COMPUTERS, EMAIL AND THE INTERNET 15/3 reason. You should not expect that any email message you send using Company equipment—including messages you consider to be, or label as, personal—will be private. Email Rules All of our policies and rules of conduct apply to employee use of the email system. This means, for example, that you may not use the email system to send harassing or discriminatory messages, including messages with explicit sexual content or pornographic images; to send threatening messages; or to solicit others to purchase items for non-Company purposes. We expect you to exercise discretion in using electronic commu- nications equipment. When you send email using the Company’s communications equipment, you are representing the Company. Make sure that your messages are professional and appropriate, in tone and content. Remember, although email may seem like a private conversation, email can be printed, saved and forwarded to unintended recipients. You should not send any email that you wouldn’t want your boss, your mother or our Company’s competitors to read. Deleting Emails Because of the large volume of emails our Company sends and receives, we discourage employees from storing large numbers of email messages. Please make a regular practice of deleting emails once you have read and/or responded to them. If you need to save a particular email, you may print out a paper copy, archive the email or save it to your hard disk. The Company will purge email messages that have not been archived after [number] days. Violations Any employee who violates this policy can be subject to discipline, up to and including termination. Need advice on how to investigate? If you need infor- mation on how to investigate alleged misconduct in the workplace, includ- ing harassment complaints, Dealing with Problem Employees, by Amy DelPo & Lisa Guerin (Nolo), will guide you through every step of the process— from deciding who should conduct the investigation to figuring out what to do once your investigation is complete. 15/4 CREATE YOUR OWN EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK How to Complete This Policy Many email policies provide that messages will be purged every 60 days (for more on the importance of purging email, see below). Some recommend that you purge your system every 30 days, to minimize your potential legal exposure. Others suggest longer time periods (90 days or more) between purges, to make sure you don’t lose important business information accidentally. Select a time period that makes sense for your business, given your rate of email traffic, the capacities of your system and how quickly your employees read (and respond to) their email. Reality Check: Don’t Fight the Urge to Purge E-Mail There are two very good reasons to purge your email system by deleting older messages regularly. First, if you don’t delete messages, you will eventually have a storage problem on your hands. Many employees simply don’t get around to deleting old messages, no matter what your policy asks them to do. If you have a lot of email traffic, your system’s capacity to store information will be over- whelmed unless you take steps to get rid of the messages you don’t need. Second, purging emails can reduce your legal liability and your legal obligations if you are sued. In many kinds of business lawsuits, including lawsuits brought by employees, customers or other busi- nesses, email becomes evidence. Realizing this, lawyers who sue businesses routinely ask for months, or even years, of the company’s email messages in “discovery,” the legal process by which parties to a lawsuit gather documents and information from each other and from third parties. Although courts often put limits on what compa- nies have to hand over (for example, they may require only emails on a certain subject matter or emails for a limited time period to be produced), businesses that get hit with one of these requests can spend a lot of time trying to pull together the requested documents. What’s worse, they may end up having to turn over an email that hurts their cause. An email purging policy reduces your risks and your obligations if you get sued. After all, you can only hand over what you’ve got. If you regularly delete older emails, you won’t have to wade through and, perhaps, give your opponent years’ worth of messages. COMPUTERS, EMAIL AND THE INTERNET 15/5 Optional Modifications To Prohibit Personal Use of Email Some employers don’t want employees to use their email systems for personal messages at all. Although this is entirely reasonable, such a policy might pose practical and legal problems. The practical problem is quite straightforward: most people send the occasional personal message using their office email system. Some might not have an Internet connection at home; others might have a message that has to be conveyed immediately (“I’ll be home late” or “don’t forget to pick the kids up after soccer practice”). Whatever the reason, the truth is that a policy forbidding any personal use of email will probably be violated regularly, by everyone from the CEO on down and if you don’t enforce the policy, it isn’t worth much (and it may undermine your credibility). The legal problem is a bit more complicated. