Can an Employer Monitor Text Messaging on a Company Phone?

The next time you text a personal message to a friend on your company phone, keep in mind that your private thoughts may become public knowledge, at least when it comes to your employer. The issue of an employee's personal use of an employer-supplied phone became a watershed event when it came before the Supreme Court in 2010. To protect both parties, both employer and employee should acknowledge company policy when handing out and using smartphones or other texting devices in the workplace.

Unanimous Decision

To enhance a worker's productivity, an employer may provide a smartphone for the employee's convenience. Texting has become an acceptable communication tool for workers to keep each other in the loop about events in the workplace. When an employee uses the phone for personal texting, however, a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in the case of City of Ontario v. Quon gives the employer the right to read text messages if it has legitimate, work-related grounds to do so.

Prevalence

A 2007 joint survey by the American Management Association and the ePolicy Institute found that more than two-thirds of employers do read or otherwise monitor their employees' use of electronic devices, particularly phones, but most say they notify the worker when they're being monitored.

Company Policy

To prevent misunderstanding in the workplace, an employer should have a well-written policy in place that reduces the employee's expectation of privacy when using company property. Absent a "no privacy" policy in the workplace, the employer needs to assume that the employee has an expectation of privacy and advise the worker to proceed accordingly.

Considerations

The Supreme Court decision applies to state, local and federal government workers, as well as to employees in the private sector. Given that the provided texting device isn't the employee's personal property, employees should assume that any device used in the course of the day may be subject to monitoring. If you want to ensure your privacy in the workplace, use your own device.

References

• Privacy Rights Clearinghouse: Workplace Privacy and Employee Monitoring
• The Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court Rules in Favor of California Police Chief Who Read Employee's Texts
• Inc.: If You Own the Phone, You Can Read the Text Messages
• Supreme Court of the United States: City of Ontario, Calif., et al. v. Quon
• American Management Association: 2007 Electronic Monitoring and Surveillance Survey