I'VE SAID IT BEFORE...WATCH WHAT E-MAIL YOU SEND AT WORK!

You may remember a few days ago I noted a number of Tampa city employees having disciplinary memos placed in their personnel file for sending personal e-mails on the job.

It's happened again, this time in Tallahassee. The St. Petersburg Times' Lucy Morgan reports today that four Florida Department of Education employees have been or will be fired for sending inappropriate e-mails at work. The investigation is continuing, and more could be disciplined at DOE and other state agencies.

James L. Gay, 45, an administrator in the DOE print shop; Dana Hendricks, 27, an operations and management consultant in the Office of Leadership Development; and Maryann Ford, 49, a research and training specialist at Leadership Development, were fired. A fourth employee, Rochelle Franklin, 36, a career service distribution agent in the Office of General Services, has been suspended and given 10 days to respond to a notice that she is being fired.

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The investigation began when Leatha Anderson, a data processing specialist in the DOE telecommunications office complained that Gloria Johnson, an administrative secretary in the Office of Academic and Student Affairs, approached her several times to ask if she would participate in a threesome. She told Johnson not to contact her again, Anderson told investigators.

Investigators initially looked at Johnson's e-mails to see if the liaison had been suggested electronically. They discovered inappropriate e-mails to Johnson from Gay and Hendricks, according an report completed by DOE Investigator Dean Goodson.

A look at e-mails sent by Gay and Hendricks to others turned up more lewd e-mails.

The e-mails tracked by investigators included nude videos and pictures, profanity and suggestive remarks. One animation portrayed former President Bill Clinton at his desk with Monica Lewinsky.

Another, entitled "Whose Baby Daddy is This?" was a video of a woman dancing naked from the waist down.

One video portrayed Barney, the purple dinosaur known to millions of children, dancing to profane and violent gangsta rap.

Some of the e-mails came from employees at the Department of Transportation and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, an indication that the investigation could well spread to other state agencies.

Let this be a lesson: Keep your private e-mails between your private home addresses, as many agencies and companies are becoming more aggressive in monitoring e-mail communications on the job.