Employees have no rights to privacy

A recent ruling hs determined Employees have no rights to privacy when utliing the company computer.  Following is a recent article discovered by our HR Director Kat Renner:

********************************

Employees have no rights to privacy – including attorney-client communications – if their means of communication is the company’s computer, according to a recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Virginia.
What’s more, those communications could be used as evidence by the employer should the case go to trial.  Ruling on a set of consolidated appeals, Bette L. Banks vs. Mario Industries of Virginia Inc. and Troy Cook, et al. vs. Mario Industries of Virginia Inc., the Court ruled that employees give up their rights to privacy, even if the company permits workers to use work computers for personal matters.

In the case involving Troy Cook, he prepared – and later deleted – a memo on his computer in March of 2003, just prior to leaving Roanoke, VA.-based Mario Industries, a manufacturer and supply company.  Cook was seeking legal advice from his attorney, according to court records.  He went on to establish his own company – Renaissance, a lighting and furniture manufacturer – in October of that year, to compete with Mario’s contract sales division.

The company sued Cook and his company in 2004, alleging interference with business relations, breach of fiduciary duty and misappropriation of trade secrets.  At trial, the jury ruled in favor of Mario.  Cook later appealed.

Although the company permitted employees to use their work computers for personal business “there was no expectation of privacy regarding Mario’s computers,” according to court records.

The fact that it could be retrieved by a forensic computer expert from the hard drive “means that it was no longer privileged, and thus properly admitted into evidence,” according to the Womble Carlyle law firm’s Trade Secrets Blog.

***************************************

“The lesson:  Use your home computer for communications with your counsel,” according to the blog.