Supervisor looking at my private emails

LegacyUser

Hi,

Just wondering if someone here could advise me on my rights.

I had a day off last week and on my day off my supervisor logged on to my PC (I had given my password out for something else before and she had obviously kept it). She then logged on to my emails and read one of me giving out about her and another that also had something extremely - it was a comment said off the hook that didnt mean anything. I know work email is for just that but it was just a remark made out of anger - i'm sure lots of people have done the same thing!

When I asked why she had read my private mails I was told she has every right to - yes every right to when she suspects i'm not doing my work but has she a right to knowingly log on to my PC for no reason when i'm not in and snoop through my emails?

This has now resulted in her giving me the cold shoudler and ignoring me - we spoke about it the other day and I apologised but said I was highly annoyed that she read my emails and that she now knows something extremely private, but she refuses to except she was even slightly in the wrong.

My question is, was she in the wrong in any way and if so what are my rights?

jbrst

Afaik you can't have an expectation of privacy when using company facilities (email) for personal use. Usually it will be written in a contract that the company reserves the right to monitor these facilities, including reading personal emails. Most of us would think that meant the IT Dept. having a giggle at the incoming and outgoing but in reality managers often have access to subordinates' emails.

Harsh as it may seem I don't think you have any comeback. Take it as a lesson on personal emails at work!

dade

Annoyed123 wrote: »

yes every right to when she suspects i'm not doing my work but has she a right to knowingly log on to my PC for no reason when i'm not in and snoop through my emails?

i think it depends. i work in IT and have seen many different policies on this but the overriding theme is that Email is a business tool and should only be used for business purposes though some personal use is tolerated. thus as a business tool the organisation has the right to monitor its usage. how they monitor it depends on the company.

for example if one company i worked for if someone left the company their emails were automatically given to someone else. ALL their emails. in the company I'm in now we require an individual to sign a form outlining why the need access and have it signed by their manager. So does the manager have the right to sign in as you and read your mail? that would fall under the companies security policy i would think, or at least the acceptable usage policy.

honestly its a grey area as to right but personally i never have and never will use company mail for anything other than company business.

she stated that she felt that you were not doing your work so she checked your mail. that's a fair comment IMO and the next thing you ask is well do you feel i am not doing my work, do we need to discuss this? if she says no change your password and delete the emails them learn the lesson. if it's meant to be private keep it that way.

gerrycollins

on the argument of email for work, does this person have the authority to access your emails?check your contract or staff handbook.

Abeitting you gave passwords etc does this actual person have the right or within the company or is someone specific charged with investigating/monitoring email activity?

PK2008

I used to be a sysadmin and the place in which i worked had a very strict IT policy essentially all email created using company resources remained the sole property of the business, regardless of who typed it.

If you give out your password- even to a superior without permission from the IT dept its a sackable offense (for both of you).

If you log onto another persons PC even with their permission using their ID and password it is a sackable offense (for both of you)

You do not own your ID, password, PC, email or any intellectual property created using the resources of the company.

But then all employee's were given a copy of the IT policy before they started which they had to sign.

JDxtra

The company owns your email, they can do what they like with it. Dont give your password to anybody - even IT, your manager or HR. If they want access let them go through the proper channels. More than likely your supervisor should have asked for HR approval before reviewing your email though.

jhegarty

JDxtra wrote: »

The company owns your email, they can do what they like with it. Dont give your password to anybody - even IT, your manager or HR. If they want access let them go through the proper channels. More than likely your supervisor should have asked for HR approval before reviewing your email though.

The company may own the email , but it would be unusual for a supervisor to have unfettered access on a whim without a business reason and authorization from above.

doolox

Password protection is there to protect a user from accusation of misuse of email resources as much as anything else.
What would happen to you if your boss used your login to access your account and then wrote a pile of insulting emails to internal or external people of influence ( customers maybe??) to get you into trouble?
Change your password immediately.
Never divulge or give access to your email a/c to anyone without proper IT authorisation and your own peronal supervision.
All our accounts in the place where I used to work were password protected to track work and performance as much as anythin else.
Mistakes or slow work or non-perfomance could then be tracked and excuses such as someone else having access and using another persons a/c were not tolerated.

leeroybrown

By the sounds of it you were both in the wrong. You shouldn't have written the e-mail and probably shouldn't have left the same password on your computer if you had to give it to someone. As pointed out you don't really have any rights here. At the end of the day it's the company's e-mail system, the company's information and they might as a matter of policy chose to discipline one or both of you but that still doesn't give you any rights.

