Monitoring Of Employees’ Work E-Mail Accounts: Unlawful Processing According To The Data Protection Authority

MONITORING OF EMPLOYEES’ WORK E-MAIL ACCOUNTS: UNLAWFUL PROCESSING ACCORDING TO THE DATA PROTECTION AUTHORITY

With provision no. 476 of 18 June 2026, the Italian Data Protection Authority (i.e., Garante della Privacy) ruled on breaches of data protection legislation committed by an employer in relation to the management of employees’ work e-mail accounts, the retention of their data and the unlawful remote monitoring of employees.

According to the Authority:

• a personalized work e-mail address (i.e., one assigned to a specific employee), as well as the content of the emails in that account, constitute the employee’s personal data, and, consequently, the guarantee of confidentiality of correspondence must be applied to work e-mails;