
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 30, 1994                   TAG: 9411290067
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: F1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LAW AND ETHICS CONFLICT LOCALLY

In many offices, a Rolodex sits inconspicuously on almost every desk, its cards flipped ever-so-slightly, open to the last name and number used.

When a worker leaves for the day, that catalog of contacts and business leads stays, and the next morning it's expected still to be there - untouched.

But the case of Time Warner Inc. executive Oded "Ed" Aboodi and the Securities and Exchange Commission casts a somewhat troubling light on that assumption.

"In the case of a criminal action, and the SEC or other government agencies gets involved, the company can say this information is confidential and the agency will say it won't release it, but beyond that the employee doesn't have much recourse," said Agnis Chakravorty, a Roanoke employment-law lawyer.

Perhaps even more disturbing to workers is that an employer legally doesn't need a criminal investigation - or any other excuse - to peruse those unguarded little white cards.

"If I had a question as to what an employee had in his Rolodex, 99 percent of the time I would have the right to see what's in that Rolodex," Chakravorty said. "The employee can argue that he bought it and the employer can't look through it under the right of privacy, but there is no general right of privacy under Virginia law. The only question would be how do you approach seeing it."

Virginia Tech business law Professor Janine Hiller agreed.

"In business, you're working for the employer. Legally, you're an agent of the employer; and if it's a business Rolodex, it's property of the business ... It's a business record," Hiller said.

While the issue appears cut and dried legally, ethically it may not be.

"If that employee had personal information in the Rolodex, then the employer shouldn't cross that line. But the employee shouldn't be keeping personal information in a business Rolodex," Hiller said.

Still, many people do.

Regardless of what's in it, Carroll Stephens, a Tech business ethics professor, said ethically speaking an employee's Rolodex should be off limits.

"Granted, they give up certain freedoms to the employer [when they're hired], but ethically it's still an invasion of privacy," Stephens said.

But she admits that a legal subpoena generally outweighs an ethical principle.

by CNB