By Chris Holbrook, 25 January 2001 14:15
NEWS In December the company announced it had suspended around 80 staff over the explicit email attachments which show various characters from the popular US cartoon partaking in obscene and sexual acts. A spokesman for the MSF, the union representing the dismissed employees, confirmed that the original sackings of 13 employees had been reduced to 10 and all other employees involved in the investigation have been allowed to return to work. The spokesman said: "Email surveillance is so new. It's an area that needs a lot of work. It will be interesting to see the results if the 10 dismissed go to an industrial tribunal." He said there was a need for proper apportionment of blame and liability in cases such as the one at Royal & Sun Alliance. "We have seen some really bad cases of dismissal when an employee has been sacked for just receiving an email without opening it, or even being at work when the email arrived," he said. The MSF said under the circumstances the union will talk to the 10 dismissed staff and review on an individual basis whether to take the matter further.
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