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posted by Fnord666 on Friday December 01 2017, @12:03PM   Printer-friendly
from the not-an-essential-relationship dept.

Andy Rubin has taken a leave of absence from Essential Products following the disclosure of the circumstances of his departure from Google:

Essential founder and CEO Andy Rubin has taken a leave of absence from his new company for "personal reasons" following a report on the circumstances of his 2014 departure from Google. According to The Information, Rubin left Google shortly after an investigation found that he had maintained an "inappropriate relationship" with a woman who worked under him and filed a complaint to HR.

The nature of that relationship isn't detailed in the report, and Rubin's spokesperson Mike Sitrick denies the connection. "Any relationship that Mr. Rubin had while at Google was consensual," Sitrick tells The Information. "Mr. Rubin was never told by Google that he engaged in any misconduct while at Google and he did not, either while at Google or since." Rubin is said to have told Essential employees of his leave of absence on Monday after The Information informed Sitrick of its story.

The Information's information about the matter is not extensive. Here is the important paragraph:

Google initiated its investigation after an employee complained to the company's Human Resources division about her relationship with Mr. Rubin, according to three people familiar with the matter. The people declined to elaborate on the specific nature of the woman's complaint against Mr. Rubin.

Essential Products released a high-end Android smartphone in May and will release a "smart" speaker later this year.

Also at Engadget, 9to5Google, and Fast Company.

Update: Here is Essential's Bi-weekly AMA where they basically assured users that the company is still operating, business as usual.


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  • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday December 01 2017, @10:11PM

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Friday December 01 2017, @10:11PM (#604069)

    Maybe America wouldn't do it well, since America doesn't do most other government services competently either, but it should work well in other (better-run) nations like Japan. (Proof that Japan is far better run: ride the DC and NYC subways for a while, and Amtrak too. Now go to Japan and ride the trains there. They issue deep apologies for being a few *seconds* off-schedule. In the US, you're lucky if the train even shows up sometimes. and fatal accidents even happen now and then.)

    The only government service that America seems to do reasonably well is the USPS. It wouldn't even be very expensive if we weren't subsidizing all the small packages sent from China.

    As for poor management in CPS, I think one part of the problem is societal, and it's the same problem we have in public schools: these jobs aren't prestigious, nor do they pay very well, so you get lousy people doing them. CPS generally relies on foster care, where families (amateurs again) take in kids into their private homes, in exchange for a small paycheck. You're not going to get great foster parents that way, just like you aren't going to get great elementary-grade teachers by offering $20k/year. In a future society where all kids are raised by the state, these jobs would be prestigious and well-funded and the best people (those who really want to be around kids) would be selected for them. Remember, these days, if someone really likes kids a lot, they usually just make their own and concentrate most of their effort on them. That's good for the individual I guess, but not so great for society at large. with so many other parents being people who don't really like kids that much (their kids were accidents) and not being well-trained to be care-givers.

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