Post by account_disabled on Feb 19, 2024 21:32:09 GMT -8
It is perfectly legal to monitor the email or corporate computer of workers but to do so, as it may come into collision with fundamental rights, such as the right to privacy and the secrecy of communications, companies must meet a series of requirements and overcome the so-called “Barbulescu test”.
What does the so-called “Barbulescu Test” consist of?
According to the Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), dated September 5, 2017 (Barbulescu II ), the “Barbulescu Test” must meet a series of parameters, assuming that it must be corporate means provided by the company available to workers to perform their duties. These parameters are:
The company must prove that the Fax Lists worker has been expressly informed of the possibility that the employer may adopt measures to control correspondence or other communications, as well as of the implementation of the measures, and the information must be prior, precise, transparent and specific.
It is not enough for the company to have protocols or internal rules that prohibit the use of corporate media for personal purposes, but it will also be necessary for the company to previously notify about the controls that it may carry out.
It is also necessary to analyze the scope of the surveillance and its degree of intrusion into the worker's private life. In this sense, among the elements indicated by the ECHR to carry out the analysis are: distinguishing between the control of communications or frequency and their content; also whether all communications or only part of them have been subject to surveillance; Another relevant aspect is also whether or not their inspection was for a limited time; and, finally, the number of people who were aware of the result of the surveillance.