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E-Mail Privacy in the workplace

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8 replies

by wlportwashington

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This is one for the legal beagles. At a location we have a few employees using our own company owned hardware and get their e-mail through our company e-mail system. They are supervised by a non-employee company. The main supervisor was reading the email from our system of our employee and threatend them with discharge is they communicated with another one of our employees via e-mail. I spoke to out VP of OPs who said this is legal. I say it is not. The non-employee supervisor has no rights in reading her e-mail in the first place. Anyone with any expertise in this of can point out some info?

8 replies

by jaqui

the person CONTRACTED to supervise doesn't have the right to monitor employees actions?
then quit paying him, he can't supervise.

all email accessed through company systems cannot be expected to be private. that INCLUDES a hotmail account accessed while at work. any expectation of privacy on company systems is wrong.

Now, unless the Sub Contractor had reasonable cause, he shouldn't have been reading email not addressed to him. reasonable cause would be a filter for content flagging the email.

by older mycroft

For the email to NOT be delivered to the company system.

Why can't the employees just access their email ONLINE ?? That way no-one would be needed to supervise anything.

Also, how the hell can a non-employee company supervisor threaten a company employee with dismissal?

Your post leaves a lot to be desired in the 'Descriptive Department'. - It's NOT "[i]legal beagles[/i]" you fool - it's [b]legal [u]EAGLES![/u][/b]

Mind you, in terms of the Peers, perhaps the description should be [u]Legal Seagulls!![/u] :D

by dumphrey

legal beagles, makes me think of short, snorty, very loud guys refusing to give up on a scent...."Bawhooo! I smell libel!" "Bark! Bark! I scent a chance for a class action suite!" "Bawhooo! Gimme yo money!"
Legal Eagle seems to give to much perceived status....

by sbrown95

complicated than it is.

It's very simple:

Company email is classified as an asset - belonging to the company. There should be no assumed privacy in an Workplace email system. Each message in a company's messaging system is company property, and the company can do what it wishes with its own property. From a legal standpoint that is the answer.

Email is a business tool - not a personal toy. If you want or expect privacy don't use company email to do your personal business.

by dumphrey

UNLESS the user has signed off on a policy clearly stating said point, there are some very gray legalities here, also the question of contracted supervision is vague in terms of legality, it would greatly depend on what privileges their contract gave them.
Also, as a note, unless fully encrypted and sent through a series of anonymous remailers, there is no email privacy.

by wlportwashington

It is well known that e-mail within a corporation is subject to inspection by the corporation's management. But again these are all corporate employees.

This person is not a corporate employee, but an outsider or "foreign agent" (lack for better terms)supervising the corporate employees. I do not feel that an outside individual, supervisor or not, should have access to the email of an inside employee.

Would there be any statutes controlling this? ie. SarBox, etc.

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