January 1998

E-Mail and Internet Policy

QUESTION:  

How can agencies prevent employees from sending or receiving inappropriate material on e-mail or spending working time "surfing the Net?"

ANSWER:

Serious legal consequences can arise from employees' inappropriate use of an agency's e-mail system.  For example, last year two employees of a major investment banking firm filed a lawsuit for race discrimination arising from racist jokes sent via e-mail.  The employees are seeking $30 million each in damages and have asked to have the case to be certified as a class action.  And among the most frequent visitors to Penthouse magazine's Web site in 1996 were employees of IBM, Apple Computer, Inc. and AT&T, registering nearly 13,000 "hits" in a single month!  Despite these staggering statistics, less than 40% of Fortune 1000 companies have formal policies covering e-mail and Internet use. 

How can agencies stop harassment, discrimination, and other inappropriate use from occurring on the agency's e-mail system?  An excellent first step is to institute an E-Mail/Internet Policy which emphasizes the "strictly business" nature of the agency's e-mail system.

Such a policy should limit employees' expectation of privacy in e-mail and Internet communication.  Employees should be advised that the e-mail system is agency property and that the agency reserves the right to read, print and undelete messages.

The agency may also wish to include language in the Policy regarding what constitutes "reasonable" personal us of e-mail and the Internet during working time.

For a complimentary copy of an E-Mail/Internet Policy, please call the CSRMA Employment Practices Hotline. 

The CSRMA Employment Hotline provides free legal advise to all CSRMA members on various employment issues.  For more information on the hotline please call Lynn Lieber with Fisher & Phillips at (650)592-6160.