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Inappropriate behavior 2

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lespaul

lespaul

Programmer
Feb 4, 2002
7,083
US
What would you do if you found that personnel in the IT department (your co-workers) have been using their access to the tables to enter falsified time clock entries?

The HR department is aware of some activities (within IT and in other departments) that have been taking place within the "Time Clock Supervisor" program. This program is designed to allow a supervisor to fix/add time entries. When these changes/additions are made to the table, the record stores who made the change.

However, a particular person, who also has inappropriate modifications made through the supervisor program and had made inappropriate modifications for others, has been told that no more changes can be made. Since (s)he has been restricted from the program, s(he) has started inserting records directly in the table unaware that it is obvious when looking directly at the table that these records were inserted out of order.

For instance:
Code: 
EMPSSN      ClockDate         TimeIN         TimeType
123456789   20050330          700             IN
987654321   20050330          702             IN
456789123   20050330          704             IN
[b]258369147   20050329         1600            OUT
258369147   20050330          700             IN[/b]
147369258   20050330          706             IN

Now, I have considered this person to be my friend, but this is just WRONG! What would you do? I believe that I am not the only person in the department that realizes these activities are taking place, but don't know what the other who might know has done or said to anyone about the situation.

thanks for any insights.

les

 
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SantaMufasa is right on with this one.
Whenever something like this happens you should make the appropriate people aware... even if anonymously.

Additionally, you have no obligation to the offending party. They have stolen from you as well as the company. If nothing else, they have laid this ethical dilemna at your feet, and that alone is reason to abandon any further relationship.

I should add that any company that only sees fit to reprimand this employee and leaves you forced to continue to work with the offending party does not merit your staying with them if you have a choice. If you do not, I certainly understand, but urge you to begin looking immediately, if this is how your company eventually deals with the case.

~Thadeus
 
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Just an FYI, I hope those are not real Social Security numbers, If they are you have just broken individual privacy. Hopefully they were fake.
 
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Yes exactly the issue zarkon...

Mine is the one that goes 123456789.

My wife's is the one that reads 987654321.

My two kids like to run up and down the number pad with 258369147....

LesPaul I give you my permission to use my family's SSNs any time you need to.

~Thadeus
 
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Wow, Thadeus...

What are the odds of that? les used *ALL* your family's SSN's? [lol]

Ben

There's no place like 127.0.0.1.
 
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Hey Zarkon, I just couldn't resist. Remember, it's Monday for me too :) ~Thadeus
 
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So many books & movies deal with this classic issue. A good one to consider is 'Serpico'. He faced the dilemma of who, if anyone, to tell. He went up the chain in order and each one supervisor he went to was in on it and each one he told painted a bolder target on Serpico's back (or face, as it were).

You never know what kind of mess you'll get in when you decide to blow the whistle, so it may be best to cover yourself from all directions--a difficult if not impossible thing to do, depending on how high the corruption goes. It may sound over-dramatic, but I've seen such seemingly petty corruption be either winked at by the absolute top brass, and even sanctioned by the top, the latter case involved an 'improper sexual relationship', and that's something from which no office and no position (put not intended) is immune.
--Jim
 
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thanks for all your thoughts and suggestions.

My HR friend is keeping me as much in the loop as she can. Since it is an in-process investigation, she can't say too much, but they are apparently going to give the boss enough rope to hang himself too if he chooses.

Just for informational purposes, this is a state job (in the judiciary), so I'm not sure that it's "corporate" fraud in the traditional sense. Of course, people always hold judiciary employees to a higher standard since we work for the courts.

Yes, they are indeed fake SSN's!! At least hopefully the SS administration doesn't issue those ones!

How could you ever get another job after being terminated for an offense like this plus there may be criminal charges brought!

les
 
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It might not be "corporate" fraud, but would it classify as government fraud? I'm not sure where it would fall. I would think that state employees, especially those in the judicial branch, should be held to much higher standards than corporate employees. How can laws be enforced when breaking rules, standards and laws are condoned by rogue supervisors?

Please keep us updated if you can, this is quite interesting!
 
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update:

So, I was being nosy and checking out the Leave Accounting system (dual part system, requests are generated in Lotus Notes Accounting Program, upon approval by manager, a record is written to our backend database, this record shows as PENDING until the request date; during End of Day process on the request date, status is changed to POSTED and the hours are deducted from your balance) and have now found that this person has apparently also been deleting the PENDING leave records from the table. Therefore, the hours are never POSTED and never subtracted from the accrued balance.
 
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Have you ever heard of a "qui tam" action?



Two strings walk into a bar. The first string says to the bartender: 'Bartender, I'll have a beer. u.5n$x5t?*&4ru!2[sACC~ErJ'. The second string says: 'Pardon my friend, he isn't NULL terminated'.
 
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It is your duty to report your findings to your superiors.
It is not up to you to decide who is performing this deception, even if it is obvious, but your superiors should know that the data table is not consistent in the same way you would report evidence of external invasion.
The person responsible has put you in an awkward position which could result in your dismissal for not reavealing appropriate knowledge.

Keith
 
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update: jumping to conclusion can be dangerous.

Apparently one of the processes in HR deletes the leave records (instead of just updating a status). The proper paperwork was completed to allow for those deletions.

I guess that losing trust is one of the biggest consequences of actions like these.

 
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I can see it now, someone steals your lunch and immediately you beat this person senseless then realize you didn't bring a lunch today.:)



Two strings walk into a bar. The first string says to the bartender: 'Bartender, I'll have a beer. u.5n$x5t?*&4ru!2[sACC~ErJ'. The second string says: 'Pardon my friend, he isn't NULL terminated'.
 
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lespaul,
To clarify--are you saying that the *entire* situation turns out to be legit, or just the removal of the leave records is legit but the altering of the times is still happening illegally?
--Jim
 
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lespaul

I guess that losing trust is one of the biggest consequences of actions like these.
Click to expand...

Trust can be a hard thing to regain once it is lost or damaged. I just completed an investigation that lasted several months, and I had a difficult time controlling the mistrust that spread through me. Keeping it inside me and not letting it spread to everyone else was harder than I could have ever imagined, and it's taken me close to 2 months to get back to the old me ("Trust until given a reason not to").

It gets awfully easy to find something, put on your Sherlock hat and cry out "AHA!", hoping that Watson is standing next to you ready to hand you your pipe and magnifying glass.

If I were you, now that someone in a supervisory role knows and unless you're directed to investigate further, I would rest easy with the knowledge that the matter is being handled in an ethical and legal manner.
 
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To clarify--are you saying that the *entire* situation turns out to be legit, or just the removal of the leave records is legit but the altering of the times is still happening illegally?
Click to expand...

The altering of times still occurred illegally, it was just my misinterpretation of the missing leave records.

Keeping it inside me and not letting it spread to everyone else was harder than I could have ever imagined
Click to expand...

And not knowing who knows what and not being able to say anything to anybody!!

I would rest easy with the knowledge that the matter is being handled in an ethical and legal manner.
Click to expand...
I wish I could believe that. My HR friend mentioned some other inappropriate behavior by a different employee (Employee A - works in HR). Employee A entered future time entries for yet another person (Employee B). Apparently, Employee B is habitually late and in order to not be late, asked Emp A (or maybe Emp A volunteered??) to take care of it. Unfortunately, Emp A is a favorite of the head administrator and nothing is going to happen (at least at this point in time).



 
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