Slashdot Mirror
IBM Sued for Firing Alleged Internet Addict
globring sent us a link to a CNN article covering a trial with a unique defense. James Pacenza, a 58 year old Alabama man, has been fired from his position at IBM for visiting adult sites during working hours. The man is now suing the company for $5 Million, alleging that he is an internet addict. The plaintiff claims he visits these sites as a way of dealing with traumatic stress incurred in the Vietnam War. He claims that while he is addicted to sex and the internet, he never visited adult sites at work. Age-related issues, he says, are the cause of his filing. IBM, on its part, says that Pacenza was warned during a similar incident several months ago. Pacenza denies this as well.
Sounds like he's a sex addict! Just because he's using the Internet to fuel his obvious sex addiction doesn't make him an Internet addict. It's like saying someone who uses magazines to get their porn is a magazine addict.
You're not addicted to the medium, you're addicted to the content.
"If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer
I think that there seems to be confusion between addiction and disability. While you might not fire somebody for a recognised disability (and some addictions tend to fall along those categories), I've never heard of having to hold on to somebody because they're addicted.
If that were the case, it would mean that when Bobby and Johnny get caused smoking pot in the back during work hours, or when Sally gets caught with a needle in her veins in the washroom, they could claim that the company could not fire them because they were addicts. I think not.
Pacenza: Couple who had sex on desk merely transferred
He argues that other workers with worse offenses were disciplined less severely -- including a couple who had sex on a desk and were transferred.
Fred McNeese, a spokesman for Armonk-based IBM, would not comment.
Pacenza claims the company decided on dismissal only after improperly viewing his medical records, including psychiatric treatment, following the incident.
"In IBM management's eyes, plaintiff has an undesirable and self-professed record of psychological disability related to his Vietnam War combat experience," his papers claim.
Diederich says IBM workers who have drug or alcohol problems are placed in programs to help them, and Pacenza should have been offered the same. Instead, he says, Pacenza was told there were no programs for sex addiction or other psychological illnesses. He said Pacenza was also denied an appeal.
Diederich, who said he spent a year in Iraq as an Army lawyer, also argued that "A military combat veteran, if anyone, should be afforded a second chance, the benefit of doubt and afforded reasonable accommodation for combat-related disability."
Allowing employees to visit adult sites may create a hostile work environment and sets you up for a lawsuit from other employees who might see it and be offended. You may be able to get away with it when it's you and a couple of buddies starting up, but when your profits are in the billions, you're a giant stack of cash waiting for the first person to claim sexual harassment.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
Companies fire people all the time for addiction. Why else would they make you take drug tests pre-employment and sometimes during employment? If you are addicted to drugs and show up to work high, you're gonna get fired. Why should it be different if you're addicted to porn and look at it at work, on the company's computer?
I got nothin'
His lawyer ... says Pacenza never visited pornographic sites at work, violated no written IBM rule ...
... (says) ... its policy against surfing sexual Web sites is clear. It also claims Pacenza was told he could lose his job after an incident four months earlier, which Pacenza denies.
International Business Machines Corp.
Seems pretty obvious. If IBM can produce those written policies, and has kept a written record of the previous warnings, Pacenza doesn't have a leg to stand on.
References to his past history in the military don't really seem all that relevant. Yes, many vets of Viet Name and other action carry the scars with them but that does not give them a right to totally ignore their employer's direction.
Three Squirrels
Like you inferred, I believe it mainly is age discrimination here. His lawyer even cites two people making snu-snu on a desk at IBM and they were just transferred. Also, I think you're right about them trolling his station, for the simple reason that before stomping off to a manager, common decency says you (the co-worker) turn off the monitor for him and have a talk with him personally. And, as this plaintiff cites, after 19 years of service to IBM, you would think his superiors would make every effort possible to salvage this man's reputation with a paid vacation for clinical counseling. This does smack of age discrimination. It really is in IBM's interest to settle this case. I wish the Vet well.
I hope, when they die, cartoon characters have to answer for their sins.
If indeed IBM simply transferred two other workers who had actual sex on a desk (one assumes this occurred when someone could witness it, rather than in a private office late one night), it's going to be hard for them to justify firing this guy for engaging in otherwise legal activity even though it was using company resources. That's not to say this is age discrimination or some other malfeasance on the part of IBM, but the lack of consistency is troubling.
"what gives any company the right to discriminate?"
The federal government gives them the obligation to discriminate. If the manager hadn't taken action, the employee who had caught him could have sued for sexual harassment, arguing that the sexual content on the computer made for a hostile work environment.
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
While it's quite possible his age had something to do with this, it's also very likely he is guilty as charged. It would be a sensible thing for an employer to put a close eye on someone approaching retirement with pension, in the hopes that they screw up enough to justify termination, this saves the company money. This is not necessarily a bad thing, and sorry but PTSD does not justify surfing porn at work any more than forgiving turrets at mcdonalds. Crackheads are not allowed to smoke up at work just because they are crackheads. If you have a behavioral disorder you need to keep it in check while you're at work, or you need to find a different job that is known to be tolerant of your behavioral problems. I suppose another parallel we could draw is someone spending an hour a day at work on an online casino, and claiming its OK because they are a gambling addict.
Bottom line, if you are 6 mos from retiring with pension you should know to be on your best behavior. If you walk out the door with a company stapler, i don't care if you are a recovering klepto, out you go. (I consider deliberately wasting company time to be theft)
I hope this fellow loses his case and gets to pay IBM's attorneys.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.