Landmark European court case won’t mean that Jersey employers will be able to spy on employees

The European Court of Human Rights, in Strasbourg, recently ruled that a Romanian company was within its rights to have monitored during working hours the personal social media messages of a former employee it fired.

In the case in question, the worker was sacked for sending personal messages at work after the firm produced 45 pages of transcripts of conversations he had had on Yahoo Messenger.

He sued the firm for invasion of privacy but lost the case. The ECHR ruled that the company was entitled to monitor his communications because they had made their policy on the matter clear.

The ruling has prompted fears that firms across Europe could now have free rein to spy on employee communications, with the case having been described as creating a ‘snoopers’ charter’ for employers.

But Jersey employment lawyer Helen Ruelle, a partner at Mourant Ozannes, said that the ruling was fair and should have little impact on current work practices.

– Advertisement –
– Advertisement –