I have an anecdote I always use to explain this to people. I know someone who works in the banking sector. A number of years ago they were contacted by their company IT group who told them that one of their staff had sent an inappropriate e-mail to another member of staff. It turned out that one of the staff in his group had sent a friend in another group an internal e-mail jokingly saying "you're some f***ing b*tch for doing that" and it had been flagged by the content filter on their internal e-mail system. Both staff were reminded of the official e-mail policy and formally warned and the staff member who sent the e-mail was told that if it ever happened again it would likely be classed as gross misconduct resulting in them being fired. Never underestimate how much trouble an e-mail can get you in.

doolox

Treat all email traffic as public. If you wouldn't say something in a public meeting with your most evil boss present then do not put it in writing in an email.
Keep all email stuff as formal as possible so that you build up authority and trust in your workplace.
For people like me who are better at written communications rather than verbal communications email is a dream. But in the wrong hands and in a temper it can be deadly.

Firetrap

Yes, be warned. I looked at the policy in my job and it says that all computer use is monitored and recorded. We're also told not to give anybody our passwords or leave our PCs unlocked if they're unattended. I don't think anybody's ever gotten into trouble for sending inappropriate emails but the threat is there.

I remember hearing a thing on the radio last year about some girl who got a job and decided to send a couple of emails to her friend on Day 1 saying something along the lines of "this is my new email address". They sacked her pretty quickly and had print-outs of the emails she had sent. A bit harsh I thought but you can never be too careful. I think it's best to keep work emails work related and to use your own email addy for the non-work stuff.

doolox

Anyone who uses work place email resources fro private personal stuff is mad to take the risk. There is so much free email around instead, Google,Yahoo,Hotmail etc........
Leave the BIGCorporation.com for the official blue suit stuff.

Buffman

doolox wrote: »

Anyone who uses work place email resources fro private personal stuff is mad to take the risk. There is so much free email around instead

Yes, especially if your going to be writing insulting comments about your supervisor.

OP, you're lucky the company is not disciplining you for anything.

To answer your question, no she was not wrong.

I do know of some companies with very strict email policies.
1 company only has 1 central email address, with emails then distributed to the staff member it's intended for.

In another, all incoming and outgoing emails are automatically CCed to the directors.

And in yet another, staff cannot even make outgoing calls. They have to get their switchboard to make the call, giving a reason etc, and then connect them.

So OP, it could be worse.

Mr Benevolent

what are my rights?

You have no rights with regards to this issue. You signed the IT disclosure agreement. You adhere to it. You were silly to use your company email for private stuff.

It's bit like Boards.ie. Posters complain when their posts are modified, citing free speech etc. In fact the law says that there's no free speech for companies, so Boards.ie management is legally responsible for every word you write. Therefore they MUST have the power to modify/moderate.

Same in a company. You have no rights in this matter. Live with it.

Spud83

doolox wrote: »

Anyone who uses work place email resources fro private personal stuff is mad to take the risk. There is so much free email around instead, Google,Yahoo,Hotmail etc........
Leave the BIGCorporation.com for the official blue suit stuff.

This is true but some companies have just as strict Internet usage policies. These sites may be blocked already by the company, or the use of them might deemed "inappropriate use" of the companies internet which could also result in disciplinary procedures.

Most Internet Usage policies will state that the Internet is to be used for work purposes only. Hard to argue that web mail sites could be work related when they provide you with an email system for work.

eth0_

I agree that your employer has a right to read your emails BUT there are procedures that must be followed.

I work in I.T. and have on a few occasions been asked to recover emails from employee's accounts. In all those instances this request had to be authorised by HR and/or a senior manager.

DarkJager

Most IT policies would state that the email is provided for company use only. Obviosuly people overlook this, and believe email is private, but if its for company use only then they have every right to view the contents when they wish.

My advice is that if you need to send private emails in work, get yourself a webmail account for doing so.