Email In The Workplace

12 Pages 2883 Words

f their password will keep their Email messages secure. Nevertheless, in recent years workers across the country have learned, and learned the hard way, "improper" Email use can cost you your job. “A Pennsylvania company assured its employees that email would not be intercepted or used against employees as grounds for termination or reprimand. Despite this assurance, the company later reviewed emails from an employee to a supervisor and used it as the basis for termination. That was perfectly legal, according to a federal court in Pennsylvania. The court ruled that regardless of the company's statements, it was not reasonable for an employee to expect privacy in email sent to a supervisor over a company email system. According to the court, the company's interest in preventing inappropriate comments or illegal activity over its email system outweighed any privacy interest the employee may have. Smyth v. Pillsbury, 914 F. Supp. 97 (E. D. Pa. 1996.)” (Email Privacy)
By the above example, people don't realize their Email has no privacy whatsoever. Naturally, workers feel their rights to privacy are being abused. Every employee whether they have been with the company for one day or years uses the telephone to make personal calls what is different between the telephone calls and Email messages. The answer to this is the law, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) addresses most situation involving telephone calls but it is not written to include Email. It should be pointed out that most employees feel that sitting under the watchful eye of their employer’s electronic surveillance equipment isn't good for moral or overall productivity. Fearing that every move they make is being scrutinized isn't conducive to building an environment of trust, and can sometimes lead to physical and mental ailments from the stress it creates. The PBS special “The Walls Have Eyes” describes “working in today's offices ...