Just Because You Have MS, It Doesn't Mean You Can Surf Porn At Work

from the the-people's-court dept

A former employee of the America West airline, who was fired for sending pornographic emails around the office, has lost his lawsuit against the company for unfair dismissal. The man, who has multiple sclerosis, alleged that the firing violated the Americans with Disabilities Act — basically because he says “everybody else was doing it” and he was singled out, even though other employees were fired and disciplined, and another one with MS was able to keep his job. Concerns over sexual harrassment mean employers are closely monitoring online activities, and while many of their restrictions and blocks are rather pointless, common sense should kick in at some point, as well. Just as employers should realize that a bit of web surfing shouldn’t be a big concern, employees should also realize it’s probably not a great idea to email porn around the office. Unless you live in Australia, that is, where looking at porn at work is apparently a-okay.


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Comments on “Just Because You Have MS, It Doesn't Mean You Can Surf Porn At Work”

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15 Comments
Aaron says:

Just read an article about the case on cnet

http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6141982.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-5&subj=news

That made it sound like he was the only one fired. The worst evidence against him is he kept an e-mail in his inbox that another employee sent him. I don’t think he was fired because he had MS, but I think they had reasons other than this for his termination.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

Actually, the next sentence in this article seems to clarify this:

After scrutinizing the “Wicked Weasel” image and other incriminating evidence, America West fired Sheville and the employee who had sent him the contraband. The airline also disciplined five other employees–but did not fire them–because their e-mail messages “did not contain frontal nudity.”

So, they had all the e-mails he had sent, as well as one in his inbox. They fired both this guy AND the other guy.

AMP says:

Re: I'm sure it's not intentionally misleading...

I thought the exact same thing when I saw that, MS = Microsoft.

He would have been better off finding a Dr. that would give his porn emailing habit some sort of personality addicition. Then he could have the ADA fight for him saying that you can’t fire someone for addictions. He needs help not rtermination.

SPR (profile) says:

Re: Re: I'm sure it's not intentionally misleading

He would have been better off finding a Dr. that would give his porn emailing habit some sort of personality addicition. Then he could have the ADA fight for him saying that you can’t fire someone for addictions. He needs help not rtermination.

He should be fired for stupidity. There is no help for that.

Okey Dokey says:

Something is just wrong with this...

The kind of surfing mentioned here is just plain inappropriate for a business evironment, be a pervert at home please. What a rediculous lawsuit, I think charges of filing a frivlious lawsuit should be filed against this individual. Most company policies that you sign when you are hired usually state that certain activites and inappropriate use of company resources are usually grounds for termination.

dorpus says:

Handicapped Pieces of S___

Yeah, I’ve been on handicapped forums before, and a great many of them are complete losers on welfare who spend the day posting perverted messages, acting like they are some sort of sex god. There are distinct cultures based on disability and pecking orders among them. Among the wheelchair crowd, the basketball players are treated like heroes, while successful people with jobs are resented and spat upon. Quadriplegics are regarded as subhuman and given condescending pity.

I’ve got a marginal walking disability but have a successful career, so they really hated me. Enough of that.

Dosquatch says:

Re: Handicapped Pieces of S___

the basketball players are treated like heroes, while successful people with jobs are resented and spat upon.

Sooo… pretty much just like everybody else then, hmm?

But seriously, what do you really think you’re contributing with a post like this? I don’t give a shit if you have a limp and you’re just “shooting at your own”, if you don’t have anything beneficial to say, why not just STFU?

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