Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

HR practiceComputer misuse

Weekly dilemma: monitoring staff e-mails

by Personnel Today 16 Jan 2007
by Personnel Today 16 Jan 2007

Can I open my employees’ e-mails to investigate a disciplinary matter?



The short answer is yes. An employer may monitor its employees’ e-mails for the purposes of investigating a disciplinary matter. That said, employers need to ensure they do not go too far and risk claims for unfair dismissal or breach legislation which dictates what employers can do in terms of monitoring their staff. Monitoring may therefore take place provided that employers stick to the following best practice:




  • In common with any disciplinary procedure, it is crucial that the employer has reasonable grounds for believing that the misconduct in question has been committed by the employee who is the subject of the e-mail monitoring. If not, then there is a risk that any subsequent dismissal will be potentially unfair.


  • Prudent employers will have an information systems usage policy in place that prescribes the parameters of an employer’s right to monitor its employees’ e-mails. Employees should be made aware of such policy at the start of their employment and also told where the policy can be found if future reference to it is required.


  • In common with general data protection guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office, employers should not monitor e-mails beyond what is necessary for the disciplinary investigation. To this end, employers should also ask themselves whether the monitoring is likely to achieve the desired result. For example, employees legitimately expect to keep their personal lives private, so e-mails that are obviously personal should not be monitored.


  • It is always advisable to conduct an impact assessment in accordance with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office guidelines for monitoring e-mails at work.

In terms of actual e-mail monitoring, only relevant e-mails should be identified in terms of volume. A filtering process in terms of e-mail subject should then be undertaken and only those e-mails that appear relevant and necessary should be opened and if absolutely necessary, printed, collated and used as evidence.



By Simeon Spencer, partner and head of employment, Morgan Lewis


Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Each week we ask the experts to answer your legal dilemmas. If you have a legal question or dilemma, e-mail [email protected]

 




Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Online gambling at work costs English businesses £300m a year
next post
HR believes older staff offer ‘lower return on investment’ in training

You may also like

What do HR specialists enjoy most about their...

21 Mar 2025

King’s College London get top marks for HR...

20 Nov 2024

NatWest blocks messaging apps for work communications

13 Nov 2024

Personnel Today Awards 2024: The shortlists in full

13 Nov 2024

CIPD launches HR support pilot scheme for SMEs

7 Oct 2024

Are managers equipped to handle workplace conflict?

24 Sep 2024

Reimagining the employee lifecycle as a public sector...

5 Sep 2024

Employers urged to take action during riots

7 Aug 2024

HR changes save NHS Wales board £740k and...

6 Aug 2024

Vince Cable: Post Office managers were ‘thugs in...

25 Jul 2024

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+