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.
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.
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