Everyone knows the dread of a bad performance review, especially when you have a harsh boss.  It turns out, bad performance reviews are not just an American fear, but happen worldwide.

Al Qaeda – yes, that’s right, that Al Qaeda – recently gave a poor performance review to a ten-year member.  The performance review was ten pages long and listed more than 30 complaints against the member, including that he failed to answer the telephone when they called, failed to carry out any operations, and failed to submit expense reports, among other things.  As a result of his poor performance, the member was terminated, but not the way you might think: the member was fired.

So the next time you get grief from a mean boss about turning in expense reports late, just remember, it really does happen to everyone

Frustrated with the fact that his boss frequently showed up late when she was supposed to relieve him at the end of his shift, a worker at a gas station in Michigan decided he wasn’t going to put up with it any longer.  One day when his boss was more than an hour late – leaving him trapped at work and unable to go home – the worker wrote a note to his boss and taped it to the door, locked up, and just went home.

The note said, in part:

“Hey boss,

Learn to be on time or at least communicate when you are going to be late.  +1hr with no phone call is unacceptable.”

While many people have sympathized with the employee’s dislike of a tardy, disrespectful boss, the boss was not so understanding and fired the employee.  Even though if seemed harsh, the boss had the right to do so.

According to the at-will presumption, an employer can fire an employee for any reason or no reason at all, as long as that reason is not unlawful. It’s not unlawful for the boss to fire the employee for writing a passive aggressive note.

In lawsuits, the people involved often have to answer questions by having their deposition taken.  A deposition is a chance for the other party’s lawyer to ask questions that the law requires be answered truthfully.  Because the deposition and the answers given at the deposition are very important in a case, the person answering the questions should always take the deposition seriously.

Recently, however, Justin Bieber did the exact opposite.  Bieber had his deposition taken in a case about one of his body guards hitting a paparazzo.  Instead of taking his deposition seriously, Bieber was disrespectful, refused to answer some of the lawyer’s questions, and apparently pretended to fall asleep.  Because of his bad choices at the deposition, Bieber came off as arrogant and, well, not that smart.

Watch clips from Bieber’s deposition below:

Source: TMZ

Patrick Shay felt discriminated against for his age. He had been terminated from his position as principal at the Gulliver Preparatory School, and he alleged age discrimination as the motive behind his termination. The case settled for $80,000.

Settlement agreements are strictly confidential, and while it may seem like just a precaution, they are in place for a reason. Confidentiality of settlements prevent an over simplified view of litigation and also protects plaintiffs, attorneys, and defendants alike from sharing the outcome with the world. In Patrick Shay’s case, the consequences of violating confidentiality were severe.

Mr. Shay told his teenage daughter, Dana, about the agreed settlement. In her excitement, Dana took to Facebook and posted a status.

“Mama and Papa Shay won the case against Gulliver. Gulliver is now officially paying for my vacation to Europe this summer. SUCK IT.”

Upon discovering that Dana Shay had violated her father’s confidentiality agreement, the court in Florida threw out the settlement, and subsequently, Dana’s summer European vacation. So take heed. When it’s confidential, it means confidential or else you might find yourself out $80,000.