EMPLOYER
MONITORING OF
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS
The corporate world depends on electronic communications. As a result, it is becoming more common for employees to be provided with stand-alone and laptop computers, e-mail and Internet access, cellular phones, and other electronic communication devices. Over the last year, several key federal and state court decisions have been decided regarding employer monitoring of electronic communications. In addition, there are state and federal statutes regarding this issue. For example, the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act ("ECPA") prohibits the unauthorized monitoring of e-mails, Internet postings, cellular phones, and similar electronic communication devices. Similar statutes have been enacted in a number of states across the country.
An employer that monitors its employees’ electronic communications may have to defend itself against legal actions based upon privacy issues. In order to protect itself, an employer needs to develop a comprehensive, written policy regarding monitoring of communications in the workplace in accordance with the new laws and recent court decisions regarding this issue. An electronic monitoring policy should clearly state, among other things, that the employer has a right to monitor the employee's use of any electronic communication device at the workplace, with or without advance notice. Furthermore, the policy should be distributed to all employees and employers should require employees to consent to the monitoring.
For www.HRSteam.com by Heather M. Tiltmann
All Rights Reserved. 2001.