Cable & Wireless issued a statement claiming that it has a
clear internet use policy and that this is regularly communicated
to its employees. It added: "The company will not tolerate the use
of company communications tools to carry or download any
defamatory, discriminatory, offensive or obscene material. Regular
reminders are issued to this effect." The staff were initially
suspended and then dismissed following a hearing.
According to The Guardian newspaper, some of those sacked are
expected to use the company's internal appeals system to argue that
they are scapegoats for a system in which abuse is rife. The
Guardian reports that all staff were employed at Cable &
Wireless for less than 12 months. Accordingly, they cannot take
their claim before an industrial tribunal.
An engineering firm in Huddersfield recently won an industrial
tribunal case following its dismissal of two employees on grounds
of gross misconduct. The employees had allegedly sent "smutty" joke
e-mails to around 40 other staff. The two individuals were said to
have transmitted "the highest number of e-mails with the most
sexually explicit attachments". Their dismissal followed a
complaint by one recipient. The firm said its e-mail policy was
clear to its staff.
The British Chambers of Commerce says there is confusion among
employers over how they can monitor employee e-mails without
breaching the recent draft code from the Data Protection
Commissioner and new regulations under the Regulation of
Investigatory Powers Act which suggest different obligations.
Linda Molloy of OUT-LAW.COM said:
"If you want to monitor your employees'
e-mails, you need to be able to point to a business ground for
doing so. If that ground falls within the Regulations and you have
made employees aware of the monitoring, then you can monitor
e-mails, provided you also comply with the Data Protection
Commissioner's Code. To comply with the Code you should establish a
clear policy which employees can follow and make sure you exercise
your right to monitor in a manner which is proportionate to the
benefit you will receive. For example, you should not monitor the
content of e-mails unless the traffic record alone is not
sufficient and you simply should not open e-mails which are clearly
personal."
