Sports Direct 'bugged' Our Visit To Shirebrook Warehouse, Say Mps

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37899067

This is almost unbelievable.....an attempt to bug the 6 MPs, in a rather cack-handed way ! From the above link :::::

"A spokesman for Sports Direct declined to comment"

I bet he didn't !

[Gromit]

Their premises, they can do what they like. If MPs wanted a secure meeting after the visit, they should have booked one somewhere else.
No laws have been broken. They didn't particular want this visit, and Sports Direct had to commit personel and time to accommodate these MP's fact finding visit. The MPs sound very ungrateful, and full of their own self importance.

[mikey4444]

Gromit drivel ! Its amazing how anybody could attempt, although fail, to condemn this crooked company.

[1ozzy]

Unethical work practices?

Guess they have just proved a point.

Silly *** ;-)

[Jackdaw33]

Wondered when you'd find a new horse to flog, now that Trump and UKIP are dead in the water.

[evil__sheep]

i have to say, unusually i absolutely agree with gromit here - it's their premises in which they had a surprise visit, o doubt forced upon them and they are perfectly entitled to "bug" whatever room they want

[Jackdaw33]

And I am with evil-sheep and Gromit.

[douglas9401]

Having read of what goes on behind closed doors at Wastemonster, Sports Direct may have thought they were performing a public service by documenting any secret shenanigans between the troughers.

[1ozzy]

//i have to say, unusually i absolutely agree with gromit here - it's their premises in which they had a surprise visit, o doubt forced upon them and they are perfectly entitled to "bug" whatever room they want//

Err, umm, they were expecting a visit due to their unethical work practices.

And that gives the right to try and hide recording devices?

Yeah, right!!!!

[Gromit]

The same Commons Committee in July.

// The committee said it would visit the firm's base and "continue to hold Mr Ashley's feet to the fire". //

That confirms the MPs are on a witch hunt.

[mikey4444]

This affair has some similarities with Trump.....No matter what Trump does or say, there will be still be people who will ignore the facts.

Sport Direct are in serious trouble, and that is why they are being investigated, and yet some people will still continue to ignore facts, and support the Company.

This Select Committee are acting as an adjunct to the House of Commons, and its their right to investigate Sports Direct, in any way they think fit. When they visited the premises, they did so as a Committee, not as a loose bunch of various MPs, and to attempt to bug the conversations of MP's, even in this cack-handed way is entirely unacceptable.

Its going to be discussed in a couple of minutes on Radio 4. I don't know who will appear, but if its a representative of Sports Direct, it wlll be interesting to see what they say.

[douglas9401]

Actually, it'll be interesting to hear what they say.

[Peter Pedant]

// Their premises, they can do what they like.//

hmm I am not sure about that
consent to recording is one sided
neither side to the conversation had consented
and the employer should give notice if they are doing it
so those notices stick on walls and the canned voice - "your call may be recorded" really DO have a function

anyway they attempted to and didnt do it .....

I was wondering lying in bed as I do
what the effect would be if they had had a so called meeting
and then taken the memory out of the hidden camera ....

has been an issue at police stations
the owners ( ie the police ) recording conversations between a suspect and their lawyer and the legal advice given ( clearly not admissible but that wasnt the point ) . I cant recollect what the outcome was ....

[Gromit]

Mikey,
I would be pleased if you would link to what offenses that Sports Direct have been charged with.

The BBC investigation was over a year ago. In the intervening 13 months nothing has been done because Sports Direct didn't actually do anything illegal.

If the MPs are upset about Zero hours contracts and the minimum wage, they should change the law. Not hound a company that is obeying it.

[Peter Pedant]

// and they are perfectly entitled to "bug" whatever room they want//

no I will say it again
consent to recording is one-sided
one party has to know and consent



here neither did

the employer cannot listen to his employees without notice
https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1064/the_employment_practices_code.pdf

from page 60


"3.1.4 Tell workers what monitoring is taking place and why, and
keep them aware of this, unless covert monitoring is justified."

the authorising officer has to weigh the advantages of covert monitoring ( for example to detect crime - o god the MPs will be cock a hoop at that ) will outweigh the negative effects of disclosure .... and so on


any reader who thinks anemployer can do what he likes in the work place can usefully spend a few hours on the ICO web site - here

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/employment/

reassuring himself that the employer can't but instead has to comply with current law

[ lateral thinkers will see that it is Brexit all over again - the PM cannot do what she likes/wants but has to comply with current law on article 50 )

[Peter Pedant]

o god truncated post
doesnt make it any less readable I think

[Peter Pedant]

// they are perfectly entitled to "bug" whatever room they want//

whaaaa..... like the workers lavatories ? with cameras ?

clear nope on that one I'm afraid......

[Gromit]

The MP on the Today programme clarified several things.

1. All of the visit had been videoed by Sports Direct.
2. So the MPs must have consented to be filmed
2. The camera was not hidden in sandwiches, it was put in a very 'obvious' place
4. The MPs didn't find anything to object to on the tour

[Gromit]

PP,
Sports Direct were not secretly filming its employees. Well, that is not the allegation here.
Quoting Employment Law is irrelevent, the MPs are not company employees.

[mikey4444]

Gromit...apparently nobody from Sports Direct was available for comment to the BBC.

In answer to your question earlier this morning, here is the Wiki entry for Sports Direct.....if you read it carefully, it will show all the breaches in the law that the Company has been guilty of. I am still not sure why you are supporting these slime-balls.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_Direct

Now I must away to work.