A Florida Department of Education worker's complaint about an email invitation for sex from a fellow worker has led to 13 workers at four Florida state agencies getting fired. And a state probe into email misconduct on the job is widening as a result.
The emails were said to have included nude photographs of men and women, suggestive videos, profane and suggestive remarks, and animations ranging from former President Bill Clinton at his desk with one-time lover Monica Lewinsky to children dancing to profane or violent rap music, according to the St. Petersburg Times.
Four workers in the Department of Education, eight at the Department of Children and Families, and one at the Department of Transportation were fired, after state Education Commissioner John Winn tipped off the other agencies about obscene emails and finding they went to more than 20 workers in his own department, the Times said.
Workers who weren't fired as a result of the probe have been disciplined with suspensions or reprimands, the paper added. DCF, charged with protective services for children and families, discovered 11 workers forwarding some of the emails but fired only those who sent five or more along, the Times said.
The investigation has provoked most Florida agencies to remind their staffers that office email accounts are for business only and they should refrain from passing along jokes, cartoons, or sexually offensive emails, the paper added.
