Seems like removing scandal points freezes time. Also closing and reopening the game will add 2 or so group scandal points.
This happened to me as well. It added 2 group scandal points when I reopened the game and after I tried to remove them by firing a staffer the time froze.
Edit: I went back and tested it and when I fired one of my staffers that I've had for a long time it worked fine, but when I hired a new staffer and immediately fired them the tooltip listed that it took 2 scandal points but when the window popped up I could only take off one and then after I closed the window the time froze again.
I found a bug that can cause this - it happens if you fire a staffer when your staff tab is in compact view. You'll have to switch to the full view every time you need to fire someone until the next update.
Another related bug - hovering over a staffer in the building view to show their tooltip and then firing them. Can be avoided by hovering over another staffer, before firing that first one.