| |
Two Questions
Fired
for Time Fraud!
“The
wages of the righteous bring them life, but the
income of the wicked brings them punishment.”
Dear
Mr. Wilson:
I
worked for a company of 500 employees for 12
years in the accounting department. For the past
five years, I was in charge of accounts payable.
I was fired on April 28 and escorted to the door
because of time fraud. Emotionally, I am still
reeling from this because I was highly
conscientious about my responsibilities at work.
In short, here is the story: Two years ago my
employer’s business began to slow down due
to the ailing economy. The company terminated
some of the newer employees in the accounting
department because there wasn’t enough work
to keep everyone busy. As the manager of accounts
payable, I found that I could get 98% of my work
done by 2 P.M. and after dealing with boredom, I
thought I would use my “unproductive time”
by starting an Internet business on the side. (I
had high-speed Internet access at my work desk.)
At no time did I use my employer’s work to
take care of personal business. I stayed “on
top” of my work-related duties and made sure
that I met all of my employee responsibilities
and deadlines. On Friday, April 25, my computer
died. I called the computer support
department and they took my computer to the shop
for repair. When I returned Monday morning, there
was a note on my desk indicating the CFO [Chief
Financial Officer] wanted to see me first thing.
I went to his office and he told me that I have
been fired for time fraud. The computer repair
team had discovered my personal business and a
substantial set of records of my personal
activities. I tried to explain that my personal
business had not affected my work or my
competency as the manager of accounts payable. I
reminded him that my reviews had been excellent.
He agreed that I had been a great employee, but
he also said that I had lost my dedication to the
company an diluted my efforts toward its success
with personal pursuits. He said that my personal
business during work hours had “robbed”
the company of my time, creativity, and energy
that it was due. He said that if I had “non-productive
time” that I was obligated to seek out other
assignments within the company because the
company was paying me a salary to be totally
dedicated to the success of the company, not my
personal interests. He asked, Why” should my
company pay you and other employees to conduct
business for themselves?” He said the he was
very sorry that I had divided my interests and
loyalty. He called Security and a guard escorted
me to my desk and after gathering up a few
personal items, I was escorted to the door.
Needless
to say, I have been devastated. I never thought
of myself being a thief. I am angry for losing a
great job at a time like this. I thought as long
as I was “doing my job,” that nothing
more was expected of me. I was wrong. I have been
sickened by the ordeal and seeking another job
with time fraud in my history is painful. I am
writing to ask whether you think I own my
employer some form of “restitution.” I
have read your articles on the importance of
making things right and I am trying to sort this
out. The CFO said that I stole time and money
from them and in retrospect I have to agree. What
do you think the Lord wants me to do?
Sincerely,
Michelle
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear
Michelle:
Thank
you for your e-mail. I know that you are in a
painful situation. You have asked a good question
and I hope my response will be helpful. Before I
address the issue of restitution, I would like to
comment on a couple of things. First, time fraud
is a huge problem in America. In 2005, Salary.com
and America Online took a survey on employee
practices. They found that employees spend an
average of 2.09 hours per eight-hour workday on
something other than their jobs, not including
lunch and breaks. Based on these averages,
employee time-wasting costs U.S. employers an
estimated $544 billion each year. More than half
of the 2,706 people surveyed admitted that their
biggest distraction during work hour was surfing
the Internet for personal use. Other distractions
included socializing with co-workers, running
errands outside the office, personal phone calls,
and personal endeavors. Michelle, think about
this. If your salary was $20 an hour, and you
spent approximately three hours a day on personal
business, in a week’s time you have stolen
$300 in wages from your employer. (Actually, the
amount is greater than $300 per week because your
employer pays taxes based on your earning, as
well as vacation time, health insurance,
retirement, etc.)
The
second thing I need to say is that your remarks
give me the impression that you may not fully
realize the extent of your actions. Here is the
problem: You defined you job rather than allowing
your employer to dynamically define or redefine
your job. You wrote, “At no time did I put
my personal business on a higher priority than
that of my employer.” This is not true. When
you concluded that you could finish your duties
by 2 P.M., you should have gone to your employer
and said, “I don’t have enough work to
keep me busy.” You should have been honest,
but you were not. Rather, you began doing
personal business at your employer’s
expense. You substituted your employer’s job
description with personal goals.
