Gross Misconduct

[GillsMan]

I've done this before too, for non-dodgy reasons. So in itself it hardly seems like Gross misconduct, you should bring it up if you don't consider this acceptable but it's very harsh to sack someone over. Fine to tell her you view it seriously but you need to ascertain why she did it.

Yup, agreed on reflection and considering everyone's views that this would be harsh. Am now considering whether I even raise it with her at all. As someone else pointed out, while I have the right to monitor communications, if I ask her about the email, I think she'll naturally lose any trust, and then I have a bigger problem.

In a company of 6... wow what do you do all day?

Go out and win new business!

[MarillionFan]

I had to fire someone last year. They'd been bad at coming in on time, work was not being done, excuses. I gave them three chances, a lot in the US before they gave me one more excuse too many (There's only so many times your tyre can burst on the way to work - four in this persons case).

So I had HR set up a physical meeting with him in the US, when I was in the UK. Told him I'd be there though.

Fecker never turned up, we then had a merry runaround when I eventually got hold of him two hours later and he proceeded to tell me he was stranded at the side of the road because his car had broken down and he was very sorry and would be in later. I said, I've given you multiple chances, you know what that means. 'Yes' came the reply, so I let him know.

10 minutes later HR phoned him to get his equipment. He told them he was still at home and deserved it. He also wondered what had taken me so long!! Little fecker!!!

[Scruff]

I might be mistaken, but the Statutory probationary period is now 24 months? You still have that in your favour?

You mentioned the fact that you reserved the right to read staff emails in your Employment Manual. This doesn't mean that it is a fair condition, and you would require more than just a blanket statement to make it valid, ie. that you had reasonable grounds to do so.

IANAL. If you are on Pistonheads, you might want to pose the same question there and hope that "Breadvan72" replies?

(Auto correct is a curse)

[zemoxyl]

Yup, agreed on reflection and considering everyone's views that this would be harsh. Am now considering whether I even raise it with her at all. As someone else pointed out, while I have the right to monitor communications, if I ask her about the email, I think she'll naturally lose any trust, and then I have a bigger problem.



Go out and win new business!

Haven't read the whole thread, but it sounds like you are being heavy handed. You chose to come on to an anonymous forum and denigrate one of your staff? If she isn't looking for new employment, then she probably will be when she twigs the goings on. Sorry!

[d000hg]

Can you set up some kind of automatic rule which notifies of of any emails sent to hotmail/gmail/etc accounts - and make sure everyone knows?

That way if you have to raise this again it doesn't sound like you've been trawling emails, just "this got flagged and I wanted to discuss it with you".

[suityou01]

Sounds a right control freak.

You've sent him a friend request on LinkedIn haven't you?

[mudskipper]

Sounds like you need a clear policy

Can my employer look at my emails? | Find Laws, Legal Information, News & Solicitors - Findlaw UK

[vetran]

you mention her attitude is perceived to be poor, maybe this is better thing to tackle and something to delegate to her manager e.g.

"Tracy now its quiet can we have a little chat over a coffee in my office?"
"Maybe its me but you don't seem as happy as you used to be. Is there anything we can help with? We at Gillsman Ltd try to look after their employees."

[OwlHoot]

Assuming she is smart enough to realise or guess that company emails are logged and viewable by you, sending herself a company email detailing just one client may indicate the opposite of misconduct.

After all, she could have written the details in a notebook or even memorised them, or she could have used a personal web email via a browser rather than a company email, and (depending on the number of your clients) she could have emailed herself a list or ZIP file of all of them.

So I wouldn't be too hasty in suspecting bad intent - It may be just the reverse, a keeness to work with this client from home or whump up a report on them out of office hours at the weekend.

Also, perhaps her apparent bad vibes is simply anxiety that she feels she is not meeting your expectations of her performance or something.

[SimonMac]

I would ask two questions:

1) Why did you look at her emails? Was it targeted specifically at her do have you looked at everyone's emails?

2) What do you think she has done. I assume you are focusing on the "shall not make use for himself/herself of" Do you have any proof she has done this? Are they still a customer?

Unless you can answer those two questions confidently, you are onto a loser. You can update your handbook and reiterate the Info Sec policy, maybe think about a web/mail guard to stop people sending stuff to their own accounts