Merrill Lynch has sacked 13 of the 20 Dublin staff it told to stay away from work on Monday last as part of an inquiry into the sending of pornographic e-mails. The remaining seven have been given written warnings and will return to work on Monday.
A spokesman for the multinational financial services group said that "of the 20, 13 have been terminated and seven have received written warnings. The seven can return to work on Monday. All have the right to appeal."
Those told to stay away from work included both male and female staff, according to a source, though the spokesman would not confirm this.
The sacking of the 13 staff members for inappropriate use of the company's e-mail system brings to 15 the number of staff sacked in recent times from Merrill Lynch's 600-job operation in Dublin.
According to the source, two members of staff sent a pornographic e-mail to a client of the company and this led to their being sacked.
While the company was searching through computers or e-mails at Merrill Lynch in the aftermath of that incident, further instances of inappropriate use of e-mail emerged.
This led to 20 staff being told on Monday to stay away from work and another 10 being given written warnings.
Those given written warnings must now do retraining on internet and e-mail use but will not suffer any financial penalty.
A survey of 300 companies published earlier this month in the US by Proofpoint and Forrestter Consulting found that one-third of respondents had sacked staff in the past year for inappropriate e-mails.
