A Right to Privacy at Work?

Employees should take care when bringing private matters into the workplace. Depending on the circumstances, it may not be reasonable to expect privacy.

In Garamukanwa v Solent NHS Trust the England and Wales Employment Appeal Tribunal ("EAT") held that an employee's right to privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights was not engaged when an employee's personal emails to a work colleague were investigated by his employer.

The claimant was a clinical manager for the Trust who formed a personal relationship with one of the staff nurses. After the relationship ended, he formed a belief that the staff nurse had formed a relationship with a female member of staff. The claimant felt that the relationship with a junior member of staff on the same ward was not in the interests of patients.