Firms dampen e-mail passions

The raunchy e-mail which gained City law firm Norton Rose what was probably unwanted fame before Christmas, will lead to a tough line on e-mail misuse in future, City firms said this week.

The infamous e-mail exchange about a sexual encounter, which made a Norton Rose solicitor and his girlfriend national celebrities, has raised serious questions about the use of e-mail at work.

Tom Rose, media relations manager at Clifford Chance, said that following the Norton Rose e-mail, a note had been sent to all London office staff reminding them of the firm's IT security policy.

'For the dozens of people here who received the e-mail and sent it on, the reminder about our policy is particularly pertinent,' he warned.

A LInklaters spokesman also confirmed that a note had been sent to all staff reminding them of the firm's 'strict e-mail policy'.

He added that although no one had been disciplined, a 'dim view' was taken of anyone who had received the e-mail and sent it on.

If the same thing happened again involving the same people, action would be taken, he said.

Lovells' personnel director Jill King said that although it was difficult to be prescriptive about e-mail use, the firm was very clear on what was unacceptable.

Now, and in future, the firm would look at whether someone was the originator and whether an e-mail was circulated within or outside the firm when deciding on what disciplinary action to take, she said.Rob McAfee, Norton Rose's director of administration, said the firm's terms and conditions of employment and IT security policy had 'held water' during the incident.

Several employees were disciplined but not dismissed over the e-mail.

Mr McAfee said all businesses needed to decide whether to allow people to use e-mail for personal use or not.

The reasonable course is to allow personal use of e-mail with restrictions, he said, adding that expressly forbidding personal use could damage morale.

Jane Mann, chairman of the Employment Lawyers Association, said firms should be careful to stress what was appropriate use of e-mail but agreed that any outright ban would be unpopular and harm the organisation.A ban on personal use would eradicate the personal side, which gets staff through the day, she said.Sue Allen