Just Because You Have MS, It Doesn't Mean You Can Surf Porn At Work

from the the-people's-court dept

Fri, Dec 8th 2006 9:00am — Carlo Longino

A former employee of the America West airline, who was fired for sending pornographic emails around the office, has lost his lawsuit against the company for unfair dismissal. The man, who has multiple sclerosis, alleged that the firing violated the Americans with Disabilities Act -- basically because he says "everybody else was doing it" and he was singled out, even though other employees were fired and disciplined, and another one with MS was able to keep his job. Concerns over sexual harrassment mean employers are closely monitoring online activities, and while many of their restrictions and blocks are rather pointless, common sense should kick in at some point, as well. Just as employers should realize that a bit of web surfing shouldn't be a big concern, employees should also realize it's probably not a great idea to email porn around the office. Unless you live in Australia, that is, where looking at porn at work is apparently a-okay.

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15 Comments

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Aaron, 8 Dec 2006 @ 9:30am

Just read an article about the case on cnet

http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6141982.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-5&subj=news

That made it sound like he was the only one fired. The worst evidence against him is he kept an e-mail in his inbox that another employee sent him. I don't think he was fired because he had MS, but I think they had reasons other than this for his termination.
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- Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2006 @ 9:55am
  
  Re:
  Actually, the next sentence in this article seems to clarify this:
  
  After scrutinizing the "Wicked Weasel" image and other incriminating evidence, America West fired Sheville and the employee who had sent him the contraband. The airline also disciplined five other employees--but did not fire them--because their e-mail messages "did not contain frontal nudity."
  
  So, they had all the e-mails he had sent, as well as one in his inbox. They fired both this guy AND the other guy.
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ConceptJunkie (profile), 8 Dec 2006 @ 9:32am

I'm sure it's not intentionally misleading...
... but I can't be the only one who thought "Microsoft" when seeing "MS" in this context.

On the plus side, for once a ridiculous lawsuit actually failed.
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- AMP, 8 Dec 2006 @ 9:38am
  
  Re: I'm sure it's not intentionally misleading...
  I thought the exact same thing when I saw that, MS = Microsoft.
  
  He would have been better off finding a Dr. that would give his porn emailing habit some sort of personality addicition. Then he could have the ADA fight for him saying that you can't fire someone for addictions. He needs help not rtermination.
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  - SPR, 8 Dec 2006 @ 10:09am
    
    Re: Re: I'm sure it's not intentionally misleading
    He would have been better off finding a Dr. that would give his porn emailing habit some sort of personality addicition. Then he could have the ADA fight for him saying that you can't fire someone for addictions. He needs help not rtermination.
    
    He should be fired for stupidity. There is no help for that.
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Okey Dokey, 8 Dec 2006 @ 9:54am

Something is just wrong with this...
The kind of surfing mentioned here is just plain inappropriate for a business evironment, be a pervert at home please. What a rediculous lawsuit, I think charges of filing a frivlious lawsuit should be filed against this individual. Most company policies that you sign when you are hired usually state that certain activites and inappropriate use of company resources are usually grounds for termination.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2006 @ 9:58am

That is the only reason i read the article... but I now I realize it was not M$ which make the difference.
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- Nafisa, 14 Dec 2006 @ 2:55am
  
  Re:
  So what makes the different
  i mean if he got fire something like this. why can he just email to his friend no his collegues is
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dorpus, 8 Dec 2006 @ 10:10am

Handicapped Pieces of S___
Yeah, I've been on handicapped forums before, and a great many of them are complete losers on welfare who spend the day posting perverted messages, acting like they are some sort of sex god. There are distinct cultures based on disability and pecking orders among them. Among the wheelchair crowd, the basketball players are treated like heroes, while successful people with jobs are resented and spat upon. Quadriplegics are regarded as subhuman and given condescending pity.

I've got a marginal walking disability but have a successful career, so they really hated me. Enough of that.
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- Dosquatch, 8 Dec 2006 @ 1:20pm
  
  Re: Handicapped Pieces of S___
  the basketball players are treated like heroes, while successful people with jobs are resented and spat upon.
  
  Sooo... pretty much just like everybody else then, hmm?
  
  But seriously, what do you really think you're contributing with a post like this? I don't give a shit if you have a limp and you're just "shooting at your own", if you don't have anything beneficial to say, why not just STFU?
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  - dorpus, 8 Dec 2006 @ 6:13pm
    
    Re: Re: Handicapped Pieces of S___
    Absolutely, we should follow you and censor all debate about the reality of handicapped people, and let the same attitudes go on. Who needs progress?
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Coward, 8 Dec 2006 @ 10:39am

Doesn't excuse the company either.
Exactly why did they not make CERTAIN that Porn could not be sent across the network? Where is the mediation on that? I feel the company should be held responsible for a portion of the responsibility since they allowed this behaivor to happen ACROSS the company boards.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2006 @ 10:53am

If they had been referring to Microsoft, the headline would've been "Just because you're afflicted by MS..." instead of "have MS".
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Matthew, 8 Dec 2006 @ 11:14am

Who'd want to keep that job anyways?
AWA is in the tank and being phased out; let it go.
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James, 8 Dec 2006 @ 11:56am

UGH
This is exactly why we wind up with assinine internet policy restrictions, or monitoring, because you damn breeders can't realize the difference between what IS and what IS NOT appropriate internet usage at work.
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