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POLICY: HR 664

TITLE: Electronic Communications Policy

EFFECTIVE DATE: 11/16/2016 AUTHORIZED BY: Board of Trustees

REVISION DATE:

Rationale

The objective of this policy is to ensure that all employees, customers, consultants, vendors or any persons doing business with House of New Hope use House of New Hope's electronic resources in a manner that serves the purpose intended (i.e., to support House of New Hope's business interests and mission) and supports other House of New Hope policies. The policy is intended to sustain employee productivity while maintaining House of New Hope's good reputation. Furthermore, it is provided to safeguard House of New Hope's confidential information, as well as House of New Hope's clients’ and employees' sensitive information. Lastly, the policy serves to limit the possibility of damage to and unauthorized access and use of House of New Hope's systems and data.

Eligibility/Scope

This policy establishes the minimum requirements which House of New Hope Employees, clients, consultants, vendors or any persons doing business with House of New Hope must meet when using House of New Hope 's systems.

Definitions

• Systems include, but are not limited to, the following House of New Hope owned or provided electronic communications systems/methods:

o Computers and computer Peripheral Devices

o Mobile Computing devices (e.g., Smart Phones, iPads, etc…)

o Faxes and E-Faxes

o Voice Communications (Phones and Voice-mail)

o Internet

o E-mail, Instant Messaging or Text Messaging, whether accessed utilizing a company-owned device (e.g., computer, smart phone, iPad or other computing tablet), or a personally owned device utilizing company-supported technology to access House of New Hope’s network.

o Access to House of New Hope 's electronic communication systems from a non- House of New Hope network or trusted third-party (e.g., VPN or Access Gateway).

• Peripheral Devices means equipment that can be connected to a computer or computer system to enhance user access and expand the computer's functions (e.g., printers, thumb drives, scanners, iPods, digital cameras, USB and Firewire, etc.).

Applying the Policy

An employee's ability and freedom to use the Systems is limited as follows:

• Employees must understand that they have no right to privacy when using House of New Hope's Systems. Employees should assume that any information, including email, instant and text messages sent or received, and any other information stored, processed or accessed on the Systems, is not private and is subject to review by House of New Hope.

• Employees may not send, display or store any material in any electronic format, including but not limited to, files, records, etc., through e-mail that violates any policy of House of New Hope.

Employees are prohibited from using House of New Hope 's Systems to:

• Send, display or store any message (e-mail, instant or text) or material in any electronic format that is offensive, obscene, derogatory or disparaging and that is based on an individual's sex, race, color, religion, age, national origin, marital status, ancestry, sexual orientation, veteran status, disability, pregnancy or citizenship status. (View Workplace Violence Prevention Policy)

Note: Employees are cautioned to review any e-mail they may receive, including attachments, before forwarding to anyone. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action if it results in inappropriate e-mail being sent over House of New Hope 's e-mail system.

Employees must keep personal use of electronic communications tools, particularly House of New Hope's e-mail systems and Internet connectivity, to a minimum and in strict compliance with the other terms of this Policy. Personal e-mail, instant messaging, and texts should be brief and sent or received as seldom as possible. Examples of violations of this requirement include, but are not limited to, the use of House of New Hope 's Systems to spend excessive work time to: "surf the web" for non-business content, send personal e-mail or engage in personal mail chat.

Employees must not engage in practices that make information resources vulnerable.

Prohibited practices include, but are not limited to, using House of New Hope 's Systems to:

• Access others' proprietary information or restricted websites even if you are given a password by an authorized person.

• Create unauthorized links to other sites.

• Download intentionally any unauthorized software (e.g., password crackers, vulnerability scanners and unlicensed software such as Google Earth) from the Internet.

• Display screensavers or wallpaper packages available for download

• Use unauthorized encryption solutions, Peripheral Devices or software.

• Auto-forward work from House of New Hope’s e-mail systems to an e-mail account outside of House of New Hope, including an employee's home e-mail address.

• Forward confidential or House of New Hope -sensitive data to an unauthorized e-mail account outside of House of New Hope, including an employee's home e-mail address.

• Send or store non- House of New Hope audio or video files.

• Use unauthorized security devices or software.

• Send instant messages, except when using House of New Hope 's approved products.

Employees may not engage in intentional activity to bypass House of New Hope 's security systems. These activities include tunneling and using unauthorized remote access solutions such as GoToMyPC, BeAnywhere or LogMeIn without House of New Hope permission. "Tunneling" is the circumvention or attempted circumvention of any of House of New Hope 's firewalls or other security controls which limit the ability to access certain websites or features on certain websites.

Employees who have a need to transport sensitive or confidential information via a removable media (i.e. flash drive) must adhere to the HIPPA Compliance policy.

There are additional policy requirements for Employees who use House of New Hope’s system from remote locations:

• An employee's family members must not use House of New Hope's Systems, including but not limited to computer assets (e.g., House of New Hope owned laptops, workstations, smart phones, cell phones, etc.), for any purpose.

• When an employee requires remote access to House of New Hope's resources, access to those resources must be through approved remote access means.

All employees using computer assets owned by House of New Hope must use those assets in accordance with all requirements in this Policy. This requirement applies even when the computer asset is not locally or remotely connected to House of New Hope's network.

More restrictive policies may apply in accordance with individual business requirements. House of New Hope reserves the right to audit, monitor, access and disclose to authorized individuals, in the normal course of business, any communication created, received, sent or stored on any House of New Hope systems or device, for any purpose consistent with applicable law.

House of New Hope prohibits the use of personal software on its equipment due to the risk of introducing viruses and potentially creating licensing and copyright violations.

Adherence

Supervisors and employees are responsible for adherence to company policy. Violations of this policy by an employee, including the first offense, are considered serious and may lead to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment. In situations where non-employees violate this policy, management reserves the right to take steps as warranted by the situation, including legal action.

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