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A dept mgr wants to ban internet usage for her group. Is this discrimination/unfair treatment when other departmetns in the same office/workspace don't have the same ban? seems like a crutch on the pa
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Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Internet Usage
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Internet Usage
posted at 8/31/2010 2:28 PM EDT
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Posts: 7
First: 4/9/2007 Last: 9/7/2010 |
A dept mgr wants to ban internet usage for her group. Is this discrimination/unfair treatment when other departmetns in the same office/workspace don't have the same ban? seems like a crutch on the part of the manager not having to manage. Per the handbook, internet usage is acceptable provided you are on your break or it is work related. Thoughts? |
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Internet Usage
posted at 8/31/2010 3:07 PM EDT
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Posts: 1103
First: 3/16/2007 Last: 8/19/2011 |
What protected class characteristics does this managers group have? Can IT support the request?
It is this managers decision. I see noting illegal about it. It might be a dumb move but then it could be a smart one. Outcomes will tell. |
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Internet Usage
posted at 9/1/2010 4:29 AM EDT
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Posts: 1771
First: 10/24/2002 Last: 9/14/2011 |
It may well be discrimination, however it isn't illegal discrimination unless the manager's reasons for wanting this are based on things like race, religion, age, gender or disability.
Personally, I don't see a problem with preventing internet access for people who don't need to use the internet in their jobs. That's how we do it here, and yes, sometimes that means entire departments have no internet access. |
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Internet Usage
posted at 9/1/2010 4:30 AM EDT
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Posts: 562
First: 11/12/2009 Last: 9/14/2011 |
What prompted the manager to make this decision? Were some department members abusing internet usage? Perhaps some were going to prohibited websites (ex porn?).
Managers don't make decisions like this unless there's some reason. |
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Internet Usage
posted at 9/1/2010 9:57 AM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Agree with the others. I would go dept by dept and determine which ones have business needs for internet usage. We run quite a few different businesses. One doesn't even have computers at the location. Another has lots of computers and the business system is internet based...but only the managers have internet access.
Honestly a lot of time can be wasted when internet access is not curtailed. I know companies that have an IT policy that all accessible websites must be on an approved list. And others that only block specific sites like MySpace, FaceBook, etc. And some that have no restrictions. I would try to make this decision more of an over company decision than to allow one specific manager to make a specific change. And don't forget if you have online benefits, emails, documents, timeclock, etc that they will need a way to access these. |
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Internet Usage
posted at 9/2/2010 2:43 PM EDT
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Posts: 464
First: 6/30/2004 Last: 11/22/2010 |
We allow internet usage and personal phone usage during breaks and before and after work. We reserve the right to limit during certain times because of bandwidth limitations (rare).
I have four different departments reporting to me. Three of them have internet access and one does not. For me, it comes down to the business reason for anyone to have internet access. If there is no business reason, then no access on staff desktops. We do have a computer lab for that is often open and can be used by any staff during breaks, etc for internet access so even the staff without desktop access do have the ability to otherwise utilize our internet capability. By the way, we have heavy content filters to make sure no inappropriate sites are available. |
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