Member Article

Privacy laws will affect UK employees

Warrington’s FDR Law provides practical advice for employers in light of new ruling

The European Court of Human Rights’ recent ruling giving employers the right to look at staff’s work emails and electronic messages, means that UK companies will have to be clear on when employers can send personal emails from their work accounts, advise FDR Law.

Says Parveen Bunglawala, Associate Commercial Solicitor at FDR Law, ’Workplace privacy is becoming increasingly complicated as 24-hour access to technology and the rise of the ‘Bring Your Own Device’ to work movement blurs the lines between work and personal life.’

Last week’s case at European Court of Human rights heard Romanian engineer Bogdan Barbulescu was dismissed for sending personal messages to his fiancée on the Yahoo message account he had been instructed to set up for work. Although Barbulescu had been made aware that the account would be monitored and that all members of staff were banned from sending personal messages while at work, he argued that his employer’s decision to end his contract was based on a violation of his rights to private correspondence.

Having lost the case in Romania he took it to the Human Rights Court in 2008. However last week the court ruled that it was not “unreasonable for an employer to want to verify that their employees are completing their professional tasks during working hours.”

‘This case is a reminder that whilst employers will wish to maximise business opportunities social media provides, they must also be pro-active and set guidelines regarding private usage during working hours,’ says Miss Bunglawala.

FDR Law therefore suggests employers consider the following when managing the use of personal email and social media usage in the workplace in order to balance employee privacy with company rules -

Considerations for employers

• Ensure you have in place clear guidance on the sending of private emails and the use of social media during working hours; reasons for monitoring and the process you carry out to ensure this is being adhered to. Also ensure you clearly state the sanctions of such actions in company policies from the outset. Policies should be non-contractual, allowing greater flexibility to update them in due time.
• If you are monitoring employee usage, then make it clear that this is happening to all employees without exception.
• Encourage workers to mark messages as ‘personal’ to protect their communications and make it clear that they should not open personal messages during working hours.
• Mr Barbulescu sent messages during working hours via a Yahoo Messenger account which he had set up for the purpose of responding to client enquiries only. Ensure you have clear policies in place prohibiting the personal use of company resources.
• Global employers should review all communications policies to check they include clear usage statements, which comply with local laws.
• Bear in mind that home life inevitably creeps into the workplace from time to time, and take a reasonable view about employees looking to do personal things on the company’s time. Consider whether or not informal action is sufficient to deal with any concern.

If you need further advice please contact Parveen Bunglawala, Associate Commercial Solicitor at FDR Law on 01925 230000

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