Employees continue to find new and creative ways to get themselves in trouble (and to cause headaches for HR professionals).

The latest example? According to the Miami Herald, a waitress is suing Hooters based on allegations that her manager harassed her by “sexting” explicit messages and photos.

What is “sexting”? Here’s how the always-reliable Wikipedia defines it: “the act of sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically, primarily between cell phones.”

Sexting is just the latest form of harassment to pop up on the legal landscape as technology continues to morph and pervade the workplace. It has the potential to create significant legal risk as some employees appear to believe that (1) texting is far more casual than e-mail or other forms of communication, (2) employers can’t/don’t monitor it and, thus, (3) the normal rules don’t apply — anything goes.

What should employers do?

“Sexting” should be treated like any other form of potential harassment. Get proactive.

• Review and update your policies to ensure they are broad enough to prohibit inappropriate texting, instant messaging, tweeting, etc.
• Educate employees that all of these new forms of communicating create a permanent record that can be retrieved and used as evidence in a harassment case (even if sent from a personal cell phone or computer).
• Use our time-honored “Mom Test.” Train employees to ask themselves this question before they hit “send”: Would I be comfortable if my mother read this message? If not, don’t send it.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 14th, 2009 at 8:11 am and is filed under Employment Law News, Instant Messaging, Sexting, Technology, Texting, Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.