Using technology to catch employees in the act (whatever act that is)

Celeste Blackburn SPHR

[URL="http://forum.hrlaws.com/showthread.php?p=721206#post721206"]In a thread on the Benefits forum[/URL] I brought up an article that lists ways employers catch employees abusing workers' comp/disability/sick leave and some that employees use to fool employers ([URL="http://yhoo.it/glFv5F"]click here to read it http://yhoo.it/glFv5F[/URL]).

In addition to the old school investigator, the article discussed a bunch of new technologies -- from an employer who used pictures of an employee taken on the roller coasters at Universal Studios to prove she wasn't at home sick with the flu like she said to employees that use a a SpoofCard, which "allows users to select any 10-digit number to appear on the phone of the person they're calling," to make the boss think they are at home when they are really somewhere else.

The article made it seem like this new technology is something companies are having to deal with more and more. Have you had to use technology to catch employees doing something? Ever had an employee use technology to lie to you?

Paul in Cannon Beach

I think one time I noticed an EE had posted something on FB when they were on the clock. I contacted the supervisor and they got written up for it. A minor infraction.

Contrary to what some people might think, I dont stalk our employees online.

Dutch2

In a former life I called the family of an employee to offer our condolences for the passing of their grandmother. Grandma, who answered the phone, was very surprised to hear of her passing. Of course we had reason to suspect the employee was not being truthful with us to being with.

cnghr

I don't know that we've caught people in the act using modern technology, but a few people have been caught by old-fashioned methods...the most recent one I can think of was a woman who said she had to leave town because her mother-in-law had died and her husband couldn't get away from work so she had to go to represent the family at the funeral. One of our other employees also had family in that town and when she talked to them, she mentioned that it was sad to hear about the woman's passing, and they told her that the woman had been dead and buried for several years by that point. Turned out the employee had a boyfriend back in her home town and she figured the "dead relative" ploy would give her a chance to spend some time with him. To her way of thinking, it wasn't an outright lie, since her MIL actually [U]was[/U] dead. It apparently didn't occur to her that the person she worked with who came from the same town might find out the truth.

NaeNae55

cnghr: I always wonder in these cases how the employee took it when confronted with the truth. Was she shocked, defensive, creative (tried another lie), or did she seem abashed and accept the discipline?

Do most just say, "Oops, you caught me!" or do they react resentfully and become difficult?

cnghr

[quote=NaeNae55;721225]cnghr: I always wonder in these cases how the employee took it when confronted with the truth. Was she shocked, defensive, creative (tried another lie), or did she seem abashed and accept the discipline?

Do most just say, "Oops, you caught me!" or do they react resentfully and become difficult?[/quote]

I wasn't directly involved with confronting her when she was told she was being let go for lying, but apparently she was shocked, although she didn't deny that she'd lied. I guess she didn't think that she'd be caught, or that if she was, it would be considered a big enough deal to warrant firing her. She didn't argue or become difficult or defensive, though.

I guess her husband spoke with someone at the location she worked at and was upset that she'd been fired, and I always wondered what reason she gave him for it. I can't imagine her saying "they fired me because I lied and told them your mother died so I could go visit my boyfriend"!

Celeste Blackburn SPHR

Sounds like catching employees in the act has less to do with high tech or low tech and more to do with employee stupidity/overconfidence/underestimation of HR.