Sara Ellacott, a solicitor at Nabarro Nathanson, identifies the four problem areas for electronic communication
People Management, 16 Sep 1999
• Defamation, pornography and harassment. Employers can be liable if staff make libellous statements in e-mails, or cause offence or harassment by downloading sexually explicit material.
• Misunderstandings about the permanency of computer records. When an e-mail is created, a record of it remains on the computer's hard disk even after it has been deleted from the file access record. Plaintiffs can apply to court to investigate a hard disk.
• Accidental confidentiality breaches. Entering a wrong address or forwarding a message to inappropriate recipients on a distribution list is common.
• Computer viruses. These can hide in enclosures and disrupt or destroy a company's records. Any file carrying embedded executable code could carry a virus. Companies can be liable if an employee forwards a virus, even accidentally.
Measured response By dramatically reducing the time and money spent on managing human capital, the latest HR software systems are freeing up more time for strategic thinking
