This is like a terrible version of Rex Manning day

mrsconn23

Dear Prudence,
I work for a smallish unit of local government, about 250 employees. Curiosity got the best of me (it always does), and I looked up a few guys at work who give off a “philanderer” vibe on one of the Ashley Madison search sites. One guy had used his government-issued email address to register an account. The local press has been writing about other government email addresses they have found on the site, but our addresses don’t end in .gov, so nobody has found this guy yet. The employee in question is divorced after being caught having multiple affairs (one with a secretary in the office), so it’s not like this would break up his family. I do a lot of HR work, and this is a clear violation of our email use policies. I don’t want to get him in trouble, but I also don’t want to pick up the paper and see this headline and have my boss be caught off guard. My boss and I discussed the recent media coverage in general, and I asked him what he would do if someone here got caught. He thought no one here was stupid enough to use his or her work email address for that. Should I just shut up or should I talk to my boss?

—Biting My Tongue for Now

Heffalump

This is why nobody likes HR.  You need to MYOB, mrs.conn.

*Barbie*

MYOB really needs to be the response of the day. Unless it's your spouse or long term SO, it doesn't concern you. 

[Deleted User]

HR will die the day people do what they're supposed to do.  That is unlikely to ever happen so you're stuck with HR.

This guy made it the company's (her) business, because he used a business email address.

Although, HR / she should have checked every employee's email address not just the people who "give off a “philanderer” vibe."

GBCK

I will say, this is where I get a little wishy-washy on this whole debacle.

I'm OK w/ outting asshole public figures.  And I very much ahve this response overall:
 


And people who use their work emails are idiots.

But do we really want to have people, even idiots, getting fired because a hacker did criminal crap, stole information, attempted extortion, and then posted peoples identifying info online?

(although, really people, GET A SECOND EMAIL ADDRESS.  It's not like they charge you for an extra yahoomail)

MesmrEwe

This means it's time for a "I ain't saying, but - without opening up a Pandora's box boss - it may be worth sending out a reminder about email usage for employees... Just because this situation brings "to light" the importance of understanding why such a policy exists"  Because then if stuff does hit the fan, those people already know as much, making it come to no surprise to them if there do end up being consequences that they've been put on notice of what can/will happen, and know HR is "on" to them about it but not going to push the issue if it doesn't need to be pushed further...

The issue is the company email, not the fact that the individuals are low on the intelligence scale.  Depending on what level of clearance they deal with, this can be VERY bad, hence the purpose of that email policy being put in place in the first place.  If she withholds the information, she can be fired and some sleezeball isn't worth that happening.  OTOH, if her boss is notified of the individual case that "Hey I noticed there was our email but didn't recognize the name, how do you wish us to proceed" then it can be handled discreetly without it getting out to the office "Hey sleezeball in the cube next to Harry had an account that was in that hacking on that website and got fired because he was dumb enough to use his work email!"...

When in doubt, CYA!