Page 1 of `Porn` sacking causes anguish

An empoyee at my sisters work was recently sacked as it was found that during the employees lunchbreak he had alegedly put Porn pictures from the internet onto his works computer, found in a hidden folder.

He said he was innocent, as some other employee had downloaded and hidden it in his harddrive, either as a joke or deliberate. Anyway he still got the sack.

This has now put the `fear of god` into all the remaining employees and a lot of them have asked for the internet function to be removed, in case someone downloads porn onto their machine.

Unfortunatly a lot of buying is done on the net so some have to keep the function. The IT team have said downloading of Porn is now imposible due to blockers in the system, but the workforce does not believe them.

It seems an easy excuse to sack people, so if you have your own works computer, beware!!!!

Colin
Not in any way disbelieving you, but if it was in a hidden folder who knew where to look and why ?
Was he targeted or was it as a result of a general inspection ?
Looks as if there`s something very strange about it.
P.

Only relating the story as I heard it.

Moral: watch your own works computer harddrive.

Is porn illegal ? If the cleaning lady found a copy or Razzle in someones desk surely they could`nt be sacked for that, so whats the difference if it`s on your `puter ? ( unless it`s chicken bumming pics )

Maybe the folder was titled "Porn - do not open".

This item was edited on Sunday, 16th March 2003, 16:02

Surely he`d have grounds to claim unfair dismissal?

Mike

Many employers seem to believe that their staff have a Luddite grasp of technology and attempt to exploit this as means to frame trouble-causers ("trouble-causers" meaning people whose "out-of-the-box" thinking is way too out-of-the-box for their soul-destroying, jargon-spouting, individualty-crushing, cretinous, scumbag bosses ).

Simply going to `properties` would have displayed the date and time when the pornographic images were downloaded (presuming that the computer`s clock hadn`t been deliberately reset by an unscrupulous colleague, of course).

Most companies will make their staff sign up to some sort of internet usage policy (and if they don`t, Mike`s statement about a possible unfair dismissal claim is reasonably feasible, not that I`m in any way offering advice : my job prevents me from doing so !).

For example, in my workplace everytime we want to go on the internet we have to go through an access screen (although I`ve find that by creating a desktop shortcut to any given web page you can bypass it - d`oh !), which states that we accept to use the internet according to the user policy guide : essentially we are signing an agreement by clicking ACCEPT every time we go on line.

Now, in this particular case, no matter whether his colleagues played a trick on him (and if they did and it resulted in his sacking, I hope they feel very, very guilty about it), he surely should take responsibility for his workstation when he`s not at his desk. Okay, it`s not feasible if he`s off for a dump, or whatever, but say over lunch time.

Now, you`d think that his employers would be running some sort of network system that allows folk to at least lock down their system (eg we have Windows 2000, so a simple Ctrl + Alt + Del results in a lockdown). If that isn`t the case, and he wasn`t informed of that, he should appeal the decision. If it was the case and he elected not to do so, well....sorry, mate.

Notwithstanding that, if his so-called friendly colleagues had been messing about on his PC, surely someone else would have seen and questioned it ?

As for being sacked outright : depends on the usage policy : if it states categorically that downloading porn is construed as gross misconduct, the normal internal disciplinary procedures can be bypassed, as gross misconduct is a sackable offence.

I`d advise him to seek legal advice : as I say, I have to remain impartial ;-)
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Clayts
Moderator
DVD Reviewer

I heard of a case where a guy was sacked for downloading porn at work - the case was eventually dismissed, as he claimed he had an addiction to porn, and should therefore be treated as any other employee with an addiction, eg alcoholism or drug addiction. The company had to re appoint him and support him through his addiction.

Anyway - if he hasn`t been downloading porn, he can proove it. Assuming that the company uses a Proxy, he`ll have to log into the proxy server to gain access to the internet (on top of having to log into windows). The company will have internet usage logs, firewall logs, proxy logs, Win 2000 server security logs, containing all the information required to trace exactly when the images were downloaded. If he can prove that he was not at his desk at those times (meetings etc), or a password other than his own was used to access the internet (proxy), and so on, there should be no issue.

If he is innocent - it should be very easy to prove it. But it`ll mean a lot of hassle for the company (sod `em). I`d advise that he demands the company look at the logs etc.

Hodge

http://www.hodges-soapbox.org.uk

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"The earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have
names and addresses"

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"Maybe the folder was titled "Porn - do not open"


LOL!!!!


Think Ive pee`d meself!