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Zenefits Software Helped Brokers Cheat On Licensing Process. how screwed?

buzzfeed.com Zenefits Software Helped Brokers Cheat On Lice...
Wonderful pale theater karate
  02/12/16
Major headache, not screwed. This explains why the CEO resi...
Heady Boltzmann
  02/12/16
LJL. there were literally hundreds of felonies committed. so...
brindle national security agency
  02/12/16
So in other words it could go either way
Wonderful pale theater karate
  02/12/16
Move fast and break stuff -- like the law.
olive costumed theater stage
  02/12/16
funny how a bunch of pencilneck SV dorks are the only outlaw...
ultramarine filthy abode coldplay fan
  02/23/17
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/technology/zenefits-scanda...
Wonderful pale theater karate
  02/19/16
Growth broke stuff. To increase revenue, the company moved b...
Wonderful pale theater karate
  02/19/16
I always thought this company was the craziest one - from no...
Chocolate mad-dog skullcap
  02/19/16
in your opinion how much does this hurt them
Wonderful pale theater karate
  02/19/16
Hurt implies the destruction of value, which means there act...
Chocolate mad-dog skullcap
  02/19/16
Lol
Wonderful pale theater karate
  02/19/16
https://youtu.be/SWIwl7uXqPA?t=1h6m24s
Chocolate mad-dog skullcap
  02/26/17
LOL this is like the tech version of VW cheating on diesel e...
Snowy Forum
  02/19/16
Here come all the other pieces to chip way at the company: h...
Wonderful pale theater karate
  02/23/16
A year and three CEOs later and half of their workforce has ...
Wonderful pale theater karate
  02/23/17
screwy, but all that shit is brainless makework with no rele...
ultramarine filthy abode coldplay fan
  02/23/17


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Date: February 12th, 2016 1:03 PM
Author: Wonderful pale theater karate

buzzfeed.com

Zenefits Software Helped Brokers Cheat On Licensing Process

William Alden

Getty Images

Parker Conrad, the co-founder and former CEO of Zenefits.

Zenefits, the $4.5 billion startup whose CEO resigned this week, created a secret software tool to let California sales reps fake the completion of an online training course that health insurance brokers must take before getting a license, according to an email sent to staff on Thursday.

The program, known as a macro, made it appear that aspiring health insurance brokers were completing a mandatory online course, while in fact allowing them to spend less than the legally required 52 hours on the training, said David Sacks, who took over as Zenefits CEO this week, in the staff email.

After they faked the training course, sales reps were directed to sign a certification, under penalty of perjury, that they had spent the required 52 hours doing the work, a lawyer for Sacks told BuzzFeed News.

The revelation of the existence of the program raises serious questions about the credentials of Zenefits brokers in California, the company's biggest market, and points to potential legal trouble. The discovery of the program led directly to the ouster this week of Parker Conrad, the Zenefits co-founder and CEO, the lawyer said.

The San Francisco–based Zenefits, an intermediary in the health insurance business, opened an internal investigation after BuzzFeed News reported last fall that it repeatedly failed to enforce legal requirements that anyone selling a health insurance policy have an appropriate state license. That was how executives discovered the macro, which Conrad had created based on a belief that 52 hours was too long to spend in training, the lawyer for Sacks said.

In late January, according to the lawyer, Sacks, who was then the chief operating officer, learned that the program not only allowed brokers to fake the training but also directed them to make a certification under penalty of perjury that they had done so.

Zenefits voluntarily submitted its findings to regulators, Sacks told staff on Thursday. As BuzzFeed News reported, the California Department of Insurance is investigating whether Zenefits complied with laws and regulations in California.

Sacks said Zenefits had "terminated leaders who created, propagated and encouraged the use" of the macro program, and that "we will take additional disciplinary steps as necessary to address the issue." He added that use of the software on the Zenefits network had been disabled.

The program kept sales reps logged into the training course and prevented them from being logged out due to inactivity, Sacks said. It did not walk them through the required learning material or quizzes. Sacks added that this program did not pertain to the broker exam, a later step in the process.

"We are developing a comprehensive remediation and retraining program for all licensed employees who obtained and used the Macro in connection with their California resident broker license," Sacks said in the email. "We will work with the Department of Insurance on the development of those remedial measures."

"The company takes full responsibility for its actions regarding the Macro," he continued. "While we are taking the appropriate disciplinary action against the leaders in this Macro issue, the company is focused on remediation rather than discipline with all of the other employees who used the Macro at the direction of the company. As part of our commitment to our employees, we are hiring an attorney to provide counseling and advice to individual employees on these licensing issues."

Conrad could not immediately be reached for comment.

All-

As you may have seen, the California Department of Insurance has begun an investigation of licensing issues at Zenefits that we self-reported. We welcome this announcement and intend to fully cooperate with the Commissioner’s investigation. We are committed to full remediation and ensuring complete compliance with all licensing requirements.

I want to share with you a serious issue that we self-reported to the Department. Many of our California sales representatives received access to a software tool called a “Macro” that may have allowed them to complete mandatory online pre-licensing education courses offered by a third-party test preparation provider in less than the legally required 52 total hours. The Macro functioned to keep a person logged into the course and prevented the person from being logged out for inactivity. The Macro did not advance through the required material or quizzes in the education course -- the Macro only kept the person logged in. The Macro only pertained to the prelicensing education course and did not affect the broker exam taken later. Use of the Macro enabled -- but did not cause -- a person to spend less than the 52 hours of required time in the prelicensing course.

The company launched an internal investigation of the use of the Macro within the company. Based on the results of that ongoing investigation, we have already taken the following actions:

1) We informed the California Department of Insurance about the Macro issue. Again, we welcome the Department’s investigation and will be fully cooperating with that process.

