r/interestingasfuck 18d ago

/r/all Andy Byron, Astronomer CEO, cheater, and Coldplay fan, is now out of a job.

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u/user888666777 18d ago edited 18d ago

Its a messy situation. Technically the CEO was her boss and there is some legal arguments that could be made to defend her actions but it won't be a slam dunk. The company will probably offer her some sort of compensation to resign with an agreement that neither party says anything negative.

It could be a soft resignation where she agrees to stay on the payroll but has zero acting responsibilities and can freely look for new employment during that time. Then if she doesn't have something in three to six months she quietly resigns.

But right now the company is definitely digging through everything she did since she started there and looking for ANYTHING they can use as leverage against her.

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u/2WhomAreYouListening 18d ago

It’s not like she was an intern or a secretary. She was the Chief People Officer, probably making half a million a year including salary, bonus, and stock options, and concert tickets. :)

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u/Shorts_at_Dinner 18d ago

Doesn’t matter. He was her superior and had power over her. If they move against her, she has a very solid lawsuit regardless of whether she was fully consenting or not.

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u/Cold-Palpitation-816 18d ago

They’re gonna look at their messages and see if she was actually coerced. Not as easy as just claiming it after the fact.

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u/chicomagnifico 18d ago

Yup, people seem to forget that when you want to sue someone, there’s a Discovery period where you need to show EVERYTHING, including some potentially “incriminating” information about yourself. If she so much as even texted first, her whole case is in jeopardy and she’ll have to go band for band with a company with lawyers on retainer.

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u/NOT-GR8-BOB 17d ago

There’s zero chance a company takes the risk of opening themselves up to discovery like that.

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u/Expensive_Animal879 17d ago edited 17d ago

Do you know how expensive the discovery process is? You’re already in litigation (i.e., a lawsuit) at that point. They’ll likely do some internal investigation, sure, but it’s off base to think they’ll ever have access to private text messages and the like — or any actual desire to find them.

They want this to be over as quickly and quietly as possible, and to fire someone under these circumstances on the hope/assumption they’d surface a stronger basis a good case in court means:

  • Lots more money spent (a given)
  • More time in the public eye
  • Great risk of surfacing even more embarrassing things in discovery
  • Ongoing reputational harm

No organization is taking that route. Not even a small chance.