{"id":2925,"date":"2024-07-31T09:33:45","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T07:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/?p=2925"},"modified":"2024-07-31T09:33:45","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T07:33:45","slug":"we-suspect-staff-members-are-up-to-shenanigans-can-we-check-our-employees-emails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/2024\/07\/31\/we-suspect-staff-members-are-up-to-shenanigans-can-we-check-our-employees-emails\/","title":{"rendered":"We suspect staff members are up to shenanigans \u2013 Can we check our employees\u2019 emails?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Electronic
devices are extensively used to manage of facilitate communications in the workplace.\u00a0 Electronic devices include telephones, cellphones, desktops, laptops, tablets, etc. These are linked to other electronic devices such as a wifi-sytem, external storage devices, printers and the like.<\/span><\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communications-Related Information Act, number 70 of 2002, also known as RICA<\/b>, regulates many aspects of access to e-communications, including so-called \u201cbugging and \u201ctapping\u201d of both phone calls and e-mail communications. <\/span><\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Act dramatically impacts the way in which companies manage employee communication.\u00a0 The Act describes what constitutes \u201cmonitoring\u201d involves s being \u201cobserving the flow of information\u201d. The Act covers all types of electronic communications, including telephonic, Whatsapp and email.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cReasonable efforts\u201d must be used to inform employees \u201cin advance\u201d that electronic devices may be monitored.\u00a0 This means that Employers should either include such a clause in all Employment Contracts, or in a workplace policy such as a \u201cComputer Policy\u201d, an \u201cIT Policy\u201d, or even a \u201cInternet and e-mail Policy\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span>Should<\/span> <\/span>Employers fail to comply with this procedure, they will fall foul of the<\/span> <\/span>prohibition on monitoring as contained in RICA and may find themselves liable<\/span> <\/span>to a fine of up to R2\u00a0million or imprisonment of up to 10 years.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span>It is<\/span> <\/span>advisable for all employers to implement and maintain a customised workplace<\/span> <\/span>policy on the monitoring of all electronics used for communication as soon as<\/span> <\/span>possible, including e-mail, phone and internet browsing.\u00a0 Policies must be reviewed to ensure<\/span> <\/span>compliance with the Act.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span>Additional<\/span> <\/span>measures should include employee awareness training, amending customer<\/span> <\/span>contracts, e-mail disclaimers and automated disclosures where calls are<\/span> <\/span>recorded.\u00a0 Rules should also be<\/span> <\/span>established by Employers relating to any exceptions in this area such as<\/span> <\/span>allowing the principle of \u201cbring-your own-device\u201d (\u201cBOYD\u201d policy).<\/span><\/p>

If you are uncertain, ask your legal advisor or practitioner to provide you with clear guidelines.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

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Electronicdevices are extensively used to manage of facilitate communications in the workplace.\u00a0 Electronic devices include telephones, cellphones, desktops, laptops, tablets, etc. These are linked to other electronic devices such as …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2925"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2930,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925\/revisions\/2930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}