Failing to investigate the activities of an employee whose company computer contains pornography could leave your business wide open to a lawsuit.
A New Jersey case, Jane Doe v. XYC Corp., involved an employer who learned that a worker was using his company computer to visit pornographic web sites and share images with fellow employees. After he was convicted of videotaping his 10-year-old stepdaughter nude and partially clad, the victim’s mother sued the company, arguing that its failure to investigate and report that the employee was viewing, downloading, and distributing child porn on his work computer led to the girl’s victimization. The court held that because viewing child pornography is a federal and state crime, the employer’s knowledge of this activity should have led it to look into this misconduct.
Viewing online porn in the workplace is all too common. Consider that: 1) Approximately 70% of web traffic to pornographic sites occurs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.); 2) Billions of pornographic e-mails go out every day; and 3) More than 75% of workers say that they have visited a pornographic web site “accidentally” at least once, while 15 % have made 10 or more visits.
A number of states require businesses to report child pornography on workplace computers to law enforcement or risk facing criminal charges. To remove your employees’ expectations of privacy in using computers, let them know the company is free to inspect or monitor this equipment, and have them agree in writing that they understand this policy.
What’s more, other courts might well rule that the Doe decision applies to other illegal activities by employees who use company computers to cause physical, financial, or other harm to third parties.
A word to the wise.
