Can we get a new category for articles like these; "labor" or "work" for example. This is classified business, money, and IT, which are fine, but it's about a fairly specific aspect that probably matters to a lot of readers, I'd like to be able to search on it.

considering your nick, you seem very pro-employer. Ah, you mean Steve? Ah...

Based on some things I've read here and elsewhere, it's not necessarily desirable to monitor /everything/. There are things you should watch, and things you shouldn't. This is one of the balancing acts that we in this line of work must perform, and it's not clear where the rope is. If you've got written instruction from a higher-up to do it, good, keep a copy of it somewhere, but also keep in mind that CYAs don't always validly do what they nominally should. This aspect of our work is only going to get more and more difficult, and maybe after a few high-profile cases of admins getting fscked (no I don't mean the network guy from California), we'll organize and do something to protect ourselves (no, I don't necessarily mean a union).

As I understand it, in most US states, employers pay into the unemployment benefits pool based on how many people have been let go and then collected. If it can be shown that an employee was let go for cause or left voluntarily, an employer can successfully challenge a benefits application, and then the employer's contributions to the pool will not increase.

I would/do suffer, take the productivity hit, whatever before I'd bring personal belongings into the office. I have nothing here, no family photos, no coffee mug, nothing that's not on my person at all times.

> if you were fired for cause
/cause/. I'm not sure if these are actual terms of art in law, but the three ways an employer can get rid of an employee is 1) firing with cause, 2) firing without cause, 3) lay off. If one is fired with cause or he leaves voluntarily, he is not eligible for unemployment benefits (in the US, or at least the majority of US states). If one is fired without cause, I think he can still apply for unemployment benefits, and if the former employer challenges that, it may go to a hearing of some sort. If one is laid off, there should be no challenge on the part of the former employer, although I've read recently, possibly here on /., that some employers routinely challenge unemployment benefit applications to avoid having to pay more into the benefits system.

tacokill, you sound like a manager.

I'd describe my current situation as adversarial, yes, and based on what I discuss with friends, in IT and not, this is not unique. However, as for a smaller environment being better, I'd say that's not an influence on the office atmosphere. 1000 employees or 10, the office can be cooperative or adversarial.

I assume this was not in the US, or at least not a 'typical' at-will state in the US?

Yeah really. I still can't get the wheel tilt on my Logitech G5 to scroll up and down in Firefox.