In a ruling handed down on 05 September, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) set out the conditions under which an employer has the right to monitor an employee’s electronic communications. This particular case led to a second examination by the Court’s Grand Chamber of a ruling the ECHR had delivered on 12 January 2016 this time resulting in a contrary outcome.
The applicant was contesting his employer’s decision to terminate his employment contract based on the fact he had sent personal messages via an instant messaging application that his employer had requested be installed for communicating with customers. In a ruling handed down on 12 January 2016 (c.f. article No. 9452) the ECHR based its decision on the notion of an employee’s reasonable expectation in a context where in its internal regulations the employer had explicitly prohibited employees from using computers and company resources for personal ends. After taking both sides’ interest into account the court disallowed the applicant’s case.
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