A clear path for
monitoring emails?
A recent case in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has got
employers and employees wondering about how far an employer can
go when looking to monitor the emails of employees.
The case, Barbulescu v Romania, as the
name suggests, originated in Romania so
the first thing that we must recognise is
that some of the detail may not necessarily
be applied in the UK. However, the facts
as disclosed in the case are important.
Mr Barbulescu used a business Yahoo
Messenger account to communicate with
his fiancée and his brother about personal
matters, including details about his sex
life and health. The employer monitored
the account and called Mr Barbulescu
to task because it was forbidden to use
its systems for personal use. Initially, Mr
Barbulescu said he had only used the
account for professional purposes but was
then presented with a 45 page transcript
of his personal messages. The employer
dismissed Mr Barbulescu and he accused
them of violating the Romanian Criminal
94
Code in respect of the alleged violations
concerning his personal correspondence.
The ECHR was asked to determine if Mr
Barbulescu’s rights under Article 8 of the
European Convention of Human Rights
had been breached. Article 8 provides
for a right to respect for private and family
life, the home and correspondence. The
ECHR found that these rights had not
been violated and it was not unreasonable
for the employer to seek to check on Mr
Barbulescu’s work and make sure that he
was doing what he was being paid to do.
The Yahoo Messenger account was meant
for work purposes only and the employer
had no warning that it would be looking
at personal material when looking at the
account.
This case shows that it must be
recognised that employers are able to
verify that employees are completing
professional tasks during work hours. It
is not wholesale permission to look at
all data. If personal use of systems is
allowed, then the employer will have to
careful about looking at the content of
emails when they are marked as such.
However, the employer will want personal
usage to be personal and such it can look
at the number of emails etc without a
problem.
The learning point is for employees.
Why oh why would you want to discuss
intimate details of your personal life on
a work system which is meant only for
professional use?
By Martin Williams