4 ms·

I think the most interesting point about this story is the existence of "ghost employees" per se. One has to think of remote Yahoo workers ;). The fraud involv

by netrus 14y ago

I think the most interesting point about this story is the existence of "ghost employees" per se. One has to think of remote Yahoo workers ;). The fraud involved biometrics, but I think it is a non-issue. Of course you can trick every system, and a finger-print system is arguably harder to trick than punching card systems that might have been used before. You cannot expect to log in with silicon fingers for a long time before someone will notice ...

bluedino 14y ago
Would these fingers be considered 'burglars tools' by the courts?
- OGinparadise 14y ago
  "Would these fingers be considered 'burglars tools' by the courts?" A boxer's hands may be considered lethal weapons so probably yes. They should invent something to use in Japan, just in case their social services /pension agencies want to see the 128 year old grandma before sending the next check http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11258071 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11258071 :).
  - coryl 14y ago
    The boxers hands bit is not true, they aren't required to be registered nor are they consider weapons. However, a fighter or martial artists background may be pertinent in the case.
    - talmand 14y ago
      I've seen many cases where there was a violent altercation of some kind where the person with training is labeled the responsible party even if they were the victim. I forget where it was, but years ago when I was in martial arts a case made the rounds in our group about a guy who was attacked, I forget why, in front of multiple witnesses at the local mall during a demonstration. In the tussle the attacker fell and hit his head on the nearby fountain, I believed he died. The prosecution focused on the victim's martial arts training implying that he had total control of the situation and that the result was his sole responsibility. It's a sobering thought to think that your local prosecutor might imply your teenage child is a highly trained killer because they participated in Tae Kwon Do.
  - choult 14y ago
    A boxer's hands are a lot less useful when not attached to a boxer's arms.
    - EliRivers 14y ago
      On the plus side, you could take one to touch in at work for him.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
jcampbell1 14y ago
The term "ghost employee" is a standard English term used by auditors. Any sufficiently large organization must periodically reconcile the payroll system with managers and/or a timecard system. It is usually as simple as just sending a email to managers asking them to certify that a list of employees are working for them. There are often a bunch of edge case that must be worked out, like the people that don't have managers in the HR system, or people on leave where the paperwork didn't get processed correctly. Unfortunately, audits aren't really designed to uncover fraud with collusion. This is why any fraud that is found should be criminally prosecuted, which the Brazilians are doing correctly here. They need to also prosecute the employees that were receiving benefits without working as well.
- ghshephard 14y ago
  The one edge case I typically run into with IT systems is when the chairman of the board, who is not the CEO, wishes to have an office at the company. Where do you put him on the Org Chart? Every other person I can assign a manager that ultimately flows up to the CEO - but the politics of hierarchy between the CEO (who answers to the board) - and the chairman (who most certainly does not answer to the CEO) are tricky.

by netrus 14y ago

bluedino 14y ago

Would these fingers be considered 'burglars tools' by the courts?

OGinparadise 14y ago
"Would these fingers be considered 'burglars tools' by the courts?" A boxer's hands may be considered lethal weapons so probably yes. They should invent something to use in Japan, just in case their social services /pension agencies want to see the 128 year old grandma before sending the next check http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11258071 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11258071 :).
- coryl 14y ago
  The boxers hands bit is not true, they aren't required to be registered nor are they consider weapons. However, a fighter or martial artists background may be pertinent in the case.
  - talmand 14y ago
    I've seen many cases where there was a violent altercation of some kind where the person with training is labeled the responsible party even if they were the victim. I forget where it was, but years ago when I was in martial arts a case made the rounds in our group about a guy who was attacked, I forget why, in front of multiple witnesses at the local mall during a demonstration. In the tussle the attacker fell and hit his head on the nearby fountain, I believed he died. The prosecution focused on the victim's martial arts training implying that he had total control of the situation and that the result was his sole responsibility. It's a sobering thought to think that your local prosecutor might imply your teenage child is a highly trained killer because they participated in Tae Kwon Do.
- choult 14y ago
  A boxer's hands are a lot less useful when not attached to a boxer's arms.
  - EliRivers 14y ago
    On the plus side, you could take one to touch in at work for him.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

jcampbell1 14y ago

The term "ghost employee" is a standard English term used by auditors. Any sufficiently large organization must periodically reconcile the payroll system with managers and/or a timecard system. It is usually as simple as just sending a email to managers asking them to certify that a list of employees are working for them. There are often a bunch of edge case that must be worked out, like the people that don't have managers in the HR system, or people on leave where the paperwork didn't get processed correctly. Unfortunately, audits aren't really designed to uncover fraud with collusion. This is why any fraud that is found should be criminally prosecuted, which the Brazilians are doing correctly here. They need to also prosecute the employees that were receiving benefits without working as well.

ghshephard 14y ago
The one edge case I typically run into with IT systems is when the chairman of the board, who is not the CEO, wishes to have an office at the company. Where do you put him on the Org Chart? Every other person I can assign a manager that ultimately flows up to the CEO - but the politics of hierarchy between the CEO (who answers to the board) - and the chairman (who most certainly does not answer to the CEO) are tricky.