For a long time now, there has been a rugged protocol in effect in offices around the globe, where the office management has constantly been warning its employees that, their private e-mails are under scrutiny of the company’s IT department.

However, recently some cases in the courts have shed light on a surprisingly new trend, where judges and legal experts are now advocating for enhanced employee rights, especially when it comes to electronic privacy. This latest change in the field of employees’ electronic privacy has come at a time, when the internet has fast become a place where privacy is constantly under threat.

According to Katharine Parker (Lawyer, Proskauer Rose),

“Courts are more inclined to rule based on arguments presented to them that privacy issues need to be carefully considered.”

Some time ago, the courts were more sympathetic towards the companies when it came to e-mail privacy of employees, as the companies stated security concerns for monitoring the incoming personal e-mails of the employees. However, courts have now softened their stance on employee privacy considerably. The courts’ changed views on employee privacy have been evident from a New Jersey case, where the employee of a health care company was justified in the requesting the management not to monitor a specific personal e-mail.

Even with the U.S First Amendment, stating the freedom of speech, the collecting of employees’ personal e-mails is still a continuing practice. This is because, even though the emails are being viewed on third party email applications, yet the machines are the property of the offices and such e-mails are being collected in servers, from where these mails can then be retrieved by an employers, at any given time.

Via Wall Street Journal.