Australian Miners Fired For Harlem Shake Video

Not everyone has taken to the Harlem Shake, the convulsive groove that's swept the globe, to the tune of 4,000 YouTube videos a day. In Egypt and Tunisia, the meme has become a protest anthem of many young people, enraging conservative Muslims. And in the U.S., an airplane-based shake triggered a federal investigation, while students at at least four high schools have been suspended for producing a version of the dance.

But the first Harlem Shake-related mass-firing appears to have occurred last week. Up to 15 Australian miners were fired from their six-figure jobs, reports The West Australian, for performing (and in some cases, just watching) the dance. In the dismissal letter, the employer, underground-services company Barminco Ltd., claimed that the stunt violated "core values of safety, integrity and excellence" and that the company would never contract any of those workers again at any of their sites around the world.