Privacy of Electronic Communications in the Workplace

The world has gone digital and instant messaging is the order of the day. Traditional modes of communication via letters and posts have been rendered redundant by the introduction of electronic messaging. Meddlesome interlopers no longer need to have access to a message's physical copy to access its contents, as electronic messages are stored on various points, including the sender’s device, the receiver's device, and the server. Employees communicate with each other and with their clients through their official email addresses. They utilise other electronic communication platforms and also access the internet on the computers provided by their employer, and on the company servers. Some employers feel employees abuse this privilege by engaging in private ventures with company equipment. Hence, employers may feel constrained to monitor the activities of their employees over the company’s computer system. This article adopts a comparative analysis of the legal protection of electronic communications sent and received over the workplace computer system from the United States and European jurisdictions. It balances the employee’s fundamental rights to privacy vis-à-vis the business needs of an employer to monitor communications over its computer system