Employers, Maintain Control of Your Office Email Systems.

Written by on 06/04/2012 , employment law
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In a recent case, the Massachusetts Superior Court ruled that there was no expectation of privacy in email sent over an office network. A Superior Court ruling is by no means the last word on this issue but it does provide some guidance. The case involved the Town of Falmouth (Falmouth Firefighter’s Union v. Town of Falmouth) and its use of Gmail accounts for its employees. The town purchased the domain names that were used for the accounts. The employees had control over their own accounts and could choose to delete mail but the Town was the account administrator. The 

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Do you have effective sexual harassment policies and preventive procedures?

Written by on 04/03/2012 , employment law
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Employers need to communicate a sexual harassment reporting policy and have in place effective preventive measures. Workplace contact between employees, co-workers, and their managers can lead to a variety of complaints.  Some of these complaints do not rise to the level of violations of law, but an expanding array of conduct in the workplace is falling under the jurisdiction of every increasing state and federal case law. It is becoming commonplace for a discharged employee to raise a variety of claims as a result of the termination.  Some of these claims may not have any merit but they cannot be 

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