Personal cell phone for business use

[quincy]

Wow. Yes. As the owner of the cell phone I'd be held liable. Our clients are people within the community...a small community...and if any of them have issues with their credit card information being stolen I don't want my reputation tarnished. Or if something were to happen and my employer were to blame me...that would be awful.

I think you are smart to question your employer’s request/demand. You could suggest that the office have a separate business phone with the credit card reader for use by employees. But there should be no reason for you to need a credit card reader on your private phone.

If a refusal to comply with the employer’s request/demand leads to your job termination, you should apply for unemployment benefits. You might be eligible. For eligibility, you can check out Pennsylvania’s Office of Unemployment Compensation: https://www.uc.pa.gov/unemployment-benefits/Pages/default.aspx

Good luck.

 

[Taxing Matters]

This is why when a business or government agency gives out phones for work purposes, whoever uses it typically doesn't have the privilege to install software; it comes pre-loaded and updates or patches are pushed out by the IT team.

When I worked for the IRS and was issued a government laptop to use the IRS made it very clear that we could not install any applications ourselves, only our IT people had the ability to do that. Moreover, we were very limited in personal use of the laptops and were prohibited from visiting any unapproved or inappropriate web sites with that computer. A few employees who visited porn web sites were quickly fired. The computers had a lot of security and encryption software installed on them, too, to ensure confidentiality of taxpayer information and to protect sensitive government information. The sad thing was that those programs weren't exactly user friendly and the laptops were underpowered to run them, making using the machines rather frustrating to use at times. Ten minute boot up of the computers was not uncommon. Yes, ten whole minutes. I'd walk away and get a hot chocolate (I don't drink coffee) or do whatever else while waiting for the darn thing to be ready to use.

We were absolutely not allowed to use personal computers for government work (beyond doing basic legal research, which doesn't involve the need to use a government network or confidential/sensitive information). Any employer that that has employees use their own devices for business use takes a potentially serious risk of security and other problems. That can really cost them. Smaller employers need to understand this and spend the extra money required to have secure company owned devices for employees to use. Doing otherwise is penny wise and dollar foolish.

 

[quincy]

When I worked for the IRS and was issued a government laptop ... A few employees who visited porn web sites were quickly fired. The computers had a lot of security and encryption software installed on them, too, to ensure confidentiality of taxpayer information and to protect sensitive government information. The sad thing was that those programs weren't exactly user friendly and the laptops were underpowered to run them, making using the machines rather frustrating to use at times. Ten minute boot up of the computers was not uncommon. Yes, ten whole minutes. I'd walk away and get a hot chocolate (I don't drink coffee) or do whatever else while waiting for the darn thing to be ready to use.

We were absolutely not allowed to use personal computers for government work (beyond doing basic legal research, which doesn't involve the need to use a government network or confidential/sensitive information). Any employer that that has employees use their own devices for business use takes a potentially serious risk of security and other problems. That can really cost them. Smaller employers need to understand this and spend the extra money required to have secure company owned devices for employees to use. Doing otherwise is penny wise and dollar foolish.

What sort of brainless person uses a government-issued laptop to visit porn sites? Yikes.

 

[Shadowbunny]

What sort of brainless person uses a government-issued laptop to visit porn sites? Yikes.

You'd be surprised, disheartened, and angered at the number of people who do this. I work for a fed agency that also issues cell phones, you'd be surprised, disheartened, and angered at the number of people who do stupid things with that, too.

And OP, perhaps you can suggest to your employer that they purchase an unlocked, used smart phone that would be dedicated to taking payments.

 

[quincy]

You'd be surprised, disheartened, and angered at the number of people who do this. I work for a fed agency that also issues cell phones, you'd be surprised, disheartened, and angered at the number of people who do stupid things with that, too.

And OP, perhaps you can suggest to your employer that they purchase an unlocked, used smart phone that would be dedicated to taking payments.

Actually ... I probably wouldn’t be that surprised. Haha.

 

[Taxing Matters]

What sort of brainless person uses a government-issued laptop to visit porn sites? Yikes.

People who are too addicted to/tempted by porn sites to wait to use their own computers for it. The IRS does training every year on this and makes it clear to every employee that accessing porn sites is not allowed and that the employee's use of the government issued devices are monitored and still every year there a couple of people who get busted for doing it.

 

[quincy]

People who are too addicted to/tempted by porn sites to wait to use their own computers for it. The IRS does training every year on this and makes it clear to every employee that accessing porn sites is not allowed and that the employee's use of the government issued devices are monitored and still every year there a couple of people who get busted for doing it.

Sad.

 

[HighwayMan]

...wants me to use a credit card reader attached to my personal cell phone...

I'm curious... did your employer propose to pay for your monthly phone bill or at least part of it?

I used to use a personal cell phone for work (way before the smart phone days) and my employer paid my entire bill every month.

 

[quincy]

I'm curious... did your employer propose to pay for your monthly phone bill or at least part of it?

I used to use a personal cell phone for work (way before the smart phone days) and my employer paid my entire bill every month.

While that would be nice, it does not eliminate the problem.

 

[bcr229]

People who are too addicted to/tempted by porn sites to wait to use their own computers for it. The IRS does training every year on this and makes it clear to every employee that accessing porn sites is not allowed and that the employee's use of the government issued devices are monitored and still every year there a couple of people who get busted for doing it.

I think every government agency has similar training. Mine does.

There are also the rare few who are walked out by security while wearing pretty silver bracelets because the subjects in the videos were well under legal age...

 

[Dustygirl01]

No. No offer for any reimbursement at all. Just told to download the QuickBooks app, the link sent to my personal email address, and told i would start taking payments via the card reader. I was told, not asked, to use my own cell phone. Ain't happening. Cell phone? What cell phone? Don't have one.

 

[Zigner]

No. No offer for any reimbursement at all. Just told to download the QuickBooks app, the link sent to my personal email address, and told i would start taking payments via the card reader. I was told, not asked, to use my own cell phone. Ain't happening. Cell phone? What cell phone? Don't have one.

Again, just remember that your employer is free to fire you over this. You would very likely qualify for unemployment, but the firing would be legal.

 

[quincy]

No. No offer for any reimbursement at all. Just told to download the QuickBooks app, the link sent to my personal email address, and told i would start taking payments via the card reader. I was told, not asked, to use my own cell phone. Ain't happening. Cell phone? What cell phone? Don't have one.

I hope you are not fired over this ... but I think you have legitimate concerns and I support your position.

I think your employer may regret his penny-saving action.

 

[xylene]

What sort of brainless person uses a government-issued laptop to visit porn sites? Yikes.

People with a compulsive behavioral addiction.

 

[quincy]

People with a compulsive behavioral addiction.

Mine was supposed to be more of a rhetorical question. “Brainless” was probably not the best choice of words. But, yes. The poor choice could be explained by addiction.

Edit to add: This post has nothing to do with Dustygirl or Dustygirl’s question, by the way. The forum members took a slight detour.