It is
clear to me that you owe restitution to your
former employer. We cannot expect God to forgive
us for stealing without first making an effort to
restore what we stole. Jesus said, “Therefore,
if you are offering your gift at the altar and
there remember that your brother has something
against you, leave your gift there in front of
the altar. First go and be reconciled to your
brother; then come and offer your gift. ‘Settle
matters quickly with your adversary who is taking
you to court. Do it while you are still with him
on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge,
and the judge ma hand you over to the officer,
and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you
the truth, you will not get out until you have
paid the last penny.’” (Matthew
5:23-26)
You
may have been naïve when you started doing
business for yourself at work. Nevertheless,
you were fired because you stole time and money
from your employer. Your employer faithfully paid
you to work for him, not yourself. I thing
you should go back to the CFO and tell him that
you now realize the seriousness of your actions
and that you would like to make amends. Ask him
to help you determine what you owe the company
and reassure him that you will somehow pay it
– even if it takes you many months. Further,
if you are interested, tell him that you have
learned a painful lesson and that you would be
pleased to work for the company again in whatever
position he might deem appropriate. Be
courageous, admit your error, and do your best to
make it right even if he does not offer you a
job. At least, when he is called for a reference,
he will have to admit that yes, you were fired
for time fraud, but you have done everything
possible to atone for your actions. This will
speak volumes about your integrity and character,
and most of all, you will have peace with God
knowing that you have done the right thing. Now,
get going with restitution, and the guilt that
nags at you will quickly disappear!
Best
regards,
Larry
Wilson
Is
Sabbath the Seventh Day?
Dear
Mr. Wilson:
Is
there a simple way to prove that the seventh day
of the week, Saturday, is the same seventh day of
Creation? I am asking because my co-worker says
time has been lost and we can’t possibly
know which day of the week is God’s seventh
day.
Thank
you, Glen:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear
Glen:
Yes,
there is a simple way to prove that Saturday, the
seventh day of the week, is the seventh day
Sabbath Creation. Here is how: About 2,500 years
after Creation, Jesus delivered Israel from
Egyptian slavery. He took them into the
wilderness and gave them manna to eat. For forty
years Jesus Himself demonstrated which day was
His seventh day Sabbath because no manna fell on
that day! Even more compelling, if we jump
forward to when Jesus was on Earth, the Bible
records how He observed the seventh day which He
Himself had made holy at Creation. (Luke 4:16)
In the
second century, A.D., Christians in Rome began
deviating from observing the seventh day Sabbath.
About 45 B.C., Mithraism took root in Rome and
many Romans worshiped on Sunday, the holy day of
Mirthra, the Sun God, before Christianity arrived
in Rome. As the Mirthraites converted to
Christianity, they wanted to continue observing
Sunday as a holy day. This was because Sunday
observance was prevalent in Rome by the second
century A.D. and Roman Christians wanted to avoid
being associated or identified with the Jews.
(The Romans despised the Jews.) As time passed,
the Church of Rome became the influential center
for Christian doctrine, and the Emperor of Rome,
Constantine, became a Christian for political
reasons. He imposed the first Sunday law in
March, A.D., 321 – a law that pleased the
Mirthraites, as well as the Christians. Today, as
you know, most Christians worship on Sunday, the
first day of the week.
There
is one more item that you need to know. During
the sixth century A.D. Mohammed established the
sixth day of the week as a day that all Moslems
must attend a religious service and participate
in prayers at a mosque. Any Moslem will affirm
that the sixth day of the week is adjacent to the
seventh day of the week that the Jews observe.
The Jewish seventh day is also adjacent to the
first day of the week that is observed by
Christians.
Without
realizing it, three antagonistic religions agree
on the synchrony of the weekly cycle. This
proves that time has not been lost. The
seventh day of Creation remains synchronous with
the seventh day of the week. Mankind typically
calls it by its Roman name, Saturday, but God
still calls it Sabbath.
I hope
this helps!
Larry Wilson
[top]
|
