Deleted Company Files after dismissal

LegacyUser

I walked out of job a couple of weeks back prior to a blazing row with my manager, who screamed at me, unprovoked for 20mins, and then when i walked away, and said i wasnt listening to this anymore, he screamed at me is that a resignation? and then told me to get fk out. I did so, quite upset, but while packing up my desk, i deleted the contents of my work from my pc - desktop,documents,recycle bin(the nature of my work is creative and didnt want them using it to secure further work) and walked out. he had said to me he'd pay me til end of month, but I've just checked my bank balance and I see there is only a couple of hundred they've paid me. is it possible they are billing me for deleting their 'property'. I am considering taking the whole issue further, and I am thinking this may go against me..

pickarooney

They can't just not pay you on a whim without at the very least sending you some sort of letter explaining why you're being docked.
As you see it, were you fired or did you quit, as it's not perfectly clear from your post.

AARRRGH

I think you should send them a polite e-mail asking where the remainder of your wages are.

Don't mention the deleting files bit!

rav1410

Rita Sullivan wrote: »

I walked out of job a couple of weeks back prior to a blazing row with my manager, who screamed at me, unprovoked for 20mins, and then when i walked away, and said i wasnt listening to this anymore, he screamed at me is that a resignation? and then told me to get fk out. I did so, quite upset, but while packing up my desk, i deleted the contents of my work from my pc - desktop,documents,recycle bin(the nature of my work is creative and didnt want them using it to secure further work) and walked out. he had said to me he'd pay me til end of month, but I've just checked my bank balance and I see there is only a couple of hundred they've paid me. is it possible they are billing me for deleting their 'property'. I am considering taking the whole issue further, and I am thinking this may go against me..

you bitch!!!!!

Varkov

^ Whah?

AARRRGH

Varkov wrote: »

^ Whah?

I'm guessing because she destroyed company property as some sort of revenge for having resigned.

I have to say I find it extremely petty and unprofessional also.

dudara

You need to have everything laid out in documentation - i.e. a letter of resignation from you or a letter of dismissal from the company.

Secondly you should have gotten your regular wageslip which should explain why you received less money than you were expecting. Not providing a wageslip is illegal.

Thirdly, without seeing your contract, any material you develop while under contract to a company, usually is the intellectual property of the company, so by deleting the files, you were destroying company property. I wouldn't mention this if I were you. It was a stupid thing to do.

the_syco

Rita Sullivan wrote: »

desktop,documents,recycle bin(the nature of my work is creative and didnt want them using it to secure further work) and walked out. he had said to me he'd pay me til end of month, but I've just checked my bank balance and I see there is only a couple of hundred they've paid me. is it possible they are billing me for deleting their 'property'.

My take on it is that when he said he'd pay you till the end of the month, it'd probably to cover the work that was still on your computer. Since you deleted it, you more or less deleted any reason for them to pay you till the end of the month.

She Devil

They shouldn't hold back on your wages, after all you are probably due holidays to! I'd get on to the wage dept as soon as. Christmas is coming up.

gerrycollins

chicken and egg, did you walk or did he fire you. if you walked its considered resignation if he fired you its un fair dismissal. If he has evidence you did what you did on the pc I'd walk away now and take it on the chin.

you possible destroyed company property so even if you go after tehm for unfair dismissal he can counter for destruction.

As for you wages, email asking for your wageslip to be posted out to you. would you have gotten paid weekly or monthly. how long did you work for this company?

Eoin

gerrycollins wrote: »

chicken and egg, did you walk or did he fire you. if you walked its considered resignation if he fired you its un fair dismissal. If he has evidence you did what you did on the pc I'd walk away now and take it on the chin..

If you resigned because the conditions forced you to, then you can claim constructive dismissal.

i deleted the contents of my work from my pc - desktop,documents,recycle bin(the nature of my work is creative and didnt want them using it to secure further work)

Did you own that work, or did the company own it?

LegacyUser

Are you paid monthly?
I left work recently and when i was paid i was a few hundred less than it should. I rang them and checked and apparently i was being paid a back fortnight which i wasn't aware of but then remembered getting extra money in my first pay check. I did ask what it was for an they said that was how the company did things when you start mid month, so i was confused but happy at the time.
Could this be what happened you?

gerrycollins

eoin_s wrote: »

If you resigned because the conditions forced you to, then you can claim constructive dismissal.
QUOTE]
constructive dismissal could only really come into play if there was long term problems. What i get from the OP is that it was one argument.I'm open to correction.

