Porn isn't funny
No matter what you think of pornography, it invites nothing but trouble in the workplace. And porn isn't the only kind of offensiveâ€"and lawsuit-baitingâ€"content. Topics such as race, disability, religion, and sexual preferenceâ€"whether intended to offend or notâ€"are fraught with controversy.
Even flip language in email can stir up trouble. Conlin checks his monitors for what he calls language of conflict. Extreme examples: "I'm going to kill that guy" and "I could beat your head in." Lawyers love to take this stuff out of context.
Still, employees who traffic sexually explicit email messages and Web sites create no end of trouble. In 1999 The New York Times summarily fired nearly two dozen people from a Virginia branch office for sending and receiving email that had jokes about blond women. Dow Chemical had a rash of firings in 2000 for similar offenses.
"Firing a good employee without progressive discipline and counseling is a knee-jerk reaction," management consultant Lass asserts, but he has sympathy for the response. Leaving such a person on the job may be a lawsuit waiting to happen. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission doesn't allow much leeway on the matter. According to EEOC policy, the employer is responsible for maintaining a harassment-free workplaceâ€"not just trying to.
So here's the rub: Whether you fire or discipline an offending employee, your company can still be sued. And as Conlin puts it, "multimillion dollar lawsuits add up."
