Employer using covert surveillance

scheming_gypsy

Are you sure they didn't just pretend they'd spoken to them?

http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/employment/other_employment_law_topics/500160.html

Mista_C

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

Are you sure they didn't just pretend they'd spoken to them?

http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/employment/other_employment_law_topics/500160.html

I'm 100%, it was the I.T. Manager and Deputy (me) who had the legal guys come over for a chat (we were against the prying into staff mailboxes as it happens). Apparently, because the company had laid down rules/expectations into the AUP of the company equipment it was considered the employee had accepted those terms.

flossy_splodge

I know a company where they have cctv set up to monitor what goes on in the office in case they miss anything and ALL emails are seen by the Dragon lady as a matter of course.
And NO, the staff have not been told.
But then she's a control freak beyond compare and the company is not a nice one to work for so the signs are there!!
Someone, an IT consultant doing work for them said they had also seen the boss man going into ladies handbags to snoop!:eek:
I left!!

gjchester

Reue wrote: »

You do still have a reasonable right to privacy within the workplace and your employer should inform you that use of office equipment may be monitored before doing so.

Depending on the industry it may be required for legal or regulatory reasons, say in Finance or banking sectors.


Many companies put it in the legal boilerplate you click through to log on. Even if you don't read it, by clicking OK at the screen you are deemed to have read and accepted the companies IT Terms and conditions.


Read your work one next time you log on and see.

Tiglath

gjchester wrote: »

Depending on the industry it may be required for legal or regulatory reasons, say in Finance or banking sectors.

I work in banking and one of my colleagues monitors the email traffic, but it's in a passive sense ie. they don't go actively snooping. There are a list of trigger words which will flag up as email content, as well as anything official that says 'not to be sent externally' that is forwarded to a personal email. Really it's done to prevent things like insider trading/market abuse/client confidentiality. I know they also monitor which websites are visited, and the most frequent ones such as Youtube or dodgy ones are sent to the relevant team managers. They're big on not using company IT equipment to communicate with others externally so I'd never access MSE from work. I limit my lunchtime reading to simple things like the BBC.

Reue

gjchester wrote: »

Read your work one next time you log on and see.

I work in IT.. I wrote the message on our systems

But yes you are right, some will have a disclaimer. My point is many dont, or have ones which do not give the required information.

getmore4less

Reue wrote: »

Many companies have policies allowing some limited personal use of office equipment.

As another poster correctly stated earlier: You do still have a reasonable right to privacy within the workplace and your employer should inform you that use of office equipment may be monitored before doing so.

My university dissertation was focused around the ethical and legal implications of workplace surveillance and the research suggested many UK companies were actually breaking the law with regard to not informing their employees of the natures and scope of surveillance taking place.

You missed the point if you don't want work to know stuff about you.

Don't do ANY personal stuff at work,

Not just using work equipment for email/phone but personal equipment including phones calls in the work place where people can over hear.

Don't even talk to others about your personal stuff, you have no friends in a workplace.

gjchester

Reue wrote: »

My point is many dont, or have ones which do not give the required information.

I agree my point was policies may be in place and the reader agrees to them by virtue of not reading what is right in front of them.


Like software licences no-one ever really reads the whole thing...

Reue

getmore4less wrote: »

Don't even talk to others about your personal stuff, you have no friends in a workplace.

Lol ok

Sounds like you have a great working environment

getmore4less

Reue wrote: »

Lol ok

Sounds like you have a great working environment

I do and have for most of my long working life.


But then I am not the one with the problem of misusing work equipment or misjudging the places and people they work with.