was I legitamately fired?

[engkyq]

state - NJ

I was recently fired because I had come across some files on my company's file server that listed the salary for the 45 or so employees in the company. The files were in a subdirectory of the file server that all the employees were directed to to view our employee handbook which was in another directory. Both directory were accessible by every employee on our LAN. After I had viewed these files another employee noticed that the salary files were unsecured and reported it to management. Management then checked the log files and found that I had accessed them via my computer. The directory with the salary files was left unsecured by the network administrator when he reconfigured the file server.

I was then fired the following week. Was this a legitimate reason for firing me? Will I have to worry when my future employer calls them for a reference or if they do a background check on me?

 

[buddy2bear]

Companies do not like payroll information disseminated throughout the company. It causes a lot of problems. You should have been the one to report it because you would have CYA (covered your a**). Unfortunately, you left your "footprint" after viewing the file. It might have even been a deliberate set up to establish trustworthiness.

Unless you have an employment agreement or are a member of a union, you can be terminated for any thing at any time.

In this case, since you "found" confidential information, even through no fault of your own, and then proceeded to view it, leads the company management to believe that you are noisy and you are viewed as "dangerous" to their self-interest. They went "proactive" to head off potential future damage.