Does Surfing the Internet at Work Constitute "Time Theft"?
Sep 09, 2011
Most Canadian workers spend at least a portion of their time at work using the internet for personal purposes. But where is the distinction between using it legitimately and responsibly and abusing the privilege entirely?
In 2009, the Canadian Department of Citizenship and Immigration fired Franklin Andrews, a federal bureaucrat whose online internet activity became so excessive that it led to a legal debate about whether someone who surfs the internet too much at work can be fired for “time theft.”
Andrews, a senior analyst in the department, spent more than half his working time not only trolling news and sports websites from his Ottawa desk, but downloading pornographic images as well. This went on for months at a time between 2008 and 2009. Hoping to make an example of Mr. Andrews, the government fired him on the basis of “time theft” by claiming pay for time not worked.
A federal employee for 27 years, Andrews fought back by appealing his termination to the Public Service Labour Relations Board and demanded his job back. Although he admitted to using the internet excessively, he claimed that he met every deadline and job request, and that his supervisors had not provided him with enough work to occupy his time. He had also received positive work evaluations and had never been chastised by managers for using the internet excessively.
The lawyer representing the government argued that Andrews should have requested more work. However, the adjudicator disagreed. Although he obviously violated federal employment policies by downloading pornography, “surfing the net” did not meet the normal definition of “time theft.” She stated that a suspension was a more appropriate punishment and ordered that Andrews be reinstated.
The problem for the government was that the issue of “time theft” as it relates to something like internet usage is a grey area. Theft of this nature normally involves overtly fraudulent acts like altering time cards, having employees punch in for each other or falsely recording attendance.
In the words of adjudicator Kate Rodgers: “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 to infer the intent for a charge of time theft.”
Although the government argued that Andrews had a responsibility to seek additional work, Rodgers found it surprising that an employee could spend such a significant amount of time on non-work-related matters for months on end without being noticed by their supervisors.
It goes without saying that the Canadian government is less than happy with the decision. But until employers more explicitly outline and define what they consider to be reasonable and unreasonable in terms of time spent surfing the internet, this is an area that is likely to remain problematic.
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This Employee should have taken the iniative to ask his employer or co-workers for more work. Surfing the net for sports scores, the latest news and porn was amoral. At our buisness, we have no access to the web precisely because of bad apples like him who spoil it for everyone. He deserves to be FIRED.
helen - 2011-09-10 01:21