Q: Now that all my employees have e-mail and Internet access at
their desks, what additional legal risks do these technologies
bring, and what can I do to minimize them?
A: E-mail and Internet access have become utterly indispensable,
but along with the technical advances come at least four legal
risks.
First, if employees spend time looking at sex-oriented Web sites
or posting offensive screen savers, offended employees could sue
for sexual harassment.
Whether they could win the suit is not as important as what it
would cost you to defend it, and such costs are not covered by
errors-and-omissions policies.
Second, if one of your employees dislikes another who is of a
different gender, sexual orientation, race, religion or national
origin, and if he or she sends e-mails mentioning such differences
to other colleagues, you also could be sued for violation of civil
rights laws. Suits like this are filed every week.
Third, if an employee wants to help a competitor, there is no
easier way for sending your client list, profiles or other
confidential information than via e-mail. The employee may not even
know that this was a wrong thing to do.
Fourth, employees can inadvertently violate copyright law by
printing material from Internet sites, photocopying it and
circulating it to other offices.
Most employees are probably not even aware that these acts could
leave you liable for damages from the copyright holder.
Of course, these legal risks are in addition to the business
problems brought on by employees who spend too much time playing
video games and conducting personal business on the Web during work
hours, and by employees who open e-mail attachments with
destructive viruses.
The best way to reduce these legal and business risks is to have
each employee sign an "e-mail and Internet usage policy" that
enumerates what is prohibited and sets forth the employee's
acknowledgment that he or she has no right to expect privacy of
e-mail or Internet usage records.
If a signed agreement is too harsh for you, then put a copy of
the policy in your employee handbook.
For a free copy of a good policy tailored for travel agencies,
e-mail me at [email protected]. Please provide your name,
agency name, telephone and fax numbers.
Mark Pestronk is a Fairfax, Va.-based attorney specializing
in travel law. He answers your questions in the Crossroads' Legal Issues Forum.