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal government agency that issues decisions and makes rules relating to union workplace issues, has said that prohibiting all personal uses of email might illegally prevent workers from talking about forming a union. Although employers can prohibit workers from talking about union issues during work hours in work areas, they cannot prohibit these discussions during non-work hours in non-work areas (a locker room or lunch room, for example). The NLRB says that a ban on all personal messages deprives employees of the right to talk about union issues during non-work hours and might therefore run afoul of the law. So far, this is only the NLRB’s opinion; no legal decision has settled the issue. Our policy balances these issues and your interest in preventing a lot of personal use of your equipment by allowing personal messages only outside of work hours, and only at the company’s discretion. This policy avoids the legal and practical problems dis- cussed above, but also leaves you room to discipline an employee who taxes the system by sending files with gigantic attachments, spending hours sending instant messages or sending “chain letter” correspondence to dozens of recipients. However, if you’re intent on prohibiting any personal use of your email system, you can modify the policy by replacing the language under “Use of the Email System” as follows: 15/6 CREATE YOUR OWN EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK Modification The email system is to be used for official Company business only—not for personal reasons. To Announce Your Plans to Monitor Our sample policy states that you “reserve the right” to monitor email messages. However, if have monitoring software that you plan to use, or if you intend to read employee email on a regular basis, you should modify this portion of the policy to let your employees know. After all, the purpose of an email policy is not only to allow you to read those problematic messages after they’ve been sent, but also to deter your employees from sending them in the first place. Telling employees that you will read their messages will almost certainly help you accomplish this second goal. Whether you should read employee email on a regular basis is a tough issue to sort through. Doing so will force your employees to take the email policy seriously and thereby reduce the possibility that they will send messages that are harassing, threatening or other- wise in violation of your policy. It’s just human nature: We are less likely to break rules if we think we will get caught. But there are some serious downsides as well with employee dissatisfaction topping the list. Employees don’t want to feel like the company doesn’t trust them or plans to check up on their every keystroke. Monitoring also costs time and money: You will have to invest in monitoring software and assign someone the task of actually reading the messages. And some employers just find monitoring distasteful. They don’t want to be cast in the role of Big Brother. Ultimately, only you can decide, based on your workforce and the needs of your company, whether the benefits of monitoring outweigh the disadvantages. If you do decide to monitor regularly, you should modify our sample policy to tell your employees what you plan to do. Use one of the modifications below in place of the “Email Is Not Private” paragraph in our sample policy. Which modification you choose will depend on the monitoring software or other system you adopt. COMPUTERS, EMAIL AND THE INTERNET 15/7 Modification A: Monitoring Systems That Copy Every Draft Email Is Not Private Email messages sent using Company communications equipment are the property of the Company. The Company’s monitoring soft- ware automatically creates a copy of every message you draft— even if you never send it. Company personnel will regularly read these copies to make sure that no employee violates this policy. You should not expect that any email message you draft or send using Company equipment—including messages you consider to be personal—will be private. Modification B: Monitoring Systems that Flag Key Words Email Is Not Private Email messages sent using Company communications equipment are the property of the Company. The Company’s software auto- matically searches the messages you send for questionable content —including sexual or racial comments, threats, Company trade secrets or competitive information and inappropriate language. Any message deemed questionable will be forwarded to, and read by, Company management. In addition, the Company reserves the right to read any message, whether or not the software singles it out for review. You should not expect that any email message you send using Company equipment—including messages you consider to be personal—will be private. Modification C: Random Monitoring Email Is Not Private Email messages sent using Company communications equipment are the property of the Company. We reserve the right to access, monitor, read and/or copy email messages at any time, for any reason. In addition, the Company will select and read employee messages at random to ensure that employees are in compliance with this policy. You should not expect that any email message you send using Company equipment—including messages you consider to be personal—will be private. 15/8 CREATE YOUR OWN EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK To Add Email Rules—“Netiquette” and Other Issues You can include as much—or as little—in your policy about appro- priate use of the email system as you wish. However, you should tell employees that their email messages are subject to the same rules (no harassment, no threats and so on) that apply to their workplace behavior in general. You can make a general statement to this effect or go into more detail, listing the types of misconduct to which email is particularly susceptible. Some employers include email-writing guidelines in their policies. Because email is often seen as an informal medium, some workers send out even work-related messages sprinkled with icons (little smiley-faces or other symbols) and exclamation points, written in all lower- or upper-case letters or filled with acronyms and usages peculiar to the online world. What’s worse, some workers send out email without considering its content or style, then later regret having expressed anger too hastily or sent a message that doesn’t look professional. The standard policy, above, includes a general statement about proper email use. If you’re concerned about these problems, how- ever, you can include more explicit instructions on the proper use of email. COMPUTERS, EMAIL AND THE INTERNET 15/9 Modification Guidelines for Email Writing 1. Always spell-check or proofread. Email is official Company correspondence. Spelling errors in email are all too common —and they look sloppy and unprofessional. Always take the time to check for spelling errors before you send email. 