Around the World JM: Employee E-mail: is It Really Private?

With the increasing use of electronic mail and voice mail in the workplace comes the potential for a new kind of friction between companies and their employees—over the privacy issue. Employees' claims and grievances relating to privacy often stem from employers' monitoring of messages, says Linda Bluso, founding partner of Buckley King & Bluso, a Cleveland-based law7 firm. Whether the employer is looking for leaks of proprietary information, is monitoring quality or employee activity, or is merely checking on the computer system itself, many employees see it as an intrusion.

"The difficulty is that employees tend to believe that information on e-mail systems at work [is] private and confidential and not for the eyes of employers," says Bluso. "What's often overlooked by the employee is that the computer system is owned and operated by the company and that [employees'] activities use computer memory and other resources of the employer."

Even so, in the absence of much case law on the subject, prudent employers should balance the privacy of employees with the needs of the company, Bluso says. She recommends that companies do the following to pre-empt problems:

• Avoid using phrases such as "private" e-mail system, "personal" or "confidential" voice mail, or "personal" password. They create the impression that these communications are not subject to review by others.

• The best approach is a succinct written notice included in the firm's employment manual or posted on a bulletin board as well as a message that appears on the computer screen. (Before composing the message, review7 your state laws on employee privacy.)

• Periodically remind employees that the computer equipment is company property and intended for business use and that transmissions may be monitored. In a legal action, says Bluso, the key is whether the employee had a reasonable expectation of privacy when using the system. "Once the employer has regularly delivered these messages, that argument can't be made."

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Employee E-mail: is It Really Private?