranded? Tough luck. Your company may not pay you for taking the time off, the U.K.'s HR Magazine says.
Legal experts say companies have no legal obligation to pay employees who were stuck overseas.
"Just because the employee is not able to come to work because of these extenuating circumstances, their absence has, strictly speaking, not been authorized and there is no entitlement to pay," Jacqueline McCluskey, of international law firm HBJ Gateley Wareing, told the magazine.
Which pretty much makes all that time you spent grounded at a crowded, foreign airport the worst unpaid vacation ever.