Will I get fired for this?

sho_me_da_money

Yes I can confirm it is £2000. The facef**kingBooking was £800 alone. That's something stupid like £1 per 1mb or something like that. Roaming charges are very hasty but he didnt know that.

Now Im not going to say this to them, but the company has failed to exercise 2 things that could 1) Comply with policy and 2) Prevent this from happening.

They could have a mobile phone policy and they could have a limit set with the provider to alert them when call charges exceed X. Brother was in India for 1 month - could you imagine if this was longer????

I wont say that to them but I will say my piece here.

Zazen999

I'd go completely against any blame towards the company; if you must mention it perhaps mention that to stop it happening again - they could have a limit set.

Take a cheque in, tell them you failed to keep it under lock and key; and that you have severely disciplined your brother and point out that you are using your own phone for work and you were trying to do a good thing, and inadvertently did a bad thing....even if that bad thing was just not keeping the phone under lock and key.

sho_me_da_money

Mischa8 wrote: »

To be honest, you're on a Final Written Warning. This means that you've already had a Verbal Warning and a Written Warning and maybe this Final Written Warning (or a combo of the 2-3 warnings). Whether this is for the same *offence*/breach of company rules/regs we don't know... What were you originally on the FWW for? Was it misuse of technological stuff?

It's your word against your brother's - they have to be really careful here - suppose you just handed the phone to your brother - how are they to know you made a mistake? Again, your word against theirs. They could even I am assuming get the police involved.

I do find it a bit hard to believe that your brother managed to run up a £2K bill before you found out... but I do agree that your brother may not have realised he had it, and was a bit dim etc.

Your bosses may be kind but they may realise that DESPITE you getting awards etc that you already have this FWW on your file and even if this mobile phone amount is paid back they may doubt your future character.

Having said that, lesson to be learnt from tech dept to ensure that the work mobile works properly and to monitor it's usage.

Good luck anyway.

I understand what you are saying but this isnt a dispute between me and my brother. My brother is admitting to his wrongdoing. It's whether the company can say he is lying. One has to consider why the hell would he? To go to jail to protect my best interests?? Come on.

And racking up £2000 worth of charges in a period of 3 weeks on roaming rates is VERY easy. So unless I had a phone bill and/or call from the provider, there was no way of me knowing. The first I heard about this was on Friday fromt he Director.

I have looked up the term conduct and MISConduct. And I truly believe I exercised the appropriate procedure to safeguard and protect company equipment. I am also not in breach of negligence and/or gross negligence as I took more than adequate care of the device DESPITE a phone policy. IT instinctive nature I guess.

Mischa8

Yeah, don't whatever you do try to lecture them about their rules...

If they're a huge company like you say then their policies should be strictly in place to prevent mistakes like this.

However, all tech depts make mistakes all over the world.

And, despite this mistake, I would still, if I were you, make doubly sure that NO blips of this sort occur within your FWW 12 month period.

Because if any more blips do occur - your bosses may doubt you. Just saying.

sho_me_da_money

Zazen999 wrote: »

I'd go completely against any blame towards the company; if you must mention it perhaps mention that to stop it happening again - they could have a limit set.

Take a cheque in, tell them you failed to keep it under lock and key; and that you have severely disciplined your brother and point out that you are using your own phone for work and you were trying to do a good thing, and inadvertently did a bad thing....even if that bad thing was just not keeping the phone under lock and key.

Thanks mate.

Regarding lock and key - it was locked in a briefcase with a combination lock, which was only known by immediate family. And yes, by using my own plan and minutes, I was trying to do a good thing but as you said, fell victim to something that I could never have imagined.

sho_me_da_money

Mischa8 wrote: »

Yeah, don't whatever you do try to lecture them about their rules...

If they're a huge company like you say then their policies should be strictly in place to prevent mistakes like this.

However, all tech depts make mistakes all over the world.

And, despite this mistake, I would still, if I were you, make doubly sure that NO blips of this sort occur within your FWW 12 month period.

Because if any more blips do occur - your bosses may doubt you. Just saying.

You are right.

I will not lecture them about this but maybe down the road I can mention it. But to avoid any such blips, I think I am happy to hand the phone back AND/OR keep it locked away somewhere like a bank or my mums purse, which she guards with her life.

Im not really bothered about have a second phone - like i say I am happy to use my own.

dmg24

Irrespective of who it was that incurred the charges, responsibility for the safekeeping of the phone lies with you. I understand that you did not use the phone a great deal, but nonetheless you should have been aware of where the phone was at all times (within reason).

sho_me_da_money wrote: »

They could have a mobile phone policy and they could have a limit set with the provider to alert them when call charges exceed X. Brother was in India for 1 month - could you imagine if this was longer????

There is no obligation on an employer to implement such measures. They entrusted the safekeeping of the phone to you.

There are certainly sufficient grounds for the employer to issue disciplinary proceedings over this. Honesty on your part will help, and may make any action taken less severe. However, as you are already on a FWW, I would not be surprised if you were dismissed. It really comes down to how much the employer wants to retain your services.

Mischa8

sorry - I didn't see your original reply.

This all comes down to whether they want to press charges against your brother, I doubt they will. Whether they choose to come down hard on you (and I don't think they will really) is down to them....

good luck tho and let us know what happens.

Zazen999

sho_me_da_money wrote: »

I have looked up the term conduct and MISConduct. And I truly believe I exercised the appropriate procedure to safeguard and protect company equipment. I am also not in breach of negligence and/or gross negligence as I took more than adequate care of the device DESPITE a phone policy. IT instinctive nature I guess.

I'm sorry, but if your brother had a key to the case, then it wasn't safeguarded. End of. If you keep on this argument it might end in tears for you.

sho_me_da_money

Im just worried as hell that they may see something I did wrong. I know the facts and I am 99.99999% sure I acted in the companies best interest.

I was hoping to have you experts give me some advice on where I could have gone wrong.