Big Brother and emails from work

Can an employer read a worker's email?

Businesses certainly have the technical capability to look at the emails sent from their computers, whether it's transmitted through a company or a private email account. The question really is whether an employee can have any expectation of privacy?

It has been a generally accepted view that employees have few rights in this regard, especially if a company has a well defined policy regarding use of its computer network. In general, corporate computers have been considered corporate property.

But the Wall Street Journal reported last week that the legal views are beginning to change, with a number of court cases suggesting that employees sometimes have more privacy rights than they might expect.

The newspaper cited a New Jersey appeals court decision that ruled in favor of a home health-care employee, finding the worker had a reasonable expectation that email sent on a personal account would not be read. There was also a federal appeals court ruling in California that said employers that contract with an outside business to transmit text messages can't read them unless the worker agrees.

Studies have shown that as many as 50 percent of workers use their personal email accounts from the office, and that more than one third of employers have staff to read or analyze outgoing email, in large part to prevent the improper disclosure of information.

As a basic rule, companies should inform employees what is appropriate and inappropriate when it comes to use of company email. The policy should state whether personal emails can be sent from company accounts, and to what degree. There also should be some parameters on content that is unacceptable, and guidelines on how employees should deal with confidential company information and trade secrets.

As a general rule, workers should tread carefully, and certainly not put anything in an email from work that they would want to be kept private. At the same time, employers should have clear policies and alert workers that they are going to review traffic on company equipment, whether it's personal or business e-mail and text messages. And businesses should be sure employees understand those policies.

Policies and approaches will always vary by company, and the legal rights will continually evolve, but from the employee perspective, the best advice is to be discreet, and not expect that what you write on your emails from work will stay private.

In the meantime, have a happy and safe Thanksgiving. And remember: Technology is only as good as the people behind it. - Judi