To all: I'm way behind on JMDL mail for the last couple of weeks, and just skimmed the last two digests on my way out the door. But I had to respond, however briefly, to this particular thread.
Kakki wrote: "Hi David, you wrote: > This is the most frightening thing I have heard in a long time, Kakki. Can > one be legally executed for having such emails, or merely fired? Is gay > content considered grounds for dismissal? It is kind of frightening, but I think the law across the U.S. for awhile now has upheld the employer's right to read and monitor employee email and also to fire an employee if they break the rules." I very rarely address legal topics on the list, not wanting to be seen as giving advice, but feel on firm footing on this one. While I don't agree with Kakki that the U.S. Department of Labor can be spurred into action on a moment's notice by the mere suspicion of a violation (I don't think they're that powerful, or more importantly, that efficient ;-) ), I thought Kakki's basic rendering of the applicable law and related facts was correct. Namely: 1) At least in the U.S., your employer will probably be found by law to have the perfect, relatively unfettered right to monitor e-mail sent or received on employer-owned equipment, and/or through an employer-provided account. 2) Your employer, if mere statistics are any guide, probably does so. 3) Many employers employ filters to screen out sexual content, racially offensive epithets, and other material that could result in liability under various statutes, and could be subpoenaed in a lawsuit. 4) Monitoring of your e-mail could result in discipline, not limited to, but up to and including, your dismissal. 5) Old e-mails never die; they just go underground. 6) If you have any suspicion that your employer may be monitoring your JMDL e-mail and don't want your boss to be privy to the list's latest discussions on various permutations of human sexuality (which, when properly marked as NJC, properly belong on the JMDL, IMHO), **subscribe from home,** if you can. I did: in part, for that very reason. This has been your friendly public service announcement! Mary P.
