IT Support

[The Riddler]

We have just found out that our IT support has taken info off our staffs laptops, they have had person photos ect, whitch we allow but we found out from one of there staff that they have done this so we have told them to go to hell and withheld the payment for last month.

Should we also take legal advide about taking action agains them???

 

[upsidedown]

Not sure about the legal advice, but i'd get them to install a spell-checker.

 

[Over The Hill]

As an outside contractor they must have been told to do whatever they do.
Is it that someone in the firm has told them to wipe the laptops or is it that they have taken it upon themselves to do this?
You need to be 100% sure on this point before any action is taken.
What if your boss turned out to be the one who told them to wipe personal data? Or what if personal data brought in a virus that just cost the firm a weeks work?

It is a tool of the job before it is a workers toy.

 

[yello]

I don't really understand the situation but I'm guessing it's a grey area. The laptops are company property I presume, so I would think 'they' (the IT dept) are acting on some company directive.

That said, I would have thought it was common decency to advise staff to remove personal stuff themselves.

Sadly, ime, some IT dept employees seem to get a kick out of acting in an overly authoritative manner, and them coming over all gung-ho and ignoring 'common decency' would not surprise me. Imo, it's predictably despicable but whether it's a legal matter though, I don't know. I suspect not.

I don't understand what you'd be withholding payments for though. Are staff buying the laptops?

 

[661-Pete]

We had an edict at our place a couple of years ago. It turned out that, at one of our sister companies, a big illegal music and video-sharing ring had been uncovered involving most of the workforce. Not involving anyone at our place. Someone had tipped off the police, prosecutions were pending, and so the powers-that-be decreed: no music, no non-business piccies, no nothing, on any of the company's PCs, worldwide.

I took off most of the (innocent and perfectly legal) stuff on my own PC, but kept my own astro pics. I just couldn't bear to do away with them. Luckily our own local IT support guys had a more pragmatic approach and looked the other way...

 

[Ivan Ardon]

Have they broken their service level agreement or done anything outside of their contract? If not, you've no grounds to withhold payment or take action against them.

What laws have they broken? If they haven't broken any, then you have no grounds for bringing a criminal case.

Telling them to "go to hell" sounds like you're the ones who are going to end up in court.

 

[Norm]

I think some peeps have got the wrong idea here. My reading of the OP is that the support company stole personal data from the laptops, not that they were doing any cleaning.

IMO, if that is the case, I would do what I could to sack them immediately.

 

[Garz]

I would be careful and not jump in head first. If my company were to ask to do something to 'their' work laptop I would not only ask why but would present them with a sufficient time for me to remove the crud I have built up over the last two years and any data that I think they don't need to see.

The people delegated this task probably either don't know or have little time for employees and the data protection nuances these days.

 

[swee'pea99]

Seems as good a time as any to report this (I think Wafflycat was the original poster)

 

[The Riddler]

To answer all the questions, they have coppied data off the laptops that they should not of taken.

 

[yello]

By "coppled", do you mean taken/copied or deleted?

You may find that they were within their rights to do the latter, albeit being done in a despicable manner.

 

[Norm]

You may find that they were within their rights to do the latter, albeit being done in a despicable manner.

Huh?

A third party (presumably, because they are being paid) company, used for IT support, are within their rights to take information (you know about the photos, you don't know what other personal or commercially sensitive information that they have) from computers?

Are you sure about that?

 

[bonj2]

We have just found out that our IT support has taken info off our staffs laptops, they have had person photos ect, whitch we allow but we found out from one of there staff that they have done this so we have told them to go to hell and withheld the payment for last month.

Should we also take legal advide about taking action agains them???

sorry but if your defence to their claim when they sue you for the payment is written as badly as this you're going to be laughed out of court.

 

[Dan B]

By "coppled", do you mean taken/copied or deleted?

On my screen it says "coppied" not "coppled", so I assume the former. The legal situation may depend in some way on the contract between you and them, but it's hard to imagine that anyone in the company would have knowingly allowed them to do that. On the facts presented so far, sounds like highly unethical behaviour.

 

[The Riddler]

We found out yesterday that they had taken data they should not have taken, coppied staffs person photos ect off the pcs. They where told at the time they took on the contract that staff keep person files on the pcs.

They should not tutch any of the data in any way shap or form unless authorised to in writing, one of the girls in the office is fuming at the moment over it..

We where tempted to take it to the press and give them a bad name.

Now you can see why we have told them to F Off and we are refusing to pay!