Monitoring Employee Communications: A Brave New World

Seyfarth Synopsis: This blog considers the blurring of the lines between personal and work-related communications which has created novel legal issues when it comes to determining whether an employer has the right to access and review all “work-related communications” made by its employees.

 

Over the last decade, communication via email and text has become a vital part of how many of us communicate in the workplace. In fact, most employees could not fathom the idea of performing their jobs without the use of email. For convenience, employees often use one device for both personal and work-related communications, whether that device is employee-owned or employer-provided. Some employees even combine their personal and work email accounts into one inbox (which sometimes results in work emails being accidentally sent from a personal account). This blurring of the lines between personal and work-related communications creates novel legal issues when it comes to determining whether an employer has the right to access and review all work-related communications made by its employees.

 

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