Updated OP: I just lost my job for going above and beyond.

[sze5003]

Every place I interviewed at asked for my previous supervisor and phone number. Many times I didn't have this info saved. So when they ask why you are at the interview and you can tell the person interviewing has IT knowledge you could say that you were running diagnostics on your terminal and non IT personnel thought it was a bad thing. That's if they ask why they should not call your previous employer. Better thing to do is get a reference from someone there that liked you.

I've always been asked those questions and if it was alright for previous company to be contacted. I know because friends put me as a reference and I always got called by their soon to be supervisors or managers.

I don't really know if it would be worth it.to sue. Check with a free consult lawyer first. Many people tend to have these cases and they drag on especially if the company is run by the state or government but in your case I don't think so.

 

[Linflas]

UNLESS you are IT you never mess with the command propt. there is no reason to do it.

HR and such are idiots and have no clue that /ipconfig is. all they see is a lot of numbers scroll by.

they take this as you are either installing software, hacking, or worse.

never a good idea.

also as six mentioned this was not "above and beyond" for his job and in no way would have helped him in a interview

If you don't want users to access the command prompt you disable access to it through group policy and make sure there is something in the AUP explicitly stating that accessing the command prompt on a workstation will be considered evidence of hacking and grounds for dismissal. Personally I have been working in IT for a very long time in both highly secure infrastructures and all manner in between and none of them would have considered what the OP posted as a fireable offense.

 

[sourceninja]

Actually while talking with a (former?) coworker. I may have been fired for being an Atheist.

It came up in conversation once (i am not the douchebag atheist that spouts off condescending things to all believers). I have read that Atheism is not a protected class in many states because you can't be held to the same standard as religious discrimination if you are someone without a religious belief.

I live in the bible belt. The person who did not get fired for installing the router was christian, the person who promoted him and fired me, is also christian.

Even if Atheism is not protected, you just have to know how to spin it. Your not being fired for being an Atheist, your being fired for NOT being a christian.

 

[EagleKeeper]

HR was not hiring for this position, my direct boss in surveillance was.

Hiring goes through HR.

You are blackballed.

You cannot collect unemployment if you are fired for misconduct.

w/ respect to unemployment, you can file an appeal of determination.
Present your case to the investigator and they will review according to what the company responds with.

Being terminated, you can not draw until a penalty period has expired. Usually 4-8 weeks. After that you can then collect. The lost of time in the beginning is then added onto the end for length of benefit eligibility. *If you win an appeal; you get checks retroactive based on the original filing


Legally you do not have any ground to stand on w/ respect to being let go.
Morally does not count.

Well i'll have to change careers now since my only employer in the field will give me bad references.

You have a choice to list the employer or not on a resume.
Some may check for references; others may not.
Unless there is personal knowledge of the old manager; the most that a company can say is confirm the salary and is the person eligible for rehire.


Best during any interview to lay out your side of the story in advance.

For one, they can't give me a bad reference. Defamation.

They do not need to give you a bad reference; just state that you are ineligible for rehire; Same as a manager stating that he would not want you working for him again.

That puts a red flag up but is not a reference; just a response to a legit question.

 

[sourceninja]

Also, remember, if you don't have written approval to do something, it is very easy for them to argue that it was against their policy.

For example, several years ago my wife worked for a ISP. The ISP had a unwritten policy that you had one free account. Several years went by and everyone had moved on to cable/DSL services and nobody was using their free accounts anymore. My wife however never closed her account because 'hey, we might need it'.

When the company decided it could no longer afford to pay their support staff, instead of a layoff, they found individual reasons to fire for misconduct every single member of the staff. One for being late, one for 'insubordination', and my wife for 'theft of service'. We fought it though unemployment but the determination was we had no proof it was allowed and their lawyer said it was 'well know that this behavior was not allowed'. Of course the people we brought in to testify were all simply 'upset they also lost their jobs' and not counted, while the owners were upstanding citizens...

The good news is, they were bad managers and quickly went out of business when they couldn't compete with comcast.

This is why I have a strong written record of almost everything I do. It's for my safety and the safety of my employer.

 

[rudder]

Did not read through all of the thread.... but life lesson here... your boss wants the job. Your firing means that there is one less more qualified candidate to compete with. I could go on about the lameness of the reason for your getting fired... but your boss is friends with someone in HR. You gave him an opening and he took it. It is dog eat dog out there and you need to trust no one.

 

[EagleKeeper]

No you don't. You were laid off. Is there someone at your workplace outside of those involved in this mess that can be a reference?

The company determines if it is a layoff or termination/firing when reported to the unemployment.

The employee can choose the wording on an employment application and/or interview.

If it was unauthorized, they should have disabled it.

If unauthorized; he should not be playing around with it and stated in a manual.

 

[SunnyD]

Updates with some FAQs:

I will not be allowed to take unemployment because i was fired for misconduct.

Getting another job in this field may not be easy because of the bad reference.

Upon conversation with another employee tonight, I learned that the boss that fired me leaked that he was going to fire me before my statement was even taken by HR.

I may have been fired for being an Atheist in the bible belt. I have proof that someone did much worse things with the network (i didn't do anything wrong) and he was promoted. He is the same religion as the boss that fired me.