2. Use lowercase and capital letters in the same way that you would in a letter. Using all capital letters is the email equivalent of shouting at someone—and it can be hard on the eyes. Failing to use capital letters at all (to begin a sentence or a formal noun) can confuse your reader and seem overly cute. Unless you are writing poetry, use standard capitalization. 3. Remember your audience. Although email encourages informal communication, that might not be the most appropriate style to use if you are addressing the CEO of an important customer. And remember that your email can be forwarded to unintended recipients—some of whom may not appreciate joking comments or informalities. 4. Don’t use email for confidential matters. Again, remember the unintended recipient—your email might be forwarded to some- one you didn’t anticipate, or might be sitting on a printer for all to see. If you need to have a confidential discussion, do it in person or over the phone. 5. Send messages sparingly. There is rarely a need to copy everyone in the Company on an email. Carefully consider who really needs to see the message, and address it accordingly. 6. Always think before you send. Resist the urge to respond in anger, to “flame” your recipient or to get emotional. Although email gives you the opportunity to respond immediately, you don’t have to take it. 15/10 CREATE YOUR OWN EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK 15:2 Internet Use If you offer your employees Internet access, you should have a policy telling them what uses of that equipment you consider appropriate. Without such a policy, you run the practical risk that your employees will spend work time surfing the Web, shopping online, exchanging instant messages with friends both near and far and perhaps unwittingly downloading viruses that will crash your company’s computer system. You also run the legal risk that your employees will use your Internet access to engage in illegal behavior —such as pirating software or viewing pornographic images that create a hostile work environment (and therefore a potential sexual harassment problem). Your Internet policy should describe proper uses of the Internet and tell employees which sites are off limits. If you use software that prevents employees from visiting certain sites and/or makes a record of sites an employee visits, you should include that information in your policy as well. We offer you two different versions of an Internet policy. Policy A is a basic Internet policy, while Policy B is designed for employers who use blocking or screening software to prevent their employees from visiting certain websites. COMPUTERS, EMAIL AND THE INTERNET 15/11 Standard Policy A Using the Internet We may provide you with computer equipment and capabilities, including Internet access, to help you perform your job. This policy governs your use of that equipment to access the Internet. Personal Use of the Internet Our network and Internet access are for official Company business only. Employees may access the Internet for personal use only out- side of work hours and only in accordance with the other terms of this policy. An employee who engages in excessive Internet use, even during non-work hours, or who violates any other provision of this policy, may be subject to discipline. Prohibited Uses of the Internet Employees may not, at any time, access the Internet using Company equipment or links for any of the following purposes: • To visit websites that feature pornography, gambling or vio- lent images, or are otherwise inappropriate in the workplace. • To operate an outside business, solicit money for personal purposes or to otherwise act for personal financial gain—this includes running online auctions. • To download software, articles or other printed materials in violation of copyright laws. • To download any software program without the express consent of . • To read, open or download any file from the Internet without first screening that file for viruses using the Company’s virus detection software. Internet Use Is Not Private We reserve the right to monitor employee use of the Internet at any time, to ensure compliance with this policy. You should not expect that your use of the Internet—including but not limited to the sites you visit, the amount of time you spend online and the communi- cations you have—will be private. 15/12 CREATE YOUR OWN EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK Standard Policy B Using the Internet We may provide you with computer equipment and capabilities, including Internet access, to help you perform your job. This policy governs your use of that equipment to access the Internet. Personal Use of the Internet Our network and Internet access are for official Company business only. Employees may access the Internet for personal use only out- side of work hours and only in accordance with the other terms of this policy. An employee who engages in excessive Internet use, even during non-work hours, may be subject to discipline. Prohibited Uses of the Internet Employees may not, at any time, access the Internet using Company equipment or links for any of the following purposes: • To visit websites that feature pornography, gambling or vio- lent images, or are otherwise inappropriate in the workplace. • To operate an outside