Monitoring employees' use of the internet

Barbulescu v Romania

The European Court of Human Rights (“ECHR”) has, in this well-publicised case, decided that an employee’s right to respect for private life and correspondence is not breached if their employer monitors their personal communications at work. It is, however, subject to reasonableness and proportionality.

 Mr Barbulescu was an engineer who used his business Yahoo Messenger account to send and receive personal messages with his fiancee and his brother, including messages about his health and sex life. This was in breach of his employment contract. His employer, discovering this accidentally, dismissed him. Mr Barbulescu argued that the Romanian courts should have excluded all evidence of his personal communications on the grounds it infringed his Convention rights to privacy.

The ECHR held that Article 8 (right to respect for private life and correspondence) was engaged, but that the Romanian courts were entitled to look at that evidence in deciding whether the dismissal was justified. The European Court was swayed by the fact that the Romanian court judgment did not reveal the precise content of the personal messages, but only the fact that they were personal messages. The Court recognised the need for employers to be able to verify that employees are completing professional tasks during working hours.

In Practice

This decision is in line with recent UK case law. It has long been the case that employers can monitor employees’ internet and emails to the extent necessary to protect their business interests. Employment Associate Paul Burton says, "We would advise employers to have an internet and email policy in place that stipulates what and when monitoring can take place."

Our Employment Team, based in Christchurch, also cover Bournemouth, Poole and the New Forest. For a free initial chat, please call 01202 499255 and Paul or a member of the team will be happy to discuss any questions that you may have.