Fired without proof

[michaelbua]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas
I was recently terminated from my job for being accused of misuse of company equipment to view inappropriate material on a company computer. The issue that I have is no one witnessed me looking at this site nor am I the only person that uses this computer. My concern is when I was viewing my personal email I opened an email from this website, but I did not view the contents of the site and I closed it. Someone came behind either later that day or the next morning and opened the site and began to look at the different women who are on there and one of the ladies had inappropriate material on her page. I never did look at the what they were accusing me of looking at, nor do I feel I should be held accountable since I wasn't the one who found the pages they were talking about. I feel the person who came behind me should be the one held accountable because they are the one who searched and found these inappropriate pictures. My bosses argument with that is if I would have never brought up the site no one could have viewed and surfed those pages. Do I have a chance at receiving unemployment benefits and should I be the one held accountable?

 

[las365]

You admit that you opened an inappropriate website on a company computer. 'nuff said.

 

[Hot Topic]

If you didn't look at the website, how did you know about the "different ladies" that were on it?

If you were just checking on your personal mail (as opposed to business?), are you telling us that the computer took itself to the website, which just happened to be one that would get you fired?

I don't think unemployment insurance is going to be a slamdunk for you in view of the circumstances.

 

[michaelbua]

Response to the my statement

I only knew there were different women after my boss took me over to the computer and showed me the pictures to which were considered inappropriate. I had no clue these pictures even existed. I am completely innocent to these photos which were viewed by another team member.

 

[Isis1]

I only knew there were different women after my boss took me over to the computer and showed me the pictures to which were considered inappropriate. I had no clue these pictures even existed. I am completely innocent to these photos which were viewed by another team member.

so you got caught looking at personal e-mail by a pop up website?

 

[cbg]

Okay, fine. You're a poor wronged innocent who was unjustly fired for the acts of another. You can put the violins away now.

However, your employer is not a court of law. They do not need proof. They can fire you because it's Friday, and the termination will stand up as legal. At best, you might get UI. (Okay, if he fires you because it's Friday, you'll probably get UI.)

What you don't have is anything remotely resembling a legal claim against your employer for anything but UI, and UI is not a slam dunk.

 

[Yertle8]

Not that it changes anything, but not all employers protect their IT assets with proper anti-malware programs, and in those cases, it is very possible for a computer to 'take itself' to pages of inappropriate content.

 

[commentator]

File for your unemployment insurance at once. It doesn't cost anything, and there's always a sliver or ghost of a chance you might win.

Even if you are denied, you can still file, and you will have the denied claim on record, locked in place for the next year, and then when you have worked somewhere else for a few months or weeks and have been laid off or the temporary assignment ended, you'll have a claim to draw from. It's always best to file.

If the company has a clear cut policy of forbidding employees to monitor their personal email, and you signed this policy, and you were in the process of checking your personal email when this bad stuff popped up...then you have almost NO chance of getting approved for benefits.

If there was no clear cut policy against looking at what you were looking at, the site you originally pulled up, and it was common practice to check this, and everyone did it and everyone knew everyone did it, then "looking at inappropriate material" is an argument you might possibly win. Because you can always tell the story of how you just saw the pop up, and the person who supervises you called people over to his desk and showed them the material you had not even looked at, basically the whole story you've told us here.

The whole thing will hinge on what the company policy was, written down and in a policy manual which you were familiar with and had signed off on, before this happened. If they didn't have a policy, then good luck to them defining "inappropriate material."

Also, I hope if they're going to fire you for this, without the appropriate policies in place, they had prior offenses, a record of warnings, progressive discipline, etc. Because your part in this does not sound up to the standard of gross misconduct.

Saying you were the one who should be fired, when everyone looked, laughed, and such may get you approved for unemployment after all.