From...

by Kathleen Ohlson

(IDG) -- Twenty-three employees from the New York Times Co. were fired Tuesday for sending inappropriate e-mail.

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They were employed at an administrative center in Norfolk, Va., which processed the company's invoices, payroll and benefits, said Nancy Nielsen, a spokeswoman for the New York Times. In addition, other employees received disciplinary warnings, she said. According to the company's New York Times newspaper, the incident involved "internally circulated e-mail."

Nielsen declined to give further details about the dismissals, calling it an "internal matter."

Yankee Group Inc.'s Steven Robins understood why the Times Co. initiated the dismissals.

"The core issue is that employees are using a company's e-mail system," Robins said. "They [workers] don't own the phone, the desk, the e-mail system."

Robins said employees may be frustrated with this fact, but companies own and control these resources. Companies will probably "exert more control over these resources" in the future, he said. Companies don't want their assets to be used inappropriately and face the possibility of being held legally liable, Robins added.