On Thursday, July 27, 2000 at 8:30 AM <[log in to unmask]> wrote:-
> The e-mail account of an employee who is dismissed, needs to be accessed
for
> work purposes. This would seem to be legitimate except that use of e-mail
> for personal purposes is allowed within reason. Is this a human rights
> issue, rather than a strictly dp one?
What does the organisations e-mail policy state on this?
Respect for privacy is the level the law is set at. Right or wrong there is
no right to privacy.
The employer is allowing staff to use their system for some personal e-mail.
Employers must have rights over the use of their 'property' and provided
that respect is shown and no e-mail which is clearly only private is
accessed this would not seem a problem.
Need to ensure your e-mail policy covers these aspects clearly though. Also
ensure it covers circumstances where an employee uses the e-mail to converse
with union or staff association representative as there are laws which
provide levels of confidentiality to that type of communication.
Ian
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|