| Bank Fires Seven for E-Mail Misuse |
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| CHARLOTTE (AP) |
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| First Union, the nation's sixth-largest bank, confirmed the firings Friday, but company spokeswoman Sandy Deem would not release more details. |
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| The bank "will not tolerate conduct that interferes with another person's work performance or creates an intimidating, offensive or hostile environment ,'' Deem said. |
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| The Charlotte Observer reported Friday that employees at the University Research Park office circulated e-mail that included videos of people having sex and other material of a sexual nature. The company stumbled on the e-mail when the volume of messages became so heavy it slowed down a server . |
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| One employee fired within the past week from the bank's home-equity division was called into an office, shown a stack of e-mail and fired on the spot, an employee told the newspaper. |
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| First Union, a Fortune 100 corporation, joins a number of companies taking swift and severe action for violations of company e-mail policy. |
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| Companies are seeking to protect themselves from legal claims that their work environment is hostile. An increasing number of lawsuits alleging sexual harassment have based claims in part on e-mails taken from company computer systems. |
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