Author Topic: Internet Addict Sues IBM (Read 119 times)

Dj Eskimo · « **on:** February 18, 2007, 09:11:13 AM »

'Internet addict' sues over sacking
Last Updated: Sunday, 18 February 2007, 10:12 GMT
- Search: Internet IBM fired

A New York man who was fired by IBM for visiting an adult chat room at work is suing the company for £2.5 million, claiming he is an internet addict who deserves treatment and sympathy.

James Pacenza, 58, from Montgomery, says he visits chat rooms as treatment for traumatic stress incurred in 1969 when he saw his best friend killed during an army patrol in Vietnam.

In papers filed in federal court in White Plains, Pacenza said the stress caused him to become "a sex addict, and with the development of the internet, an internet addict." He claimed protection under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).

His lawyer, Michael Diederich, says Pacenza never visited pornographic sites at work, violated no written IBM rule and did not surf the internet any more or any differently that other employees.

He also claims age discrimination contributed to IBM's actions. Pacenza, 55 at the time, had 19 years of IBM service and said he could have retired in one more year.

IBM has asked Judge Stephen Robinson for a summary judgment, saying its policy against surfing sexual sites is clear. It also claims Pacenza was told he could lose his job after an incident four months earlier, which Pacenza denies.

IBM said sexual behaviour disorders were specifically excluded from the ADA. It denied any age discrimination.

If it goes to trial later this year, the case could affect how employers regulate internet use that is not work-related, or how internet overuse is categorised medically.

Stanford University issued a nationwide study last year in which up to 14% of computer users reported neglecting work, school, families, food and sleep to use the internet.

Until he was fired in May 2003, Pacenza was making £32,500 a year operating a machine at an IBM plant in East Fishkill that makes computer chips. Pacenza, who has a wife and two children, said using the internet at work was encouraged by IBM.