To be terminated in the office because of downloading movies....
By Angelo Abuda
@aabuda (1722)
Philippines
January 8, 2013 4:31pm CST
Hey guys, I just would like to share and to ask your opinion on this....an employee of ours will be put on committee hearing tomorrow because of downloading Skyfall and The Hobbit movies in u torrent. Our company has actually a policy of not allowing employees of installing nor downloading files from the Internet, or even to browse the Net. But because of our current job of accessing Google Translate, we have already been allowed to have an internet connection on each of our terminals. But last week, our Net Admin discovered that during midnight of Thursday, our internet usage was so high that he took the necessary investigation and found out that one of the terminals had illegally downloaded the said movies. It has evidence that he had installed u torrent in his pc.
The worst is that, he will face committee hearing tomorrow, and the results might lead to his termination. I am a Day Supervisor, and I know what they are doing at night time. I cannot reprimand them because they are not under my shift and that they are not my subordinates.
But I am afraid, I will also be asked on this things.
Do you think, we are also liable on his actions?
3 people like this
17 responses
@mariaperalta (19073)
• Mexico
8 Jan 13
well did he know that was a no no there? If he did, them maybe termination is the right thing. if he didnt then no.
@LaDeBoheme (2004)
• United States
9 Jan 13
Ignorance is no excuse. I have never worked for a company that didn't make the employees aware of their policy and rules. Whether this employee paid attention or not is ALL on him. Obviously he flaunted the rules and now he has to pay the piper.
Besides, aren't work computers for just that? Work? If you choose to use them for your own personal use and entertainment, shame on you for getting caught.
@stanley777 (9402)
• Philippines
10 Jan 13
For me, you are not liable. Your job title clearly says, that your only concerned are the works of day workers under you.You or any of your co-workers are not liable for one man's wrong doing. Besides, anyone willing to join any company agreed that they would follow the company's rules and regulations and failing to do so will be penalized accordingly commensurate to the offense committed.
@aabuda (1722)
• Philippines
10 Jan 13
To all: It's all over.
He was already terminated. The Committee finds no excuse for him to stay in the company. I tried to defend him in order to save his post, and in the spirit of brotherhood. Because in this tough economic times, it's so hard for anyone to look for a decent job nowadays. Also, I was thinking of the possible effects that could be brought with our workload. He was actually a Senior Analyst in charge of one of our Swedish jobs and it will take time for us to look and to train another person for the job because it demands time and effort including intelligence.
I know that possible effects of what he did that it would mean termination for him in the company. I am so sad for him. But the management is firm with the decision.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
9 Jan 13
You may be asked whether you were aware of the actions taking place during the night shift and why you did not highlight the situation to the appropriate person, although I cannot see anything other than a verbal reprimand being involved. The misuse of company resources is in contravention of company policy within all companies, but with downloading of illegal material involved it is obviously a very serious issue. The connection was via the company IP address, so there seems little doubt to me that the person responsible will be dismissed for gross misconduct. However, as long as nothing of that nature took place during the daytime then you will have very little to be concerned about. It is quite easy to identify at what time the downloading transpired, so the company will be fully aware that you were not involved.
@aabuda (1722)
• Philippines
9 Jan 13
Yes. It can actually be seen in the internet traffic graph (I don't know if it is the correct term) wherein between, Wednesday and Thursday, meaning around 11pm to 1am, the internet usage was so high. Affecting the internet connection of the other project sites.
@jambi462 (4576)
• United States
9 Jan 13
I don't really think that downloading movies on the job should really be something that should get someone fired. I don't think it would cost your company an incredible amount of money just for someone to be able to download two movies but honestly I don't really know anything about that whole thing. As long as it didn't slow down the company or slow down the individual I don't think it should really matter too much.
@aabuda (1722)
• Philippines
9 Jan 13
Well, it will actually be depending on the committee hearing early today.
@vidhyaprakash_2 (7116)
• India
9 Jan 13
Hi friend, sad to hear about this, i wonder why this employee did this kind of things during his office hours, even though he knows it is against the rules. You are not responsible for your activity as well as you are day shift supervisor, so you don't face any issues due to this problem. Don't worry
@cutepenguin (6431)
• Canada
9 Jan 13
I don't think anyone other than himself and his supervisor will be liable, but it's possible that the company might blame everyone for knowing and not doing anything about it.
@aabuda (1722)
• Philippines
9 Jan 13
I just hope that no one other than himself should be liable for his actions.
