Being asked to deliver your boss's blackberry - How would you decide if you were the judge?
True story I read in the newspaper: During a business trip to Dublin a banker realized he forgot his blackberry at his London office. He called one of his direct reports in London and asked him to fetch the blackberry, get on the next plane and deliver it to him personally. The conservation-conscious employee refused for ecological reasons and got fired. He’s suing his boss for wrongful termination. The London court hasn’t decided yet.
How would you decide?
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I think he should have gotting a written warning for it instead of being fired. As for the refusal itself, he did refuse to do something which was clearly within the boundaries of his job’s duties after a direct order by someone with the power of direction. I do not see why he did not offer alternatives, such as sending it by mail (the Royal Mail is quite efficient I heard), or use a car, or public transportation, all of them cheaper and more ecological options, instead of refusing outright.
Should he be reprimanded for this? Yes. Fired? No.
Unfortunately, I would rule against him – he used a personal conviction on the job he agreed to fulfill – just because I don’t believe in gender norms, I am not going to talk to each of my patients about it…otoh, I respect this person for doing what he felt was right.
Unfortunately, if he’s an assistant, that’s one of the tasks that’s part of the job, whether he likes it or not.
@aprilsimnel – Actually he wasn’t an assistant, he had a mid-level position. Unfortunately, the newspaper article (in TAZ) wasn’t too specific and I couldn’t find anything on it on the web. Even the TAZ archive is restricted.
Oh. Hmm. So the exec didn’t have an assistant? Weird.
Refusing a direct legal order from a superior IS grounds for termination.
Just read on that a bit. An employee has the right to refuse a direct order from a superior if this order leads to a moral conflict, for example, a pacifist has the right to refuse if the employer wants to put him into weapons production. (Under German law that is.) If Britain has similar laws, the question now is whether conflict between the employees ecological views and the order constitutes an actual moral conflict.
@ragingloli – Thanks for that. There clearly is a dilemma. Personally I don’t understand why UPS or FedEx or Royal Mail would be significantly slower than a person getting on the next available plane.
The exec asking for the bb to be hand delivered should be canned. What a wasteful douche.
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