Employers' Rights to Monitor Employee Email Under United States Law
AbstractThis comment gives an overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 ("ECPA"). It argues that an employer can avoid liability by accessing an e-mail while in post-transmission storage because the current interpretation of the relationship between The Wiretap Act and The Stored Communications Act makes this differentiation possible. It further argues that the ECPA is limited in its coverage to the interception of the e-mail message before arrival and that even such limited protection has many exceptions to its application. The ECPA thus gives an employer significant leeway in monitoring its employees. This comment also suggests that because the ECPA is vague and ambiguous, and because the courts and Congress have done little to clarify these ambiguities, employers must be cautious in the way they do their monitoring to protect themselves from the privacy complaints. Implementation and compliance with this comprehensive monitoring policy is thus essential. |