AOL is being sued by a 19-year-old woman who is charging that a former monitor of AOL’s “kids only” chat room seduced her online when she was 15-years-old. She claims that he persuaded her to send him nude photos of herself and to engage in phone sex.
AOL, who runs background checks on all of their employees, fired the monitor, Matthew Wright, a 23-year-old man who was married at the time, immediately after learning about his inappropriate activities. AOL also contacted the FBI near the area where Wright worked to notify the bureau about what was happening. It is unclear whether Wright is facing criminal charges at this point in time. AOL also has strict rules in place that prevent chat room monitors from engaging in the chat room conversation and interacting with AOL users.
With all of the provisions that AOL has to keep its users and chat rooms safe, the company can hardly be held liable for one employee gone awry. If a criminal background check was run, and the monitor first had to undergo screening and training, there was no reason for the company to assume that he would do anything wrong. AOL’s immediate response to the complaint, and the actions taken thereafter, prove that the company was not negligent in protecting its users.
Current sexual harassment laws state that an employer can only be sued if the employer was negligent in a known case of sexual harassment. Basically, the employer is only liable if he or she knew what was occurring and then chose to ignore the situation. However, AOL did not ignore the situation, and since it took appropriate action, the law should side with the company.
Instead, Wright should be sued for the emotional damage he caused the woman. He should also face any criminal charges applicable to his actions. Wright was in a position that most AOL users respect, and not prosecuting him to the fullest extent of the law would set a bad precedent.
The woman is also suing AOL for false advertising since the company refers to its children’s chat rooms as “safe.” Again, the background checks and vigorous screening and testing prove that AOL is trying to take every action possible to keep its chat rooms safe. Therefore, the false advertising claim cannot possibly be a valid one.
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