June 19, 2008

Federal Court Limits Employers' Access to Employees' E-Communications

The 9th Circuit Court upheld the workplace privacy rights of employees in its decision in Quon v. Arch Wireless. Sgt. Jeff Quon and 3 other officers sued Arch Wireless for sharing wireless communication records with their employer, the Ontario Police Department. The City contracted for text messaging service for employees, and later obtained records to investigate whether all communications were work related. The court's decision reversed a lower court ruling, and found that the carrier was in violation of the 4th Amendment and California constitutional guarantees.

Court limits employer access to worker messages, Associated Press, June 19, 2008