Monitoring Employee Communications: What's The Story?

Keywords: employee personal email, employment, workplace monitoring, ECHR,

Employment law rarely makes the headlines but a recent decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on workplace monitoring has captured the attention of the global press, with many reports suggesting that employers now have free rein to monitor their employees' personal emails. Behind the headlines, however, the decision of Bărbulescu v Romania does not quite give employers the green light to snoop on staff and in fact follows established principles on individuals' rights to privacy in the employment context. Whilst some of the media coverage may be misleading, the decision is a healthy reminder for all employers, both in Europe and beyond, of the need for well drafted policies to allow the monitoring and review of employees' personal use of company IT systems.