EMAN
05-02-2006, 03:11 PM
There is a situation at my work regarding a friend of mine. My friend, a sales representative, came across a problem with a customer which prompted him to look into the production records. In attempting to do this, he was denied access to production records from the director of operations. He circumvented this by contacting the project manager, who does have access to these records.
Once my friend obtained the records from the project manager, he found major problems with the record-keeping, or lack of record-keeping. He brought this to the attention of his direct boss, the manager of outside sales and the Vice President of Sales and Marketing. After this occurred there was a meeting with my friend, the director of operations, the VP of sales and marketing, the manager of sales, and the CEO of the company. Nothing was done to rectify the situation, just acknowledgement that there was a problem between my friend, the sales rep, and the director of operations.
Two weeks after this acknowledgement, there was an email between my friend (the sales rep) and the project manager that contained sexual innuendos and prescription drug use. My friend responded to this "joke" email. Then, this email was mysteriously forwarded to the VP of sales and marketing and the Director of HR from the project manager's email address. This would seem like the project manager must've made a huge mistake in forwarding this type of email, however she had already left work at the time the email was time-stamped.
This action caused a lot of damage for my friend and the project manager, who were both called into the office of the HR director. As a result, they were both reprimanded, and the incident was put into their personal file. Not to mention the embarassment that each of them experienced as a result of a personal email "joke" getting forwarded to both the VP and the HR Director!
Once this meeting was finished, I talked to my friend, who is the network administrator about the situation including the breach in security (someone had forwarded the email who was not the owner of the account). The network administrator did his own investigation, and after he reviewed survaillence tapes, it was discovered that the director of operations (who my friend the sales rep had made allegations against) was in the office of the project manager at the time the email was forwarded. The network administrator reported what he had found out to the HR Director, who wants to keep these findings confidential to protect the director of ops, but still wants to continue to monitor my friend's (the sales rep) and the project manager's email traffic. Neither my friend (the sales rep) nor his bosses know that the director of ops sent the email.
My question is, is there anything that either my friend or the project manager can do to press the issue about who really forwarded the email, since the identity is being protected by HR?
Since our company has a "Whistle-Blower" policy, are they protected against this kind of retaliation?
Are there any labor or civil laws pertaining to using someone else's email account as if they were that person, in order to send an email with the intent of personal damage and embarrassment?
Once my friend obtained the records from the project manager, he found major problems with the record-keeping, or lack of record-keeping. He brought this to the attention of his direct boss, the manager of outside sales and the Vice President of Sales and Marketing. After this occurred there was a meeting with my friend, the director of operations, the VP of sales and marketing, the manager of sales, and the CEO of the company. Nothing was done to rectify the situation, just acknowledgement that there was a problem between my friend, the sales rep, and the director of operations.
Two weeks after this acknowledgement, there was an email between my friend (the sales rep) and the project manager that contained sexual innuendos and prescription drug use. My friend responded to this "joke" email. Then, this email was mysteriously forwarded to the VP of sales and marketing and the Director of HR from the project manager's email address. This would seem like the project manager must've made a huge mistake in forwarding this type of email, however she had already left work at the time the email was time-stamped.
This action caused a lot of damage for my friend and the project manager, who were both called into the office of the HR director. As a result, they were both reprimanded, and the incident was put into their personal file. Not to mention the embarassment that each of them experienced as a result of a personal email "joke" getting forwarded to both the VP and the HR Director!
Once this meeting was finished, I talked to my friend, who is the network administrator about the situation including the breach in security (someone had forwarded the email who was not the owner of the account). The network administrator did his own investigation, and after he reviewed survaillence tapes, it was discovered that the director of operations (who my friend the sales rep had made allegations against) was in the office of the project manager at the time the email was forwarded. The network administrator reported what he had found out to the HR Director, who wants to keep these findings confidential to protect the director of ops, but still wants to continue to monitor my friend's (the sales rep) and the project manager's email traffic. Neither my friend (the sales rep) nor his bosses know that the director of ops sent the email.
My question is, is there anything that either my friend or the project manager can do to press the issue about who really forwarded the email, since the identity is being protected by HR?
Since our company has a "Whistle-Blower" policy, are they protected against this kind of retaliation?
Are there any labor or civil laws pertaining to using someone else's email account as if they were that person, in order to send an email with the intent of personal damage and embarrassment?
