Can an employer read your emails when you're not there?

bossoftheworld · 09/09/13 - 00:39

Hi,
My sister was off on holiday for a week.

On her return her email password had been changed and her boss had read some of her emails.

Surely that can't be right? Are bosses allowed to do that? It seems a bit unfair but she's worried because she was emailing to some of her pals during working hours. Her boss hasn't said anything to her about the personal emails but some of them were a bit personal and talking about some of her friends etc.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Nigel Goodwin · 09/09/13 - 00:42

At work he's perfectly entitled to - it's a work email address.

moanzalot · 09/09/13 - 00:43

Our emails at work can be monitored yes, i believe our managers get reports on incoming/sent and if you are sending alot more than receiving they can certainly take a look..

bossoftheworld · 09/09/13 - 00:43

But shouldn't you tell someone - or give them notice that you will be doing that? Just seems a bit unfair not knowing about it. She did have her absence manager on so it's not like they needed to check incoming emails.

[Deleted User] · 09/09/13 - 00:45

Yes, If the e-mail is her work one, they have to tell her nothing and can do what they like with them. She likely signed something.

moanzalot · 09/09/13 - 00:46

Well no, otherwise you could just delete you inbox / sentbox?

Shappy · 09/09/13 - 00:49

They don't have to tell her anything. The IT department can always retrieve every email she ever sent/received, even deleted ones, without her permission.

She is working on behalf of the company and all emails belong to them.

Best not to use a work account for anything personal. However, very few companies mind if you send the odd personal email to a friend e.g. to arrange when/where to meet etc. I wouldn't be pouring out my heart to friends using the work email though.

killjoy · 09/09/13 - 00:51

Most companies not just read them but will automatically archive all your sent and received emails.

Babe Rainbow · 09/09/13 - 00:51

bossoftheworld wrote: »

But shouldn't you tell someone - or give them notice that you will be doing that? Just seems a bit unfair not knowing about it. She did have her absence manager on so it's not like they needed to check incoming emails.

Why should they give her notice ? They are meant to be business emails and that is their business. Maybe they needed to check the history of a particular issue. How are they supposed to know if particular messages are personal until after they've read them?

Galaxy266 · 09/09/13 - 00:56

Yes, certainly. Where I work certain people who work in the IT department can log into anyone's account without using that users password! At their level they don't need one.

I would certainly not use my work e-mail for anything which was in any way personal, nor which made any critisism of the organisation who I work for. I know full-well that anything I send can be read, even deleted e-mails.

I have occasionally sent e-mails from work to friends about non-work matters and I've specifically requested they don't reply to my work e-mail, but my home one.

You certainly need to be on your guard. I know of someone where I work who was dismissed based upon the contents of one particular e-mail that he had sent.

soulboy77 · 09/09/13 - 01:02

bossoftheworld wrote: »

But shouldn't you tell someone - or give them notice that you will be doing that? Just seems a bit unfair not knowing about it. She did have her absence manager on so it's not like they needed to check incoming emails.

What's unfair? It is not a private personal email account. It's purely for business purposes.

It's perfectly reasonable to check in case there is something important that needs to be actioned or some important information to be retrieved. An 'out of office' setting doesn't prevent new mails coming into her Inbox.

At work, we set up 'permissions' so that others can monitor our email from their account when we are away.

husted · 09/09/13 - 01:54

If your sister's boss had concerns about how much time she spent on personal stuff at work I'm sure he would've said. The only people I know who get strife for sending emails are those sending dubious content (eg porn, sexist jokes etc)

Your sister's boss probably only looked at emails that came in while she was away. That's why he needed the access. If it was me, it's all I'd look at. I would make a point of not reading anything that looked personal.

gulliverfoyle · 09/09/13 - 02:20

the operative word is WORK

not home

[Deleted User] · 09/09/13 - 02:33

IANAL but most people here are wrong, the company needs to inform it's employees on how it monitors emails and for what purpose. It is possible that your sister has signed some sort of disclaimer or it's included in the employment contract but I've never seen this myself. It is unlikely that they would monitoring email for disciplinary reasons particularly manual monitoring.

Here's a nice link http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/employment/other_employment_law_topics/500160.html

It's unlikely that this is going to result in any problems for your sister. If she wants to take it further she should have a low key word with IT or HR as they will know the actually company policy if indeed there even is one.

platelet · 09/09/13 - 02:51

Smiggs wrote: »

IANAL but most people here are wrong, the company needs to inform it's employees on how it monitors emails and for what purpose. It is possible that your sister has signed some sort of disclaimer or it's included in the employment contract but I've never seen this myself.

It's been policy at the last three places I've worked. No need for me to sign anything disclaimer wise, just part of the companies internet / email security policies that you're supposed to read.

