How much web browsing do you do at work?

A federal bureaucrat successfully won his job back after he was fired in 2009 for excessive and inappropriate internet use, the Globe and Mail reports.

Franklin Andrews, a senior analyst in the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, spent more than half his workday browsing websites that weren't related to his work, including downloading pornographic images. The department fired him, describing the internet use as "time theft."

Andrews, who had worked for the government for 27 years, appealed to the Public Service Labour Relations Board and won his job back. He claimed that he wasn't given enough work to fill the hours and became bored.

Adjudicator Kate Rogers ruled that while he had violated federal government policies by downloading porn, his online habits did not explicitly qualify as time theft.

The term usually refers to "an overtly fraudulent act, such as altering a time card, having employees punch in for each other or failing to record or falsely recording attendance on an attendance management system," said Rogers.

She also found that Andrews' supervisors failed to give him enough work to occupy his hours, and credited his clean record of service, according to The Toronto Sun.

(photo: iStock)

Do you have open internet access at your workplace? How long do you spend on non-work-related web browsing, reading, or other activities at work? Should internet use be considered time theft? Let us know in the comments section below.



(This survey is not scientific. Results are based on readers' responses.)