9:24am Tuesday 7th July 2009
By Tom Moseley
FOUR council staff have been sacked following a three-month investigation into offensive emails.
The county council carried out formal hearings last week after suspending 14 staff in April for the “highly inappropriate” material, believed to relate to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Bosses would not confirm details of the “unfortunate incident”.
But the Lancashire Telegraph understands staff brought memory sticks to work to bypass the council’s security system.
The offensive material was only discovered when one of those involved was off work and a colleague discovered the images on their computer.
Five more staff have been given formal written warnings, and the other five returned to work.
The group are believed to work mainly in two departments, adult and community services and children and young people.
The sacked staff were not members of Unison, County Hall’s largest union, but were represented by a Preston-based law firm.
Council chief executive Ged Fitzgerald said: “After a full investigation we have taken disciplinary action against a number of staff found to have sent and received highly inappropriate emails.
"There have been formal hearings for the most serious cases.
"Four people have been dismissed with a further five staff receiving formal written warnings.
"For some less serious cases, the staff involved have returned to work and any necessary action will be handled by their managers.
“This has been an unfortunate incident, but an isolated one.
"By far the majority of our staff use e-mail appropriately and are working hard to deliver a good service to everyone in Lancashire.”
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