Today, legal and regulatory compliance issues are a major focus for businesses. The threat of being found personally liable by the government,
or industry governing bodies, is a major worry for many executives.
Less attention is paid to the legal obligations placed on executives to provide a safe working environment for employees. However, failing to
provide a safe working environment can lead to considerable legal liability risk. This requirement covers a wide range of responsibilities.
Workers should be protected from:
- Inappropriate or offensive content – such as pornography, profanity, and lewd language
- Harassment – whether sexual, religious or bullying
- Discrimination – by age, race, nationality or economic status
Workers also have several legal obligations towards their employers:
- To avoid defaming the organization or bring the company into disrepute
- To avoid using company resources illegally, for instance, by sending spam or storing illegal images
- To safeguard company security (for example, not revealing passwords)
- To treat email messages and other IT resources as business tools - acting in the best interests of the company and
upholding company standards
Costs of Not Providing a Safe Working Environment
Email is also a means of bullying, harassing or airing prejudices against co-workers. The problem for a business is that emails create a
trail of evidence, thus increasing the employer’s exposure to legal risk. The legal and peripheral costs of not providing a safe working
environment can be substantial. In many cases, employees have sued their bosses for failing to protect them from offensive content,
harassment or discrimination. Some examples include:
- Chevron Corporation – paid four female employees US$2.2million to settle a law suit. The women claimed they were
sexually harassed over an extended period. The catalyst which prompted the case was an email entitled "25 Reasons Why Beer is Better than Women"
- Continental Airlines – paid a female employee US$1.7million in damages after a harassment law suit. The employee
claimed that she had been subject to vulgar statements, pornographic imagery and was described as a "feminazi" by male colleagues in email
- Baker & McKenzie – one of the world's largest law firms was sued for US$3.5million for creating a "sexually hostile
work environment"
The figures named in these examples do not include the additional costs of defending against and recovering from the incident. In each of these
examples, the incident which infringed on the employees' right to a safe working environment was preventable. The additional costs would have included:
- Legal fees
- Loss of productivity as employees leave
- Distraction of other employees
- Time spent researching and engaging in legal procedures
- Recruitment costs for replacement employees
- Training and ramp-up costs for new employees
- Loss of reputation and good will for the organization
Acceptable Use Policies
Marshal content security solutions are an important part of a complete Acceptable Use Policy framework.
When an incident occurs, the employer's legal position is stronger if they have established clear written policies about the acceptable use of
resources such as email. However, having a policy is not enough. The policy must be supported with education, consistent communication and
reinforcement, and an effective method of monitoring and enforcement. Enforcement is normally provided via technology (such as Marshal solutions).
Costs of Employees Acting Against the Company
When employees do not adhere to Acceptable Use Policy, or if they act inappropriately, there are often additional costs to the employer.
For example, under both US and UK law, if an employee downloads pirated movies or music and stores this material on company computers, the
company can be held liable.
Several companies have taken action against their own employees who have acted against the company:
- Apple fired several employees and sued bloggers for discussing a new and confidential Apple product after the confidential
information had been leaked by the Apple employees
- Google fired an employee who used a personal website to describe Google's financial status and to make statements about
alcohol use at a company party
- Delta Airlines terminated the employment of a female flight attendant for posting scantily clad photos of herself in a
Delta uniform on the Internet
- A major food manufacturer fired and then sued an employee for leaking trade secret information to reporters. At the time,
the company was being sued on the grounds that the ingredients were not fit for human consumption. The evidence of the leak was in email records
- Norwich Union fired an employee who circulated a series of internal emails claiming one of Norwich Union's
competitors was being investigated by the Department of Trade and Industry. These emails found their way to Norwich Union's competitor
who promptly started legal action.
The end result was that Norwich Union paid £450 000 in compensation
Enforcement of Acceptable Use Policies
There are two very important reasons to use technology such as Marshal solutions to enforce corporate acceptable use polices.
How Marshal Solutions Help With Enforcement
- Using our technology, companies can demonstrate that they have taken all reasonable and practical steps to prevent incidents of harassment,
defamation or exposure to offensive material, and to protect confidential information from leaving the company. If an incident ever does occur,
having a written Acceptable Use Policy, backed up by technology enforcement from Marshal, provides an important part of a legal defense, or
even a complete defense in some circumstances.
- Perhaps more importantly, Marshal solutions can often prevent these events from occurring in the first place. Use of profanity or derogatory
language can be blocked, preventing incidents of harassment or bullying via email. Pornographic image content in emails can be blocked, preventing
exposure to inappropriate content. Confidential information can be safeguarded via encryption, by blocking access to webmail accounts, and by
preventing employees from copying sensitive data onto removable media. Pirated software can be blocked by banning users from downloading certain
file types from the Internet.
By intercepting potential policy breaches, Marshal solutions help to reduce, or even eliminate, the legal risks arising from these incidents,
thereby saving businesses both time and money.
For more information about how Marshal solutions can help your organization to meet its legal obligations, contact us or your local Marshal representative.
