One objection some employees have against their employer’s computer policies: It’s an invasion of privacy. But do workers really have a right to privacy when they’re on company computers?
One recent court case addressed that question.
An employee who’d worked in the company’s accounts payable department for five years started stealing from his employer.
He transferred money out of the company’s bank accounts into his own. Also, he hacked into the payroll system and gave himself a big pay raise — changing his yearly salary from $40,000 to $125,000.
The company’s owner quickly found out about the salary increase and the missing money. He confronted the employee, who admitted to stealing $8,000 and offered to cut the company a check for that amount. The owner fired him and called the police.
With the company’s consent, the police searched the man’s office and his work computer. It turned out the total amount he’d taken was more than $600,000.
Was the search legit?
After he was arrested, the employee tried to have the case against him thrown out. Why? He claimed the police had no right to search the computer. The inspection violated his right to privacy, he said, because the computer was located in his office and password-protected so he was the only one who could use it.
The judge didn’t buy the argument. As several other courts have ruled in similar cases, the employee had no “reasonable expectation of privacy” — so his rights weren’t violated, the court said.
The fact that the computer was inside an office — and password-protected so only one employee could use it — didn’t change the fact that it was the company’s computer. And, in general, companies have a right to search their own property.
Have a good policy
One way for companies to avoid problems related to computer searches and monitoring: Have all employees sign your policy and acknowledge that the company has the right to monitor how its computers are used.
Two states (Delaware and Connecticut) require companies to get consent before they do any monitoring. But for all employers, it can be a good way to remind employees not to expect any privacy when they’re using the company’s equipment.
Cite: State v. M.A.