Organisational Liability

As with any communications media, legal issues of the Internet are emerging at a rapid rate, with a lot of discussion, but are of limited consensus so far. It can be said that employers do have some liability for how employees use a company's e-mail system. The issues are similar to an employee's use of the company telephone, the company postage meter, the company vehicle, and so on.

Within an organisation, e-mail can become a vehicle for sexual harassment, for creating a hostile work environment, or setting up gambling pools. Outside the company, employees can use e-mail to operate their own businesses or to send out fabricated messages in the name of other employees or their employer. Some employers monitor their e-mail systems, which presents legal issues, such as invasion of privacy.

E-mail has also been used to gather evidence against employers or employees. Of course, there are no more dangers and pitfalls of e-mail than there are of any form of communications, whether inside or outside the organisation. The telephone and postal systems are just as capable of such problems.

As with any potential liability issue, employers must set guidelines for the proper internal and external use of e-mail, just as they would for the proper use of the company telephone, stationery and postage, vehicles, and so on.