I wrok as a partner maneger at a mid-sized IT consultin firm based in the Unites States, overseeing a team of remote workers based in Europe. I suspect a team member in Europe is working two remote jobs at the same time, possibly in South America, violating his global non-compete agreement and local labor laws limiting work hours. I confronted him, but he denied doing so. Unfourtnately, terminating employment at will is challenging due to local employment laws, as he is under a permanent contract. We need to either encourage him to resign or find sufficient grounds for firing him on the spot.
Our concerns were triggered when an individiual overheard him discussing work-related topics in his native language, which were unrelated to our company. With the assistance of a colleague for translation, it became evident that he was commiting to completing a task by a specified date for his second job. Also, he displays increased fatigue, dimished interest in virtual social events, and no interest for a promotion. But, he continues to meet the minimum requirements for his job.
Legal counsel told us that the conversation alone may not be enough for court proceedings. We need to obtain compelling evidence of his engagement in the second job. Are there institions to verify his remote work in South America, or must we hire overseas lawyers?
We had provided him with a work computer. Recently, we instructed our IT administrators to monitor his network traffic and emails, but they found nothing suspicious. I guess he is using another laptop for his second job.
We are unable to monitor his screen, camera, or employ a keylogger due to potential violations of privacy laws (GDPR), as he did not consent to such monitoring in his contract. So, any evidence obtained through these method would not be considered valid.
Any advice would be welkomed.
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OP: I hate your guts and I’ve never even met you. I hope your stupid software company starts hemorrhaging money after you fire him
so what, if they get the work done who cares? you need to pay more if you want him to be working only one job.
If they’re completing their work and not disrupting yours then why bother with it unless you’re trying to target this person?
Just fire him if that is what you want. Don’t expect to get sympathy for it though.
So you have the ability to perform a background check for employment and income?
That would show you what you need.
A company that does income & employment verification is The Work Number. You’d have to see if they can do international verification.
My guess is they can. The Work Number is owned by Equifax .
Leave them the fuck alone if they meet your standards.
FFS, you aren’t a dictator.
Just saying he is making more than average in his current position is nothing. Lots of time average pay is shit. You need to pay more or stop complaining. People aren’t going to sacrifice ability to feed themselves and afford rent just due to company loyalty. Increase the pay significantly and they will likely quit the second job themselves.
Are you sure he is working during the same time as your work contract with him dictates? If the answer is yes, then start to increase the level of online meetings, tighten up the timeframe of the deadlines, make social events participation mandatory, even put him in charge to train a new person. After that, you could hire people to find out, but why go through the hassle, especially for a worker who barely meet the minimum requirements. Even if you’re penalized a year’s worth of salary for this guy, bite the bullet. It’s cheaper in the long run…
Please reread what you wrote and ask yourself who is the bad guy here.
Spoiler alert: it’s you.
Pay him more if you want to monopolize his time
So by your admittance he meets all the requirements for the job. No one wants to go to virtual social events anyways fuck that shit. He denied it already. And even your IT work did not discover anything.
Yet you still entertained the idea of installing a keylogger and hiring lawyers? What’s the name of your business so I never accidentally patronize it?
I find it funny that someone working for what sounds like a larger firm with access to legitimate resources like legal counsel has consulted them to find their options and is now posting here for ‘better’ advice on terminating an employee
Kinda sounds like OP doesn’t like that his coworker can handle 2 jobs and wants to get them fired
Uhh, a few things here:
- If you’ve got different teams across continents, I’m not really sure this is a “small business” question anymore.
- Labor laws? Labor laws protect employees from employers. I can’t think of a single labor law on the planet that limits how much an individual wants to work across different jobs. Granted, I’m not a lawyer, same as you.
- Your metrics for this are all subjective. Increased fatigue? What does that mean? You caught him yawning? Is he falling asleep at work? Diminished interest in virtual social events? Are you forcing employees to go to mixers on Zoom or do you mean that he looks bored in meetings? FYI, meetings can often be boring. Especially extended ones that happen way too often. Bottom line, is this you being a micro-manager or are people coming to you with complaints?
This doesn’t sound like a small business that’s having trouble navigating a situation. This screams big business trying to fuck over an employee. The kind of big business that thinks they own their employees. There was no question about what can be done to resolve the situation. There was no concern for why. Your question was how do I get this person fired. Maybe it’s justified, maybe not. Either way, I don’t think this is the right place to ask it.
P.S., You sound like you’d be a nightmare to work for.
I see a lot of typical American comments here, but European labour law is rather different. When an employee works too much hours across more jobs, all the employers can get fined for not complying with working time regulations. I suspect this is OP’s biggest concern.
I think however that it should be fine from that perspective if everything has been documented well, like the rules in de employment contract and staff handbook, the investigation into this suspected breach, the outcome of that investigation, correspondence on the subject with the person who reported it, the lawyers, and the employee, etc.
You’ve done what is expected: you took the report serious, you investigated thoroughly and found nothing suspicious, you’ve reissued the rules, and you’ve consulted a lawyer during all of this. You couldn’t have possibly done anything more.
As for the employee; as long as they meet their targets and are generally performing well, there likely isn’t much more you can do. Other than of course manage them on expectations, address fatigue as and when appropriate, etc. And maybe have a frank discussion about how happy the employee is in their role and if their expectations still align with the company and the role.
I personally wouldn’t go as far as investigate across continents, unless you have clear evidence of that suspected breach of non-competition.
It may as well have been a case of him helping out his nephew or something non-material like that.