The European Court of Human Rights has made a ruling on the Right To Privacy, under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, in the context of an employer's monitoring of private messages sent by an employee through a work-related Yahoo messaging account.
The employee in question had been dismissed for personal internet use at work, contrary to the employer's internal rules. As part of its investigation, the employer accessed private messages sent by the employee to friends and family relating to personal matters. These messages were printed by the employer and used in the disciplinary proceedings as well as in the subsequent court cases. This was in fact a Romanian case and the Romanian courts upheld the employee's dismissal, and the ECtHR held that the monitoring and use of the personal messages was justified here .
The case has already received a great deal of media coverage, some of it giving the misleading impression that employers now have a green light to snoop on employees' personal emails. However, the decision does not overrule previous ECtHR case law on the reasonable expectation of privacy, and nor does it override existing UK legislation, including the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, which place important limitations on employers' power to monitor their employees' private communications.
This is a very topical area of law and one which will no doubt continue to cause issues in the workplace. As an employer, we recommend you check that your staff handbook and HR policies are correct and up-to-date. Employees, we'd advise you to read the policies your employer sets out for their workforce.
Should you have any employment queries please contact the Employment Law Team at Winston Solicitors on 0113 320 5000 or email employment@winstonsolicitors.co.uk.
