Further Advice On Employees’ E-mail

A case pending before the Supreme Court, discussed by the Washington Post January 15, shows the importance for employers to not only draft strong technology use policies but also to strictly enforce such policies according to their written terms. It also highlights the need for technology use policies to cover devices beyond computers, such as mobile phones, pagers and other wireless devices. Likewise, the scope of the policies should reach beyond e-mail to address other means of communication like text and instant messaging.

In City of Ontario v. Quon, the Supreme Court will consider whether a government employer can read text messages sent and received by government employees on employer-owned wireless devices. Despite the City's written policies allowing it to review messages sent using City-owned equipment, the Ninth Circuit found that Sgt. Quon had a reasonable expectation in the privacy of his text messages due to the City's "informal" policy of not reviewing