NEW YORK, NY – A man who was fired by IBM for allegedly visiting adult chat rooms has filed suit against the company in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, claiming that he suffers from internet addiction and is protected from termination under the Americans with Disabilities Act.James Pacenza, 58, states in the lawsuit that he visited online chat rooms to treat traumatic stress that he experienced during his service with in Vietnam; in 1969, Pacenza says he witnessed the death of his best friend while on patrol.
Pacenza is seeking $5 million in the lawsuit, according to Associated Press (AP) wire reports.
Michael Diederich, the attorney representing Pacenza in the lawsuit, says his client never visited any “pornographic” sites while at work, did not violate any written IBM rules, and did not spend more time surfing the web than other IBM employees.
Diederich also asserts that age discrimination was at play in IBM’s decision to fire Pacenza, who was 55 at the time of his firing. Diederich says that Pacenza had been with IBM for 19 years and could have retired within a year of his termination by the company.
IBM has asked for a summary judgment in the case from U.S. District Judge Stephen Robinson, arguing that the company’s policy against visiting sexual websites is clear and unambiguous. The company also claims that Pacenza was warned that he could be fired after an incident that took place four months before he was terminated – a claim that Pacenza denies.
In documents filed with the court, IBM states that Pacenza was “discharged by IBM because he visited an internet chat room for a sexual experience during work after he had been previously warned.”
The company also argues that sexual behavior disorders are specifically excluded from disabilities legislation and denied that any manner of age discrimination contributed to Pacenza’s dismissal.
Prior to his firing, Pacenza earned $65,000 per year operating machinery at an IBM plant that manufactures computer chips. According to the AP, several times during the average work day, operators of such machines have downtime of around five to 10 minutes while an automated tool measures the thickness of silicon in the chips.
During one such break, on May 28th, 2003, Pacenza logged on to the web from a PC at his workstation.
Diederich said that his client had returned from visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC that day. With that visit fresh on his mind, Pacenza first logged onto a site called “ChatAvenue,” and then proceeded to an adult chat room, according to Diederich.
Pacenza claims that using the internet at work was encouraged by IBM and served as a “form of self-medication” for post-traumatic stress disorder.
According to court documents, Pacenza said that he tried to avoid using chat rooms while at work, but on the day in question, “I felt I needed the interactive engagement of chat talk to divert my attention from my thoughts of Vietnam and death.”
“I was tempting myself to perhaps become involved in some titillating conversation,” Pacenza said, according to documents filed in the case.
Pacenza claims that he was called away from his workstation before he got involved in any chatting, but did not log off of the chat room. When another plant worker went to the desk, he saw several chat entries, including a “vulgar” reference to a sex act. The other worker reported what he’d seen to his supervisor, who fired Pacenza the following day.
In court documents, Pacenza said he would have understood if the company had disciplined him for indulging in an unauthorized break, but that firing him was far too severe a punishment.
Pacenza also asserts that other workers had committed more serious offenses and were disciplined less harshly than he was; Pacenza claims that one couple had sex on a desk, and were transferred, rather than terminated.
Diederich asserted that IBM employees who have drug or alcohol problems are assigned to special programs to help them, and argued that his client should have been offered the same manner of treatment. Instead, Pacenza was informed that were no programs for sex addiction or other mental illnesses.
Thus far, IBM has declined comment on the case.
