Email & Internet Use Policy
Email policy and Internet use policy, also called Internet acceptable use policy (IAUP), define the appropriate uses of email and Internet access within an organization. These policies help an organization run effectively and protect against frivolous lawsuits.
Other People Are Reading
-
Effective Functioning
-
An email policy and IAUP should contain a list of prohibited activities, like no forwarding chain emails and no gambling online. According to the Bureau of National Affairs, Internet access creates the problem of lost time for companies. An Internet use policy solves this problem by limiting how much time a worker can spend on the Internet for personal reasons.
Monitoring
-
To ensure workers follow a company's email policy and Internet use policy, management has the right to monitor workers' email and Internet activities. However, the use of monitoring systems must be included in the company's policies.
-
Policy Violation
-
An email policy and Internet use policy should explain the consequences for policy violations. For example, a company's email policy may call for a worker to lose mass emailing rights for a week if he forwards a chain email throughout the office.
Lawsuit Protection
-
By defining monitoring systems and consequences for company policy violations, companies protect themselves from fourth amendment rights and wrongful termination lawsuits. The fourth amendment, the right to privacy, can only be violated if a company gives workers an expectation of privacy. Wrongful termination lawsuits will appear frivolous if company policies define termination as a consequence of policy violations.
-
