Union: Boss Had Duty to eBay Addicts

A union representing nine United Kingdom office workers reportedly fired due to their addiction to eBay and other Internet sites says their employer should have been more vigilant.

Although so-called firewall software had been installed to prevent employees from looking at pornography on their office computers, the union says the Neath Port Talbot Council in South Wales should have saved eBay-obsessed workers from themselves by making sure that it also prevented them from accessing the popular online auction site, according to the London Times. Employees at the government office reportedly were spending up to two hours a day of work time on eBay.

Paul Elliot, an official with Unison, the union representing the workers, says it hasn't yet decided whether to pursue unfair dismissal cases on their behalf. However, "[w]e have asked the council to adjust their IT equipment to block off certain functions such as eBay sites during working hours," he tells the newspaper. "The council could have brought in mechanisms to prevent workers going into the sites. Now we are asking them to put in a system to prevent people from falling into the trap of shopping on eBay.”