Your organization’s bottom line can’t take many expensive lawsuits in these economic times. Here’s one area to keep an eye on:

Right now, employees who can’t pry themselves away from Web sites or e-mail don’t have a lot of legal protection – but things might soon change.

A former IBM employee filed a $5 million lawsuit after being fired for spending most of his work days in adult-themed chat rooms.

It wasn’t his fault, he said – he’s an Internet addict, which should count as a protected psychological impairment under the ADA. A decision has yet to be reached by the court.

The American Journal of Psychiatry published a study on compulsive computer use, which says Internet addiction is a legit disorder.

The jury’s still out on this one. But even if it does find legal protection, you’ll still be able to regulate office computer use or fire policy violators.

It will likely be viewed the same way ADA looks at other addictions – that is, employees are protected only if they seek treatment.

Tags: ADA, addiction, lawsuits, protection, Web