Firm paid for text messages: Can it read them?
December 29, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Security
If employees send text messages on the company’s dime, the company should be able to monitor them, right? Maybe not, according to recent court decisions.
An employer gave cell phones to a group of employees so they could communicate via text messages. The contract with the wireless provider said the company would be charged an overage fee if any phone sent more than a certain number of words in a given month. Employees had to reimburse the company for those charges.
After one employee went over his limit four times, the company obtained copies of his messages from the wireless provider. The transcripts revealed the employee was sending a lot of personal messages — in fact, many of them were sexually explicit.
The employee was disciplined, but sued, claiming his privacy was violated when the vendor provided — and the company read — his personal messages.
A jury ruled in favor of the company, before an appeals court reversed the decision. The reason: The messages weren’t the company’s property because they were stored by a third-party vendor (unlike company e-mail, which is often held on the company’s own network).
Now, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case. We’ll keep you posted on the outcome.
Cite: Quon v. Arch Wireless
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Tags: Supreme Court, text messages
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April 22nd, 2010 at 7:16 am
The company provided the phones with the exception that the employees would have to pay for any extra charges. At that point the ownership of the message’s became the employees. The company has required the employees to cover the charges so they transferred responsibility and ownership to the employees.