EMPLOYEES HAVE A RIGHT TO PRIVACY REGARDING THEIR TEXT MESSAGES EVEN WHEN SENT ON A MOBILE PHONE PROVIDED BY AN EMPLOYER, AS RULED BY CALIFORNIA JUDGE
In a recent California case, the court determined that an Ontario, California police officer had the right to expect his text messages would be private and not read by his employer, even though he was using a cell phone provided by the Ontario police Department. According to the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution and the CA Constitution, an employee has a reasonable expectation of privacy in his text messages. The CA Appellate Court decided this was the case even though the City, the police officer's employer, had informed the officer that he should have no expectation of privacy or confidentiality when using these resources. Additionally, the officer signed a form stating he understood that the City reserved the right to monitor and log all network activity including e-mail and Internet use, with or without notice. Still, the CA court determined that the employee's rights were violated by this unlawful search.
While emails sent using the company's server are not usually protected by the Fourth Amendment, the text messages you are sending on your company's phone might be protected from your employer's eyes. This means your employer cannot fire you, discriminate against you, or mistreat you because he has (probably unlawfully) read your text messages. An experienced California employment lawyer will help you determine if your rights are being violated.
Has your employer been reading your text messages? Has she also been treating you differently or discriminating against you as a result? If you live in California and you feel like your privacy has been violated or that you have been discriminated against as a result of your privacy being violated by your employer, call us at now at Greenberg & Rudman LLP at 1-800-252-9776 (1-800-ALAWPRO) in CA for a free consultation regarding your legal rights and to hear how one of our experienced employment attorneys may be able to help you. Your call is completely confidential, and we are here to help.
