Can my boss check my emails and messages?
You’ve sent a quick personal message from your work laptop or moaned to a colleague about a meeting on Teams. Then a worrying thought comes to mind: can my boss see that?
The short answer is yes, they often can, but not without limits. In this blog, our employment law solicitors explain what the UK law says about employers checking their employees’ emails and messages.
Can employers monitor my emails? What UK law says
Employers in the UK are allowed to monitor some of what you do at work, but they must be open about it, have a good reason and not go further than they need to. Your right to privacy does not disappear when you clock in, but it is possible for checks to be carried out for a legitimate business reason, subject to safeguards.
What your employer can and cannot check depends on your organisation’s policies, but is also governed by the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Most contracts and staff handbooks contain rules about IT and social media. It’s important to know how your employer will treat your communications, private or professional.
What about personal accounts?
Where it gets tricky is personal emails and social media accounts accessed from a work device but outside of working hours. For example: if you WhatsApp your partner at 8pm from your work iPhone to let them know you’re on the train home from an after-work social, your employer might be able to read it.
Of course, communications sent from personal devices stay private, even during work hours. Your manager won’t be able to request to see your personal phone. However, you may still fall foul of rules about using personal devices at work. Again, check your contract and workplace policies!
What your employer can check
Depending on your employer’s policies and reasons for monitoring, employers can commonly look at:
- Your work email account
- Work-issued laptops and phones
- Messaging tools such as Teams or Slack
- Your internet and browsing history on work devices
There can be sensible reasons for this, such as protecting confidential information, keeping systems secure or investigating a complaint or suspected misconduct.
Can my employer read my WhatsApp messages?
Not normally, unless they are on a work device your employer controls or you have shared them. Even then, the employer must act lawfully and fairly. It will ultimately depend on the circumstances and reasonable expectations of privacy.
Can my employer monitor me when I’m working from home?
Yes, if you work from home, your employer can still monitor work systems.
Can I be dismissed because of something I said in a private message?
If the employer shows a fair reason and follows a fair process, then yes. How the message was obtained can be relevant; for example, if it was between you and your manager, or something your colleague showed HR in confidence.
Where the limits are
Your employer should be explicit in its policies or handbook about the limits when it comes to monitoring employees’ emails and messages. Generally, monitoring should be:
- Transparent. You should be told what is monitored and why.
- Proportionate. Reading every message you send ‘just in case’ is very hard to justify. Checking a specific mailbox as part of a genuine investigation is far more reasonable.
- Necessary. If there is a less intrusive way to achieve the same goal, such as a confidential meeting, the employer should use it.
- Informed. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) says employers should generally tell staff about monitoring in advance. However, simply putting a monitoring clause in a contract does not automatically make every form of monitoring lawful.
Bărbulescu v Romania: court ruled that your boss can check communications from work IT equipment
In January 2016, a court ruled that your boss can check communications from work IT equipment, even if you send it using your personal Facebook page or home email.
Bogdan Mihai Bărbulescu found himself on the wrong side of a decision by the European Court of Human Rights, which decided his employer was justified in monitoring his messages from a personal Yahoo account. Bărbulescu had been told in advance that his communications from work IT equipment could be monitored, but that he had nevertheless used it to talk to family members.
His employer used the conversations as evidence that he was spending time on personal matters during work hours. They subsequently sacked him in 2007. Technology may have changed since then, but the ruling is still important and highlights some useful points for employers and their staff.
What if my employer has gone too far?
If you think your employer has crossed the line and has breached their own policy or contract, you can:
- Ask for the relevant policy. Check what it says and whether it was followed.
- Raise it informally. A conversation with your manager or HR can sometimes resolve things.
- Raise a formal grievance. This puts your concerns on record and requires a proper response.
- Make a subject access request. You have the right to ask what personal data your employer holds about you, including some monitoring data.
- Complain to the ICO. They can look at whether data protection rules were broken.
In serious cases, excessive or secret monitoring could damage the trust between you and your employer. This may support a claim, including, in some situations, a constructive dismissal claim. These cases depend heavily on the facts, so it is worth getting advice from an employment lawyer early.
Practical tips
- Read your contract, staff handbook and IT policy so you know what applies to you
- Keep personal and work communications separate where you can
- Assume anything on a work system might be seen
- If you are unsure, ask HR what is monitored and why
- If you are worried, keep a note of what has happened and when
Further information
If you’re concerned about your right to privacy at work, speak to our employment solicitors.
As well as representing employees, we also provide employment law advice to employers and businesses. For further help and advice, call 0117 325 2929 or complete our online enquiry form.
