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Exercise Caution in Monitoring Employees' E-mail |
August 18, 2009
Previously published on August 7, 2009
Employers should be aware of the risk associated with reviewing their employees' personal -- as opposed to business -- e-mail. Recently, some courts have found that employers violated the Stored Communications Act by reviewing employees' password protected personal e-mail accounts (AOL, hotmail, gmail, etc.) which the employee accessed at work. In these cases, the employer obtained the password protecting the account by using software (such as a keystroke logger) or data left on the company computer. One court recently held that an employer who reviewed such personal e-mail may be liable for punitive damages and the employee's attorney's fees, even where the employee fails to prove that he suffered actual damages.
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The views expressed in this document are solely the views of the author and not Martindale-Hubbell. This document is intended for informational purposes only and is not legal advice or a substitute for consultation with a licensed legal professional in a particular case or circumstance. |
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