Employee confidentiality breach

jenpenpie

Just after some advice really - my husband's employer recently did a 'secret analysis' of their employees email useage and as a consequence of this my husband has been asked to attend a disciplinary hearing at work next week. The letter that his employer sent him with all the information in was clearly visible through the envelope for anyone to read.

Also, the letter had not been aligned properly, so the bit "Re: Disciplinary Hearing" was clearly visible in the address window along with the reason as to why the disciplinary hearing was called (the item was to do with "inappropriate and highly inappropriate images being stored and sent)

Before anyone raises their eyebrows at this, the 'highly inappropriate images' were nothing more than a chain email with the subject "Pictures taken at the right time" and included, e.g a picture taken at the exact moment a shark was attacking a seal, a picture of a city centre with someone falling over in the background, etc.

Any advice on this matter would be great

dmg24

How can a letter be visible through an envelope?

I would consider the listed items highly inappropriate. Did he forward on or reply to the email?

jenpenpie

Thanks for the reply.

The issue is not whether or not the email was inappropriate or not, but whether the employer should have taken more care when sending information like that out in the post.

The letter was readable through the envelope because it was a single sheet of A4, printed on one side, in an A4 envelope.

Vader123

The issue is not whether or not the email was inappropriate or not, but whether the employer should have taken more care when sending information like that out in the post.

Then the counter-argument exists that the employee should have taken more care when sending information like he did on email!

The letter was readable through the envelope because it was a single sheet of A4, printed on one side, in an A4 envelope

I still dont get this.

Who else will have seen it? The postman?

Has there been any damage or financial loss because of the envelope?

Vader

jenpenpie

Vader123 wrote: »

I still dont get this.

The letter was printed on one side of a sheet of white A4 paper. The letter wasn't folded and put into a white A4 envelope.


FWIW, my husband did not pass the email on, but of course once opening the email the pictures were there on the system. Unions are involved.

We don't know for sure whether anyone else read the letter, but having your name linked with 'highly inappropriate images' at work is not something that should be (potentially) in the public domain.

Vader123

How did he get the letter?

If it was handed to him by the sender, I can't see the problem.

Eloborate? I feel I am missing something....

Vader

Zazen999

Who would have seen this envelope?

Errata

Can't see the problem. Anyone gawping at what could be seen could jump to the conclusion the recipient was being asked to investigate another employee's innapropriate use of the internet.
I'm sure the union will sort things out.

jenpenpie

Zazen999 wrote: »

Who would have seen this envelope?

Secretarial staff, post room staff, royal mail staff...

jenpenpie

Vader123 wrote: »

How did he get the letter?

If it was handed to him by the sender, I can't see the problem.

Eloborate? I feel I am missing something....

Vader

The letter was received in the post, not handed to him in person.

dmg24

I really don't see your problem here. The letter was put in an envelope, what else did you expect the employer to do? My bank statements are sent in the same way - should I consider suing the bank?