If work is done on company time and property it can be considered conmpany property. OP might have had a clause in contract excluding this fact. anyways if it was only creative and not an actual project I believe the OP has nothing to worry about.

Eoin

gerrycollins wrote: »

constructive dismissal could only really come into play if there was long term problems. What i get from the OP is that it was one argument.I'm open to correction.

If the resignation was made in the heat of an argument, then in fact it may not be binding.

gerrycollins wrote: »

If work is done on company time and property it can be considered conmpany property. OP might have had a clause in contract excluding this fact. anyways if it was only creative and not an actual project I believe the OP has nothing to worry about.

Yeah, it is probably in the contract - but "only creative" could mean an entire portfolio of graphic design / web sites / God knows what.

The OP may not have anything to worry about in this case, but unless she owned the IP of that work, then it was a very petty, vindictive and unprofessional thing to do.

gerrycollins

eoin_s wrote: »

If the resignation was made in the heat of an argument, then in fact it may not be binding.



Yeah, it is probably in the contract - but "only creative" could mean an entire portfolio of graphic design / web sites / God knows what.

The OP may not have anything to worry about in this case, but unless she owned the IP of that work, then it was a very petty, vindictive and unprofessional thing to do.

true about heat of the moment the manager should have waited for her return and not asked for the letter. if she didnt return after a chance to cool down then it takes on a greater twist

by creative i meant ideas/designs that came into the OP head that they put on paper(computer) not anything associated with an actual project or potential project.

I totally agree about the unprofessionalism displayed with files and I believe if the company ever find out the OP is F***ed

the manager was a bit of a moron to start an argument, should have known better.

Agent Smith

gerrycollins wrote: »

I totally agree about the unprofessionalism displayed with files and I believe if the company ever find out the OP is F***ed

well, considering the name of the OP...


something simular has been done somewhere where i worked, and not ony is it unprofessional, its bloody annoying when you have to repeat the same work again cause someone threw a tantrum (justified or not)

daisyplant

I walked out of job a couple of weeks back prior to a blazing row with my manager, who screamed at me, unprovoked for 20mins, and then when i walked away, and said i wasnt listening to this anymore, he screamed at me is that a resignation?

Since when are management allowed to scream at anyone, unprovoked for 20 mins? If anemployee behaved like this to a manager they would be sacked on the spot.

Deleting the files was not a good idea but this is still an open and closed case of constructive dismissal. Find a solicitor that specialises in employment law and get some advice. DaisyP.

Shelflife

it may well be an open and shut case for constructive dismissal , but its also an open and shot case for stealing/losing/damaging company property.

0utshined

Shelflife wrote: »

it may well be an open and shut case for constructive dismissal , but its also an open and shot case for stealing/losing/damaging company property.

No it's not. If the work was stored locally on the PC then it could just as easily been destroyed if the Hard drive crashed when the OP was still employed there. Would they be expected to forgoe their salary if that happened? If it was stored on a network drive and accidentally deleted what would they do then?

If the nature of the companys business means that the employees work is stored electronically they should have measures in place to ensure that this is backed up.

Sure, it was bad form for the OP to delete everything but understandable after being roared at like that.

OP, ring and query. Don't mention anything about the deletions.

Shelflife

outshined we are not talking about an accident here, we are talking about willful damage to someone elses property, in the same way that if you drop a monitor by accident then its deemed as such, if you throw it against the wall then its criminal damage.

the monitor is still in the same condition, how it got there are two totally different things.

while the op should not have been shouted at she should not have deleted the files, if i was her i would tread very carefully.

seamus

0utshined wrote: »

If the nature of the companys business means that the employees work is stored electronically they should have measures in place to ensure that this is backed up.

Actually, I would argue that a company should make provision for electronically-stored data to be backed up rather than to ensure that all data is backed up.

That is, you tell the employee that there is network storage available which is backed up, but their PC won't be backed up. If their PC subsequently dies and they lose six month's worth of work, the employee should be reprimanded for failing to secure their work.

eth0_

rav1410 wrote: »

you bitch!!!!!

And you have just earned yourself a 1 week ban for personal abuse. Grow up.

biko

The company can quite easily restore everything that was deleted if they have the right software.