Falsification

Ellie

Does anyone have any information or case law that would support a decision to terminate an employee for conducting personal business while on the clock. The employee in question was conducting an internet search while her supervisor was out of the building. Management veiwed this as falsification of a time record. I suppose it could also be considered as theft (of time = pay).

There really isn't a problem with this scenario as this employee was within the first 90 days of employment and we are an employment-at-will employer BUT, our board of directors wants rock solid support of managements termination decision. I have searched all over the place for support (court cases, etc.) regarding this topic but haven't had much luck. Lots of info on fasification of employment documents (applications, resumes, etc.), but not of time records.

What are your policies regarding this type of situation. Anything would be appreciated!!

Down_the_Middle

Your pursuit of case law may have value here, but I think the larger issue is your current policies on communication (e-mail, voice messaging, internet use, etc......) If you don't have any written policies, then disciplining this person may be a greater problem than the existence of some case law. If you have an established policy and plan to enforce it, then it's probably safe to proceed keeping in mind consistency is the prinicpal issue here----being certain to treat this employee the same as all others.

Was this a violation of using company property for non-business reasons, or using it during working time??? Your policy s/b the guide here. If this becomes your first termination for this type of thing, I'd include some legal counsel to assist you with this as you'll be setting internal precedence that will need to be followed in the future. I'll bet your desire to terminate this person is also clouded by other performance/behavioral issues and that's where the problem exists. It'll be important to ensure that discharging the employee for the recent "violation" does not camouflage other areas of discrimination. I would encourage you to chat with your legal counsel about this.

Ellie

I am very new with the organization and there were no policies in place. I started this very important process about 10 minutes after I arrived.

There were other issues involved and the termination isn't a problem in and of itself as the employee was within the probationary period (combined with our employment-at-will rights). For our own internal reasons, this employee blatantly disregarded many existing policies and direction that had been provided prior to the supervisor leaving for a conference. My request for any case law or other company's experiences is to try to make the board understand that falsification of a record includes and covers many areas.

Thank you for your advice! I appreciate it!!

Margaret Morford

Does no one else conduct personal business during work hours? I find that hard to believe. May not be internet searches but could be personal phone calls, etc. You don't want to create a cause of action for this person by giving them a false reason for termination. You are much better off letting this person go for inappropriate use of the internet. If you don't have a good internet policy, I'll be glad to e-mail you one.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200

Marie

You mentioned that there shouldn't be a problem because of the 90 day probationary period and the "at will" status. In most states, that has pretty much been eroded. I agree with other posters, give the real reason so there is not a chance of a "pretext" coming back to bite you if the employee happens to be covered by one of the many protections.