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Firms formulate guidelines for employee cellphone use
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 09:53:43 -0500
------ Forwarded Message From: Monty Solomon <monty () roscom com> Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 09:31:06 -0500 To: David Farber <dave () farber net> Subject: Firms formulate guidelines for employee cellphone use Firms formulate guidelines for employee cellphone use By Joyce Pellino Crane, Globe Staff, 1/23/05 Somewhere near Winslow, Maine, is a scenic view of China Lake where Monsanto Co. salesman Robert Pierpont regularly makes client calls from his cellphone - one of many locations at which he pauses along his route. "I know all the scenic, beautiful views," he said. He should. While Pierpont traverses 3,500 miles a month across New England and eastern New York selling animal health products to dairy farmers and veterinarians, Monsanto says he cannot conduct business on his cellphone unless his car is stopped. St. Louis-based Monsanto is one of a small but growing number of companies publishing guidelines for cellphone use inside the office and the car, as some high-profile liability cases catch the eye of corporate America. "It's a hot liability topic," said Kathryn Lusby- Treber, executive director of the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety in Vienna, Va. "If [companies] don't have a policy in place, they should. The company is certainly at risk. If they have an employee who's driving for business and they're in a crash, the employer can be held responsible for the crash." An April 2004 survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management, in Alexandria, Va., showed that of 379 responding companies, 40 percent already had a cellphone policy in place and another 12 percent expected to develop a written policy within six months. But even more companies may be reconsidering their positions after reading about a lawsuit against an employer involving an employee's cellphone call inside an automobile. In October, the San Francisco law firm Cooley Godward settled a $30 million lawsuit in the death of 15- year-old Naeun Yoon, who was struck and killed in 2000 on a busy highway outside Fairfax, Va., by one of its employees - a lawyer accused of making a business call on her cellphone while driving. After serving a year in jail and surrendering her law license, Jane Wagner was ordered to pay $2 million in damages to Yoon's family by a circuit court jury in Loudoun County, Va. While the firm's insurance company paid $92,500, according to its attorney, John McGavin of Fairfax, the firm was not held liable. http://bostonworks.boston.com/globe/articles/012305_cell.html ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- Firms formulate guidelines for employee cellphone use David Farber (Jan 27)