TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: New York City Fires Employee for Surfing the Web

New York City Fires Employee for Surfing the Web

Associated Press News Wire (ap@telecom-digest.org)
Sat, 6 May 2006 18:27:20 -0500

Despite a judge's recommendation that he only receive a reprimand, a
city worker accused of disregarding warnings to stay off the Internet
at work has been fired.

The office computer of Toquir Choudhri, a 14-year veteran of the
Department of Education, had been used to visit news and travel Web
sites.

Last month, Administrative Law Judge John Spooner ruled that surfing
the Web at work is equivalent to reading a newspaper or talking on the
phone.

He recommended the lightest possible punishment for Choudhri. Schools
Chancellor Joel Klein disagreed.

"The penalty of termination is appropriate and not shocking to one's
sense of fairness," Klein said Friday.

Choudhri's "abuse of the Internet at the time he is supposed to be
performing his job demonstrates his disinterest in the job," Klein
said.

Choudhri's lawyer, Martin Druyan, called the firing a "political
decision."

"It's unfair, it's shocking to the conscience and it's contrary to the
facts and the law," he said.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.

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