Is it possible to get that in writing from the other employee? If so, you can appeal the decision IF unemployment denies you as wrongful termination and if you have a signed document from the employee attesting to this it's basically slam dunk.

When I was fired for turning in my notice at my last job, my employer tried to tell UI that because I turned in notice that I effectively resigned immediately. I told UI that I was fired immediately in retaliation. I was ultimately granted UI.

 

[Juddog]

Based upon the update, I'd say it's time to sue their asses. What they did was straight up illegal.

 

[SagaLore]

Updates with some FAQs:

I will not be allowed to take unemployment because i was fired for misconduct.

Getting another job in this field may not be easy because of the bad reference.

Upon conversation with another employee tonight, I learned that the boss that fired me leaked that he was going to fire me before my statement was even taken by HR.

I may have been fired for being an Atheist in the bible belt. I have proof that someone did much worse things with the network (i didn't do anything wrong) and he was promoted. He is the same religion as the boss that fired me.

I think you're reaching. :hmm:

 

[SunnyD]

i use command prompts all the time. some things are easier and faster to do by scripting.

Geez, I have to use a command prompt AND a compiler via the command prompt. I guess I should dust off my resume yesterday. D:

 

[vi edit]

Wow, just imagine if you had run a ping -t command. You could have been thrown in Guantanamo Bay for being an international DDoS terrorist.

 

[olds]

...Upon conversation with another employee tonight, I learned that the boss that fired me leaked that he was going to fire me before my statement was even taken by HR...

You got fired because you were competition for your boss on the new position.

 

[JM Aggie08]

Move on.

Suing will only hurt you. Win or lose, no company will want someone that has a track record for taking issues to court. Just count your losses, and look forward.

 

[SagaLore]

Wow, just imagine if you had run a ping -t command. You could have been thrown in Guantanamo Bay for being an international DDoS terrorist.

Smurf attacks are serious business.

 

[sourceninja]

Smurf attacks are serious business.

 

[TXHokie]

Technically what you've done is not hacking yet but those are what can be considered "recon" prior to actual hacking. I can argue that you were collecting information about the host and network to plan your hack (collect ip information, subnet mask, gateway ip, collecting MAC address to find the specific vendor of the NIC, finding out what port the host are listening to determine what services are running - these are information that are useful to get the correct tool to hack it later). Yeah it may be a stretch but that's what I would tell the corporate lawyer if I was being consulted on it when you sue.

 

[Gunbuster]

Good thing you didn't do a shutdown -s -t 60 they might have shot you on the spot or drowned you for being a witch.

 

[dawks]

I didn't read the whole thread, but did we find out how the manager knew he typed those commands? The only ways I know of would be if someone watched him (perhaps via camera, or over his shoulder, he told someone he did, or a keylogger. I believe it may be illegal to terminate someone for cause when the evidence was gathered by a keylogger, if the employee was not first notified that a key logger was installed.

If what the OP is telling us is true, he could probably pursue this, but I'd just sue for a years worth of lost wages and move on. This isn't a place anyone would want to work.

 

[sze5003]

I didn't read the whole thread, but did we find out how the manager knew he typed those commands? The only ways I know of would be if someone watched him (perhaps via camera, or over his shoulder, he told someone he did, or a keylogger. I believe it may be illegal to terminate someone for cause when the evidence was gathered by a keylogger, if the employee was not first notified that a key logger was installed.

If what the OP is telling us is true, he could probably pursue this, but I'd just sue for a years worth of lost wages and move on. This isn't a place anyone would want to work.

I believe he said someone saw him type the commands and then told the supervisor although the supervisor is seated close to him if I recall.

 

[Exterous]

One would also assume that he wouldn't go looking in another employee's personal space, in hopes of finding copier supplies.

This sentence has no place here. He did not look in any other employee's personal space.

Using the command prompt is a duty assigned to someone else, so the analogy to a desk specifically assigned to someone else is a good one

You must have some great inside information to know that it is assigned to someone else, that there is some documentation that only specific people are allowed to use the command prompt. I am curious - how do you know this is true?

I should point out that the company gave him access to the command prompt on a resource assigned to him - they provided the means of access. In your horrid example the resource was explicitly provided to someone who is not him.

 

[sixone]

This sentence has no place here. He did not look in any other employee's personal space.

You must have some great inside information to know that it is assigned to someone else, that there is some documentation that only specific people are allowed to use the command prompt. I am curious - how do you know this is true?

I should point out that the company gave him access to the command prompt on a resource assigned to him - they provided the means of access. In your horrid example the resource was explicitly provided to someone who is not him.

The delineation of duties was clear, according to the OP:

IT is not allowed in our department without special authorization from our Director.

Furthermore, the only other person whom could authorize had left the company, hence the open position.

 

[Exterous]

The delineation of duties was clear, according to the OP:

Where does that cover the use of the command prompt?

 

[EagleKeeper]

Where does that cover the use of the command prompt?

It is not the use; it what he used it for.

Big difference

 

[Phoenix86]

It is not the use; it waht he used it for.

Big difference

Would you classify those commands as benign or malignant?

Does running those commands alter anything?

Sure you could argue they are used prior to an actual attack, but it's far easier to argue there are many legitimate uses.