Employers Who Read Employees’ E-Mail Face Risks

Employees have a right to e-mail privacy, as long as “there is a subjective expectation of privacy and that expectation is objectively reasonable,” or if the employee commits “an unreasonable intrusion upon the seclusion of another,” according to Dr. Steven Abraham [1], J.D., Ph.D., university professor, and legal advisor. However most e-mail cases brought to court by employees who feel their rights have been violated have been unsuccessful because “the courts found that the employees did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.”

Dr. Abraham discussed the procedure for creating an office e-mail policy and emphasized the importance of such a policy as a means of preventing employers from becoming liable for reading employee e-mail. Companies have a right to require employees to sign such a consent policy as a part of the terms of employment.

Anyone, employer or employee, who has questions about the rules regarding privacy of e-mail, the benefits of creating a formal e-mail policy, and the method for creating a policy that will be effective, will benefit from reading the full transcript [2] of the workshop session.