[Deleted User] · 09/09/13 - 03:04

In my opinion it is vital for others to read my work emails. If I am out of the office & can't get at my inbox then I rely on my colleagues being able to pick up/action important messages when an auto-reply won't suffice.

lozenger · 09/09/13 - 03:17

It's not her personal email and shouldnt be used as such, (alright - I'm sure everyone does it) but she has no expectation of privacy at all.

Most companies IT department have access to everything that's going out & coming in. What did she expect? I imagine there would be an email policy in the original contract she signed to start work there.

Hypnodisc · 09/09/13 - 03:46

I can't believe anyone would expect privacy on work computer networks.

At the end of the day it's company money, company time, company equipment.. they have every right, they own the hardware, the email address and the storage space and the email is there to facilitate work occurring. It's not there as a personal perk.

In many companies you'd expect someone to be checking your email for you whilst your away in case anything important was missed!

Expectation of privacy = naive.

You should be way more concerned that GCHQ can access your personal email accounts. Of course, you wont be for some reason, nobody gives a shit... yet everyone then expects privacy in the weirdest of places.

Lushness · 09/09/13 - 03:49

It is likely that your sister signed something within the contract which states the use of Internet/ email monitoring, most companies do these days. I would never write an email that I wouldn't be happy for my boss or other management to see.

Philip Wales · 09/09/13 - 16:31

Yep I can't see any problems with that, in my business (printing) its vital to be able to access other peoples emails when on holiday, they should only be work related anyway and nothing personal. If there is tough luck. We used to have a system where any Email sent to someone on holiday would get forwarded to our main Email address, but in the end it was more hassle than it was worth. Now we just check peoples emails if their not here.

Maxatoria · 09/09/13 - 16:38

Due to FOI requests most government agencies/councilsetc have email archiving of EVERY email that enters/leaves the system so they can match them up for requests from the public and a lot of other companies are doing the same as well so they can say that x did send/receive an email from/to y and this was its content in case of arguments now that email is considered a normal form of communication just the same as a letter

Inspiration · 09/09/13 - 16:38

Hypnodisc wrote: »

In many companies you'd expect someone to be checking your email for you whilst your away in case anything important was missed!

Expectation of privacy = naive.

That may be the case but as the link posted points out, if an email is clearly of a personal nature it should not be opened, even by your boss. From the link above:

Note, however, these exceptions do not apply to personal emails, which means your employer should take all reasonable measures to avoid opening them -- even those sent from a workplace email account.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 , if your employer monitors your use of email and collects personal data about you, it must tell you how it intends to use the information and use only for that purpose. Section 13 of the Act allows you to claim compensation for any contravention of the statute that causes you injury of distress.

It's not a clear cut "you have no rights to privacy while at work" scenario.

I think the most the boss could/should do is observe there appear to be personal emails being sent back and forth and instruct the member of staff to stop doing it. But I don't believe they're free to go and read them all.

glasshalffull · 09/09/13 - 17:00

Inspiration wrote: »

That may be the case but as the link posted points out, if an email is clearly of a personal nature it should not be opened, even by your boss. From the link above:

It's not a clear cut "you have no rights to privacy while at work" scenario.

I think the most the boss could/should do is observe there appear to be personal emails being sent back and forth and instruct the member of staff to stop doing it. But I don't believe they're free to go and read them all.

If the boss was checking the e mails in order to pick up or deal with some work related issue needed to be dealt with in your sister's absence...how was he to know which were work related and which were "private"...especially if the e mail addresses of some of the senders were also and obviously sent from other work accounts from other commercial companies or organisations?

An e mail from "another22@barclaysbank.co.uk" could well have been a work related matter...and it doesn't follow that the subject matter would have been obviously "private".

And tbh why would anyone worry unless the sheer volume of private e mail traffic (or their content) was liable to be a problem/embarrassing.

[Deleted User] · 09/09/13 - 17:04

Of course your employer can read and monitor your emails, it's work standard practice. Try not to send personal emails from a work email address, keep it business like and brief.

Mike_1101 · 09/09/13 - 17:53

This story about Lancashire County Council may be of interest

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-24013295

"Councillors' emails have been secretly accessed by Lancashire County Council officials, says the former leader of the authority.

Conservative Geoff Driver CBE said he was "horrified" his emails had been accessed and was taking legal advice".

scottl · 09/09/13 - 18:14

SupernovaNebula wrote: »

Of course your employer can read and monitor your emails, it's work standard practice. Try not to send personal emails from a work email address, keep it business like and brief.

But I'd think (working in IT) if the IT department are just doing it for 'a laugh' - they will be in trouble, or if a boss is just nosy.

We would ask why.

Hey there!

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Can an employer read your emails when you're not there?

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