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When IBM found a New York employee in a sex chat room while at work, they fired him. He was behaving inappropriately at work, the company said. But the employee, a Vietnam veteran, fired back and filed a lawsuit. He had an Internet addiction stemming from combat experiences, he said.
"In his legal action against IBM, James Pacenza admits that he spent time in chat rooms during work hours, but claims his behavior is the result of an addiction and that IBM should have offered him counseling instead of firing him," Information Week reports. "Employees 'with much more severe psychological problems, in the form of drug or alcohol problems ... are allowed treatment programs' at IBM, Pacenza argues in his lawsuit."
"... In his suit, Pacenza says his use of Internet chat rooms is a form of 'self medication' he uses to treat post-traumatic stress disorder suffered as a result of combat experience in Vietnam. On the day before he was fired, Pacenza says he wrote a letter to a fallen Vietnam comrade lamenting his death. Afterward, he ventured into an Internet chat room 'as a brief diversion from work,' according to court papers."
While Pacenza, 55, filed the suit in 2004, the action returned to the news in November as IBM prepared to ask for a dismissal, Information Week says. Subsequent Business Week coverage this week is receiving wide play around the Web, as the story digs into the thorny issues involved with classifying abuse and the emergency of Internet abuse arguments. "For starters, businesses could be compelled to allow medical leave, provide counseling to, or make other accommodations for employees who can't control Internet use," similar to protections with alcoholism, one legal analyst tells the magazine.
A similar piece can be found this week in the San Francisco Chronicle, where the writer looks at the issue's back-and-forth between joke and serious psychological discussion. "More research is under way to determine patterns of Internet abuse -- data that could lead to classifying it as a compulsive disorder and ultimately as an addiction," the article notes. "Whatever the terminology, nobody disputes that the Internet is wreaking havoc on some lives."
"In his legal action against IBM, James Pacenza admits that he spent time in chat rooms during work hours, but claims his behavior is the result of an addiction and that IBM should have offered him counseling instead of firing him," Information Week reports. "Employees 'with much more severe psychological problems, in the form of drug or alcohol problems ... are allowed treatment programs' at IBM, Pacenza argues in his lawsuit."
"... In his suit, Pacenza says his use of Internet chat rooms is a form of 'self medication' he uses to treat post-traumatic stress disorder suffered as a result of combat experience in Vietnam. On the day before he was fired, Pacenza says he wrote a letter to a fallen Vietnam comrade lamenting his death. Afterward, he ventured into an Internet chat room 'as a brief diversion from work,' according to court papers."
While Pacenza, 55, filed the suit in 2004, the action returned to the news in November as IBM prepared to ask for a dismissal, Information Week says. Subsequent Business Week coverage this week is receiving wide play around the Web, as the story digs into the thorny issues involved with classifying abuse and the emergency of Internet abuse arguments. "For starters, businesses could be compelled to allow medical leave, provide counseling to, or make other accommodations for employees who can't control Internet use," similar to protections with alcoholism, one legal analyst tells the magazine.
A similar piece can be found this week in the San Francisco Chronicle, where the writer looks at the issue's back-and-forth between joke and serious psychological discussion. "More research is under way to determine patterns of Internet abuse -- data that could lead to classifying it as a compulsive disorder and ultimately as an addiction," the article notes. "Whatever the terminology, nobody disputes that the Internet is wreaking havoc on some lives."