351–360 of 1001 posts
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I have it on good authority that all apple employees are trained to not pay any kind of bribes. Didn't realize that training would need to be applied in the states tho
That's bad training. If they are stuck in a country because they won't pay the $20 exit fee because authorizing legislation was not properly adopted, then apple are idiots. It will take one person dying because of this policy for apple to be sued to hell and back.
I used to dream about moving there for tech, but with the high taxes and bureaucracy glad I didn't... Still want to move somewhere with more tech than where I am now though, been flipping back and forth between Austin and Salt Lake City (which looks like I might have a opportunity lined up for early next year!). Seems like Utah is growing for tech, 2 hour flight from SV so investors like that since they could fly early in the morning, do some business deals and fly back for dinner.
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...any legal reason... Actually, denying the permit via an illegal action (requesting a bribe) is not a lawful denial and would result in the violation of your equal protection rights.
They do not have to provide the reason. Does it matter if the real reason is illegal?
If you weren't propositioned with a bribe, then true, it wouldn't be apparent why you were denied.
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I've gone through various "International Training" sessions at my company and one of the things they teach is that if a foreign official says something like, "hmmm... your papers are invalid, but I can help you out for $100" or similar, you should pay and immediately report (and expense) it on return. I know one coworker who went through this traveling through a small country.
That is illegal according to US law. At my company, we are explicitly taught the opposite: paying "facilitation fees" is prohibited and illegal and that the employer will fire you and throw you under the bus if they find out you did so. They explicitly mention that this is not allowed even if it is the norm in the country in which you are doing business.
Whether it's legal or illegal is almost aside the point, someone can choose between either breaking some arcane, unenforced US law, or potentially spending months/years in some hellhole of a third-world jail or prison while the Embassy slowly negotiates a release. And in some places, that's assuming someone doesn't just "disappear" or get robbed and shot on the spot.
It'd often be better to get fired and federally charged than to risk what your company advocates. In a worst case scenario, at least you know what you're getting, at least you'll have competent legal defense, and at least there will be a high -- virtually unprovable -- standard of evidence required for a federal jury to indict.
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> How do you know which one to choose? In Apple's case, you could refer back to Apple's business conduct training program, a self directed online class which ALL of us are REQUIRED to pass ANNUALLY, and which states in no uncertain terms that NOTHING of value may be paid to a government official without prior approval from higher up, and describes precisely such "facilitation fees". And if the article is to be believ…
>General Counsel once created a backdated paper trail for a fictitious meeting of the executive team More on that Story?
I actually met Heinen on my first day at work — back then, Apple was small enough that it was customary for a member of the executive team to drop in to new employee orientation each Monday.
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The individual was arranging a donation to be provided by the company, which only didn't happen because of the investigation itself. That is, the bribe would have been paid by Apple.
But it probably had no idea that it was part of a bribe. How could it?
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"That is illegal according to US law." Can I ask if you are an attorney - because this is absolutely 100% false. You are spreading misinformation here. If your employer fires you for paying a facilitation fee to advance a routine govt action or travel then you should absolutely sue them.
> The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 is a United States federal law that prohibits U.S. citizens and entities from bribing foreign government officials to benefit their business interests. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Corrupt_Practices_Act
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> non-essential Having weapons for your security officers is quite essential, especially for a company as high profile as Apple.
That doesn't require a CCW. The guards could easily get exposed firearms permits. They need the CCWs to carry concealed and off duty.
CCW is the only option, and they were holding this guy hostage by not issuing one when it was obviously necessary and appropriate.
[1] - https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/faqs/can-i-openly-carry-a-gun-i...
Can't believe all the Apple apologists here. Bribing public officials is a crime, period. It isn't an "unfortunate situation" or anything else that people are calling it. It also doesn't matter who initiated the bribe. The employee, and potentially the company itself, absolutely need to be charged and prosecuted for it.
I disagree. I dislike Apple's practices as much as anyone, but when the #2 person at the sheriff's office is the one soliciting the bribe, you have a problem with the police department that even Apple cannot be expected to fix. You can argue that they should have gone straight to the DA, and you might even be right, but the only way for this problem to get fixed is by cleaning house at the police department, not by s…
The issue here at the end of the day is that getting a CCW is up to the whim of the local police. Either the federal government or the state government should present a well documented procedure for this that is not susceptible to the whims of a local official.