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
11 Jan 13
Well I believe most corporations do not allow downloading of anything from the internet during company time. If he was aware of the policy then he should be terminated. If he was not aware then he should be given a warning and I'm sure if he wants to keep his job he will not do it again. I'm sure there are alot of people in the work place guilty of doing this they just haven't gotten caught.
@bryanwmc (1051)
• Malaysia
9 Jan 13
i don't think you should worry at all over something totally out of your control, what can they accuse you off,or reprimand you on? something that doesn't even happens during your shift, just let it slide, you said you knew about it but have you witnessed it in person because if it is just based on suspicions and if they asked you why you did not bring up the issue,you can always argue that you were not sure and in fairness to all cannot simply go around pointing fingers about something you did not see but just heard about.which is actually the truth...right or not ? if that is cause for disciplinarian action they may have to punish everybody who heard about it but didn't see it, which could be evryone in your workplace..something like " those who heard about this , raise your hands... then everybody holds up their hands , what will they do then? Fire everyone? ..
@LaDeBoheme (2004)
• United States
9 Jan 13
The employee should be terminated since he clearly violated company policy and he was stupid enough to do it on a work computer. Don't people know their activity can be traced through the computers they use even if they think they may have deleted all evidence?
If the illegal activity did not happen on your shift and none of your subordinates are participating in anti-policy practices, then I do not see what you have to worry about.
"I cannot reprimand them because they are not under my shift and that they are not my subordinates."
If asked, tell them that. You have no control over what happens when you are not there. If asked if you knew about it, you can tell them you had suspicions, but no proof.
It's too bad that now you have to deal with damage control -- your position, since you just said you knew about it.
Bottom line: when it comes to my job and making a living, I don't go under the bus for anyone nor will I cover for anyone and I will let them know upfront. Someone else's ignorance and stupidity is not worth taking MY money away.
@Shavkat (140102)
• Philippines
9 Jan 13
There will be a due process for sanction if the person involve violated any rules of a certain working place. Basically, an employee should not any extra activity that is not included in his or her job description. Taking into aware of downloading any materials that are not essential for a company. For most cases, termination will not be implemented right away. They need to give warnings or suspensions.
@aabuda (1722)
• Philippines
9 Jan 13
Thanks for sharing. I really hope and pray that he will not be terminated right away.
@ZoeJoy (1392)
• United States
11 Jan 13
It is a shame that this employee will be fired but even without the rules, he must know that he doesn't load down movies at work. That is work ethics and everyone knows that there are work ethics.
Perhaps if you are asked, you could mention that because it is not on your shift, you knew you couldn't reprimand them. But then, you could be liable because you did not report your suspicions.
When I worked at a day care, the day care was so badly supervised that babies were not be treated properly. I needed the job but realized that I did not want to be liable if something happened to a baby. I had to report this daycare to Child Protection. I did lose my job but was very fortunate to have found another job right away. It is always best to be honest and make the right choices.
@greenthumb018 (595)
• Philippines
8 Jan 13
If you are a supervisor and you know that they are breaking rules, I think that it is still you're responsibility to tell them that it is not right. It sucks to be in your position because there are people who will not understand it if you reprimand them and they will take it personally. If those people will be terminated, it is because of their wrong doings. I understand that you do not want to meddle on this situation that is why you chose to be silent about it. I hope that they will not question you and they will held the night shift supervisor responsible for this.
@Blondie2222 (28611)
• United States
8 Jan 13
Well being that your supervisor and you see these things happening I would still report them to whoever this employees supervisor is because if you don't then yes it will come back to you because they will realize you were a supervisor on that time of day. But then again you don't know which employee is doing it do you? I feel their doing the right thing with this employee, were not allowed to download anything at my job either they have things blocked. We have access to the net though because that's how we do half of our job on and they monitor what we do on the internet as well. I hope you don't get in much trouble for this though but I would just tell them the truth what you have seen and go from there.
@TheCatLady (4691)
• Israel
9 Jan 13
Not only did he download a movie, but he downloaded one that was still under copy write. He must be fired. Your company can get a huge fine if the movie folks find out. The fines can be tens of thousands of dollars.
@JohnRok1 (2051)
•
9 Jan 13
Definitely this employee must be summarily dismissed! Never mind about company policy, u torrent is a program that will allow you to download material in breach of copyright, so he may have got the company into trouble. And, in addition, for some reason, companies don't like to be infected with viruses.
Your quick answer, if you are asked, is "I had my suspicions, but I thought that if I, a Day Supervisor suspected something, my same-rank colleague, the Night Supervisor would have had it all in hand. Don't you think I was right to give it time before concluding that he was either corrupt, unbelievably cowardly, or totally incompetent? If and when it came to that, what procedure should I have followed?"
