if a working relation, by contract, gives the employer the right to control an employee, it doesn’t mean that the employee gives away his right to let anyone not respect his private life.Nevertheless, we notice that “respect of private life” is rather limited at a working place.First of all, the hardware and software belongs to the firm and, consequently, its content as well. In the other hand, what is filed in our computer can be easily compared with what is filed in our desk. In that sense, even if most of those files belong to the company, it is always accepted that the employee has some private notes, or private objects as well. To some extend, the employee has the right to maintain a certain confidentiality. Let’s imagine an employee is homosexual or has AIDS or that he needs to take some medicine because he is depressed, those issues have nothing to do with the legal contractual agreement between the firm and himself and shouldn’t be known by the employer while supervising his emails for example. In that case, the employer will interfere with it’s employee private life.Guidelines and proceduresAll in all, a company should always regulate its supervision under 3 mains limitations .1.pertinence2.reasonability3.absence d’intentions malicieuses….In order to avoid any misunderstanding or any painful legal action in case of abusive dismissal, a company should always have clear procedures such as :1.Clear guidelines with regards to internet use :a.Why does the company have access to the internetb.Who are the employees allowed to use the internetc.Type of message the can or cannot be transferred via internet (nothing confidential, etc.)d.Tolerance for private use (only at lunch time, no sexual content, etc.)e.Type of software downloadable (no pornography, only legal, etc.)f.Indicate if there is a software in order to filter/forbid, some access2.Guidelines with regards to computer use in gen...
