When you’re in the office typing away, answering emails, fielding calls and queries, there is a chance that the occasional message you’re sending or receiving has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with work.

It might be that your mother has decided to text you to remind you it’s your granny’s birthday next week. Perhaps your partner has requested you pick up some milk or a loaf of bread on the way home from work. Or maybe someone’s offered you another job.

Have a Good Look

Whatever messages you send or receive that are personal, if you’re doing it during your employer’s time and you’re using your work computer or device, chances are that your boss is legally entitled to have a good look at what you’re up to.

This is all thanks to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights. The case in question was that of a Romanian chap called Bogdan Barbulescu. Basically, dear old Bogdan was working as an engineer for a company that had banned workers from sending personal messages during work time. The company had also warned employers that they would check employees’ work accounts from time to time.

Yahoo

Bogdan was using a Yahoo messaging service for work purposes. However, he was also sending personal messages from this account. When his bosses checked his Yahoo account and discovered this, he was fired. Bogdan took his employers to court and lost the case, so he took it to the European Court of Human Rights and lost again.

This all begs the question that if the ECHR can allow businesses to read employees’ personal messages on work computers; are the bosses allowed to check employees’ personal messages on employees’ own devices and messaging accounts, if used during work time? Well, the answer to that is that we just don’t know.

Nose

Until a boss somewhere has a nose at such a message on such a device at such a time, we’ll never know. Our advice in the meantime is quite simple; if you send any personal messages whilst at work, just occasionally slip in the odd reference as to how marvellous, lovely and beautiful your boss is. Then when the time comes, they’ll think twice about giving you the boot.

When you’re in the office typing away, answering emails, fielding calls and queries, there is a chance that the occasional message you’re sending or receiving has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with work.

It might be that your mother has decided to text you to remind you it’s your granny’s birthday next week. Perhaps your partner has requested you pick up some milk or a loaf of bread on the way home from work. Or maybe someone’s offered you another job.

Have a Good Look

Yahoo

Nose

For more on this story, visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35301148