In: Operations Management
1. We have seen that, in general, workplace e-mail monitoring is legal. In the landmark Smyth v, Pillsbury case at the start of this chapter, employees fired for messages sent through the employer's server, even when password-protected, and even when the employer had issued assurances that they would not be for retaliatory purposes, had no recourse. But what if the employer monitors messages sent on company-owned computers through a personal e-mail account, such as Yahoo? In 2008, Scott Sidell allegedly forgot to sign off his Yahoo account when he was fired from his job at Structured Settlement Investments. During the next week or so, the company read his still-accessible private e-mail, including confidential messages between Sidell and his attorney regarding his termination. Under these circumstances, did Sidell have a reasonable expectation of privacy? Was it violated by SSI?
Discusses the research(Privacy and Technology) you have done and answers the question(s) posed in the assignment. (at least 300 words)
It is not illegal for the employers to monitor the communications made by an employee through email using the server of an employer. However, while monitoring of employee's communications through offcial email account is legal, the rules are not clear cut regarding the monitoring of an employee's activities through personal account. An employer can monitor the personal mails if the policy says it. This means that an employer can monitor the online activities through personal mail accounts after warning the employees that their mails can be monitored. However, the situation is different in the case where the employer kept monitoring the emails even after he was fired from the job and intercepted the communication between the employee and his attorney, which is against the law. Thus, Sidell has a reasonable expectation of privacy and the company, by assessing the conversation between the employee and his attorney is libale for invasion of privacy, keeping in view that the employee no longer works for the company.