Boundaries for employee suveillance

In these lean times, employers want to make sure their employees are working hard, aren’t opening them up to lawsuits and, most of all, aren’t leaking sensitive information.

The challenge is how companies can monitor their employees’ e-mail, text messages and phone calls without running afoul of the law. More than a quarter of employers have fired workers for misusing e-mail and about a third have fired workers for misusing the Internet, according to a 2007 American Management Association report. “The most important thing is to have a written policy disclosing what your surveillance practices are,” said Chanley Howell, a partner in Foley & Lardner LLP’s intellectual property department in Jacksonville.

When it comes to e-mail, employers have the right to monitor any communication done on their computers. If data is handled on the company’s server, then it is legally under the purview of the employer. This applies to Houston or most cities.  Nonwork e-mail systems and social networking site communication isn’t, however. Companies have hired attorneys to sue their employees for materials and/or documents retrieved from the company’s emails and servers.