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General News    H3'ed 2/3/11

University Makes a Habit of Firing Employees Over "Computer Issues"

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Message Roger Shuler

Audio: UAB and the Cost of Blogging About the Siegelman Case

As you can tell from this audio, UAB accused me of engaging in "non work-related activity," even though I was doing exactly what my supervisor had told me, and my colleagues, to do--to keep up with Alabama-related articles when we had a chance. The Siegelman case undoubtedly was the biggest such story at the time--and it involved a former ex oficio president of UAB's board (Siegelman) and UAB's most famous alumnus (Richard Scrushy).

Melissa Kelly, the Pants' director, made similar charges against them. From the complaint:

Ms. Kelly showed the Plaintiffs some of their e-mail correspondence, documents they had saved on the computer, and phone-usage records. She accused them of violating UAB policies. As is true in any office, they were not the only employees who made a few phone calls or sent a few e-mails on company time. They also reminded Ms. Kelly that two and a half years prior, Plaintiffs had asked for her approval to engage in external consulting, to which she agreed.

What had the environment been like in the Pants' office? Pretty loose, for most people:

Plaintiffs are not the only employees who consulted with external entities. Kevin Smith, a white male and former UAB employee who was in the same position and department as Plaintiffs, started a company called Preceptor Consulting.

Mr. Smith was not disciplined or fired; in fact, he was given Fridays off to work on his consulting company. 

Andy Flynn, another white employee, also used UAB's Internet resources, phone, and fax machines to facilitate his private business. His business is called HPG consulting company. His external consulting is common knowledge throughout the department.

Virtually everyone in Plaintiffs' department used e-mail, phone, and fax machines for personal reasons. In addition, employees such as Mr. Smith, Robert Kirby, and Bill Braman were permitted to work four-day work weeks. Plaintiffs were not given the same consideration, despite asking. 

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I live in Birmingham, Alabama, and work in higher education. I became interested in justice-related issues after experiencing gross judicial corruption in Alabama state courts. This corruption has a strong political component. The corrupt judges are (more...)
 
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