Two former Microsoft employees and their families have sued the company, alleging that they developed post-traumatic stress disorder due to their work reviewing and reporting “toxic content” such as videos and photos of child pornography and abuse, bestiality and murder.

Microsoft acknowledged in a statement that the work “is difficult,” but called it “critically important to a safer and more trusted internet.” The company outlined a series of resources and safeguards for employees, noting that no one does this full-time, and employees can be reassigned to other duties upon request.

The lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court in late December and first reported by Courthouse News, alleges that Microsoft was aware of the dangers of these jobs and did not adequately warn employees nor did it provide them with enough protections to help them deal with the images they were seeing.

Henry Soto and Greg Blauert allege that the traumatic nature of the images and videos they saw caused them great mental and emotional hardship, made it difficult for them to find work again and significantly impacted relationships with their families.

Microsoft released this statement on the lawsuit.

We disagree with the plaintiffs’ claims. Microsoft takes seriously its responsibility to remove and report imagery of child sexual exploitation and abuse being shared on its services, as well as the health and resiliency of the employees who do this important work.

Microsoft applies industry-leading technology to help detect and classify illegal imagery of child abuse and exploitation that are shared by users on Microsoft Services. Once verified by a specially trained employee, the company removes the imagery, reports it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and bans the users who shared the imagery from our services.

This work is difficult, but critically important to a safer and more trusted internet. The health and safety of our employees who do this difficult work is a top priority. Microsoft works with the input of our employees, mental health professionals, and the latest research on robust wellness and resilience programs to ensure those who handle this material have the resources and support they need, including an individual wellness plan. We view it as a process, always learning and applying the newest research about what we can do to help support our employees even more.

In their filings, Soto and Blauert suggest several changes they would like to see for these jobs in the company’s Online Safety teams. While Microsoft started offering counseling for Online Safety employees and encouraged them to go home when the content was too much, according to court documents, the plaintiffs say that wasn’t enough.

The plaintiffs say they want those employees to get “pre-vacation vacations,” weekly meetings with a psychologist, and an option for employees to be removed if the content proves too overwhelming. The plaintiffs say that if Microsoft would incorporate the Online Safety group into its Digital Crimes Unit the company would be able to pay for these measures.

Computer algorithms can flag content, but human verification is needed for purposes of reporting to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

The company says it offers these resources to employees in these positions.

1) Mandatory psychological support: Mandatory monthly one-on-one meetings with a psychologist; monthly group meetings with a psychologist; training on how to limit the impact of viewing this imagery; quarterly psychological educational trainings for employees and their manager on how to recognize the symptoms of trauma and exercise self-care; referrals to personal mental health professionals.

2) State-of-the-art tools and technology to reduce the realism of the imagery: That blurs imagery; converts high resolution imagery to low resolution imagery; reduces large imagery to thumbnails; separates audio from video so the reviewer is not hearing and seeing at the same time; and converts imagery to black and white.

3) Strict guidelines to separate this portion of the employees’ responsibilities from other work responsibilities: Employees are limited in how long they may do this work per day and must go to a separate, dedicated office to do it; they can’t do this work at home or on personal equipment.

4) Immediate breaks or reassignment: At their request, employees receive a break from doing this work or a day-off. If an employee no longer wishes to do this work, he or she will be assigned other responsibilities.

It’s not clear if all these practices and policies were in place at the times in question in the case. According to the complaint, Soto started at Microsoft in 2006, and he was transferred to the Online Safety group in 2008, where he was one of the team’s first employees. According to court documents, Soto’s work played a critical role in the creation of many online safety tools and successful rescues of children and prosecution of children.

“Unfortunately, although Mr. Soto was very successful at the Online Safety team, it was taking a toll on him personally,” court documents say. “Mr. Soto was required to view many thousands of photos and video of the most horrible, inhumane, and disgusting content one can imagine.”

As the years passed, the job began to take an even greater toll on Soto, court documents say. He suffered from sleep disturbance, nightmares, anxiety, irritability and eventually auditory hallucinations. He eventually transferred out of the group, but his problems continued. He went on medical leave in February 2015 and did not return to Microsoft.

Soto attempted to file a workers comp claim with Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries in 2015, but according to court documents, he was told that his conditions were not “occupational diseases” and happened more than a year prior to the claim so the claim was denied.

Blauert’s story is similar. He joined the company in 1999 to work in call center, where he remained until 2010. After his group was laid off, he came back and eventually ended up in the Online Safety Internet Team in 2012. Court documents say Blauert suffered several mental breakdowns as a result of the images he saw on a daily basis.

According to the suit, Blauert’s medical providers would not clear him to return to work, and he has been unable to consistently use computers. Blauert was also denied a workers comp claim by the state. Court documents say Blauert remains depressed, anxious and withdrawn, and his PTSD has undermined his relationships with family.

Soto and Blauert are seeking compensation for health costs and lost wages as well as an order requiring Microsoft to put more safety measures in place to ensure the mental health of Online Safety workers.

Soto and Blauert V Microsoft by Nat Levy on Scribd

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