Tip #27: Enforce policies consistently
An article in the Des Moines Register affirms my advice in a past blog: Have an internet, e-mail, and/or computer policy AND enforce the policy consistently. Michael Hopewell has been terminated from IPERS for circulating an indecent email. Hopewell, believing his termination was improper, has brought an action against the agency for unemployment benefits. IPERS claims the email joke violated its computer policy. I would imagine the nudity in the email did violate IPERS’ computer policy. However, just from reading the article, I can presume Hopewell’s argument will be: Jokes and emails like this (maybe even worse) have been forwarded around this agency hundreds of times and nobody has ever been fired before. Based on the article, it seems that IPERS has, at least in some manner, enforced the policy in the past. It’s not clear what the outcome will be in this situation, but it is clear that having a computer policy and enforcing that policy consistently is a good business practice.
