[Gllug] OT Freedom

[Dylan]

On Thursday 20 February 2003 19:11, Jason Clifford wrote:
<SNIP>
> My next question would be whether the company permits private emails for
> other employees. If so it would seem to be a specific attempt to interfere
> with union activities which is illegal under employment protection
> legislation.

Indeed, but the employers are not required to facilitate the union's 
activities either. 

>
> While employers should have a clear AUP and make this known to all
> employees that is not a legal requirement - just good business sense as
> you cannot fire an employee for misuse without first making them aware of
> what the boundaries of acceptable use are.
>
> I dealt with this issue some years ago for a large insurance company. At
> first the board resisted the need to create a specific company wide policy
> (some company politics nonsense) however when we discovered an employee
> had been using company equipment and Internet access to view illegal porn
> (think barnyard) and they were advised that they might not have grounds
> for immediate dismissal they changed their minds.
>
> RIP does not mandate such policies - only that a specific notice be made
> of potential invasion of privacy.
>
> Your friend may find that the easiest way around this is to set up an
> external webmail account and send the messages from that via a SSL web
> connection. If the company is then filtering out such messages on the
> basis of them being about union activities that would definitely be a
> breach of employment protection laws. Should that be the case the union
> executive will probably be willing to take the matter up with the
> employer.

My mother is a union rep, and she is provided an email account by the union 
for this precise purpose. Still, she sees all the members she reps for on a 
daily basis anyway.

Dylan


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