News, Man Fired After GPS Showed He Was Not at Work. (employee, employers)

[John1960]

There's no point in lying anymore. With new technology, someone will always catch you whether it's on camera, through spyware, or GPS. Take the following anecdote as a lesson: It seems John Halpin, a supervising carpenter for the New York City school system, was let go after he was caught skipping out early and falsifying his time sheets.

Man Fired After GPS Showed He Was Not at Work - Switched: Gadgets, Tech, Digital Stuff for the Rest of Us

[Fnix]

They have these on our UPS trucks now. But it's to show whether we are being efficient with routes and we cannot be fired for it on a first offense.

[Radek]

2nd comment on that link:

Big brother is watching you.
It should be against the law for this to happen in ANY company. We are employees, not indentured servants and this is 2007 not 1707.
What gives anyone the right to monitor people especially when they haven't been informed that the company would be watching its employees through surveillence equipment?
This is another indication that our freedom is being eroded bit by bit. When will it stop?

My ideal response:
If you're falsifying timesheets, and your location is tracked via GPS, theres nothing wrong with it.

Hell, general GPS tracking does nothing more than determine where you are. If he had stayed on site and lounged around, they never would have known. But he went somewhere else.

[NCN]

I used to work at a branch by myself. I monitered myself by pretending that the boss who was 10 miles away might walk into the branch any minute. A couple of times she did. It did not take her long to realize that checking on me was unnecessary. After working there about 10 years, I might see her in the branch once a year when she showed the state examiner through the place. I have no sympathy for a worker who needs to be told their telephone could track them. He should have been where he was supposed to be.

[mr.man]

I felt the same way when they installed camera's at my old job, they claim it was for security but many times supervisors used it to watch and belittle workers for petty things, what happened to trusting a person to do a job,soon you won't be able to make move without being watched.

[car54]

Originally Posted by Fnix

They have these on our UPS trucks now. But it's to show whether we are being efficient with routes and we cannot be fired for it on a first offense.

They don't monitor your speed with it?

I drive a school bus with GPS and they flat out told us....watch your speed because WE are.....

[Brooklyn_QueenBee]

Many jobs used different devices to spy on you. Some companies tell you you must log on and off every day. This is done to see what time you really come in and what time you leave the office. If employees did not steal time, employers will not have to come to these sort of devices.

[therewego]

Originally Posted by Radek

2nd comment on that link:

Big brother is watching you.
It should be against the law for this to happen in ANY company. We are employees, not indentured servants and this is 2007 not 1707.
What gives anyone the right to monitor people especially when they haven't been informed that the company would be watching its employees through surveillence equipment?
This is another indication that our freedom is being eroded bit by bit. When will it stop?

My ideal response:
If you're falsifying timesheets, and your location is tracked via GPS, theres nothing wrong with it.

Hell, general GPS tracking does nothing more than determine where you are. If he had stayed on site and lounged around, they never would have known. But he went somewhere else.

Being in IT, we monitored employees' websites visits whether they were work related or not, we even followed their key strokes if necessary, are you going to quit your job Radek, if that is asked of you because you feel their rights are infringed upon when they are visiting porn sites on company time?
How about when that GPS saves a life, then it is a savior?
My point is, if an employee knows it is wrong, they should not do it, especially if they like that monthly income............

[Radek]

Originally Posted by therewego

Being in IT, we monitored employees' websites visits whether they were work related or not, we even followed their key strokes if necessary, are you going to quit your job Radek, if that is asked of you because you feel their rights are infringed upon when they are visiting porn sites on company time?
How about when that GPS saves a life, then it is a savior?
My point is, if an employee knows it is wrong, they should not do it, especially if they like that monthly income............

If my job decided it was necessary to monitor my web usage, I'd be put off by it... but having worked in IT, and seen porn on work comps, or a porn dvd in a laptop's dvd drive... I know it happens, and i'm not dumb enough to do it.

If its a company PC, then by no means are their rights infringed upon. I dislike the idea in a general sense of monitoring people's work habits. Like another poster just said, "they used cameras to hassle workers". That kind of thing I dislike. I understand they tend to improve efficiency, but there are other ways of doing that.


Sorry, the first part of my post is actually polled from that link therewego.

My response starts at:
My ideal response:

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

JB Hunt the trucking company has had satelite tracking on their trucks for years, they can even shut them down remotely.

This is nothing new. Frankly I don't think its a problem, do your job and you have nothing to worry about, try to cheat and lie and you will have a problem.