Internet Workplace Legal Problems
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
THE INTERNET’S LEGAL QUAGMIRE
By:
AUGUST BEQUAI, ESQ.
Introduction
While Wall Street continues to plummet, America’s romance with the Internet continues unabated. A growing number of businesses, large and small alike, continue to turn to the Internet as a viable vehicle for their daily operations. While IT consultants have come to play a crucial role in this revolution, they also need to take note of the quagmire that the Internet poses for them and their businesses.
IT Professionals Face Legal Exposure
A Fortune 100 Company paid some of its female employees several million dollars, when it was found that its male employees had used the Internet to sexually harass and intimidate their female counter-parts. In another case, a manager who had been monitoring a romantic Internet liaison between tow of his employees, and leaked his findings to their co-workers, prompted attorneys for the two cyber-lovers to file a lawsuit. Their employer was quick to settle. Management had failed to enact policies and procedures aimed at regulating use of the Internet by its workforce, in conformity with privacy laws.
In the current Internet environment, fraught with the potential for costly litigation, management needs to strike a balance between concerns over the privacy rights of its workforce, and the need to ensure that its workers do not misuse the Internet and expose the company to legal difficulties. Here are some guidelines that address these concerns.
Written In-House Guidelines: Since the modern workplace is the habitat of diverse classes of employees - i.e., at-will employees, contractors, temporaries, licensees, part-time workers, and so on - clearly-defined (and written) guidelines and policies are a necessity to ensure their proper use of the Internet.