What is legal position on employer viewing e mails

[quiggers59]

As an employee using the Company e mail I need to ask what is the legal position on the employer viewing these e mails,in effect snooping.
I believe they have the right to do so if they advise in advance and in writing,but that legally they must advise of this general course of action prior to so doing.
Any views from AB's,I am asking about normal run of the mill e mails and not e mails stuffed with attachments which normally get picked up by Firewalls etc and which the employer needs to inspect to protect their business.

[bednobs]

i dont know the actual answer, but its wise to assume that they are monitoring your emails, just as they monitor stationery etc. i would imagine there is something in your induction/office bumpf that says this

[Buenchico]

An analogy might help here:

Suppose that somebody produces, as a part of his employment, a management training manual. The document is a fantastic success and the employee realises that there may be a much wider audience for his work. i.e. he thinks that he might be able to get it published. Unless he gets the permission of the company, he has no right to offer his work to a publisher because he doesn't own the copyright, his employer does. (Anything written in the course of someone's employment, even if he actually does the writing at home, is the intellectual property of the employer and not of the writer).

A similar situation applies to e-mails sent by employees through the employer's e-mail system. The 'owner' of those e-mails is the employer and not the writer and, as such, the employer has every right to view what he owns.

Chris

[bednobs]

or she!

[dzug]

To be even more practical, without reading them how can the employer know whether they are business e-mails or not?

I think the rule you may be thinking about is that he can't sack you for misuse of company facilities unless he has advised in advance that private e-mail is prohibited.

[jmahdavi]

You may also find that your employer has some sort of policy or code-of-conduct in relation to electronic communications, or internet usage etc.

In the course of my employment I have found that employers tend to include specific clauses in policies, or even contract's of employment stating that internet and email facilities are soley for business purposes, even during lunch breaks, and that communications via these mediums are monitored.

[joko]

they should ONLY be business emails if they are going through the works email accounts!

if you use your work email for personal reasons then not only is it against company policy but you cannot guarantee they stay private.

keep a separate account for personal stuff - hotmail or yahoo ro something

[jake-the-peg]

Yes it is legal

Monitoring email and internet use
In the UK, it is unlawful to intercept electronic communications unless the interception has been authorised, whether by a warrant, by consent, or by regulations. Regulations that came into force in October 2000 provide circumstances in which a business can lawfully intercept emails (and telephone calls) made on its own systems, such as:

Gaining routine access to business communications;
Monitoring standards of service and training;
Preventing or investigating crime; and
The unauthorised use of systems.

http://www.out-law.com/page-458

Note the last one - This is why many companies have an acceptable use policy so that they can then claim unauthorised use monitorring.

In practise in my experience - very few Europen companies monitor, it being illegal in many countries in Europe.

A lot of American companies monitor

In the UK it seems to be a bit of a mixed bag.