little legal help please.

[toastonastick]

Check this shit out.

One of my fellow employees got fired from his job for this. We are both outside sales reps, and travel around 75% pf the workweek. We use our own vehicles, but are reimbersed for gas and mileage etc..

Well, needless to say this guy was doing OK in his position. Making his numbers but nothing to write home about. Well last week he got the boot for falsfying activity reports of where he was and what he was doing. I'll be honest, I have done this myself on occassion, end of the month,numbers look real good, nice day out, work from the golf course.

Well heres the kicker. Our VP of sales attached a GPS tracking device,that they use on our delivery trucks,to his car! Keep in mind that this is his personal vehicle with absolutly no ties to our company. Is this an invasion of privacy? And does he have any recourse in this? Our whole sales team is really pissed. It was brought up that if they want to do that they better provide company cars, cause that shit wasn't going on ours.

Just looking for a little help.

 

[bdaniel1]

Wow, that takes "Big Brother" to new levels. Given the personal property factor, I'm pretty sure there's a case to be had. I'm not a legal expert though.

 

[kneifl]

Oh yeah -

They could get in some serious shit for that I would imagine. Invasion of privacy and tampering with someone else's personal property are just a few things I can think of but I'm no lawyer.

kneifl

 

[Mjolnir]

it seems like salesmen just have to deal with it. it hardly seems that it's ok for them to put a gps on a personal vehicle. i wonder if they actually did. i would go after them if he can. good luck.

 

[toastonastick]

it seems like salesmen just have to deal with it. it hardly seems that it's ok for them to put a gps on a personal vehicle. i wonder if they actually did. i would go after them if he can. good luck.

Yeah, they actually did it. they showed him the gps report. And he told me that it was correct.

 

[INtheBLUE]

Dont know about the legallity of bugging the car, but Private investigators do it all the time. I think that as long as it is on the outside of the vehicle they can do it. Also a side note, they probably got him to confess it Before they fired him. Falsifying company documents is easily grounds for dismissal, but they wouldn't fire based on the GPS report, but rather got him to admit it with the reports in front of him.

I own a sales company and my employees pay for their own EVERYTHING. (dont worry they make plenty enough to make up for it.) When numbers arent impressive and they are paying out in reimbursements equal to other more contributing salespersons, that probably flipped out the red flag, and they wanted to find a reason to get rid of him.

They could have even had a delivery truck follow him around to simulate that he had the gps device. Just to make him admit it.

Thinking as a business owner:
It sucks that he got canned but whatever the reason he got caught, he still was stealing money in a creative way, and unfortunately so have you in the past. I hope golf was worth it, ya know most courses are open on the weekend too. Heck, if you need to play golf that bad, take the day off, but you shouldn't lie, cheat, or steal from the one that feeds you no matter how petty it may seem at the time.

 

[william13]

hey toast ... i would tell him to talk to a lawer , to atlease maybe scare the company to get his job back ... if i put one on some hot babes car i would be a stalker.. seems the same ... hard to believe company can do something to any personal object and get away scoot free .... later

 

[toastonastick]

well, A lawyer took his case pro bono. There filing a criminal and civil case against the VP/company. He said for at least 200K. His attorney said that there is a 95% chance this will be settled before it ever gets to court. I'll keep you guys posted.

 

[THE KOD]

I was reading this and waiting for Eddie Haskell to chime in but to no avail. Guess he is too busy chasing ambulances.

The company probably had the right to do it but not on the guys personal vehicle. Even though they were paying all expenses for his use of the vehicle , it is definately invasion of his privacy on his personal time off from work..

I would sue crap out of them. And get another job.

I wonder if there is a device that identifies if your vehicle has a GPS unit attached. From what I have seen you should be able to spot them with a good look underneath the vehicle as they attach with magnets to the undercarriage now.

Pretty expensive though. About 4 grand to get it and 200 bucks for the units.

I wouldnt want to work outside sales with one of them attached. They would question your whereabouts when you stopped to take a dump. If you dont trust your employees that much you got the wrong employees anyways.

 

[toastonastick]

I agree totally Scott. People who can't trust others usually cannot be trusted themselves.

 

[IntenseOperator]

Get your GPS units detached and attached to Greyhound buses

When they inquire....

Tell them you are SELLING YOUR ASSES OFF NIGHT AND DAY