Porn surfing gov't worker re-hired
You have got to be kidding me...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle2159136/
Mr. Andrews, a senior analyst in the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, spent more than half his working day trolling news and sports websites from his desk in Ottawa and downloading more than 300 pornographic photos. The department fired him in 2009, alleging he committed “time theft” by claiming pay for time not worked. The government hoped to make an example of Mr. Andrews and wanted to set a precedent for other bureaucrats who waste time online.
Mr. Andrews, who has been with the government for 27 years, fought back. He appealed to the Public Service Labour Relations Board and demanded his job back.
During a hearing, Mr. Andrews acknowledged surfing the Net extensively, and he apologized for downloading porn. But he said he wasn’t given enough work to keep him busy and he got bored. He told the tribunal he met every deadline, received positive work appraisals and had never been chastised by managers for perusing the Net too much.
Richard Fader, a lawyer representing the department, argued Mr. Andrews should have asked for more work. “In this case, the evidence showed that [Mr. Andrews] sat at a desk surfing the Internet for half the day, day after day and month after month, claiming pay for time not worked, which was as fraudulent as falsifying a time card,” Mr. Fader argued.
Adjudicator Kate Rogers disagreed. In a ruling released last month, Ms. Rogers said Mr. Andrews had violated federal employment policies by downloading porn, but he had not committed “time theft” by surfing the Net most of the day. She said a long suspension was a more appropriate sanction, and she ordered the department to reinstate Mr. Andrews immediately.
“Is excessive use of the employer’s Internet services for non-work-related purposes the same offence as time theft? I do not believe so,” Ms. Rogers ruled. “I agree with [Mr. Andrews] that time theft as it is generally understood involves an overtly fraudulent act, such as altering a time card, having employees punch in for each other or failing to record or falsely recording attendance on an attendance management system.”
She added that “there can be no mistaking the intent to steal time when an employee has another employee punch his or her time card. But in an environment in which personal use of the employer’s Internet services is permissible on an employee’s own time and in which employees do not punch time cards or actively record their working hours, it becomes much more difficult to infer the requisite intent for a charge of time theft. I simply do not see excessive use of the employer’s Internet services for non-work-related purposes as the beginning of a continuum that ends with time theft.”
Ms. Rogers added that while Mr. Andrews had a responsibility to seek out more work, she found it “surprising that an employee could spend the amount of time that [Mr. Andrews] did on non-work-related activities for months without his supervisors noting a lack of production or engagement.”
Being in IT, the big issue here is that most of the malware and virus applications out there are transmitted via porn sites. With all the recent hacks that the government has fell victim to I'm surprised that security was not the main reason they sacked him. He put the government systems at risk, especially considering he has a “senior" title and would likely have access to more sensitive data than other employees. That’s why my company blocks and monitors porn sites and the internet....security. I don't care if someone does nothing all day but don't put my network at risk so you can look at boobies.
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