Vie privée et bon usage des NTIC au travail : risques et responsabilités
A growing number of employees now have access to the Internet and email in the workplace. They are sometimes tempted to use these tools for other purposes than business, creating thus a potential source of conflict.  Indeed, under the pretext of protecting the company’s property and equipment, verifying that the employees execute their contractual obligations, and preventing risks of liability, employers more frequently – and sometimes surreptitiously – monitor the use of the resources so provided.  Employees, on the other side, are claiming their right to have their personal online activities remain private, even when these are conducted during their working hours and with the equipment provided by the employer. However, can they reasonably expect to have their rights protected, when the right to privacy in the workplace has traditionally been mitigated and when employers have access to spying technologies that are more and more invasive?  How then to find a workable balance between employer’s management rights and employees’ rights? It is an issue that courts increasingly face and that regularly induces them to reinterpret the rules set for the employer’s surveillance with regard to the specificities of information technologies. That situation of conflict has also brought changes to the practices in the workplace, insofar as employers are increasingly likely to adopt legal and technical tools enabling them to protect themselves against risks, while keeping a large right of intrusion into employees’ privacy.
Surveillance Internet Obligation Monitoring Internet Email Expectancy of privacy Obligation Employee Loyalty Rights Employer Company policy