The decision, a victory for employers, provides helpful guidance for management of electronic communication systems and workplace searches In an important decision for employers, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a case involving an employee’s assertion that a government employer had violated the Fourth Amendment by unreasonably obtaining and reviewing personal text messages sent and received on employer-issued pagers. The decision, a victory for employers, provides helpful guidance for management of electronic communication systems and workplace searches. The decision is a victory for employers and provides helpful guidance for management of electronic communication systems and workplace searches.
The decision confirms that employers can and should institute policies and procedures designed to inform employees that they should not and do not have a expectation of privacy in electronic communications on employer-provided equipment and networks. It noted, however, that the rapidly changing way in which employees communicate for work and changing technology, as well as state laws, may impact future determinations of when an expectation of privacy may exist in electronic communications. The decision also confirms that searches motivated by legitimate work-related purposes, including work-related investigations of workplace misconduct, and not excessive in scope are generally lawful when the employer has a policy that warns employees that their electronic communications are not private.
In light of Quon, employers should ensure that they have appropriate policies in place to put employees on notice that communications transmitted on employer equipment and networks are not private. They should also continue to monitor developments in this area, particularly with regard to state laws.
Source: Proskauer_Alerts June 2-10U.S.