It turns out there are laws against stupid - or at least a policy - after all. The Port of Seattle enforced its zero tolerance policy on inappropriate use of computing resources after an internal investigation. The violations proved to be career defining for 19 workers in and around the survey team in the engineering department at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
The Port has not released the full report of an investigation but a one page press release announces the decision to fire 8 employees and terminate 4 contractors for trading e-mails and Internet links that included sexually-explicit photos, sexually-oriented jokes, and jokes about race, gender and national origin. Another seven employees have been disciplined.
Harsh medicine? Perhaps. But these employees and contractors in particular should have known how investigations of inappropriate use end. Just last year, the Port was scandalized when a number of its police officers were caught and subsequently disciplined for sending e-mails the Port Commission called "sexually explicit, sexist and racist."
The Port has not released the full report of an investigation but a one page press release announces the decision to fire 8 employees and terminate 4 contractors for trading e-mails and Internet links that included sexually-explicit photos, sexually-oriented jokes, and jokes about race, gender and national origin. Another seven employees have been disciplined.
Harsh medicine? Perhaps. But these employees and contractors in particular should have known how investigations of inappropriate use end. Just last year, the Port was scandalized when a number of its police officers were caught and subsequently disciplined for sending e-mails the Port Commission called "sexually explicit, sexist and racist."