Thou Shalt Not Send Emails from the Office

Does your employer have a policy that employees have no property right in their emails? If they’re like most employers, then the answer is probably yes. Then watch out. In New York, a judge ruled that a hospital’s email policy means a doctor’s emails to his lawyers are not protected by attorney-client privilege. Normally, communications with your attorneys are privileged and can’t be used against you in a lawsuit. But if you send the email from your work computer, that might be a different story.

This just reinforces a tip everyone should keep in mind at all times. If you don’t want your employer reading them, don’t send emails using your work computer. If you absolutely must, at least use a website-based email service like Yahoo or Hotmail, not MS Outlook. That way, it’ll be harder (but not impossible) for your employer to get at your emails.

To read the original story as reported in the American Bar Association Journal, click on this link: http://www.abajournal.com.