City takes the secrecy out of e-mail, voice mail and the Internet

City workers should expect no right of privacy in their e-mail, voice mail or use of the Internet in city offices, according to a new Carson City security privacy policy.

And anybody caught checking out a pornographic Web site at City Hall or sending e-mail messages of a harassing nature now faces immediate discipline.

Until April 6, City Hall had no formal rules about privacy in using city-owned communication technology or about inappropriate use of e-mail, the Internet or voice mail.

Even without a policy, department supervisors could reprimand employees through a job review process. The new rule, however, allows bosses to take immediate action against employees found violating the rules, said Judie Fischer, personnel director at City Hall.

The policy also spells out that bosses may have access to any e-mail message sent or received at an employee's work station.

"To go to court and win you have to have a policy," Fisher said. "If we can show we've done everything we can protect ourselves from liabilities."

The security policy came about in the first full revision of the city's rules and regulations since 1991 - before e-mail and the Internet became common in the workplace.

Reno attorney Neil Alexander from the Hicks and Walt law office, who helped Fisher craft the city policy, recommends that private companies with e-mail and Internet access should have similar policies.

"It's very easy to incorporate this in a paragraph or two in a policy in an employee handbook," Alexander said. "Anyone who allows employees access to the Internet or with e-mail or voice mail systems with access codes should have a policy."

Alexander said technology policies protect an employer's rights to go into an employee's company e-mail file or voice mail.

He said unlike other states, Nevada does not have a constitutional right to privacy so employer policies stripping the privacy of electronic communications are easy to put in place.

Fischer said two primary motivations to check on an employee's activities are reports of inappropriate use or if a supervisor suspects an employee is not getting work done because too much time is spent on personal calls or surfing the Internet.

The city's phone system tracks phone numbers and length of all calls - long distance or local - placed from city phones.

"We can tell you who you talked to and how long you talked," Fisher said.

The city policy does not prohibit all personal use of city equipment. The policy reads: "The City of Carson City recognizes that employees may occasionally find it necessary to use City telephones for personal business. Such calls must be kept to a minimum and must be made only during break or lunch periods."

Fisher said the policy got the approval of all the city unions. The rules and regulations revisions weren't even discussed as the Board of Supervisors approved them.

Employee use of e-mail and the Internet "hasn't been a problem but I want to be ahead of the game."