Vodacom spying on employees?

Well the fact is she was in the wrong and it is a company phone, still not sure whether that justifies it though. Although if you're "sick" during office hours it is in a way still during work hours, its not like it was a weekend when she was off.
 
Well Portia Sithole did commit fraud by claiming sick. Something must have triggered Vodacom to check where the calls were made from. Once fraud is suspected investigations follow. Vodacom can look in much more detail on the CDR’s and triangulate.
Hope they nail the doctor also.

I once had an employee who denied he was in Gauteng while he should have been in Cape Town performing his duties. The report from the garage card showed his entire history of location. And that was not spying, just some forensic investigation.
 
Its seems certain family members are Knotty, and like using under hand tactics. Sis.
 
Syndyre said:
Although if you're "sick" during office hours it is in a way still during work hours, its not like it was a weekend when she was off.
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She had a doctor's certificate and thus did not perform fraud ... without knowing the exact medical reasons it did not mean she was confined to bed but just unable to perform her daily duties.

The issue here is that she attended a union meeting of some sort ... think Vodocom is going to get nailed here.
 
I see Knott senior likes spying on his workers and Knott junior likes slandering the competition. Must be a Knott thing.
 
Lesson to all vodacom employees - dont forget to put your virgin sim back in when you leave for the day ;)
 
tibby.dude said:
She had a doctor's certificate and thus did not perform fraud ... without knowing the exact medical reasons it did not mean she was confined to bed but just unable to perform her daily duties.

The issue here is that she attended a union meeting of some sort ... think Vodocom is going to get nailed here.
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how did you justify that? .. there is a thing called Forgery. .. if she said "Can I have one days leave for a Union rally" and was proud of the fact she is a union member then whats the problem? but she didnt. She got a doctors note and then went about OTHER duties.

She Lied. If you had a sick note, went to a movie and ran in to your boss leaving the cinema? is that different?

A sick note says "Unable to do your duties" .. it does not mean - "Unable to do your duties for the one employer", but doing other things is fine. If you are too sick NOT to go to work, then you are too sick to leave the your house (apart from doctor)

Its lies and deception. Being tracked is not the issue.... Breach of Trust IS the issue.

And she was stupid enough to take her *COMPANY* mobile with her.. which the company is entitled to know where it is at the time being one of their assets... besides..... if an employer to track the phone requires a degree of suspicion, and the employer has most probably got pissed off with the amount of sick leave this employee was taking and wanted to know what was really going on.

Media only show 1 side of the story..
 
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Ummm, its usually accepted that "sick-leave" means you are unable to do anything really.... Attending union activities indicates your are fit and able enough to perform your job in my opinion.
 
tibby.dude said:
She had a doctor's certificate and thus did not perform fraud ... without knowing the exact medical reasons it did not mean she was confined to bed but just unable to perform her daily duties.
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Like with all these cases, we are not hearing the full story. Firstly it's not fair procedure to dismiss someone "just" for that without no prior offense or warning .

I'm sure Vodacom know the law by now. Usually this sort of thing happens when a person is on sick leave every two weeks.

http://www.labourguide.co.za/misconduct.htm
The courts have endorsed the concept of corrective or progressive discipline. This approach regards the purpose of discipline as a means for employees to know and understand what standards are required of them. Efforts should be made to correct employee's behaviour through a system of graduated disciplinary measures such as counselling and warnings.
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..
If the employer fails to do that, or fails to prove that the dismissal was effected in accordance with a fair procedure, the dismissal is unfair.
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It's pretty clear and reasonable stuff , if Vodacom didn't understand this then hell something very wrong there . This is why i am rather skeptical that Vodacom would pull something as silly as dismissing an employee without following fair procedure on themselves....nevermind the spying bit.
 
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If you have a doctors certificate it means you cannot perform the duty you are employed to perform or you have something contagious and might put your colleges at risk of contracting a serious illness.

Now we need to know what this persons duties were and what the nature of the illness was to draw a proper conclusion.

The use of cellphones to track employees is not a new thing, if it was a company cellphone you normally sign an agreement with the company as to terms of usage and the agreement normally serves as an acknowlegment of debt to the company stating they can recover the cost of the cellphone from your salary/wages if you lose or damage it, also included in most these agreements there is a clause stating that the employer can use said cellphone to trace or locate the employee using it, as the cellphone should only be used for business you either leave it at home when you go out or switch it off outside business hours so nothing shady or underhanded there. Remeber the cellphone is the property of the company.

If this persons job was office based I would say the employer namely Vodacom have a strong case against the employee.

If found that the person was not ill or not ill to the point were he\she could not perform their duty the Doctor that issued the certificate could be reported and have charges brought against him/her.
 
Gunny said:
If you have a doctors certificate it means you cannot perform the duty you are employed to perform or you have something contagious and might put your colleges at risk of contracting a serious illness.
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No no no. Sick means you trying to recover by being restful. Not toy-toying. This was clear case of fraudulent stealing a day or two’s sick leave. There is no justification for it. I do agree with the general statement of your post.
 
RichardP said:
If you are too sick NOT to go to work, then you are too sick to leave the your house (apart from doctor)
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Nonsense.

When I have the flu or bronchitis I certainly can't concentrate enough to do any coding or interact with customers and will most likely also infect my colleagues but it does not mean I am going to lie in bed the whole day.

I go out to the mall and do errands at the bank and some shopping and rent a DVD or play a few games to while away the time.

If she did indeed obtain the medical certificate through fraudulent means either with the doctor being complicit or faking then I would say she is guilty of fraud.
 
This is so SICK I cannot believe what I'm reading!

This woman is off work on union business claiming to be ill. She has to do this because the union is not recognised by her employers. Now they track her without her permission on a cellphone!!

They should throw the book at Vodacom. This is so low, these bast*rds are scraping their knuckles on the pavement!

I know this would be totally VERBOTEN in the UK. In fact companies have to guarantee access to a private unmonitored (untraced) phone line in the office.

At the very least they should have disciplined her for the sick/union day, but to track her is breaking all morals. And as another person said, do they track all sick people?
 
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