business, solicit money for personal purposes or to otherwise act for personal financial gain—this includes running online auctions. • To download software, articles or other printed materials in violation of copyright laws. • To download any software program without the express consent of . • To read, open or download any file from the Internet without first screening that file for viruses using the Company’s virus detection software. Internet Use Is Not Private To assure that employees comply with this policy, we use filtering software, which will block your access to many prohibited sites. However, some inappropriate websites may escape detection by the software—the fact that you can access a particular site does not necessarily mean that site is appropriate for workplace viewing. We also use monitoring software, which keeps track of the sites an employee visits and how much time is spent at a particular site, among other things. You should not expect that your use of the Internet—including but not limited to the sites you visit, the amount of time you spend online and the communications you have—will be private. [...]... but also takes away the employee s ability to argue, later, that he was unaware of it Email and Internet Policy Acknowledgment My signature on this form indicates that I have read the Company’s email and Internet policies and I agree to abide by their terms I understand that any email messages I send or receive using Company equipment are not private, and that the Company may access, monitor, read and/ or... Lisa Guerin (Nolo) 17: 1 Prohibition Against Drug and Alcohol Use at Work 17/ 3 17: 2 Inspections to Enforce Policy Against Drugs and Alcohol 17/ 7 17: 3 Drug Testing 17/ 8 17: 4 Leave for Rehabilitation 17/ 10 17: 5 Rehabilitation and Your EAP 17/ 13 DRUGS AND ALCOHOL 17: 1 Prohibition Against Drug and Alcohol Use at Work Given the amount of social drinking and drug use in our... their own safety and well-being and that you can discipline or even terminate them for violating the policy 17/ 3 17/ 4 CREATE YOUR OWN EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK Standard Policy Policy Against Illegal Drug and Alcohol Use This Company is committed to providing a safe, comfortable and productive work environment for its employees We recognize that employees who abuse drugs or alcohol at work—or who appear at work... room for ambiguity in a substance use policy; it must be clear as to when employees can and cannot partake Although illegal drug use is always unacceptable, there are times when a drink on company time may be appropriate (see modifications, below) Your drug and alcohol use policy should explain to employees when they can and cannot use legal drugs and alcohol, that you are prohibiting substance use... Be aware that many states have similar drug-free workplace laws To find out about your state’s law, see the “State Drug and Alcohol Testing Laws” chart at the end of this chapter You can also contact your state department of labor (See Appendix C for contact details.) 17/ 5 Don’t prohibit legal drug use When crafting any substance abuse policy, it is important to understand the difference between legal. .. involved in actually dealing with an employee who abuses substances Both state and federal law have a lot to say about what employers can and cannot do when faced with such an employee, and prudent employers familiarize themselves with these laws before taking action For more information on this issue, see Chapter 1, Section E, of Dealing With Problem Employees: A Legal Guide, by Amy DelPo & Lisa Guerin... that drawback in exchange for being able to aggressively address drug and alcohol use in your workplace On the other hand, if you are a small employer who has not had many problems with substance-abusing employees, you probably do not need to include this type of policy in your handbook 17/ 7 Legal rules regarding inspections vary from state to state They also vary from year to year, depending on what... the chart “State Drug and Alcohol Testing Laws” at the end of this chapter Although the varied nature of state laws means that we cannot provide a standard drug testing policy, here is an example of what such a policy might look like: SAMPLE POLICY LANGUAGE: As part of our efforts to keep this workplace safe and free of illegal drug use, we will conduct random and intermittent drug tests of all employees... learn more about the federal disability law, contact the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (See Appendix for contact details.) You can also read about the law in detail in Federal Employment Laws: A Desk Reference, by Amy DelPo & Lisa Guerin (Nolo) To learn more about your state’s disability law, contact your state labor department (See Appendix C for contact details.) 17/ 6 CREATE YOUR OWN. .. Employee access to records: An employee who has worked at least 60 days and a former employee, within 60 days of termination, must be given a reasonable opportunity to inspect personnel records 16/12 CREATE YOUR OWN EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK State Laws on Access to Personnel Records (continued) Unless there is reasonable cause, employer may limit review to once a year by employee and once a year by employee s agent . sexual or racial comments, threats, Company trade secrets or competitive information and inappropriate language. Any message deemed questionable will be forwarded to, and read by, Company management exchanging instant messages with friends both near and far and perhaps unwittingly downloading viruses that will crash your company’s computer system. You also run the legal risk that your employees. use your Internet access to engage in illegal behavior —such as pirating software or viewing pornographic images that create a hostile work environment (and therefore a potential sexual harassment