Internet use of company computer for adult web sites

First, I have to say that I am not admitted to practice law in Georgia and that you would be wise to speak with an employment lawyer who is admitted to practice there. With that said, in general, one important step toward taking care of this problem is to implement policies governing employee’s workplace use of the Internet and email. It appears as though you are moving in that direction in putting together an employee handbook. However, one fundamental principal of employment law is that simply issuing employment policies will not protect an employer from liability if those policies are not consistently enforced.

As an employer, you have a right to monitor employee’s Internet activities, regardless of the location of the computer or whether the activities take place after business hours. In your employee handbook, you should make it very clear that employees have no legitimate expectation of privacy that would prevent management from accessing the computer to determine if it is being used for improper purposes.

You would be wise to specify as part of the Internet and email policy, (1) that no programs may be downloaded without authorization, (2) all emails sent and received from the workplace computer are not confidential and the property of the company, and (3) that employees are permitted to only access websites of a business nature. As the business grows, you may want to consider obtaining the software and technology to monitor employee’s use of the Internet on the office computer.

As to your second question with regard to whether the business can get into trouble for the acts of an employee, the answer is “yes”. An employer may subject to criminal investigation or civil litigation if an employee is viewing pornography involving underage persons, gambling online or transmitting offensive, harassing or derogatory images or information, among other things. This is why it is very important that you implement policies governing the workplace use of the Internet and email. And once those policies are implemented, it is even more imperative that they be consistently enforced.