We have to terminate assignments (read: fire someone) all the time for all kinds of reasons. Despite the comical circumstances surrounding individual stories, many of those reasons I can understand and, on a good day, even stretch to extend a bit of sympathy. Let’s face it, life is hard, and it certainly isn’t made easier for the folks who need to live on 15 bucks an hour.
I have very little sympathy for time theft, though, which is fraudulent reporting of hours. Said another way: Submitting a timecard with Y number of hours having only worked X number of hours. Oh, and if it wasn’t clear, Y is greater than X.
I like the word “theft” because that’s what it is: Stealing money that doesn’t belong to you.
We recently concluded one such investigation into time theft with a termination. It wasn’t the most egregious or clever example I could come up with, but there is a reason it made my breathless-with-indignation blog post. Let's back up and review what happened.
The guy (let’s call him Mark. You know, for “the mark”, which goes along with that whole James-Bond-pretend-we-are-cool-and-"terminate assignments” thing we have going) was working as a night custodian in a school district. 99 times out of 100, schools do not allow overtime, but this one is notable as the one that does approve overtime because they're short-staffed. Accordingly, I didn't think anything of it when I started seeing Mark's timecard come through each week with more than 40 hours.
One week, the supervisor who approves timecards emailed me and told me that Mark did not, in fact, work the 47.3 hours he was reporting. In fact, Mark worked a mere three days that week. Cramming 47.3 hours into three days would make for an impressively long shift, and there was no way the school had that many toilets to clean each night, so the suspicion was real. Shortly thereafter, I get a second email that clarifies Mark has only been working three days a week for the past couple of weeks.
Well, gosh, isn't that funny? I told the supervisor to reject the submitted timecard, and I would look into the situation.
Payday rolls around, and the guy calls right away in the morning and says he didn't get paid.
Mark: I didn't get paid.
Me: I know. Your site supervisor emailed me and said you did not work the 47.3 hours you reported on your timecard.
Mark: Well, I did. I was there all 5 days. So when can I get paid?
Me: Since I'm getting a different story from you and the site sup, I need to look into the matter before we can approve your timecard. I have a call out to the school to speak with the night supervisor to see if he can clarify what days you worked. Once we get that straightened out, we'll get your check processed.
Mark: Well, I got bills to pay. My rent was due last Friday. I need that check to pay it.
Me: As I said, I am unable to process your hours until I get clarification from your school night supervisor.
Mark: But I gotta pay rent.
Me: Well, it's already a week late if it was due last Friday. I'll let you know when the night supervisor calls me back.
I ended the call. He wasn't happy. I didn't care.
He calls back five minutes later to leave a message that he 'forgot' he didn't work Monday the 4th and Tuesday the 5th (dates have been changed to protect the innocent). I pull up the original email and reconfirm the supervisor said the guy didn't work Tuesday the 5th or Wednesday the 6th. Curious.
I call Mark back.
Me: I got the message that you forgot you didn't work Monday the 4th or Tuesday the 5th.
Mark: (coughing incessantly) Yeah. I forgot. I called off sick.
Me: The site sup noted that you weren't there Tuesday the 5th or Wednesday the 6th.
Mark: (still coughing) No, I called of this Monday and Tuesday.
Me: I see. So you weren't there Tuesday or Wednesday last week, the 5th and 6th, and called off Monday and Tuesday again this week?
Mark: No! I called off sick (cough cough) last Monday and Tuesday, the 4th and 5th.
Me: But the site sup has you signed in for Monday, Thursday, and Friday, with your signature on the sheet. It shows you didn't work Tuesday the 5th or Wednesday the 6th.
Mark: Well, I guess I called off Monday and Tuesday this week (cough).
Me: Let me follow up with the site sup.
I pull up Mark's timecard for the current week, and he's got hours in for 4 days already. Funny. He just told me he called off sick Monday and Tuesday.
I would also like to point out that my first conversation suggested he was in good health. The second conversation suggested he had contracted a severe case of COVID in the ten minutes interim. Curiouser and curiouser.
I decide to get HR involved since this guy cannot keep his story straight, and I need to make sure I'm dotting all my i's and crossing my t's if I'm going to nail his ass to the wall. HR reaches out to the night site supervisor to see if they can shed any light on the situation. The gentleman is more than obliging, and emails us screenshots of the last 7 weeks of text messages between the contractor and him. I start wading through the texts and count up 11 days that this guy texted his supervisor that said he would not be in (musta been a bad case of something, that’s for sure). Mark had reported hours worked on his timecard for ten of those 11 days.
I email the supervisor that I would be adjusting the past two unpaid timecards to reflect the whopping two days the guy was at work each week and that Mark would be terminated, effective immediately (dramatic, huh?).
HR gets on the phone to Mark.
I hear later that Mark was pretty insistent as to the accuracy of his timecards right up until HR asked him him why he put hours on his timecard for that day when his shift hadn't even started yet. Mark tried saying that he "fills out his timecard before he goes to work." HR asked how he knew he would show up at exactly 1:30pm, take a break from exactly 4:15-4:30pm, and leave at exactly 11pm. Further, they asked him why he was only taking a 15 minute break each day when his file indicates that he had received multiple coaching sessions already about ensuring he takes the full required-by-law 30 min break whenever working over an 8-hour shift.
Cue the stammering and spluttering.
HR lets him know his assignment has been ended and that he will be paid the 4 days he worked in the past 2 weeks the next time payroll is processed since payroll for that week was already closed.
Mark tells them that his rent was due the past Friday, and he was going to get evicted if he didn't pay. HR tells him that he probably should've planned ahead for that bill since it's due at the same time each month. (Sidenote: You don't get evicted if your rent is two weeks late. We know this.)
HR gives me the go-ahead to close out the guy's file with a 'misconduct' end reason, and I happily do so with a big ol' DNU.
Mission accomplished, I popped into our text box to see if there were any new text messages that needed attention. Lo and behold, there's a text from Mark:
<Well, they figured it all out.>
<Is my assignment ended?>
I stare blankly at the screen in disbelief. Crickets chirped as I tried to formulate a reply.
<Yes. Your assignment has been ended.>
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