National Insurance Case Study

Helen Barnett is a supervisor of 1 5 customer service representatives for National Insurance, a company specializing in home insurance. Helen was surprised on what she was seeing on the computer screen of one of her employees, James Riskier, a picture of an ongoing sexual act.

Customer Service Representatives assist clients with claims, insurance quotes, and other queries.

These representatives each have cubicles that are furnished with a computer, a desk, and a phone headset, but of course Helen Barnett, the supervisor has her own office. National Insurance is a company that efforts in making greater use of electronic technology in servicing its clients. One of the representatives named James Riskier had been employed with the company for the last six months and on his 90-day performance review, he got a satisfactory. However, Lorraine Smalls is a co-worker who sat on the cubicle close to

Riskier was the one who discovered the pictures when she quickly tried to recover some data to respond to a customer when her computer malfunctioned. It was not unusual for representatives to use another staff member’s computer.

Smalls immediately called Barnett and as she viewed the browser, it shows that the website Nas viewed more than a dozen times that morning. As a supervisor, she wanted to confront him about using company time in such an unproductive manner.

When Riskier returned from lunch, he was confronted and he immediately reasoned that e visited the site during break time and felt that it was an invasion of his privacy/ Barnett told him that she would report to the Human Resource Manager but Riskier himself went to the Manager, Dale Gibbons and expressed how he was violated. The HER Manager then told him that every one should have access to the company’s computer for related purposes and on the other hand, he exposed others to pornographic sites. 2 days later, Riskier was suspended and he told the HER Manager that he would sue the company for invading his privacy.

Questions: 1 .

Did Helen Baronet’s actions invade James Arsine’s right to privacy? Of Course Not. Every company’s employees should have access to their co-workers computer if it has things to do related to their company. As a supervisor, Helen has the right to see and observe on what her employees are doing. 2. Was National Income Justified in suspending Riskier? Yes. Riskier was wasting his time on unproductive manners instead of doing his job.

He also viewed sites that were depicted. The company did the right thing on suspending him because to his actions.

He also tried to deny it in Toronto to his supervisor and tried to get the side of the HER Manager. 3. What should be the key elements of an employee computer and Web use policy? Employees should know very well that when in comes to work, their co-workers should have access to their computers. As a team, they should know very well on how to handle malfunctions wherein there is still another file on the computers of others.

In using the web, employees should know what and what not to view in order to avoid depicting acts. They should also use the web for company related purposes