Wall Street Journal via NewsScan: NLRB TAKES A NEW LOOK AT EMPLOYEE E-MAIL Many companies now monitor their employee's e-mail and Web activities, assuming they have the inalienable right to ban personal or inappropriate use of office PC. But rebellious workers are now fighting back, using the National Labor Relations Act, a Depression-era law that sired the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The quasi-judicial NLRB, which protects workers' rights to organize and communicate freely with each other about work terms and conditions, has weighed in on the employee's side in several recent cases involving workplace electronic monitoring activities. In one case, an employee fired for not apologizing over an e-mail he wrote criticizing a new vacation policy was granted back pay and a chance to rejoin his old firm (he took the pay but refused the job). In another, Pratt & Whitney was forced to back off a total ban on using the office e-mail system for non-business purposes. "The way people work is changing dramatically," says NLRB associate general counsel Barry Kearney. To keep up with the times, the NLRB is now asking branch offices to forward to Washington headquarters any cases involving e-mail or Web use by employees. (Wall Street Journal 25 Apr 2000) IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you are not using HushMail, this message could have been read easily by the many people who have access to your open personal email messages. Get your FREE, totally secure email address at http://www.hushmail.com.
