Sporer v. UAL Corp.
2009 WL 2761329
In the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
Case Number C 08-02835 JSW
Before District Judge Jeffrey S. White
Decided on August 27, 2009

Relevancy of the case: Termination of employment for violating company’s policies on internet use

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Federal Wiretapping Act, 18 USC § 2511

Relevant Facts of the Case

• Sporer’s employment at UAL was “at will.” His employment application, the signed “Terms and Conditions of Employment,” and UAL’s People Policies accessible to all employees stated this.
• While working at UAL, Sporer utilised a company-issued computer. He received an email on his work email account from his friend.
• Sporer forwarded this email containing a pornographic movie. This was sent from his work computer over UAL’s server to his email account.
• During a routine audit, UAL’s Information Security department discovered the pornographic email sent by Sporer to his personal account. It was not the first time Sporer had been caught sending inappropriate emails from his work account.
• As a result, UAL terminated Sporer for transmitting the pornographic email. His actions violated their Zero Tolerance Policy on Harassment and Discrimination.

Prominent Arguments by the Counsels

• The plaintiff’s counsel contended that UAL invaded his privacy by viewing a pornographic video attached to an email which he sent from his work account to his personal account. Thus, UAL wrongfully terminated his employment.
• The defendant’s counsel presented uncontradicted evidence demonstrating they had good cause to terminate him. Sporer violated UAL’s policies regarding the transmission of pornographic emails. Furthermore, this was Sporer’s second violation of these policies.

Opinion of the Bench

• UAL implemented a policy to monitor its employees’ computer use, explicitly warning them there is no expectation of privacy regarding email transmitted on the company system.
• To activate and use his work computer, Sporer had to acknowledge and click “OK” to clear the Warning Notice, which informed him about the system’s monitoring.

Final Decision

• The court granted UAL’s motion for summary judgment.

Aditi Sharma, an undergraduate student at NMIMS School of Law, Indore, prepared this case summary during her internship with The Cyber Blog India in May/June 2023.