[omginternets]

I wonder, would one have legal recourse in such a case? Is it conceivable, in principle, to seek remedy for damages arising from your stunted career?

Any litigation experts care to weigh in? What would need to be established beyond the obvious (e.g. that damages were committed)? Has anything of this sort occurred in the past?

[shimon]

It's not likely that any of these employees can reasonably claim a tort or breach of contract here. The company messed up, but luckily it's not illegal to disappoint your employees.

Not that I think Theranos should not face some consequences, I just think drawing the line would be highly fraught.

[omginternets]

Well my reasoning was that Theranos' criminal fraud might taint a given employee's CV. It seems like prima facie it might be possible to argue that this translates into monetary damages.

[HarryHirsch]

If you hung around for too long at the place that might signal the capacity to put up with institutional corruption. It's a character trait viewed positively in some places.

[frozenport]

Back to academia with you!

[hueving]

It's your choice to continue working at the company during hints of fraud. Anyone concerned about it tainting their future should have left 6 months ago.

[adevine]

Thank god this is not possible. Every employee that joined a failed company would have the potential for litigation.

Also, I think the fundamental premise that working for a failed or even fraudulent company would taint your resume is false, unless you were at a level where you were responsible for some of those fraudulent decisions. If some company is looking for a lab tech they would be stupid to write someone off just because they worked for Theranos.

[Grishnakh]

No, it's too bad it isn't possible. This isn't about a "failed company", this is about outright fraud. Having Theranos on your resume now is going to be a huge resume stain, and probably prevent you from getting any kind of decent job. It's completely normal for hiring managers to discriminate based on odd factors like this: what school you went to, what other companies you worked for, etc.

These employees absolutely should be able to sue for damages. They aren't responsible for their executives' fraudulent actions, but they're harmed by them.

[adevine]

> Having Theranos on your resume now is going to be a huge resume stain, and probably prevent you from getting any kind of decent job.

From my own history I've seen this to be false. I was previously at a place that had a lot of ex-Enron employees (after Enron imploded). I think most smart employers understand the vast majority of people at places like Enron or Theranos are not "tainted" by their employment and just had the misfortune of working for a company with ethically challenged management.

[fsloth]

"seek remedy for damages arising from your stunted career"

Stunted career? As adults I'm sure they would have been capable of leaving any time they wanted from legal point of view. It's not goverments job to protect people from partaking in risky ventures. Who would want to create a startup after litigating "too risky product that turned out to be bogus".

[Broken_Hippo]

Only it doesn't really work like that. A lot of the employees would have been innocent. Secretaries, lab workers, mechanics, janitors, scientists. These weren't risky ventures, they were a job. While they might have been able to leave at any time from a legal point of view, not all of them would have known that it was that risky. You know, because it is a job. It is a bit different if you are investing money in it, getting paid less, and so on.

And lets not forget this wasn't really a small operation: Over 300 employees. Multiple cities.

And the government does do some things to protect workers - such as unemployment and labor laws. But again, this is different than protecting risky investments. I'd even argue that this is partly the governments job by requiring disclosure of known risks and by prosecuting folks taking advantage of others - the rest is the discretion of the money holder.

[harry8]

I wonder how many of them knew and were accessories to whatever crime took place, be that legal or (merely) ethical.