Employees who forward on offensive emails risk losing their job,
a Stratford-upon-Avon lawyer has warned.
Sonia Kang, a solicitor in the Business Group at Lodders, said
this applied even if it was done in their own time from their own
computer.
Her comments followed an employment tribunal case where a prison
drug worker with charity Lifeline Project Ltd (LPL) was deemed to
have been fairly dismissed for sending a racist message even though
it came from his personal e-mail address outside of work.
The individual in question was dismissed for gross misconduct,
and Miss Kang cautioned how in such circumstances it was acceptable
for firms to consider carefully the potential impact on their
workplace.
"The employee sent a chain e-mail containing racist comments and
images containing nudity from his personal e-mail address to a
friend's personal e-mail address."
A plea asking British people to help remove Muslim terrorists
from their communities, the friend emailed it on and it entered the
Prison Service's system where it was detected.
Subsequently, the Prison Service advised LPL of its concern and
banned their employee from all of its prisons in Yorkshire and
Humberside.
LPL dismissed the man on the grounds that he had breached the
company's equal opportunities policy and had damaged its reputation
and its relationship with the Prison Service.
Claims of unfair and wrongful dismissal were lodged as the
Claimant was careful to remind his employer that his conduct had
taken place outside the workplace and therefore was not intended to
be made public. However, the Employment Tribunal ruled out
confidentiality and privacy as factors because the chain e-mail was
"clearly intended to be forwarded onto others".
Ruling the dismissal to be fair, the tribunal said a reasonable
employer was entitled to regard the act of sending an offensive
e-mail to an employee of one of its biggest clients as something
likely to damage its reputation and integrity.
Ms Kang continued: "In this case the tribunal drew a distinction
between a chain e-mail which is intended to be forwarded to others
and private correspondence which it held may still have privacy
attached. Furthermore, employers should note that the finding of a
fair dismissal in this case was dependent on the employer's
reputation having been brought into disrepute.
"Therefore, it does not follow that a charge of gross misconduct
brought solely on the basis that the employee had breached the
spirit of equal opportunities policies in his own time away from
work would have been deemed to be fair. Employers need to be aware
of this important distinction."
For more information about Lodders, please visit their website
here: www.lodders.co.uk