Handling Viral Misconduct: Due Process, Deepfakes, and Franchisee Realities

Episode notes

About this episode ️ Handling Viral Misconduct: Due Process, Deepfakes, and Franchisee Realities Summary When a customer films a frontline worker spewing racist slurs and the clip explodes online, how do you protect your brand without abandoning due process? Amrita Bhaumik, VP of HR at Team Car Care—the largest Jiffy Lube franchisee—shares a clear, defensible playbook for high-stakes, high-speed incidents. Leading a large employee relations function across a distributed retail network, Amrita explains how to investigate quickly and fairly when social pressure is peaking and deepfakes muddy the truth. She breaks down who to interview first (and who to avoid to prevent “telephone game” distortions), why suspension beats same-day termination, and how to authenticate video using in-store footage and anti-deepfake checks. You’ll also hear how to handle customer outreach, when to make a public statement, and the most common ER mistakes that sink cases later. Finally, Amrita clarifies ownership in a franchise model and the training, policy, and hiring practices that prevent incidents in the first place—from social media governance to de-escalation and selecting for customer orientation.