The report cited one tribunal ruling, in which a woman successfully claimed that she had been sexually harassed by male work colleagues who had downloaded pornography in the office, even though these activities were not directed at her personally.

The tribunal held that the male employees had created a hostile working environment and that the employers were liable to pay damages.

E-mail contracts

In another case an e-mail agreement between a line manager and a subordinate employee over the payment of expenses was deemed to constitute a binding contract and the employers were legally obliged to pay the employee his expenses.

In a third case, a complaint of unfair dismissal by a worker sacked for accessing pornography on the Internet was upheld because it was not clear that company policy was being breached.

"Employers must take steps to deal with the problem of how to maximise the advantages which giving employees access to the Internet and e-mail can bring, whilst minimising the associated legal risks," said the report's author, Robert Pullen.