Intranets: A new source of liability?
June 18, 2008 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Communication, Compliance, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
It’s a tool most employers use. But here’s one way your intranet might expose you to liability for harassment and discrimination suits.
Many companies set up internal message boards on their intranets as a way for employees to communicate. Much like the traditional cork message boards in break rooms, they give people a way to share information with co-workers in a public place.
But some lawyers warn employers about the potential problems with all that electronic sharing. Possible areas of liability include:
- Harassing or defamatory comments on the message board
- The sharing of confidential information with unauthorized co-workers, and
- Issues related to union solicitation.
Avoid problems
If your company uses an internal message board, you can help keep legal issues at bay by having a policy on what is acceptable to post (i.e., nothing discriminatory, harassing, confidential, etc.). Employees should be reminded of the policy each time they log on to the system.
Also, the content should be monitored regularly, and complaints about the use of the board must be addressed effectively.
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Tags: defamanation, discrimination, harassment, intranet
June 24th, 2008 at 10:49 am
But I’ve been hearing rumblings that employers can no longer monitor employees’ email.
June 24th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Many IT policies provided to new employees come with an acknowlegement of receipt and specifies that any and all e-mails produced while on a company computer and/or using the company e-mail are property of the company.Mine actually says-
All computer systems and information contained are the property of (my company) and may be regarded as public information. (my company)reserves the right to access the contents of any computer system and its components if the company believes, in its sole judgment, that it has a need to do so.All information including but not limited to text, images and video can be disclosed to law enforcement or other third parties without prior consent of the user. Do not put anything on your computer that you would not want to see on the front page of the newspaper or be required to explain in a court of
law.
June 24th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Many IT policies provided to new employees come with an acknowledgement of receipt and specifies that any and all e-mails produced while on a company computer and/or using the company e-mail are property of the company. Mine actually says-
All computer systems and information contained are the property of (my company) and may be regarded as public information. (my company)reserves the right to access the contents of any computer system and its components if the company believes, in its sole judgment, that it has a need to do so. All information including but not limited to text, images and video can be disclosed to law enforcement or other third parties without prior consent of the user. Do not put anything on your computer that you would not want to see on the front page of the newspaper or be required to explain in a court of law.
In other words, we can monitor at our discretion