2) We have terminated leaders who created, propagated and encouraged the use of the Macro, and we will take additional disciplinary steps as necessary to address the issue.

3) We have disabled the use of iMacros on the Zenefits network or on Zenefits-issued devices.

4) We are developing a comprehensive remediation and retraining program for all licensed employees who obtained and used the Macro in connection with their California resident broker license. We will work with the Department of Insurance on the development of those remedial measures.

The company takes full responsibility for its actions regarding the Macro. As I said in my email to you on Day 1, the company did not have in place the proper systems, processes, and culture to ensure broker licensing compliance. While we are taking the appropriate disciplinary action against the leaders in this Macro issue, the company is focused on remediation rather than discipline with all of the other employees who used the Macro at the direction of the company. As part of our commitment to our employees, we are hiring an attorney to provide counseling and advice to individual employees on these licensing issues.

Ultimately we will will work closely with the California Insurance Commissioner, as our lead regulator, as to the appropriate consequences or sanctions.

Moving forward, any Zenefits employee who commits a licensing violation or does not promptly comply with our remediation steps will result in immediate disciplinary action, up to and including termination.

We must be -- and I know we can be -- strictly compliant in being properly licensed, for the benefit of our customers and our regulators.

As I told you on Monday, in order for us to move forward as a company, we cannot seek to hide or downplay our broker licensing issues. We must be transparent and admit it and remediate it as soon as possible. Then we can regain our positive focus on building our business and better serving customers, employees, partners, and regulators. Together with you and our new Board, we are quickly executing on the vision we described on Day 1.

David

http://www.buzzfeed.com/williamalden/zenefits-program-let-insurance-brokers-fake-training#.bfLAyaDbx

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3127856&forum_id=2#29812594)



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Date: February 12th, 2016 1:04 PM
Author: Heady Boltzmann

Major headache, not screwed. This explains why the CEO resigned. They may have self-reported and canned him for allowing that type of culture.

They'll negotiate a fine and pay it. The bigger question is how many scandals like this are there. Insurance is state by state, so this will likely spread.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3127856&forum_id=2#29812605)



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Date: February 12th, 2016 1:17 PM
Author: brindle national security agency

LJL. there were literally hundreds of felonies committed. someone's going to prison

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3127856&forum_id=2#29812708)



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Date: February 12th, 2016 1:33 PM
Author: Wonderful pale theater karate

So in other words it could go either way

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3127856&forum_id=2#29812806)



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Date: February 12th, 2016 1:13 PM
Author: olive costumed theater stage

Move fast and break stuff -- like the law.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3127856&forum_id=2#29812681)



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Date: February 23rd, 2017 12:21 AM
Author: ultramarine filthy abode coldplay fan

funny how a bunch of pencilneck SV dorks are the only outlaws we have left

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3127856&forum_id=2#32682047)



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Date: February 19th, 2016 8:44 AM
Author: Wonderful pale theater karate

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/technology/zenefits-scandal-highlights-perils-of-hypergrowth-at-start-ups.html?_r=0&referer=

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3127856&forum_id=2#29866131)



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Date: February 19th, 2016 8:58 AM
Author: Wonderful pale theater karate

Growth broke stuff. To increase revenue, the company moved beyond small businesses to customers with hundreds of employees — and the software struggled to keep up. Instead of pausing to fix bugs, Zenefits simply hired more employees to fill in where the software failed, including repurposing product managers for manual data entry.



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3127856&forum_id=2#29866182)



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Date: February 19th, 2016 9:25 AM
Author: Chocolate mad-dog skullcap

I always thought this company was the craziest one - from nothing to billion$ in a year. What struck me as odd was that larger public companies in the space like a DST or whatever have the ability and resources to flip a switch and put them out of business.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3127856&forum_id=2#29866298)



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Date: February 19th, 2016 12:44 PM
Author: Wonderful pale theater karate

in your opinion how much does this hurt them

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3127856&forum_id=2#29867430)



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Date: February 19th, 2016 1:09 PM
Author: Chocolate mad-dog skullcap

Hurt implies the destruction of value, which means there actually has to be something there.

I'd say that it really tarnishes the brand because of the fact that it's a "soft" industry in many ways. Even though they arnt actually doing the insurance or bennies, companies like Lloyds, Travelers or Reinsurance co's are basically doing business on their name - so it's definitely a hit.

The thing that gets me lolling is you see the founder of the company and he is a ruddy short pear shaped criminal goon looking dude and that's just lmao

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3127856&forum_id=2#29867555)



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Date: February 19th, 2016 1:27 PM
Author: Wonderful pale theater karate

Lol

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3127856&forum_id=2#29867654)



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Date: February 26th, 2017 12:36 PM
Author: Chocolate mad-dog skullcap

https://youtu.be/SWIwl7uXqPA?t=1h6m24s

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3127856&forum_id=2#32703580)



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Date: February 19th, 2016 1:16 PM
Author: Snowy Forum

LOL this is like the tech version of VW cheating on diesel emissions tests

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3127856&forum_id=2#29867602)



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Date: February 23rd, 2016 3:38 PM
Author: Wonderful pale theater karate

Here come all the other pieces to chip way at the company: http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Zenefits-bans-sex-office-stairwell-San-Francisco-6849012.php

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3127856&forum_id=2#29898098)



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Date: February 23rd, 2017 12:10 AM
Author: Wonderful pale theater karate

A year and three CEOs later and half of their workforce has been laid off.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3127856&forum_id=2#32681978)



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Date: February 23rd, 2017 12:19 AM
Author: ultramarine filthy abode coldplay fan

screwy, but all that shit is brainless makework with no relevance to the proper functioning of an insurance marketplace. just like uber riding roughshod over the taxi medallion cartel is completely illegal and completely justified

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3127856&forum_id=2#32682039)