Is This Legal???? (Ontario Canada)?
Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at
10:11 pm
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Filed under: Business Phone Systems
They own the company, they own the phones, and they can look at what data is stored in their system.
Also, you’re a thief, having stolen credits from your boss and given them away.
You’ll be lucky if they only fire you. Jail is not out of the question.
- Stuart
You need legal help and only a lawyer can give you that. You could also contact the Ombudsman. I think the privacy act was violated
Since I’m not from Canada I don’t know if they can send you to jail for your "theft", but in your contract I’m sure they have a provision against giving out credits to people you know. From there its a simple matter for them to cross reference the numbers you dialed with the accounts you added credit to. If you read the provisions of your contract you will find that you also agreed to this.
The people on this forum are regular everyday people. Calling a lawyer would be MUCH more beneficial; and will offer you more accurate and reliable assistance, as law is a LAWyer’s area of expertise.
I’m not a lawyer, so take this for what it is! I am fairly sure that a Telco has an obligation to keep its customer records separate from its employee records. I also have this nagging feeling (which might be totally wrong, mind you) that there are limits on how it investigates its customers’ calling records. i.e. I don’t think they can just type something into a computer and say, "Aha!".
This may be a major or a minor problem for you. If you defrauded them a lot of money, they could get the police involved (and then you can be assured of losing your job at the very least). If it was a trivial amount (i.e. you helped your grandmother out), then they probably won’t involve the police, and they might not even fire you. You’ll have to judge the severity of the situation and decide if you need a lawyer. That’s the only place you’ll get real advice.
You can find the Ontario labour standards at http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/index.html you can call them and ask.
You can find the Ontario Privacy act at http://www.ipc.on.ca/
some more helpful information at http://www.cippic.ca/workplace-privacy-2/#information-employer-gather
It seems to me that they have crossed the line by checking your personal phone use just because they can but the question is also what do you plan to do about it? Sometimes it is not in your best interest to exercise your rights. In case they didn’t fire you for this, just kicked your butt a little, do you want to keep this job? Do you think you can take on a telecommunications giant in a lawsuit? Do you think it will be easy for you to get another job if you sued your last employer?
So your employer is a donkey’s behind and you should probably look for another job anyway but it might not help to leave on unfriendly terms.