September 2004
Company bosses who fail to address the potential abuse of e-mail and computer networks by their own employees could be liable to punitive court actions - a seminar in Dundee will hear this week.
The stark warning comes from employment law experts Thorntons Law LLP who believe many firms may be liable to expensive court proceedings because they are unaware of the way in which employees misuse company computers and Internet access.
Employees who use company e-mail to share offensive jokes or obscene images with friends not only endanger their own jobs but the future of the business itself.
Celia Muller, an employment law specialist with Thorntons Law LLP, says too few employers have woken up to the potentially disastrous effects of inappropriate e-mail and Internet usage.
She will tell an Employment Seminar at Discovery Point, Dundee, on Thursday September 23rd 2004, that firms need to take e-mail and web security as seriously as they do issues like health and safety or fire prevention.
"Internet and e-mail has transformed the way we do business in Scotland and opened up myriad new opportunities - but it has also exposed employers to a whole new field of risk," she said.
"Employees can and sometimes do send inappropriate messages to their colleagues using email, text messages from office mobile phones or other electronic communication methods. If the messages amount to harassment on the grounds of race, sex, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief, they will be unlawful.
"An example could be jokes degrading to lesbians emailed by employees to one another.
"Even if the intention was not to harass an employee, a tribunal can decide the conduct had the effect of harassing him or her.
"Computer misuse need not therefore be directed specifically at an employee in order for an employer to face a claim.
"In the 1990’s, a female employee successfully brought a discrimination case against her employer because the men with whom she shared an office spent a considerable amount of time poring over sexually explicit or obscene images downloaded from the Internet. Although most of the discussion went on in the background, one or two images and a joke toy gorilla that performed a lewd trick were drawn to her attention. The general atmosphere of obscenity and these specific incidents were sufficient for the employee to win an award of compensation.
"An employer is liable for acts of harasser employees whether or not he knew or approved those acts. However there is a defence of having taken reasonable steps to prevent the harassment – and that can include having appropriate policies in place."
As well as being liable for the harassment of one employee by another via e-mail, employers can also be held answerable for defamatory statements made without their knowledge by employees.
Employees who attach obscene images to e-mails also expose their employer to serious risk. Individuals convicted of distributing, showing or possessing obscene material can be imprisoned for up to 10 years.
It would unusual for an unwitting employer to be found criminally liable in such circumstances, but the availability of software technology to monitor and control employees' use of web and e-mail means that the threshold for prosecution is lower than it has ever been.
"The means exists through prudent use of software and explicit company policies on web use for businesses to take reasonable and effective steps to protect themselves and their employees from the effects of abuse of e-mail and Internet. In other words, there should be no excuse for an employer not to take reasonable steps to gear up for this risk," continued Celia Muller.
"The use of Internet and e-mail in business has grown so rapidly however that in many cases, employment policies will not have kept pace.
"There needs to be much greater awareness of the risks businesses can face - and what actions they must take to protect themselves."
Issued by Beattie Communications on behalf of Thorntons Solicitors.
Contact: Kimberley Hamilton, Tel 01698 787878