According to the 2001 Electronic Policies and Practices Survey,
released this week by the American Management Association, The
ePolicy Institute, and US News and World Report, US employers have
become increasingly aware of the dangers posed by staff e-mail and
internet use in the workplace and are taking steps to reduce their
potential liabilities.
Of the 435 employers surveyed, 61.6% exercise their legal right
to monitor employees’ e-mail and internet connections. Among
employers who monitor, 68.3% cite legal liability as the primary
reason to keep an eye on employees’ on-line activity.
Monitoring cannot eliminate all workplace liabilities. While the
federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) gives US
employers the right to monitor all e-mail traffic and internet
activity on the company system, it does not always prevent outraged
employees from filing invasion of privacy claims.
Nancy Flynn, executive director of The ePolicy Institute advises
employers to use written e-mail, internet and software policies to
give explicit notice that US employees do not have a reasonable
expectation of privacy; that the company has the right to monitor
anything transmitted or stored on its computer system; and that
management intends to exercise that right.
In the UK, businesses can monitor on-line activities of
employees for business purposes if they follow certain rules,
although UK employees have more rights to privacy.
Around 84% of the US survey respondents notify employees of the
organisation’s legal right to monitor on-line activity. Among those
monitoring, 86.9% have a written e-mail policy, 83.1% have an
internet policy, and 67.5% have a software policy.
However, barely half (50.6%) of employers require staff to
acknowledge such policies in writing. “Stave off invasion of
privacy and wrongful termination lawsuits by securing employees’
written consent to have their electronic messages read,” says
Flynn, who advises employers to have employees sign and date
communication policies to demonstrate they understand them and
accept personal responsibility for compliance.
Particularly vulnerable when it comes to saving old e-mail, only
35.4% of employers have a document retention and deletion policy in
place.
Survey results related to personal use of company e-mail and
internet systems reveal that 39.3% allow employees full and
unrestricted use of office e-mail, while only 11.7% grant staff the
same unrestricted access to the internet. Among companies that
allow personal internet use, 65.3% restrict access to web sites,
with 76.6% of employers most concerned about keeping explicit
sexual content off employees’ screens.
Further information is available in our article on the UK laws
of monitoring employees. A free Communications Policy is also
available from OUT-LAW for businesses wanting to comply with
equivalent UK rules of monitoring.
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