In a recent judgement the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) held that a firm which read an employee's 'Yahoo Messenger' chats sent whilst the employee was at work was within its rights to do so.
This is a decision by a European Court. Those countries which have ratified the European Convention on Human Rights have agreed to abide by such ECHR rulings which directly involve those countries. Britain is within this group of countries. However under UK Human Rights law, judges must take account of ECHR legal decisions but are not bound to follow them.
In the case in question the employee was Romanian. His employer found that he had been using his Yahoo Messenger account for personal matters and contacts as well as professional ones. The employer accessed the employee's messages and terminated his employment in 2007.
The employee brought the case seeking confirmation that the Court would confirm that his employer had breached his right to confidential correspondence when it accessed his messages. However the Court ECHR found in favour of the employer. They took the view that because it believed it was accessing a work account, the firm had not acted unlawfully. The Court said that it was not 'unreasonable that an employer would want to verify that employees were completing their professional tasks during work hours'.
It seems that a significant part of the judgement was the fact that the employer in question had banned its employees from sending personal messages at work. The employer had given the employee prior warning that the company could check his messages and to enable them to do so it had been necessary for the employer to access his records. In addition the firm did not try to access other personal information which was stored on the employee's work computer. Overall therefore the ECHR found that the employer had acted in a proportionate manner.
This reminds employers of the importance of ensuring that there should be clear policies and procedures within the workplace as to what it is acceptable for employees to do at work particularly in relation to their work computers and online activities generally.
Employers should ensure that there are clear policies relating to personal internet use at work and as such employers will be allowed to make proportionate checks on employee's communications.
If you would like to discuss this or any other data protection issues contact us.