Many employers and employees have questions regarding their right to privacy while at work. One popular question is, are employers allowed to read employee e-mails?

Employers are legally allowed to monitor communications by employees on company owned communications devices including telephone, voicemail, e-mail, company owned cell phones with voicemail and text messaging capabilities as long as they inform employees that they should have no expectation of privacy.

A Plus Benefits encourages clients to create a policy stating that the employee should have no expectation of privacy. A sample policy can be found below:

Employees should have no expectation of privacy. Telephones, computers, e-mail systems, voice mail systems, lockers, desks, etc., are and remain the property of the Company. From time to time it may be deemed appropriate to monitor or search these systems and property.

Employees should not have any expectation of privacy when company computers are used for such purposes as e-mail, internet use, instant messaging, etc. Further, employees who have personal mail delivered to a Company address should have not expectations of privacy concerning mailed communications, while the Company has no desire to examine personal mail; there is no assurance that personal correspondence will not be inadvertently opened.

Such a policy will protect employers if they choose to monitor employee communications. For example, if a company decides to monitor an employee’s e-mails and the employer finds proof of some act leading to the termination of the employee, the employee would not be able to claim that he was unaware that his e-mail messages were being monitored and the company would avoid a potentially costly lawsuit.

Samantha Bushard is an HR employee at the Idaho office of A Plus Benefits, Inc.