Internet Addiction: The Next Disability?
The recent case of an IBM employee suing the company for wrongful termination after he was fired for using his work computer to visit an Internet sex-chat room may be a sign of things to come. While his ADA challenge may not win in court, many experts say that Internet addiction is a real phenomenon.
By Andrew R. McIlvaine
As so often happens, employers could find themselves caught in the middle of yet another societal issue, this one involving Internet addiction.
The recent case of an IBM employee suing the company for wrongful termination after he was fired for using his work computer to visit an Internet sex-chat room may be a sign of things to come.
Although the employee's argument that he suffers from an addiction to online pornography and is thus eligible for protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act may not stand up in court, others -- including the authors of a recent university study -- say that Internet addiction is indeed real.
On the flip side, companies may find themselves liable for their employees' porn-related Web-surfing if they fail to take action.
James Pacenza is claiming protection under the ADA in his lawsuit against Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM for $5 million, saying he suffers from an addiction to pornography that was triggered by post-traumatic stress disorder arising from his service in the Vietnam War.
The company has asked the presiding judge in the case for summary judgment, asserting that its policy regarding Web-surfing for sex-related content had previously been made clear to Pacenza.
Russell Adler, an associate in the employment law practice of Wolf, Block, Schorr, Solis-Cohen in New York, says he would be "surprised" if the case wasn't dismissed, but adds that if the case withstood the summary-judgment argument and was allowed to proceed, it would set a dangerous precedent.
"Addictions are protected under the ADA, but drawing a parallel between porn addiction and other kinds of addictions is a bit of a stretch," he says, saying that Pacenza would need to demonstrate that his addiction is a mental impairment that substantially affects one or more major life activities, according to federal court rulings.
"Then there's the fact that while drug or alcohol addiction is protected, someone who shows up at work drunk or high is not," he says. "Being addicted to porn, for example, would not give you license to view porn on your work computer. What sort of reasonable accommodation could employers possibly make for this -- allow someone an hour each day to view porn at work?"
Indeed, in certain cases employers that fail to take prompt action against employees who view and store porn on their work computers could find themselves in legal hot water.
Adler cites Doe vs. XYZ Corp., a 2005 case in which a N.J. state appeals court upheld a lawsuit filed by a wife against her husband's employer after the husband was arrested on child-pornography charges for taking nude photos of their daughter and then storing and e-mailing copies of the photos via his work computer.
The lawsuit alleged the firm was culpable because officials were aware the employee had used his work computer to access pornography sites -- including at least one linked to child pornography -- but had done nothing other than issue warnings to him.
"The court ended up saying that when an employer's on notice that a worker is using his computer to access child porn, they have a duty to investigate and take prompt action," says Adler.
However, Kimberly Young, the director of the Center for Online Addiction and a professor of management science at St. Bonaventure University in New York, says the IBM case could expose employers to greater liability.
"As Internet addiction gains legitimacy as a clinical syndrome or addictive disorder, companies who provide access to the Internet may be at risk for similar wrongful termination claims," writes Young on her
Center for Internet Addiction Recovery blog
.
Instead of termination, she writes, employers should consider other actions first, such as working with their employee-assistance program providers to help employees manage and overcome their addictions.
Those claiming Internet addiction is a real phenomenon received a boost late last year from a study released by Stanford University Medical School that found more than one of eight Americans exhibited at least one sign of "problematic Internet use."
According to the report, which was published in the October 2006 issue of CNS Spectrums: The International Journal of Neuropsychiatric Medicine, the typical affected individual is a single, college-educated white male in his 30s who spends approximately 30 hours per week on nonessential computer use. The report was based on a nationwide household survey of 2,513 adults.
Report co-author Elias Aboujaoude, a Stanford professor and director of the university's Impulse Control Disorders Clinic, says Internet addiction is beginning to be recognized as a legitimate object of clinical attention and an economic problem, given that a "great deal of nonessential Internet use takes place at work."
According to Aboujaoude, a small but growing number of Internet users are seeking help from doctors for help in overcoming an "unhealthy attachment to cyberspace" that impedes their personal and professional lives.
The patients' "strong drive to compulsively use the Internet" to shop, gamble, check e-mail and visit chat rooms is not unlike what sufferers of substance abuse or impulse-control disorders experience, he adds.
However, Aboujaoude says, for now there is little consensus among clinicians as to whether problematic Internet use is a distinct disorder, or merely an expression of other conditions such as depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder.
February 28, 2007 Copyright 2007© LRP Publications
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