repayment of hours spent online for personal use

[lcmahler]

I recently quit my job to go back to school. It wasn't an amicable split between myself and my employer and she is claiming that she has a backlog of hours that she recorded me spending on the internet for personal use. My question is this: does she have grounds to claim that I am required to pay back the salary she paid me for these hours that she "tracked"? I have no Idea for how long she had been tracking my internet use, but I feel that I should have been notified of this as an issue as soon as it became one if this is the case. I do not deny that I was using the computer for personal use. I just need to know if this is something I need to worry about financially.

 

[cbg]

She cannot require you to repay her for this time. However, she can tell prospective employers who call for references about the time you spent online. She also, had you not quit, could have fired you for it (regardless of whether she said anything to you beforehand or not). She was not paying you to use the Net for personal use.

 

[lcmahler]

Thank you. I appreciate your response. She is a spiteful woman and would not have given me a good recommendation regardless. I just needed to know that I would not be financially responsible for these hours.

 

[Scooterdog]

Thank you. I appreciate your response. She is a spiteful woman and would not have given me a good recommendation regardless. I just needed to know that I would not be financially responsible for these hours.

Never admit to it.

 

[lcmahler]

Admit to the online hours?

 

[Scooterdog]

Admit to the online hours?

Don't admit to online use. She would have to prove you actually were online the entire time. She can't.

She won't be getting any money from you, unless you are a contractor.

 

[lcmahler]

I'm not a contractor so it sounds like i'm ok. Thank you for your response!

 

[cbg]

Scooter is mistaken. There are programs that can track Internet use for employees. It's entirely possible for her to have proof of the time you were on line whether you admitted to it or not.

 

[lcmahler]

I know that there are all kinds of different ways of tracking... The sites I visited, how long I was on them etc... I even saw that there are programs that record 2 minute intervals of time spent online. I assume that she has something along these lines, because if it just tracked time online, it wouldn't be an issue. 90% of my job was online research and I ALWAYS had a browser open from the time I got there to the time I left. It shounds like both of you are in agreement though that she cannot come after me for the salary she paid me in these hours. Thanks again