Hi everyone,
I'm starting to track the manner in which employees are
being disciplined by their employers for using Internet-
based technologies during their on- and off-duty work hours.
I came across a news story this morning that might be of
interest to others of you who might be doing the same.
An administrative judge in the U.S. has ruled that "surfing
the web is equivalent to reading a newspaper or talking on
the phone" in workplace settings. The employee in question
works for a government agency. Do you think this ruling is
one that private sector employers will see as a signal to
rethink and restructure current definitions of employee
appropriate use of Internet-based technologies?
-- Gail
Gail Taylor, M.Ed.
Human Resource Education Ph.D. Student
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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Judge: Web-Surfing Worker Can't Be Fired
Saying surfing the web is equivalent to reading a newspaper
or talking on the phone, an administrative law judge has
suggested that only a reprimand is appropriate as punishment
for a city worker accused of failing to heed warnings to
stay off the Internet.
Administrative Law Judge John Spooner reached his decision
in the case of Toquir Choudhri, a 14-year veteran of the
Department of Education who had been accused of ignoring
supervisors who told him to stop browsing the Internet at
work.
The ruling came after Mayor Michael Bloomberg fired a worker
in the city's legislative office in Albany earlier this year
after he saw the man playing a game of solitaire on his
computer.
In his decision, Spooner wrote: "It should be observed that
the Internet has become the modern equivalent of a telephone
or a daily newspaper, providing a combination of
communication and information that most employees use as
frequently in their personal lives as for their work."
He added: "For this reason, city agencies permit workers to
use a telephone for personal calls, so long as this does not
interfere with their overall work performance. Many agencies
apply the same standard to the use of the Internet for
personal purposes."
Spooner dispensed the lightest possible punishment on
Choudhri, a reprimand, after a search of Choudhri's computer
files revealed he had visited several news and travel sites.
Martin Druyan, Choudhri's lawyer, called the ruling "very
reasonable."
