France: employers can check the non-personal text messages on the work mobiles of its employees

In a ruling on 10 February, the commercial chamber of the French Court of Cassation stated that employers may, with legitimate reasoning, check all non-personal text messages which have been sent from and received by a work mobile. In the present case, it allowed the complainant to show the text messages of former employees as proof of the attempts by a rival company to poach a number of its workers. By taking this action, the Court is applying to text messages the jurisprudence established for e-mails.
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This case concerns companies brokering in financial instruments who have head-hunted talented workers. It has reached a stage whereby one company is accusing another of having caused disruption to its business by poaching a large number of its employees. The complainant has been authorised to order checks at the headquarters of the other company and on the communication resources used by its previous employees. The rival company in question appealed for the evidence supplied to be deemed unacce

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