Worker Fired for Using Chat Room Sues IBM

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – A man who was fired by IBM for visiting an adult chat room at work is suing the company for $5 million, claiming he is an Internet addict who deserves treatment and sympathy rather than dismissal.

James Pacenza, 58, of Mont-gomery, says he visits 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, Mr. 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 Americans with Disabilities Act.

His lawyer, Michael Diederich, says Mr. Pacenza never visited pornographic sites at work, violated no written IBM rule and did not surf the Internet any more or any differently than other worker. He says age discrimination contributed to IBM’s actions. Mr. Pacenza, 55 at the time, had been with the company for 19 years and says he could have retired in a year. IBM has asked Judge Stephen Robinson for a summary judgment, saying its policy against surfing sexual Web sites is clear. It also claims Mr. Pacenza was told he could lose his job after an incident four months earlier, which Mr. Pacenza denies.

IBM also said sexual behavior disorders are specifically excluded from the ADA and denied any age discrimination.

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.

Mr. Pacenza operated a machine at a plant in East Fish-kill that makes computer chips.

Several times a day, machine operators are idle for five to 10 minutes as the tool measures the thickness of silicon wafers.

It was during such down time on May 28, 2003, that Mr. Pacenza logged onto a chat room from a computer at his work station.

Mr. Diederich says Mr. Pacenza had returned from visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington and logged onto an adult chat room. Mr. Pacenza, who has a wife and two children, said he tried to stay away from chat rooms at work, but that day, felt he needed to distract himself from thoughts of the war.

“I felt I needed the interactive engagement of chat talk to divert my attention from my thoughts of Vietnam and death,” he said in court papers.

Another worker, who used the computer after Mr. Pacenza, saw some vulgar chat entries and reported the discovery to his boss.

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