Does anyone know about email privacy when you are not on company time (at home), using your own personal equipment, and using a personal email address not paid for by the company? A friend of mine is in trouble. An email was forwarded to him which he then forwarded to others but not before adding a few comments of his own. The email is forwarded from there, on and on and eventually ends up in the hands of the subject of the email and eventually the company. The company wants to charge my friend with 2 articles of conduct violations and has served him with a letter of charge. The email was about another co worker whom he doesn't know. It was gossip and the comments were not pretty, but were not directed TO the subject of the email but rather to the target audience whom he forwarded it to, and were an expression of his own longstanding and legitimate fears, and with absolutely no intend of intimidation or retaliation to this person. The company, naturally, sees it differently as does the subject of the email, and has sent him a letter of charge for 2 articles of conduct violations. He is scared to talk about this, humiliated beyond reason for being so stupid, and wants to know if he has any rights at all. We are currently looking for a good labor attorney to represent him even though he is governed by a labor contract and must exhaust it first from what we understand. If anyone can recommend a labor attorney specializing in the area of email privacy or has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated. He already knows all about the supidity of what he did, has received his lashes over and over and over again, and has learned a great deal a long the way. Is there such a thing as privacy at home when it comes to the workkplace? Please help in any way you can!

[ reply ]

Link to this comment: http://www.securityfocus.com/comments/columns/421/34052#34052