Worker fired over visit to adult chat room sues IBM
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — A man who was fired by IBM Corp. for visiting an adult chat room at work is suing the company for $5 million, claiming that he is an Internet addict who deserves treatment and sympathy rather than dismissal.
James Pacenza, 58, of Montgomery, N.Y., said he visited chat rooms to treat 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.
His lawyer, Michael Diederich, said Pacenza never visited pornographic websites at work, violated no written IBM rule and did not surf the Internet any more or any differently than other employees. Diederich also said age discrimination contributed to IBM's actions. Pacenza, 55 at the time he was fired, had been with the company for 19 years and said he could have retired in a year.
Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM has asked Judge Stephen Robinson for a summary judgment, saying its policy against surfing sexual websites is clear. It also claimed that Pacenza was told he could lose his job after an incident four months earlier. Pacenza denied that he received such a warning.
IBM said sexual behavior disorders were specifically excluded from the American With Disabilities Act and denied that there had been age discrimination.
Court papers arguing the motion for summary judgment will be exchanged next month.
If it goes to trial, the case could affect how employers regulate Internet use that is not work-related, or how Internet overuse is categorized medically. Stanford University issued a nationwide study last year that found that up to 14% of computer users reported neglecting work, school, families, food and sleep to use the Internet.
The study's director, Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, said then that he was most concerned about the number of people who hid their nonessential Internet use or used the Internet to escape a negative mood, much in the same way that alcoholics might.
Until he was fired, Pacenza was making $65,000 a year operating a machine at a plant in East Fishkill, N.Y., that makes computer chips.
Several times during the day, machine operators are idle for five to 10 minutes as the tool measures the thickness of silicon wafers.
