Can your employer really read your private WhatsAPP messages?

If the news articles published this week are to be believed then it would appear we could all be in trouble as various newspapers have had the general public in fear that their employer can strip them of their personal mobile phone and scroll through all of the unsavoury message they’ve been receiving (but definitely not sending) in that WhatsAPP group chat they keep meaning to leave but never quite get round to in case they miss out on vital “banter”. 

The reality is, however, somewhat different. The scare mongering in the national press follows on from the decision last week handed down by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Barbulescu v Romania.

The case concerned Mr Barbulescu, a Romanian worker who was dismissed by his employer for using a work-related Yahoo messaging account to send private messages of a personal nature to his friends and family. Mr Barbulescu was dismissed for personal internet use at work, contrary to his employers’ rules. In investigating the matter his employer accessed the private messages and used them in the disciplinary proceedings and subsequent court cases. The Romanian courts sided with Mr Barbulescu’s employer and the European Court of Human Rights held that the monitoring and use of personal messages was a proportionate interference with Mr Barbulescu’s Article 8 right to privacy. The court held that it was not unreasonable that an employer would want to verify that employees were completing their professional tasks during working hours.

It is important to note that the Yahoo messaging account in this case was a work related account set up to answer client queries and that this decision does not overrule previous decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on the reasonable expectation of privacy. Nor does it override existing UK legislation which places important limitations on employers’ powers to monitor their employees’ private communications, but why would the newspapers let such insignificant facts get in the way of a good story.

For further information on this or any other employment related matter contact Claire Rainbird, mailto:crainbird@tolhurstfisher.com