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July 9, 2009
Employee Web Based E-Mail- A New Frontier??
Investigating Personal Web Based E-Mail is an excellent June 26, 2009 law.com article. It correctly explains that the law is fairly settled with employee use of employer email. Employees almost never will have a cause of action. But what about if an employee uses the employer's computer to access web based e-mail. This raises a whole host of statutory under the Stored Communications Act and privacy issues. As the article explains, there is not much law with respect to this issue which makes it ripe for law review commentary.
Mitchell H. Rubinstein
July 9, 2009 in Articles, Law Review Ideas | Permalink
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The Appellate Division of New Jersey Superior Court recently took a shot at this issue. It found, on some rather unusual facts, that an employee had a legitimate expectation of privacy in personal web-based e-mails accessed through an employer's computer system. Who was the plaintiff communicating with? Her attorney, of course. And in connection with litigation against her employer, no less. Nonetheless, she got away with it. I wouldn't recommend that others try the same technique. There are too many safe and confidential ways to communicate to run the senseless risk of using your employer's system. Here's the link to my post on the subject, which gives the facts in more detail http://employment.lawfirmnewjersey.com/archives/policies-handbooks-important-nj-email-decision.html
I think that you're right on your main point: this subject deserves some scholarly attention.
Posted by: Frank Steinberg | Jul 30, 2009 2:04:15 PM
