November 8, 2006 | Sex & Society

Fired porn viewer reinstated

At most companies, storing porn on your work computer is strict grounds for dismissal. But at one Australian company it has actually been proved grounds for reinstatement.

Technology firm NCR Australia fired 56-year-old Richard Budlong last year for violating the company's code of conduct. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Budlong had stored 175 adult images -- some portraying acts of bestiality -- in a folder labeled "amusements" on his office laptop. He had worked at the company for 31 years.

Budlong appealed his termination, but was denied in May by New South Wales Industrial Relations Commissioner John Murphy. Still, Murphy's peers on the full NSW IRC bench set aside his ruling last week and ordered NCR to reinstate Budlong on grounds that his firing was "harsh, unreasonable and unjust."

While NCR insists that its code of conduct is clear on the issue of pornography at work, the commission argues that the code carries an "air of automaticity," and that when employees are asked to sign it each year, they treat it as a "mechanical, unthinking routine." Additionally, the commission found false the company's assertion that it has a "zero tolerance policy" on the issue of porn at work.

NCR expressed disappointment with the ruling this week, and said that while it disagrees with it, it will comply should Budlong decide to return to his former job.

Of course if he does, he'll likely find a much clearer code of conduct to sign and a brand new,  industrial-strength firewall!

• Firm shocked at order to reinstate porn user [Sydney Morning Herald]