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posted 8 years ago
We are frequently asked
by the clients that if the company has the right to monitor the
employee’s corporate email account, and will it be legal in China?
The monitoring of
employee’s behavior during the working time by the employer, including
the monitoring of corporate email account, QQ, MSN etc, has become a
controversial topic worldwide, which relates to the balance of the
interest between the employer’s right of supervision over the employees
and the personal privacy the employee enjoys.
The Employer’s Opinion:
The Employee’s Opinion:
For employee, the big
concern is the email monitoring infringes the right of freedom in
communication and the employee’s privacy, in particular the monitoring
is conducted without prior notice.
In 2013, the Foshan
Intermediary Court in Guangdong heard a case relating to a labor dispute
where the employer terminated the labor contract with the employee due
to violation of company regulation. The ground in relation to violation
of regulation is from the employee’s emails monitored by the employer.
The employee filed the labor arbitration and then the case went through
the arbitration, the first court instance and the second instance. In
this case, one of the defenses raised by the employee is that the
employer monitored the employee’s email without his consent and such
behavior has infringed the employee’s right of freedom in communication
and pravicy.
In this case, the court opinion by in the first instance and the second instance varies:
The court in the first
instance supported the defense raised by the employee. In the court
judgment, the court concludes that people shall have the right of
freedom in communication. Without legal procedure, such right shall not
be deprived. The employer is not granted with any judicial power so any
monitoring to the employee’s email without notice shall have infringed
the employee’s right. Accordingly, the evidence obtained shall not be
used as ground not in favor of the employee.
Following the court
judgment, the employer filed the appeal immediately and argued that it
shall have the right to monitor the staff’s corporate email account. In
the final court judgment, the court did not recognize the illegality
towards the employer’s monitoring of staff’s email but focused on the
examination of the emails obtained by the employer and then determine if
any malpractice behavior exists.
Therefore, we conclude
that the change of the court opinion has indicated that the defense of
infringement of the right of freedom in communication and privacy by the
employee has actually not been supported by the court.
However, this does not
mean that the employer will not run any risk in future’s practice of
email monitoring. According to our experience, we suggest the following
measures shall be taken by the employer to make sure the legality and
safety of such behavior:
1. If the email
monitoring is necessary for the employer, the company regulation or
staff handbook shall be made in respect to the use of corporate email
account. Generally speaking, such regulation shall at least cover the
points below:
2. If any malpractice
is found through the email monitoring, we suggest the company
investigate further and collect additional relevant evidences to support
the decision made by the company;
3. It shall be avoided that the company makes any disciplinary decision only based on the emails obtained through monitoring.
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