Employee emails

Subscribe to Employee emails

The French Supreme Court ruled on March 6, 2024 (n°22-11.016), that an employer cannot terminate an employee who has sent racist and xenophobic messages to a colleague via the professional email system,  if the messages were private.

Facts:

Due to an error made by one of the recipients of the emails, the employer became aware of the emails sent by the employee to his colleagues. The employee was dismissed for gross misconduct and challenged his dismissal by claiming that the employer has violated his private life as the emails were titled “personal and confidential”.

In return, the employer argued that, in accordance with the French Supreme Court’s rulings, a reason relating to an employee’s personal life can justify disciplinary dismissal if it constitutes a breach of an obligation arising from the employee’s employment contract.

Therefore, the employer claimed that the employee breached his employment contract’s obligations by sending racist and xenophobic emails via the professional email system.

The employer also argued that the employee abused the professional email system for personal purposes.Continue Reading No disciplinary action for sending private racist messages via the professional email system

Lessons for Employers in a Social Media World

Recently, in Stengart v. Loving Care Agency, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that an employee had a reasonable expectation of privacy in her Internet-based emails to her lawyer, despite the fact that she sent such emails from a company-owned laptop and was on notice of the employer’s written policy that emails may not be considered “private or personal.” The opinion is significant not only in recognizing a privacy interest for employees’ communications to their attorneys using company-owned-and-monitored networks, but also in providing important guidelines for employers drafting or updating their policies on use of email and the Internet. In addition, Stengart issues a warning to both in-house and outside counsel involved in the forensic review of employees’ computer-based data and communications.Continue Reading New Jersey High Court Limits Employer’s Right To Review Employee Emails